Browns River Middle School

Brr. I dipped my feet in the cold waters of lake champlain.I looked out to the beautiful lake. It sparkled in the setting sun. All of a sudden I slipped off the dock! And I could't swim.

I tryed to swim my way back up to the surface but I had swallowed to much water and couldn't see. Then I passed out. My last thought was I'm going to drown.

When I woke up I felt water spraying on my face lightley and the wind rushing in my ears. I slowly opened my eyes I was looking in to the sky. I got up and looked all around I was in the middle of the lake I was happy I was still alive but stuned that I was in the middle of the lake on something that was moving ... fast! I turned my head to see what I was ridding on and stared in shock.

I was riding on the back of champ! I couldn't belive my eyes.Soon we were back on the shore and I got off and champ swam away.

I ran through the woods, running, screaming, the man after me. He was coming closer. A glint of light told me he was carrying a knife in his hand, ready to strike at any moment. The sun shone through the tree tops, blinding my cold, pale face. I couldn’t see. I knew I was going to die. I tripped on an upturned root. My eyes closed, I was falling, falling, dreaming… “Run, run, he’s after you.” “No, NO!” I screamed. I woke up with a fright. It was that dream, that same dream I’d been having for the past few weeks, since the beginning of school. I didn’t know its meaning; I didn’t know why I was always having that dream, it just kept coming back… I fell backward and closed my eyes. Who was this man? In all of my dreams, no matter what angle he was at, no matter what weapon he was carrying, I could never see his face. Was he a person in real life? Or a figment who only appeared in my dreams? I wasn’t sure. I had told my mom about the dream.

As I run through the woods, nature engulfs me. All around me are trees and nothing else. A couple of brown chipmunks with a white and black stripe that run from the tip of their heads to the tip of their tails; a few gray squirrels jumping from tree to tree, and 3 or so wild flowers blazing with bright colors. I slow to a walk to look around. The smell of pine and maple leaves me dizzy in sweet dreams. I finally sit down under a big oak tree and gaze around.
I look at my watch and see that it’s been an hour or so since I left my home to go running, but I don’t get up. Soon the sun starts setting and I find myself getting very sleepy, but I don’t want to go home. The setting sun brightened with red, orange and yellow colors covers everything before saying goodbye for the night.
When the sun finally sets, the darkness amazes me with blues and blacks. I look at the stars and count them as I lie on my back near the oak tree.

I ran through the woods. Someone was trying to kill me. I fell on a rock. Oh no, I thought, now he can catch up to me. I’m going to die! I was just walking in the park when he started chasing me. Luckily my house was just a block away, and that I was a fast runner. I lost him. Thank God.
My mom was home. I told her what happened. She locked all the doors and told me not to go to the park until he was caught. Luckily I am homeschooled, so I wouldn’t have to walk to the bus stop.
My mom is always home. She works from home. I thought I would be safe. I wasn’t. My mom went to the grocery store. I went with her. She sent me to get some apples, and there he was. I was petrified. I ran back to my mom. I told her.
He was still coming. He didn’t know she was my mom. My mom called the police, and he was arrested. I haven’t had any more problems since then. GO MOM!!!

Four years ago we were in the same spot as we are now, king of the hill fourth graders who went to move up day and came back scared and excited. We’re not scared now though, nope, not us, it isn’t possible, right?
When we started fifth grade we clung together in these little groups from the same elementary school groups, but slowly we made friends and now we don’t really think of people in terms of which of the three schools they came from, they’re just kids from our school now, our school.
Think of your little fourth grade self lying in bed four years ago thinking that it is all going to end; that there is no possible way they can leave the school they go to and make friends like the ones they have now. They’re hoping that time will just freeze, and they can lie there in the blackness with the window open listening to the crickets chirping in the spring air forever. But the reality in our wonderful world, is that time does not stop, things change, Monday rolls around, and the bus always shows up to bring us here. To school, for the thing they call education.
And here we are, little fourth grade selves look at us now, sitting in a gymnasium hung with colors we have represented and are leaving behind to be passed on to the fourth graders coming in. They’ll get our lockers, our classes, our teachers. They’ll walk the same hallways learn the same lessons; take our place, because now we are older, wiser, and have far less common sense. Now as they take our place, we are moving on to take someone else’s place, to heckle someone’s teachers, to wear someone’s colors, because that’s what it’s all about. And in four years we’ll be saying, “Little eighth grade me, what were you looking for, what were you scared of? Little eighth grade me, it’ll be ok. Make the best of today and live your life. You don’t know what you’ve got till you lose it.”

Awkward Rose

By Eric Suder
Browns River Middle School, Grade 8

As I sit in the booth
My eyes search for the one I love
A most beautiful angel from above
The one I pray for on stars at night
The only one for me
As she enters this magnificent place
I see the beautiful smile on her face
I give her my awkward rose
And hope she feels the same
As I see her face light up
I know that’s why she came
Because love is just an awkward rose
Waiting for a day to shine
Now I am starting to see
I am hers and she is mine

By Samantha Day
Browns River Middle School, Grade 5

A farmer's work is never done,
When he finishes a chore,
There's always another one.

He must take care of his cattle and sheep.
And chickens and chicks
That go, "Peep! Peep! Peep!"

His horses and other animals too,
A farmer’s life isn’t easy,
His hard work is never through.

When the cattle, horses, and sheep
All go to their warm, soft beds,
And chickens rest their little heads.

And the farmer hears no more
"Peep! Peep! Peep!"
The farmer's hard work is done
And he can finally go to sleep.

Fear's Disgrace

By Moya Cavanagh
Browns River Middle School, Grade 8

Today Fear came to me,
a pretty young woman offering
lies swathed in honey, which
I never cease to believe.

Today Fear reached out to me,
with a soothing hand to ease away
my apprehension.
And when, as always, I had slipped
Into her trap,
She flicked her wrist,
brought her hand back in a slap,
So that the pain and noise echoed from
My cheek bone.

Today Fear came to me,
Swaddling me
with lightning speed,
in bindings woven
from my worst imaginings.

Today Fear spun that cord around my joints,
Her icy fingers leaving my body rigid
As a board,
And my jaw free to babble
about what she had done to me
To the outside world;
Those who cannot see her tie
the last of my bindings to herself,
So as to eternally link us.
So I will never be free of her
Face.

Today Fear took me,
and the reasoning of her persuasive voice
has festered in my flaws.
Branding itself into my skin,

Two days
An eternity
Two years
An instant
Two hours
The longest of my life.
Mints flavor my breath
As I wait
For the birthday
That will never come.

The Teachings of Mud

By Moya Cavanagh
Browns River Middle School, Grade 8

Mud is the soul of us,
The welcomed holy sign of spring
Here,
We have no reservations about it,
Or lie to our selves
About what it has stemmed from.

It is plain to see here;
For the children come,
Clad in their boots
They learn the mud well,
Watch their backs,
For they’ve lost many a shoe,

The game known as “Trouble” lives up to its name in our house hold, in many different ways. Playing games that need to consistently make the most annoying sound possible to function seems to be an obsession of my sister’s. Among her favorites are Ker Plunk, Boggle, Bop-it, Popcorn, and of course, Trouble.

The game known as “Trouble” lives up to its name in our house hold, in many different ways. Playing games that need to consistently make the most annoying sound possible to function seems to be an obsession of my sister’s. Among her favorites are Ker Plunk, Boggle, Bop-it, Popcorn, and of course, Trouble.

To Survive

By Moya Cavanagh
Browns River Middle School, Grade 8

It has been
Said,
All too often,
“When hell freezes over,”
What about
When hell runs in rivers
When it breaks the dams and brings avalanches
Of water in walls and blockades
With tearing destructive power
Hurling the anchors of civilization
Away for something else…

By Moya Cavanagh
Browns River Middle School, Grade 8

Winter’s dress
Is a gown of grace
A veil of white
To hide her face
Gleaming satin skirts
Billowing,
Hems of frosty lace
Pursuing.
Garbed in
Winter’s
Icy Dress,
Chilled to the bone
You lay in wait
Upon that hill,
That winter’s day

For the conquest of winter
Is difficult to escape,

Open your eyes
to the pulse
of the stars,
as they
Dance away,
from the touch
of the day.
Open your eyes,
For the stars are dancing
Away.
Wake,
The sun is rising
Up
to meet
The dark
to spread the light
Awake
The sun is rising.
Rise
The morning wakes
to the singing,
of the trees
Instrumental
to the wind,
playing a symphony,
whispering in song.
Arise