ON TURNING 12
The year before you turn into a
young adult. The year you get to do
whatever you want, stay out and see
the stars shining in the dark
open sky. Ride around on the dusty,
long back road, without worry about
being home before the street lights come on.
This life came at me earlier than I planned.
And it is not all it’s cracked up to be. Finding
a job to pay for a phone card, gas, money. My car
sits at my mother and father’s green yard while
I sit at my nanny’s white, quiet house. Nobody
to drive it, nobody to put liquid in it.
Delta McLean
On Turning 13
On turning 13 things changed.
At age 8 friends are everyone.
At age 7 judgment is not known.
Looking back you realized how simple
things were.
Before you were introduced and discovered.
Before you found society’s views.
At age 6 dolls didn’t sit shrouded in shadows.
At age 5 dull was not in our vocabulary.
Those days were a breeze.
Those days were easy.
At age 4 everyone was beautiful.
At age 3 nothing changed.
Could you imagine going past 13?
Morgan Carroll
Her Kind
She took the hot rolls out of the oven.
The steam rises fast but she shows no fear.
Burned hands quiver and wrinkle
against the heated pan.
A woman like that can cook anything.
I have been her kind.
She has gone far away.
To a place no one living has seen.
She flies with broken wings high above.
A woman like that is strongest of all.
I soon will be her kind.
A word on a page, a voice in the air.
Small song in this big world.
I dream a large amount for a girl my size.
A woman like me can dream.
I have been her kind.
Katie Priest
Ernest Ralph Alexander
His faith was a riverbank root.
His body was a mighty oak.
His voice was the night birds.
His wisdom was the hoot owl.
His hands were sandpaper from
working the garden.
His arms where stones, chiseled by work,
but yet they were clouds to lay in.
His smile was the stars stretching out forever.
He was the current as I still am the ship.
He was my Grandpaw.
Adam Alexander
Elimination Dance
These people must leave the floor at once
Anyone who wears shadows to the dinner party
Anyone who sleeps cradled in the moon
Anyone who wakes up to the sound of caterpillar barks
Anyone who helps bigfoot into his bed and tucks him in safely
Anyone that is allergic to the color blue
Anyone who is currently in the hospital
Anyone who needs the stars to sing them a lullaby
Aimee Lease
The Art of Aging
The art of aging isn’t hard to master
Just practice the concept of crawling
Into standing alone on two feet
The art of aging isn’t hard to master
To the first day of school not wanting to go
Afraid of embarrassment, loneliness, helplessness
The art of aging isn’t hard to master
Your best friend becoming like your other half
And wondering why your parents are so strict
The art of aging isn’t hard to master
Taking big steps into the scary world alone
Finding “the one” you never want to let go
The first night in the new house
To the hospital the day your baby was born
The art of aging isn’t hard to master
Leading to the happy days of sitting in
a rocking chair watching the sun rise
And to fall asleep listening to the
hoot owl for all eternity.
Abby Rounsavall
Hazen High School
Hazen, AR
Date of Visit: February 24 – 25, 2014
Faculty Sponsor: Roxanne Bradow
Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12
Appx. Number Students Served: 75
Visiting Writers: Megan Clark and Alice Otto