April showers bring May flowers, and to beat out the rainy blues, we are "showering" you with some of Holicong's most fantastic poetry and artwork! We hope you take the time to celebrate National Poetry Month and enjoy this positively pleasant post!
Flying On Water
Six in the
afternoon
Peaceful
Fiery-orange
sunlight released from inside the clouds
Surrounding the
heavens like a great big wall
Two blood-red
knives slice through the glistening aquamarine waters
With points as
sharp as a needle
Ducks swimming out
of their way
Drifting across
Lake Galena
They laugh and talk
Paddling the whole
time
Gripping onto the
sharp jet-black propellers
So peaceful
A breeze develops
Blowing proud and
strong like a lion’s roar
Night slowly
creeps into the afternoon sky
Amethyst-purple
and apricot-orange clash for control of the sky
Slowly it turns
into night
Nine at night
Animals drift off
to a peaceful night’s sleep
The riders head to
shore
Their black
truck rumbles off into the distance
The kayaks mounted
by Christopher A., Grade 9
 |
| Portrait by Gillian S., Grade 9 |
The Half-Whole Moon
Hovering
and I discovering
the half-whole moon unravelling
a gift into the light diminishing
to dusk,
the half-whole moon displayed its
dismembered husk.
Upon it I glanced
to find somehow it stared back,
beckoning until I was forced to ask,
what great stories do you dare
grasp?
Your holes,
your caverns,
your mountains,
they all resembled nothing more than
a mask.
But the half-whole moon continued
to turn,
relishing what I could only hope to
learn,
to earn,
but it only churned,
ignoring my pitiful yearn,
it continued to turn.
Your pits!
I screamed
craters and calderas,
nothing more than sheaves
encompassed your layers.
Tell me the odyssey that has led to
now,
your epic voyage of when and how.
But the half-whole moon continued
to churn,
to burn my wishful hopes,
as I lay helpless,
earnest yet stern
and it laughed
and mocked
and cackled as it whirled.
The half-whole moon continued to
turn.
by Joshua C., Grade 9
 |
| Artwork by Janice C., Grade 9 |
The Window
Have you ever been outside?
in a snowstorm?
at night?
Have you ever felt the grass?
as it freezes?
as it dies?
Have you ever sat and thought?
and prayed?
and cried?
Have you ever closed your eyes?
in disimpassioned silence?
And screamed for something?
in sticky silence?
And called out?
without opening your mouth?
Alone
In cacophonous interminable silence
There's a light on
Behind you
Do you feel its warmth?
feel its noise?
Its strange orange glow
Lends a shadow
With which you talk
With which you argue
You approach the light
Touch its surface
But it's a window
Not a door
You wipe away the dirt
The sludge
The streaky fingerprints
Left long ago
A hand appears
Not your own
You reach for it
But it's cold and gone
You smash the glass
Tears streaming down your face
But it's not there
Where?
The warm air floods over you
Like the first drops of rain
After years of unforgiving droughts
Inside you see paradise
You dive through the shards
Once vicious
They now protect you
And as you fall
You ponder
Why you sat
for so long
in the dark
in the cold
in the glow
of the window.
by Danny H., Grade 9
The Other Side of Society
I had been there all along
Clawing to get to the surface
I found that I was not
Moving forwards and finding my identity
But rather
Sinking deeper into the depths of society
I am not
Doing what is right
My ideal has always been
Doing what is best for me
Nothing is
Appreciated
It’s true that you are
Only an insignificant individual in this large
universe
It’s foolish to imagine that you can be
Existing in peace
Differences are
Plagued by derisions
Never again will we fear being
The cruel and malicious tormenters
Humans no longer
Distinguish between righteousness and baseness
We are always ready to
Accept the destruction we create
And
Continue to move on for more
We cannot just
Believe everything is perfect
Nothing is what it seems to be
But we can shatter that mask
By living in hatred
A veil has been drawn over our eyes
Deep down, everyone is aware that
Nobody can escape from their fate
It’s not true when specialists say
Wounds can be healed
I tell you this
Time is not capable of patching up the gaps
People are mistaken when they believe
We will see the light at the end of the tunnel someday
Humans are intelligent
However, I concede that
Life sets obstacles incapable of being penetrated
The world knows
We have always lost
It’s irrational to trust that
There has always been another side to the story
(Now read it in reverse)
by Ling X., Grade 9
 |
Artwork by Rachel C., Grade 8 |
From our recipe editor Emily W., put a spring in you step with the monthly recipe for April: Lemon Bar Peeps. Hop to it!
