Wednesday, April 27, 2022

The Cruelest (and Kindest) Month

 T. S. Elliot once wrote, "April is the cruelest month," and this April, with it's wild dips back into winter, may seem like one of those months.  Then again, it has been a time for writers -- like the daffodils and crabapple trees -- to blossom.  National Poetry Month draws students around the country to more poetry, and we have an ample supply from our own Holicong writers here for you today.  So to poets, the month is also a kind one.  We hope it has been kind to you. 


Where the Tulip Grows


Where the tulip grows,

The lush green ground that whispers wispy affirmations.

A tickle on the petals as they shall bend--

Shall whisper into the tiny ears of the tulip,

A mellifluous sing-song song as the hummingbird hums by.

 

Where the tulip lives,

Under a bosom,

A beating heart drumming on and on.

A stem being thrown about to and fro.

Roots slowly churning upwards from the ground,

Sheltered comfort slightly pried away.

Tis’ but the wind my friend.

I’m deathly, deathly sure.

 

Where the tulip perceives,

Eyes watching so fondly.

But, roots are still tugging,

And now the stem is being lashed around

In a tight grasp.

My friend,

'Tisn’t the wind.

I'm affrightedly sure.

 

Where the tulip grows,

In this bleakly battered and hellish place.

Trampled into hiraeth for the untainted meadow of moon.

Trapped in an illicit daydream.

 

Where the tulip dries,

Crumble to crumble.

Indeed.

Society kills.


by Jaime P., Grade 8


Old Sir Gone No More

And the fireworks caterwauled as airplanes flew over a sea veiled by the infinite night

Stood barefoot in the sand

Heavy heart, flamboyant dance

Father clutching shoulder in ill-fated doom; stale breath, cold stance

You are going to be so tall, in all emotional vacancy

Where did he helm when you needed it

Where was your heart, never wrote, when Eeileen found beauty in the caterpillar

If only he recognized his vulnerability

 

By the door he spoke to me with intoxicated jest

You are going to be so tall, atrocity exhibition

Lost without a trace of a way to get out of this misery

As long as ropes unravel, the fondest farewell will travel

But will prevail at water's edge

Milking stones

Nothing left to hold on to but his own pride

New found solace

 

As I run out of El Segundo, out of the Great Laugh of Mankind

Out of veneered palm trees

Wending westward wept the eye of a needle, spewing idyllic treacheries

I tried my best, I tried in vein

But lo and behold, Eeileen's in a drunken runt, that sunken shunt

Empathy departed, devoid of her ardery, our quasi-cavalry

I tried my best, I tried in vain

But my knees caved in

 

Atrophy gliding the sun's whisper

Beaming down rays of hope, sundry

Figure forms above the grains, tips of tool kissing the sand

Trudging a negating lullaby, where the mountains once penetrated the ground

Pondering grouse drums, edicting the flies

Asunder came flocks of edifice

Perforating the crevices of the Earth

A great laugh cradles the sky

 

Above the conjugated buzzing, atop the roof where the burgeoning, burdening antenna sits

Scraping sky, some steel shaft

Seven suns sonder, Sisyphus settled

The hummingbird pantomimes

And I miss the precious heart of the Wild Cosmia; oh no, now I'm grieving

Left wondering how many times will I die up here

On the mountain's coil

My boulder, all exeunt!


by Jack D., Grade 8

Artwork by Charlie W., Grade 7


Permanent No Man's Land


What is it to be the permanent no man’s land?

To stand, forever at the edge of all things, and watch?

To see the world drift by, lives lived and lives died,

And to never endure the painful wonder of existence?

To gaze at the endlessness without deadline,

To be the forever and the never,

All at once alive and dying and yet so perfectly not

What is it, even, to be called?

A geographical phenomenon, or a scientific anomaly?

Is there explanation at all, or merely something beyond mortal comprehension,

That binds the world to have an edge

Gives the sky and earth a place to meet

Allowed to end, truly, but never stop

A loop, a cycle

Endlessly

Endless

End


by Mackenzie J., Grade 7


"No Monsters/No Mercy" by Makenzie J., Grade 7


Second 



I feel as if I’m always in second, never enough, never perfect. I try my hardest to be at the top. I’m nice, but not the favorite. I’m smart, but I’m not intelligent.

I want more.

 

I want to be first for once, I want to be recognized. I want to be truly noticed for me.

 

What did you say? I can’t do that?

 

I’ll just try harder. I’ll try to be funny, be smart, work harder, be popular.

 

I’m sorry. I really tried to be better. I didn’t want to make it worse.

 

I’m an outcast. I was wrong. I’m now less than anything. I’m spiraling down. I can’t keep up. I shouldn’t have tried.

 

 I’m still not enough. I will never be enough.

 

Greed overtakes me. I want more. It will never be enough.

 

I will never be enough.



by Lily C., Grade 7


Artwork by Charlie W., Grade 7


 

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