Springing Surprises

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!