05743

“You’re on in 10 seconds.”

Wow!
I’ve been waiting YEARS for this moment.
All the singing lessons,
The hours upon hours of practice.
Everyday dreaming of landing here,
The musical capitol of the world,
BROADWAY.

“Break a leg, Riley”

I utter, “Thanks!”

My favorite song beats inside of me,
The words start flooding in,
“Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It’s time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap!”

“Curtain call in 5…4…3…2…”

I smile and they open.
The bright lights flash on my face.
I have finally made it!

Each of our teams come from rival schools
Fair Haven Slaters and the
Otter Valley Otters
As we line up for the jump
Coach’s words keep running through my head
“You have to win”
“You can’t lose to those Otters”
The adrenaline is pumping through my veins
My hands are shaking
I have to be on my “A-game”
I can’t let them cut my face
My shot needs to be on
when I take that jumper
Our tallest person
looks like an ant to the skyscraper
that jumps against her
As the game goes on we keep it close
til the end we fall
And start playing our individual games
As I sit waiting to be subbed right back in
I have a split chance to become nervous again
To realize we could have had it
Worried of what coach will say at the end
Nervous of making the team next year
Anxious to try-out
A whole new set of nervous sets in during this game
And it will be in my head till the day
Where I get on the team
And start a whole new basketball career

Men,
Wake up,
Get their suits on,
Getting the guns and canons loaded,
Walking to the battle field,
Grunting in anger and fear,
Scared and frustrated,
Just thinking about dying,
Feeling their blood rush through their body,
Like sharks trying to catch their prey,
Bands playing,
Women screaming,
Hoping that their men will be okay,
Boom!
The war begins,
Men shooting everywhere,
Bombs hitting people,
Blood flying through the air,
Like rain falling from the sky,
Men marching toward the enemies,
Hitting them with their bayonets,
Women screaming louder and louder,
As their men die.
 

I’m sitting at the desk,
Waiting for the teacher,
To hand out the math test I’ve been;
Dreading miserably.

It decides my future,
Part of my next four years.
It’s another piece of the
BIG turning point in my life.

At least that’s what everyone keeps saying…

I feel sick,
Wait…Now I have butterflies,
No, now I feel like I need a drink!
Stop biting your nails, I think to myself.

I take a deep breath,
Let it out very slowly…
I start tapping my desk in a perfect beat,
And then I get the teacher’s glare.

I’m way past nervous…

She drops it on my desk,
And I nearly fall with it,
But I hold it together,
And I wait for the teacher to give the go.

Then my pencil starts to fly.
 

Butterflies forming in my stomach,
And hives all over my skin.
The whispers of the away team,
Coming into my head to haunt me.
“Defense…Defense!”
These words fill my head
my heart starts pumping even faster
Than it had before.
coach calling out the starters,
since I’m never one of them,
I go to take a seat on the bench.
  to my surprise, I’m called today.
Hurrying to the middle of the field
Almost about to start the game,
as the referee blows
his whistle.
he announces that there is one too many 
players on the field,
coach yells to me to get off so they can start.
What did I do wrong? Why is it always me?
Those questions haunt me as I run off the field.
I sit down with all of those questions still on my mind.
I’m even more embarrassed than nervous now,
I can feel the whole crowd starring at me.
the whole crowd talking about
How stupid I am.
how I went out without being told to.....
It’s entirely my fault now.
If we loose
Why do I always have to mess everything up?
Why me?
 

Boom! Boom!
My heart is the only loud sound
Other than the crowd screaming
“Let’s go Benson!”
And one certain person I can hear
Out of all the rest
My dad yelling
“Come on number 32!”
Brightening up my spirits
Getting my head in the game
Fear goes through my body
Weighing down my legs
The feeling of everyone
Pointing out your every flaw
It’s isn’t about how I do
It’s how my team works together
Tonight is when being a family
Comes together
“Jumper”
I guess it’s what I am called
“Be tall”
A smirk across my face
A terrible gut feeling
Makes me want to walk off this court
In disgrace scared
My mind talks me out of it
Too late to back out now
Balls up in the air
Jump and a smack
I look back
The team has the ball
The game is just getting started
Adrenaline takes control
We dribble down the court
I sprint to get open
“Me! Me!”
A swift pass to my chest
My heart drops to my stomach
I square up my form
“Swish!”
Two points
The crowd went wild
But it’s not over yet
Back down the other
Side of the court
Defense! Defense!
Back and forth we go
Time to win! 

My day is just beginning,
And all I can think of is you.
My head starts spinning,
Whenever you look at me too.

All I can think of is your smile,
The way you do when you talk to me.
You set my heart racing a mile,
So I decided to give you the key.

The key to my heart is a precious thing,
Not to be given very lightly.
I hope this isn’t just a fling,
For then I can’t be handsome and knightly.

Guard it true and well,
For then I shall trust you completely.
And I shall give you a bell,
That looks beautiful and rings sweetly.

Just like you.

Green?
That’s an interesting color,
Might not be the most popular color choice,
Unlike pink or blue,
Which seem to appear at every turn.
Doesn’t green represent different things?
Like go, when you’re in traffic,
Or sour apple for flavored candy.
It’s hard to write about the things that are green,
I mean, how you can interpret the objects that are that color,
Into the same subject.
Green Converse, a stop light, sour apple, grass?
What do they have to do with each other?
“One day I was walking through the tall green grass with my green Converses on,
My mouth watering from the sour apple candy I was chewing on. I suddenly looked up from admiring the grass to find a stop light just flickering green.,”
It just sounds silly.
What about the context of the color?
Bright green equals a happy and bubbly color, just wanting to be noticed
Dark green is just a murky, depressing color that you don’t see many places.
So that means…
Green can be on anything,
But not a lot of the same subject,
Certain shades are eye catching,
Others are just depressing and dull.
Well…
Green is just confusing.
 

Sitting in a tree Drinking Mountain Dew And eating a green popsicle Watching The big green tractor Mow through fresh Vermont fields Mud stuck on the tires From the Cogman road As it rides down the Back roads To the other pastures To do chores Seeing a green dot As it goes further into The fields Green Is all I see, Where I live There are green clovers Growing in the fields The big green mountain… Kids call hills The big green earth we Live on Thinking… If there was no Green We wouldn’t be Complete green is the life that Surrounds us Where ever it is We are

Looking out the window at those,
Big green,
Freshly mowed fields.
Looking out to see that
big green John Deere tractor
Going laps around it
With that old green tedder
Hooked up to the back.
Taking laps around the field as the
Big black tires start to
Turn a stained green.
I run out to the field to take a turn.
  Dad always has to remind me
That if the field is too green,
it will need to be tedded and raked
A little extra.
Then looking over at those luscious
Green fields in the distance.
That’s the country color…
Green!
 

The green of the grassy fields
The green of the big tractors in the fields
The green of the big bullfrogs we eat for dinner
The green of the geckos on the propane tank
The green paint on my shooting shack
The green of the sap tubing throughout the woods
The green of the Chevy truck sitting in the driveway
The green of the big, climbing tree in my yard
The green of my four-wheeler in the garage
The green of the Arctic Cat sitting in the ditch

My home is surrounded by green
Green to me is the comfort
That will always be with me
If I look to the left- green
If I look to the right- green
I love the color green
Without the color
My world wouldn’t be the same.

It gets tracked all around the house,
Sticks to everything,
Is dirty and messy,
  And it stinks,
That is how most people think of
mud,

But in my little town,
Mud is a good thing,
We go mudding,
With big trucks,
The muddier,
The better,
And have mud fights,
Like little kids throwing snowballs,
Mud wrestle,
Build mud forts,
Run through the muddy puddles,
With our mud boots on,
Like fawns running through water,

Mud in my town is what we do,
It is who we are,
We aren’t afraid to get dirty,
We are Benson.
 

Green?
The color of the flowing green grass,
On the hills behind my house,
Where I take my four-wheeler

What kind of green?
The kind of green I watch budding in the trees,
And then it slowly turns into autumn colors,
As I walk down the old dirt roads.

What shade of green?
The shade of green that surrounds,
My world all around me and protects me,
Vermont’s Green Mountains.

What type of green?
The type of green I wear,
Camouflage,
When I leave before sunrise to go hunting.

What brand of green?
The John Deer green.
The tractors I see outside,
On each farm on every road around,

What is green?
It’s the color I see in the mirror,
With my cowgirl boots, plaid shirt, and jeans,
I see my green eyes reflecting my country image.

Four wheeling down the roads,
Dirt flying up my back.
Getting Realtrees at the store,
Then meeting up with the girls,
In our shorts, cowgirl boots, and sunglasses.

Heading down to the lake,
With our boys in their,
Camo and Carhartts.
Going mudding in their big trucks,
Hoping we don’t get stuck.

Fishing together as the sun sets,
Eventually, under the stars,
Together.
It’s a perfect day…
If you’re country. 

It’s not the life for everybody,
But for all of us.
Country girls and guys,
It’s all we could ever want.

                Green is the color of the green mountains
That stream along my favorite state

Green is the color of the roaming fields
Where I met my first crush

Green is the color of the twirly slide
Where I had my first kiss

Green is the color of that glass bottle
That distorted her brain that night at the bar

Green is the color of the car
That killed him on the dark road

Green is the color that makes my best friend smile
In her dullest moments

Green is the color of the rind
Of one of my best friends favorite fruit

Green is the color which lines the room
The room that holds my childhood treasures

Green is the color of my tongue
After eating my favorite green airhead candy

Green is green and you just have to love it

You walk down the hall and you take a swift turn memorizing everything
It’s your last time seeing the posters on the wall
And the little kids walking down the narrow passageway
Yeah, there will be other kids, but never the ones that barely come up to your hip
You’ll miss all this, and your life will never be the same now
Because the next time you walk down the hallway, you’ll be a visitor
And the next time you get trampled by little kids, it won’t be in this hall
You finally stop turning and glance down at your feet
A tear drips down your cheek and hits the floor
Leaving a puddle only an ant could drown in
You didn’t even realize you had started crying
You think about the times you had with your best friends in the different classrooms
You remember the fights with friends in sixth grade
And the laughs you shared in seventh
And finally the time you had in your last year
As you walk out the door, you fake a smile
You climb vigorously to the top of the stairs on the bus
And sit way in the back the seat you’ve earned from being so old
You take out your headphones, put them in your ears and crank the music up
You throw your hood over your head and stare out the window
So no one will see you cry
You go back in time to sixth grade when you finally turned the right age
Just old enough to start thinking for yourself
And you made your first mistake which led you to a fight with your best friend
And you start thinking never again I hate this, someone else will make my decisions
And you wish you were back in the simpler grade of third
Then you skip forward a little to seventh
When you finally got the “think for yourself” thing down packed
And you’re having the time of your life Read more »

My mother’s eyes, Peridot gems Glowing on her Soft, calm face. Children’s knees After a day of adventure, Chasing one another Dancing leaves Shimmying to the beat Of the summer night wind. Little frogs Leaping after flies And kissing princesses By the pond. Criss-crossing lanes Of fresh cut grass Hasteningly done by Dad. Crisp, sour apples Juicy and dripping With delectable flavor. All these things, Beautiful And green. All going unnoticed. But life would be nothing if not green

My mother’s eyes,
Peridot gems
Glowing on her
Soft, calm face.

Children’s knees
After a day of adventure,
Chasing one another

Dancing leaves
Shimmying to the beat
Of the summer night wind.

Little frogs
Leaping after flies
And kissing princesses
By the pond.

Criss-crossing lanes
Of fresh cut grass
Hasteningly done by Dad.

Crisp, sour apples
Juicy and dripping
With delectable flavor.

All these things,
Beautiful
And green.
All going unnoticed.
But life would be nothing if not
green

Sitting on the back of a tailgate
The green Chevy truck
Roaring through the mud
We wouldn’t want this night to end
Drinking that Mountain Dew
The green cans pile up
Like the Green Mountains that surround us
He gets tired of riding around in circles
For now he wants us
To lie across the green grass
Cooling us from the humid July night
The long field of deep grass
Suffocates us
He says he has a surprise
I can hardly wait
He ran away in a different direction
As I hear a familiar sound
I know what’s in store for me
A ride on the Big Green Tractor
 

Waking up to the smell,
Of the freshly blooming
Tulips,
And the sun peeking
Through my window
As if we are playing
Hide-and-seek.
Trying to pull the covers
Back over my head,
but the sun still seeps through,
as if it were a wake up call to me.
Giving up and going down to the
Kitchen to make breakfast with
My dad.
Laughing as we always do
When we mess something up.
Sitting down at the table to eat,
we always feel we have to rush
So mom doesn’t come down
and tell us to wash the pans.
Running out side to go and see
My new baby goats.
Laying down in the pen,
To let them jump all over me
Like I’m their personal jungle gym.
Looking over in the other pen to see
That another goat is about to have babies.
Rushing over there before she has them,
So I can move her to another pen.
Then I wait and
For her to finally have her babies.
Going up to the fort to give her some space.
Coming back to see her babies,
Standing and jumping around.
Setting up our tents
so we can lay under the
Stars
and fall asleep.

Being myself
At my own house
Being loud
Obnoxious
It’s what I am
I can only be myself there
Because no one accepts me
For who I am.

I glimpse at his picture
Explaining how much
I love him
And how I am going to
Say it to his face
Yet, I am afraid
Because I am scared
Of rejection
I keep quiet and
Express my feelings
By writing and accepting
That’s what I am.

And once my friends
Hear about what
I think of myself
They get mad at me
Tell me I can’t say that about myself
Just once I hope
That I am better than this.
 

Sitting in my old
Beat up
Chevy truck
Flying down the
Back roads
To a mud pit
Kicking up mud
In a small town
Out in the boondocks
Where we raise cattle
Where we don’t care
About getting muddy
Our daddy’s tell the boys
To stay away
While us girls want to
Go play
We girls are about mud,
Trucks,
And boys of course
Not about fancy dancy
Looks!
This place
Is where I am
Growing up
And the memories
shall stay
For years
 

Those boys with work boots on
Those boys wearing Carhartt out
Those boys who spend their pay checks
on ammo and lures
Those boys with the lifted trucks
Those boys with muddy four-wheeler’s
Those boys wearing camouflage hats
Those boys drinking Realtrees
Those boys fishing in the sunset
Those boys hunting in the sunrise

Us girls with cowgirl boots on
Us girls wearing short shorts out
Us girls spend our pay checks on
horse grain and saddles
Us girls with Chevy trucks
Us girls with the muddy boots
Us girls wearing braids under our camouflage hats
Us girls who drink Mountain Dew
Us girls who dance in the sunset
Us girls who party till sunrise

Us Girls like Those Boys
And we always will
 

My cousin Zachary,
Is really cool,
When I go to his house,
We stay up all night playing Nazi zombies
on Black Ops,
It’s really fun to play,
The game is about shooting zombies,
You get high powered guns,
You have to run,
Or you will die.

Then we go to our grandma’s house,
To ride four-wheelers,
When we’re done,
We usually hang out with friends,
Play football,
Eat
Drink monster energy drinks.

Go to bed,
Wake up really early in the morning,
Ride bikes to the city,
Go to the mall,
Got to Dicks Sporting Goods,
Buy turkey calls,
Get kicked out of stores,
Go back to grandma’s house,
Eat food and go home,
Take a shower,
Got to bed,
Get up for school the next morning.
 

“BFF’s”
We say it
But do we really mean it?
Will it really last forever?
Next year …
We will be freshman
Will we go our separate ways?
Find new people?
I don’t think we will be friends
It’s sad
But just this year
8th grade
We have grown so far apart
But how?
We have been friends since kindergarten
How could it all
Just disappear?
All the laughing, playing, talking, singing
All the memories
But I guess
If we do go separate ways
We can make new memories
With new people
And I’ll ask myself again
“Will it really last forever?”
 

Rickety, creaky, old
A house on the top of a tree,
A sign all messy and crooked,
Hangs from the handle
“No girls allowed”
This is where imagination runs wild
In a long field,
Surrounded by trees
Climb the long ladder up,
Just to be free at the top
It’s my childhood wonderland,
But everything changes…

A crimson car speeds down the block,
My arm wrapped around her shoulder
We stop at the field with the little tree house,
Climb the ladder to the top,
The sign still hangs,
“No girls allowed”,
But not for long,
It flies off the top,
Crashing to the ground.
I lead her in,
Hands over her eyes,
Her eyes match the lights when they opened wide.
Roses, lights hung by the side,
Glittering, twinkling, sparkling.
I bend down on one knee.
The rule no girls allowed is now broken;
Because she said yes,
But everything changes…

Wrapped in a pink blanket,
Being held in my arms,
New to the world;
Oblivious to it all,
She sprouts like a growing weed,
Soon we walk hand and hand to the tree,
She skips in front excited to see,
The old little house,
On top of the tree,
I notice the sign
All bent and broken;
I can’t help but chuckle
Because this is twice,
The rule has been broken,
But everything changes… Read more »

The Youngest,
Miss Perfect,
The Princess,
The Angel,
Whatever she wants,
Is given to her,
“Mommy’s Little Girl”
But maybe
The Angel
Is the devil
Yet treated like
The Princess

The oldest,
Miss Attitude,
The Meany,
The Bully,
Belittles Everyone
Making herself the Queen
“Trouble Maker”
Always creating Drama
Always wanting more
Than needed
And getting less
Than wanted

The middle
Is what?
Mistaken
Misunderstood
The tears and pain hurt
Thinking you’re not as good
As perfect as the angel
Or as powerful as the bully
The middle stands alone

The Princess and the bully
Are together forever
A team against the middle
It’s unfair
But complaining
Only results in
“Life is unfair”

Laying in bed sound asleep.
Jumping up to the noise of a bullet.
The bullet that will make me cry…
The bullet that will leave a hole and
An empty spot in my heart.
I start to cry as I realize
That I wasn’t allowed to be the one…
The one to see his last breathe…
The one to help him escape…
But instead I’m in here…
Laying in my bed,
Waiting for him to get
Shot …
Thinking about how I should be out
There helping him escape… here
Helping him hide but instead I’m in
Laying on my bed balling,
And thinking about how guilty I’m feeling.
I try to go back to sleep,
But I drown in my tears.
Running outside to find that
Empty stall…
Everything just the way
I had left it last night…
everything except for him.
Fred…
Gone!
 

It comes every year
Children anticipating
The well deserved break

Awaiting new dreams
Hoping for a summer fling
Wishing for a love

People and nature unthaw
The air thicker and humid
Muggy in my chest

It imbues us with
Its irresistible rays
Warms us with its love

Summer is so near
So close yet so far away
About to jump out

Strong,
Like a diamond.
Independent,
Like a flag.
Helpful,
Like a crutch.

Gentle,
Like a kiss,
Funny,
Like a comedian,
Clever,
Like a fox.

Sweet,
Like a strawberries.
Pretty,
Like a flower.
Caring,
Like a parent,

She is always there for me,
My Mom,
Is my extraordinary person!