The Rose Bush
I always think of the Rose Bush
in my yard.
How it feels the rain beating
hard against it.
And how the water tastes to
it.
How it gets its strong
delightful smell.
And what it thinks of
someone picking it.
I understand why there’s thorns.
Briley Smith
Wreck in Reverse
Stuck in reverse a car drove up the road;
Unwinding its dented metal and reframing broken
glass.
Letting off the breaks a woman screams.
A wide eyed man spots a red truck.
Their faces calm.
Their hands intertwine while the radio plays
As they park outside a bar.
The man stumbles in and the woman cautiously
takes the keys.
Mychaela Ridge
I write my t’s and r’s funny
maybe I became a sloppy
writer but I can’t help
that. When I write my
r’s look like a deformed
giraffe. My t’s look like
a tree without leaves. I
don’t like my big fat
disgraceful handwriting.
I write my r’s and t’s
funny
Jayna Curley
Alive – Dead
Things that are alive include
worms that go in and out of
Trees tree trunks, kids that jump
out the door for recess, and a teacher that teaches her
class about poetry like the one you are reading
right now. Dead things include old presidents
that died because of reasons we do not
know, animals that have been cooked for meals
because people now don’t care what others
feel, and ants that have been smushed by the feet
of little children bored and not knowing what
to do with their free time.
But these two can sometimes be alike
like how Jesus was killed and then rose from
the dead three days after. How leaves between
seasons die but new ones come alive each season.
And how little newborns come to the world while
other people die right at that very moment.
Aubrey Smith
The Bedroom: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The soft pulse of a bleeding heart that
was left on the shelf
Echoes loud against the silence
Each beat grows against the static
and drips with determination
It fills the cracks and fuels
their descent
The chords transformed to wire,
and with every strike
the mercury dripped out
cool metal was pressed
His breath hitched
A single shot crackled
and silenced the noise.
Lauren Koch
The Worm at the Gate
The very aged worm crawls
slower and slower each day
The sun baking the moist skin
The skin that has lived a life of its own
The worm at the gate of death
Hayden Richardson
Braces
sees nothing but dark,
feels nothing but wet,
hears nothing at all,
taste only metal,
smells like food.
Laci Burroughs
Light and darkness
Sunshine yellow in a world of darkness.
What is happiness without the light.
The sky, rainbows, butterflies, tulips. All things
that bring joy.
Darkness, like a cold black endless hole. A watermelon
full of only seeds. The opposite of happiness. Foes of those
who seek it but keen to those who separate themselves
from it.
Both oblivious to the fact that they help us by
bringing us down.
JT Taylor
Me and my big sister
She loves to play on her phone I love to read books
She loves purple I love blue
She loves our dog I love our cat
She loves to walk I love to run
She has her phone to talk to her friends but I love playing with
my friends outside
in the cool chilly
wind
She is taller I am shorter
She loves to wear boots I love to wear shoes
so I can run.
_________________________________________________________
She is nice and I am too.
She is my sister and I’m her brother
I love her she loves me too.
She makes me laugh I do too.
I have black hair she does too.
David Reyes
Summer to Winter
Summer is heat, watermelons, swimming, flowers, no school,
and church camp. Winter is snow, Dead trees, scarfs, hot cocoa, Christmas, and
lights scavenger hunts. Summer comes to let us enjoy ourselves, winter
comes to give the earth rest, so we can enjoy Summer. They
need each other, and I love both.
Shaylin Hunt
Oak leaves are hands
Some small, some big kept
warm in the winter. They
can be used to show love.
Some rough and soft
Emma McKissen
Arch Ford Education Service Cooperative
Plumerville, AR
Dates of Visit: November 26-27, 2018
Faculty Sponsor: Candace Smith
Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Appx. Number Students Served: 157
Visiting Writers: Alys Dutton, Samantha Kirby, Claire Pincumbe, Sarah Ramey