View the Winners | View Poems by School Round 2 Select and write a poem in response to one of the following: According to The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com), 65% of the people in the Muslim world, in Pakistan, for example, are under the age of twenty. Write a poem from the perspective of young Afghan or Pakistani man or woman. Write a poem about someone who died in the World Trade Center on September 11. Your poem can be about a real person or one you imagine. Again, you might consult online information sources such as The New York Times. Write an ode to autumn. Be as specific as you can be in describing in detail what makes autumn so exquisite. And on one autumn day, September 11, to be exact, where were you when you heard about New York, the Pentagon, and the downed plane in Pennsylvania? Weave both elements, autumn and the September 11 tragedies, into your poem. Eighty-seven Floors Up I live in a 3x4 cubicle The outside world is A fantasy In which I do not believe This office devours time like My daughter ate her fifth birthday cake- Frosting on her cheek and crumbs in her hair From eighty-seven floors up The rest of New York seems To be still- the people no longer move In a colored swarm on the cold gray sidewalk Up here, in my ceiling-less, three-walled home, I can't even see a window. I see the painful, migraine glare of fluorescent lightbulbs And the blue-green glow of computer screens On gray-green faces. I wonder how it could be, That all of these distracted people Could know me As little as I know them. I look to the picture frame My daughter made in her kindergarten class Out of uncooked pasta Where she grins at me. The gap where her two front teeth used to be Where now there is blackness. -Olivia, Santa Fe Preparatory School (Rating: 9.90) Read Reviews of this Poem age-old you can never see the branches through the mask of leaves they glisten in the breeze religous ecstasy her hair fall down on me skin cover human leaf bare branch reach to my window this pain is age-old leaves fall in rays loss of child she sways wild water deep break from paralysis peace tree lays silent silence snake-coiled krater waits wake towers break fall this pain is age-old fallen leaves from rooted tree push forcible change on me need explanation for rings we circle in rings shrinking from mother tree unconscious acts poison vital necessity we need connections to water deep break from paralysis peace -Brown, Mariko, Taos High School (Rating: 9.90) Read Reviews of this Poem Interruption Walking forest I stand still, lotus Zephyr, tattoo skin, Sun dipped tree fur Crisp lips Talking below my tattered shoes, Earthbed quilt Copper cork and mango thread Weaving these leaves, Low breath stream Whisper... Chemical vibration Biology 101 Late for class Intoxicated, Radio static 911 Aspen dust make-up spread blood with a butter knife Bone branch Willow limb Skeleton Life evaporates -Angie Poynter, Taos High School (Rating: 9.90) Read Reviews of this Poem Open Shut Freon infest We are the perfect insect Don't give up on sex I rip the photo of my face space tape it back together give as a belated valentine Things don't always work out the way you might expect I focus on not thinking I try not to want the ideas on the tip of my tongue try not to be the sponge of everything around me try to be objective object in this cell of barely breathable air where I am forced to be human But I am missing the point that masculinity in the magnanimous sense of the word is crystallized in dinosaur amber and embers of eyes on the ends of earth: hunter gatherer father priest penis breath pither officer builder fixer candlestick dipper hopper bebop he doesn't stop her anymore Today my world is a little mixed up too many people have called my bluff and I don't know how my cards will lay themselves out on this table made of fake wood molecules so I lay on the linoleum puking battery acid until I burn myself a ticket to the center of everything- Today the atmosphere is glass and all the astronauts are birds flying their shuttles into heaven's kitchen window falling into the ocean stunned to say the least, all broken wings and brain damage. -Daniel Ingroff, Taos High School (Rating: 9.90) Read Reviews of this Poem Looking Out the Window for You Did you know, As I was driving to school that morning, High strung and frustrated, The only thing I could do was look For a good radio station. And you, I imagine you wondered, "Will my overhead luggage fit, Or am I going to have to check it in?" Settling inside that lethal, metal can, You thought, "Damn, I got the middle seat Instead of the window." And the only thing You immediately looked forward to was Your "Twenty Years of the Temptations" CD. It seems hardly worthwhile, maybe, But the next time I'm driving to school, I'll make sure to look out the window For you. -Amanda Navarro, St. Pius X -Albuquerque (Rating: 9.80) Read Reviews of this Poem Ode to The Fall Like leaves of trees You tumbled in a wind Down to the ground In a flurry of flame All in awe Peaceful Disastrous Lain to rest Crumbling hope Beneath hate's feet A breeze on the crisp autumn air Chills the tears on my cheek -Lydia Lopez, St. Pius X -Albuquerque (Rating: 9.70) Read Reviews of this Poem The Prayer of an Afghan Teen Allah, where are you now? Do You not see the pain Of Your people And hear their constant song of sorrow, Our prayer for assistance? Our sad refrain hangs heavy over the sand, The broken buildings, But are You deaf to these sounds? Do you not feel our constant hunger, This burning emptiness That drains our bodies and Drags our spirits through the mud. Our children and mothers wander the streets In search of any meager morsel that even A dog would think too small to eat, And to this do You simply turn Your head? What do You think of these gunmen Who lurk through our villages As pillars of destruction, Claiming their loyalty to You. This cannot be Your will. Our holy veils have become death shrouds, A prison of cloth that forces Your women to beg under masks In their tears and fears. How can You turn Your back When this foreign predator swoops Over our land daily Like famished vultures anticipating To pick the meat from Afghanistan. They say they do not desire To hurt our people and only wish To hunt the wolf pack, But these monsters walk among us In sheep's skin. I lift my face to the heavens, Nevertheless all I see are clouds of fire And all I hear are the distant bombs. We still believe and we still obey, But I can feel my enemies Breathing down my neck, And where is my Protector now? -Sara Litchfield, St. Pius X -Albuquerque (Rating: 9.70) Read Reviews of this Poem To start to Fall Outside the warm sun, cool air rising light burgundy & crimson Bomb! Stomach sinks to the bottom of the ocean while learning why the tide rises and falls Leaves fall one by one fire, sun, wind, water New York's heart plummets The fallen empire of a city torch reflecting Liberty goes down like the crash of a 300 year dried up oak tree Together, woodpecker and tree Separation as a 30 year limb of the dried up oak begins to timber After leaves tremble slowly to the ground with no sound The heartbeat stops Firetrucks, police cars, taxis, reporters, business people, homeless people, the dawg that wawked dan the street an' fell into a bucketta wata Scattered... ashes all part of the debris now -Tara Ritchie, Taos High School (Rating: 9.70) Read Reviews of this Poem Missing You Dark as night without a moon dirty water in a pool dying flower in my garden death, in the valley of my hidden future. Black spots in a white painting thorns on roses fires of hell, in heaven dead birds, sing. Our love will become a legend our bodies will become dust,and, i will never see you or feel you again. I have learned to live without you but i have not learn how to forget you. -Griselda Estrada, Taos High School (Rating: 9.60) Read Reviews of this Poem arabic prayers bismillah irahman irahim kulhu Allah hu ahad Allah hu sumad lamyahlid wah lamyuhlad wah lamyah kulahu kufu wan ahad i pray bismillah irahman irahim i pray bismillah irahman irahim i pray in darkness where bombs burst on earths that tremble like her knees do where "i" live there's no life and leaves upon leaves have fallen collapsed on ashes cover land mines in minds time is dangerous seconds kept on leash if she'll speak we'll never know they're gone today so maybe tomorrow i am gone too and i pray kulhu Allah hu ahad i pray kulhu Allah hu ahad i pray on hands and knees in shadows where thoughts crouch wind sweeps past graves and dust from their deaths is brought to thought again under closed hands "a mind is a dangerous thing" if i could i'd sprout wings and just fly past heavens and skies i'd fly chained to surfaces over graves and land mines i'm stuck so i pray bismillah irahman irahim kulhu Allah hu ahad Allah hu sumad lamyahlid wah lamyuhlad lamyah kula hu kufu wan ahud -zahra bilal, Taos High School (Rating: 9.20) Read Reviews of this Poem Untitled Falling leaves and falling towers summer ended fast this year and I stopped to notice the colors on the trees outside my window and the way the horses' feet crunched in the fallen gold. It hasn't snowed yet although the teasing clouds look pregnant as they recede onto the other side of the mountain. In New York my sister asks for her winter clothes and sends pictures of herself and her friends looking glamorous and intimidating. I wonder what we'll talk about at Christmas. The stars seem clearer this year or maybe gratitude is a lens that gilds the ordinary so we remember to pause while we can and notice the changing seasons. -Kyra, Santa Fe Preparatory School (Rating: 9.00) Read Reviews of this Poem Untitled On the upper floors the paperwork is spreading into chaos The smoke burns my lungs After most of us have come to some state of acceptance we sit under desks, clinging to eachother's sweaty hands. Some try to find shelter or some way out I decide that I want to be happy when I die and the clouds of ash and cremation that rise from the footsteps of the firefighters don't bother me Blame is no longer in me and I hope that some father in some country will not have to watch bombs drop in the distance helpless and isolated from the workings of the world I watch a couple smash a window with an office chair They embrace then run holding hands It would be nice to get away from the smoke The grip of my hand tightens -Dylan, Santa Fe Preparatory School (Rating: 9.00) Read Reviews of this Poem Untitled Every night he would sit in his apartment, Lonely, waiting to change. The staticky glow of the tv Flashing blue on his face. Every day he would sit in his office, Mindlessly working, not living. His desk was clean, ordered. A model to his less organized co-workers. Everything changed insidiously The tv sits, darkly unwatched. The desk remnants will never motivate. Now he has nothing to wait for. -Loren, Santa Fe Preparatory School (Rating: 8.80) Read Reviews of this Poem Another Memory In New Mexico, between grey walls, classmates Whisper as I pass glass doors; useless talk. Topics plunge into muddy water; The pool of conversation. 'They collapsed' It echoes, devoid of meaning. * * * In New York, between grey skyscrapers and streets, A girl plunges through the sea of newly pressed suits and looks over her shoulder. Her sister's hazel eyes burn with curiosity for a world so fresh to her. Her yellow-orange hair turns in greeting, a smile on her soft skin. They push the crosswalk button. * * * A familiar sound in the busy school Lockers open and shut, closed tight by the mouths of metal locks. More useless pools of speech seep into one another, all indistinguishable. Our hopes of morning doused as the bell chimes class time. * * * Glass chimes as it sporadically hits the ground as manufactured weather. Hearts pound as the sisters run, their hands tightly clasped. * * * I look at my TV screen explosive power revealed on the many colored pixels. Debris tumbles in a blanket of death, Images dance vividly. Just another ripple in the quiet pond of life. It creates another memory. * * * The end of their beginning, another cloud descending to carry them; to cross over, fire in the soul extinguished. Will I remember her? Her life becomes a memory another memory. -Sarah Brown, Onate High School (Rating: 8.50) Read Reviews of this Poem Going to War and Back Men packing up leaving wives and children behind with heartaches to become soldiers holding their children to wielding huge guns going to football games to going through training watching boxing in their living rooms to fighting for their country running for fun to running for their lives winning a bet to bringing victory to our state living through hell to reuniting with their families. -Leatrice Whitegoat, Ft. Wingate Bia School (Rating: 8.00) Read Reviews of this Poem American Debris I step past a fast food joint Across the street from a Masjide, a place of worship. Enticing, meaty odors waft out of the store and Blend with the smoky smell of the street. A high pitched horn honks As my friend hollers, "Hello!" and waves. The sidewalk seems to hum through me. The song is ancient. I confront a burnt out building, Broken and blackened. The hollowed building stands As a monolith to the thousand hands over our mouths. Before the building lies a man, Broken and bloodied, His eyes wide in fear, but empty in death. He is the harbinger of a voice that needs no mouth. A coronach penetrates the debris. His song is ancient. -Brendan Shaughnessy, Onate High School (Rating: 8.00) Read Reviews of this Poem Liberty's Torch I stand tall with my head held high, holding an eternal flame which represents everything that is cherished. On September 11th my flame flickered and began to dim. My heart skipped a beat and tears trickled down my face. I lowered my torch close to my heart in a maternal embrace. I stand steady for a moment. I wipe the tears from my eyes and raise my torch up high. I stand with determination while my torch emits a new faith. -Shireen, Santa Fe Preparatory School (Rating: 8.00) Read Reviews of this Poem Untitled Tattered flags and God Bless Americas seemed too far away to worry about So I stayed silent Trying to blend into the tears It seemed a good day for bad emotions but mine were so different and not even the comfort of fall could make it all go away. Nothing could hide my red from the blackness of the crowd. Like an autumn leaf blown straight into the dead of winter. Red from greed And red from the pain of something that hurt so much more Than the thought of that dusty city, Miles and miles away -Claudia, Santa Fe Preparatory School (Rating: 8.00) Read Reviews of this Poem Lost Lives One life becoming the forgotten dead in the broken Towers in New York. A person's life, buried twelve feet under the Towers, the house of undefined lives. Lost loved ones, killed by troubled men, they died with thier heads held high, reaching for the sky. The Twin Towers, becoming a graveyard to unfound bodies, killed by cowardly terrorists. The Gates to Heaven open to mournful souls. God's hand pats the shoulders of the heroes who saved some lives, and the rest, who weren't saved, lie in the hands of the Savior. As we keep our hopes up, we share the sorrows with the ones who lost their loved ones. -Garrett Shije, Bernalillo High School (Rating: 7.80) Read Reviews of this Poem untitled Yesterday things changed, a big bang over smokey skies, many souls lost over bloody cries. My dreams feel shattered, and my tears were shed, while my night was long lying, tossing, turning in my bed. Yesterday things changed and my hopes were killed, while my heart lay tattered and my fears revealed, my country lay in pieces while other paraded around, while others cheered and laughed thinking they're heaven bound, among the many lost, are so many who lay torn, my country lay in pieces, the rest left to mourn. Yesterday things changed in my little world, so big. Yesterday things changed, but I must go on an live. -nicole garcia, Bernalillo High School (Rating: 7.80) Read Reviews of this Poem Pages: 1 2 3 [>>] View the Winners | View Poems by School Webslam Home