7

In the woods, I sit watching.  I don't watch anything in particular, I just look. 

Leaves, sticks, trees... anything.  I soak in all, and learn much, just by watching.

Us humans like to do things how we want, but now I am taught a lot by doing nothing.

To my left, a squirrel hops down from a branch and looks intently at me, not moving.

I stare back, looking into those bright brown eyes. We understand each other.

The squirrel twitches his tail but holds my gaze.  My eyes can't stay open.

I blink, hoping for the squirrel not to notice. He jumps onto a higher branch, quivering.

After a second, he flips his tail and leaps gracefully away. I am disconnected.

 "Goodbye, friend." I think, and go back to watching the woods. 

Whispers

All around.

Sometimes quiet,

Sometimes loud.

Always, always

Telling you,

How to act.

What to do.

Telling you

just what to say

day after day

after day after day.

Telling you your

opinion's wrong,

or telling you that

you don't belong.

So when you're feeling

the stage fright,

Remember.

The whispers

aren't

always

right.

The breeze drifted through the trees, as delicate and fragile as the leaves it moved. I sat on a big rock, the silver digging into my back. I watched as everything was packed into our big U-Haul. I did not want to help, to participate in leaving. I watched as my father carried our cat in his too-small cage to the car. I could hear him meowing even though I was far away. I watched the belongings of my life being packaged away, sorted into labeled boxes.
My mother called me over, saying she needed help with the last few things. I walked to the house, surveying the freshly cut lawn that my sister and I had mowed the day before, for the last time. I climbed up the homemade steps of our desk that gave you splinters if you walked on it barefoot. I pushed open the red door that paired nicely with the light green paint, scrubbed my feet on the rug that would be removed in a few minutes time.
I snuck upstairs, tiptoeing into my room. The walls were still the same old truck blue. On the beige carpet, indents were plainly seen left from where my desk and bed used to be but weren’t anymore. I could still spot out the place where the tape from my Twilight poster had peeled off some of the paint. I looked through the windows, could imagine the big moon and stars out at night, could still hear my father turning on a Red Sox game on the radio and planting gardens. I could smell my mom’s fresh baked cookies as I walked up the long driveway with my sister by my side, just dropped off by the big yellow bus. I could feel the touch of our old cat that ran away, his soft fur, and the rough paper of the missing signs we put up all around town. I could just taste the marshmallows we’d always have at my uncle’s house, who lived across the street.
I walked out of my room, turning back just one last time, seeing myself grow up in that room, knowing I would leave it to do some more growing up in another place. Read more »

Two weeks. 14 days. 336 hours. 20,160 minutes. 1,209,600 seconds.
A million laughs, hugs, and tears.

Two wonderful weeks that you had been counting down for all year.
And now its ending, that’s your worst fear.
Two full weeks of friendship, smiles, and summer magic.
And now its almost over, it’s just so tragic.
The golden sun is setting behind the mountains.
The day is ending and the sky darkens.
The big red barn is a silhouette against the pink clouds.
People are crying and hugging in the crowds.
It smells like sunscreen and manure and you can’t believe how much you could actually love that smell. Read more »

In 2022 I will change, I will accomplish many goals. I will win many fishing tournaments, and have bigger-than-life sponsors. I will be playing soccer and kicking the ball into the goal, and the crowd will go wild. I will become a doctor and help people get through their sickness or pain. With these goals I will accomplish, I will  have to give. I’ll have to eat cheap, and not have luxuries of eating out, or buying appealing-to-the-mouth foods. I’ll have to save money to buy boatloads of fishing stuff that isn’t worth the money. This will all be worth the give that I had to give to get there. It will be worth it to hear the SPLASH of a giant fish, or a SWISH when the soccer ball hits the back of the net, or the CLAP-CLAP-CLAP of the family who I’ve helped. In 10 years I will change for the better, even if I have to give to get there.

Saying goodbye. The one word that I find hardest to say. Goodbye to all of the good times. Goodbye to someone close. It can be easy if it's a Goodbye-I-will-see-you-next-week sort of goodbye. But some are harder. The ones that are hard are the end-of-life goodbyes. Or the goodbyes to relatives who live thousands of miles away. People don’t always say goodbye. They can say “Ciao” or “Bye” or “Farewell,” but the true one is: “Goodbye.” It should be an easy thing to say. That one little word. It should flow out of my mouth like a river. But it does not come out that easily for me. Goodbye is never fun. Standing in the airport, watching my relatives leave. My parents tell me, “We’ll see them next year.” But yeah right, that won’t happen. I wait two years to see them again. The worst goodbyes are the ones you say to a passing friend. They say goodbye, I say goodbye. Tears dripping, I say a choked-up goodbye, crumbling under the weight of my feelings. Goodbyes can be light. There are nice goodbyes, but others can be hard, crushing me from the inside. "Goodbye" they say, and as they walk away, or fly away, or pass away. My heart sinks, and I hope to see them again soon. I think, “Do not say the word,” but everyone has to go sometime, and the word comes rolling from their lips, “Goodbye.”

It’s the end of the school year, and although everyone’s excited and ready for summer, you can tell people are sad.  Everyone’s signing yearbooks and talking about summer plans, and of course they seem happy enough.  Who wouldn’t be happy talking about swimming, playing sports, seeing old friends, and not working all day?  It sounds good, sure, but underneath the happy tone of voice you can sense the part of them that wishes it wouldn’t end.  School might be hard, but it’s also where you spend more than half of your year, spending time with all of your friends with classes in-between.  Leaving that life for over three months is a sad thought. It's hard to think about not seeing your closest friends everyday.  The first part of summer is great, relaxing all day.  But honestly, it gets boring.  You start to miss everyone, you get too hot, and suddenly staying in your pajamas all day seems stupid.  Leaving school is like leaving your life, or at least part of it, temporarily.  At the end of the school year, looking at all of the smiling faces I spent my whole fall, winter, and spring with, all I can think about is the difficult part: leaving.

I wake to a bright, blinding sun. My eyes blink, once, twice. They focus on the bright red lights,
spelling out the time: 6:45. Ouch. Who in their right mind would wake up at this time? Well, me, I guess.
I sit up and pull off the covers. The humid city air hits me like a wall. Just outside is the booming city of Seattle. I can faintly hear the noise from Pike Place Market, the fishermen yelling, tossing their morning’s catch onto the cool ice. I could really use some ice right now too. The temperature's way above eighty, and it’s only seven-ish.I’ve got a big day ahead of me, too. I take a shower, savoring the coolness because I know I won’t have much more of that today. Then, I get dressed for my job.

Sometimes people pull on scrubs, sometimes they pull on a dress-suit, but, I, I put on my everyday clothes and walk to the elementary school. It’s my first day as a student teacher for the kindergarten class.  It’s intimidating when I first walk in. You’d be scared, too if you saw twenty three-foot-tall kids running,screaming,crying, staring straight at you.

Somehow when the day’s finally over and my pockets are filled with bits of crayon
and scribbled words, I’m tired, but the job is perfect. I can see myself here soon as a real teacher, instead of a young student with the notepad, who doesn’t know the rules. But soon, I’ll know the rules,I’ll make the rules,I’ll be the rules. Soon.

As I walk out of the big, brick, building, a blinding sun hits me, and I blink once,
twice, as I survey my new world.

   In ten years, i will hopefully be in college. I want to go to college to be a veternarian or to be a criminal justice lawyer. If i go to college to be a criminal justice lawyer, I will probably be going to the Yale. If I go to college to be a veternarian then i will go to the University of vermont.

    I want to go to the University of Vermont to be a Veternarian because they have a beautiful facilitie! If i do go then i will also hopefully be playing basketball too! I love animals. So i think this could be a good opportunity for me to be a veternarian and to learn about animals.

     I want to go to Yale university to be a criminal justice lawyer becaue Yale is the #1 law school to go to in the United states. I have always wanted to be a lawyer since i was 6. My mother tells me i would make a great lawyer because i love to argue! If it wasnt for my mom, dad, and my nana i wouldnt be where i am today. I have good grades too! 

Lauren Gibson

In 10 Years I Will

    In 10 years I’m not quite sure what I’ll be doing or where I’ll be. I might be a photographer. I love to take pictures and capture the perfect moment. But I would be a wildlife photographer. Because I love to be outside. I think it would be amazing to go out and get so close to the animal and get the perfect picture. But I don’t know if that’s what I want to do. Maybe I could be a soccer player. I love playing soccer it’s a great say of exercise and a great game. I have a great passion for soccer and wouldn’t ever want to give it up. Or maybe I could be a farmer. Again it’s another way of being outside. And I love animals. So that could be an option but I don’t have to decide yet though.
    Also I could end up living somewhere else than Vermont. Like if I ended up being photographer I could end up living in Africa or Brazil. Or if I ended up as a farmer I could stay in Vermont or one of other many states in the U.S. In 10 years I might be married. Or in 10 years I might have kids. In 10 years I probably would be in college or just got out of college. But the main point is that I have no idea where I will be in 10 years but that’s okay because I’m still young and I still have time to decide. Because I have so many options out there that I probably don’t even know of yet.
 

On Tuesday, I was walking up Church Street to see what that new place, 'City Sports' was.  On the intersection of Church and Cherry Street, I noticed, among the crowd, two guys yakking.  One of them had this ripped, gray 'Analog' T-shirt on, and sunglasses which reflected everything.  He had short brown hair and jeans that sunk almost down to his knees.  I could see his red 'Joe Boxer' underpants, and he had to do a sort of waddle-walk to keep his pants from falling down all the way.  As they were talking, his mangy-looking Fox Terrier was pulling at the frayed leash and barking frantically.  The other man, who looked about thirty, was constantly picking up his fashionable bowler hat and patting his immaculate, neatly trimmed, black hair.  He had a starched blue suit on, and carried a trim briefcase, which he held protectively against his chest.  His tie was an incredibly dull brown and gray plaid.   Read more »

Goodbye world, I'm sorry we destroyed you,

With atomic bombs and fracking,

And all our stupid, thoughtless pollution.

Goodbye world, I'm sorry about how we bloodied you,

With all our idiotic wars, and pointless massacres,

And all our insensetivity.

Goodbye world, I'm sorry we evolved,

From dumb, harmless cave people, to "intelligent" freaks,

And our wrecking-ball society, and our silly wastefullness.

Goodbye world, I have just one last thing,

We are going to kill ourselves, and now quoting the Lorax,

"Unless..."

If I could see through people

It would be so easy

I would see if there heart was pure

Or dark and dreary

I could see if they wanted to be friends

Or just ditch me around bends

If i could see through people

I wouldn't't know hurt

Only love

I wouldn't fall into traps

Were there's no looking back

And if i could see through people

wouldn't it just be so easy

But the truth is that's crazy

Life is life  you don't

Know what's coming

One day your loved the next your hated.

But if i just could see through people wouldn't't it be easy.

Lauren Gibson

That Moment

My heart is racing. I’m nervous but ready. Everything is going through my head right now. What passes will I make? What positions will I play? Will we win? Will we lose? How good is the other team? We all know what this is. The end. The championship soccer game. I just hope that I don’t screw up and get my whole team mad at me. Right now I feel like the whole game is resting on my shoulders. Now it feels like my heart is gonna pop right out of my chest. I’m even more nervous now. I look around at my teammates, on of them looks like they're gonna throw up. The rest of them look like they’re just as nervous as me. Then we started to do our warm ups. We do stretches and then start passing the ball. As I watch some of the other groups passing, their passes were perfect. I thought that it was a good sign. Then our coach called us over. He told us “I know you guys are under so much pressure. But stay calm. Win or lose remember that u guys came this far and that you have worked your butts off to get where you are now. And I believe in you now go out there and give it your all.” That calmed me down a little bit. Then my coach pulled me aside and said “I know that you are very nervous but just calm down we need u to stay calm or else when the other girls see you freaking out then they’ll freak out.” Then I walked over to the group and stayed calm we got in our huddle got positions and did our team cheer. We looked around at each other for a minute and just smiled and laughed. Then we walked onto the field and the game started...
 

Lauren Gibson

That Moment Read more »

Boots crunch down upon the ground,

Steps in rhythm,

Steps in sync.

Hair whips back in a long, Read more »

Springtime in Vermont

Spring comes and
the glistening white snow
melts under the radiant sun.
The white cold specks
turn into heavy droplets of rain.
The rental skis are returned
as the tall lifts creak to a stop
at the top of the mountain.
The warm coats of winter
are stashed away in bins.
In the backyard, tulips emerge
to show their bright, red faces again.
The trees and shrubbery
sprout green again, which calls
for the mowing of our lawn.
Morning Glories begin
to creep up our fence,
putting on a dazzling,
bright blue show.
The hot coffee in my mouth
changes to the refreshing coolness
of iced tea.
The mountains change
from a dark, cold grey
to a beautiful green tint.
Spring comes, and Vermont
can finally live up to its nickname:
The Green Mountain State.

Matthew Skelly
May 16, 2012

Spring Comes
and ski boots are stacked neatly in a closet
not to be opened until winter,
and the tulips shoot up from the soil
with bright colors.
Spring comes
and the rolling hills become covered
with yellow dandelions, Read more »

Colors Upfront

Spring comes
and
all the flowers pop up from the
awaiting earth we call our land.
They pop with various color
want to be the color upfront.
Spring comes
and
all you can hear are the newly habited
birds chirping away, getting
soaked in the rain that
ought to come
as well as the sun.
Spring comes
and the animals come back
a bear from hibernation
a coon from hiding.
Spring comes
and
the sun peeks his head through rainy
clouds to brighten up your day.
Speaking of day,
a new life is stated
no more lounging get
up from the couch and go for a bike ride
go for a run.
This is what happens when
your spring comes.

Spring comes
and instead of hot cocoa we drink
cool and refreshing lemonade.
Colorful flowers pop up,
and the bright green grass takes the place
of pure white snow.
Spring comes
and we break out our clothes for the warm
weather to come,
we hear the sweet hum of lawn mowers filling the air.
We hear birds chirping outside of our windows,
and Mothers Day, Easter, and Memorial Day come again.
Spring comes
and the count down ‘til the end of school begins,
we itch to put our bathing suits on
and splash in the cool lake water,
and the stress and excitement of the recital
come into play.
All of these things remind us that
we have gone through another long, cold
Vermont winter.

Spring comes
and we hang the coats in the back of the musty closet
and pull out the flip flops and sandals.
The baseball fields become occupied with
the whack of the ball hitting the bat
and excited kids.
Sing songy calls of chickadees sound
like music to my ears.
Spring comes
and daffodils and tulips pop up and
happily smile at us while bumblebees buzz close by.
Yellow dandelions look like the sun one day
and a fluffy cloud the next.
Spring comes
and we unlock the windows,
letting the cool wind seep into the house.
We wiggle our newly painted toe nails
and munch on juicy melons.
The thick mud squishes when we step on it.
A glance out the window means a smile,
because finally
Spring came.

Out open doors

Spring comes
and beautiful flowers bloom,
the rivers glisten in the sunlight,
the birds chirp in delight,
of the winter leaving the country.
Lacrosse season starts,
the pools open up for people to swim,
lawn mowers start their engines,
the air becomes crisp and warm,
the pavement starts to warm,
and people cool down their cars,
Then school ends and it is summer.

Eben

Spring comes to Waterbury and,
the hot dog lady makes her specialty, and
the stains on my Clyde Whittemore
Little League uniform show themselves again.
Spring comes and,
the sound of lawn mowers purrs again and,
bug spray stings your eyes again.
Spring comes and,
the sound “Splash” is a common sound at the Waterbury
Rez. again,
The smell of burgers on my Dad's grill taunt me.
Spring comes and,
the pop of your baseball bat rings in your ear and,
the feeling of walking into a cool hockey rink after
playing in the hot air hits me again.
Spring comes and,
I get to see my brother again after his college year and,
smell, taste, feel, and sound are what tells us it is
Another Waterbury spring.

Spring comes and...

Tulips and daisies poke their bright heads out of the ground and
sap starts flowing out of maple trees.
The air is grassy and clean and
windowsare  wide open on creemee stands. 
Green mountains start to evolve and
the clouds develop into little white puffs.
I pack the winter clothes and unpack summer clothes and
Bright little leaf buds cover the tree branches.
Bumble bees start to pollinate and
butterflies flap their small wings.

Mallory c.
5/21/12

Open Flags Go Up

Spring comes
and the robins build their little brown nest
with the little blue eggs inside.
The jackets go to rest
and the sweatshirts open their eyes.
The creame stands put their open flags up
and we see the cross country runners run by our house.
Spring comes
and my brother starts to do his “tricks” in our croquet game.
The apple trees shake their blossoms out,
and the vegetables pop out the dirt.
Spring comes
and the sun stays awake longer
and when you put down the car window you smell the freshly mown grass.
Spring comes and the tulips bloom into all colors.

Springs comes and
I kill a soccer ball
in the mist of the early morning
at my first game of the season,
maple sugaring comes to an end
and we boil or last bits of sap
The shorts and tank tops get forcefully taken out
as the jackets and long socks get thrown to the back of our dresser
The lovely aroma of clean cut, green as Shrek grass
takes over our body
We laugh happily as enjoying family dinner on the deck
becomes a daily routine.
The April showers come
and bring the beautiful May flowers,
we try to fit in our last bits of spring skiing
and buy our first pair of cheap flip flops from the drug store.
We search in the back of our garage
for our new old best friend:
the bike
The light sun peaks through our shades just wanting to burst in
to wake us up to the wonderful sounds of spring.

5/16/12

My Annual Spring

When spring comes,
I shear the long grass with the mower.
The airsoft season begins,
and you hear shouts of “HIT!”
I hear the tweet of the whistle
during a damp soccer game early one morning.
The park’s water fountain
sprays cold water once more,
into parched mouths
and the peepers warm up their voices
for the nights of summer.
The bats come out on warm nights hunting bugs.
This is spring.

Stefan Brecher

5-22-12

My Annual Spring

When spring comes,
I shear the long grass with the mower.
The airsoft season begins,
and you hear shouts of “HIT!”
I hear the tweet of the whistle
during a damp soccer game early one morning.
The park’s water fountain
sprays cold water once more,
into parched mouths
and the peepers warm up their voices
for the nights of summer.
The bats come out on warm nights hunting bugs.
This is spring.

Stefan Brecher

5-22-12

The Seasons Start to Change

Spring comes
and the ski resorts close
and the smell of a freshly mowed lawn fills the air.
The sun shines down brightly
as the summer clothes pop out of the boxes.
I feel the cold sensation of chocolate ice cream on my tounge
and the river rushes faster as the ice starts to melt.
The mud starts to form, so out come the mud boots
as the snow turns to rain in the blink of an eye.
I hear the thwack of the softball in the backyard
as bug bites form all over my body.

Dahrian Sheltra
5/17/12

Spring comes
when we set up the deck chairs
under the awning,
see the first bird hop across the driveway,
pouring a new batch of nice,
cold lemonade,
when the sun comes out
and there’s the perfect breeze
brushing into you.
Spring comes when we’re able to be outside
until dinnertime and
smell all the freshly cut grass clippings
next to the blooming tulips
along the driveway.
Spring comes take out the never used before
new flip flops,
see all of the newly painted fields
being filled at the schools,
take down the bikes
and cover the snowmobile.
Spring has come.