podcast

Dreamer.wav

You appeared several times Read more »

Next bounce!.mp3

So I think this is ready for some feedback. It's a work in progress, and not even close to half done. So tell me what you think. I was picturing a character in one of my stories when I was doing it, thus the title happened. 

Here’s a short excerpt from a longer piece titled “What Stranger? That’s Me in the Photo.” A reminiscence inspired by this actual photo.

What Stranger? That's Me in the Photo.
By Jack Dabagian
Grade Eleven, Milton High School

I had no idea what lay ahead of me. Only focusing on the present, taking carpe diem way to literally. Every photo of my childhood, every single time my face shows up in one of the million photos in my family's photo albums, they all show similar themes: sad or happy. Never a middle ground for emotions when I grew up. I either had the time of my life or was losing all sense of control.

But regardless of my emotional state, when I was aware of my picture being taken, I always smiled. I only appeared distressed in photos when I wasn't ready for a photo to be taken. Some photos are when my mom mandated me to sit or stand somewhere, either with my sisters, relatives, or myself in all my own glory. Other photos are taken like a tourist on an African safari, and I'm the animal. Read more »

Shut Up Mom Just Five More Minutes.mp3

She nags and she pleads

Screams “Get out of bed, please!”

I’d yell, “Five more minutes!”

Shed reply, “Goodbye, car privileges.”

I suppose it’s her job,

To make my life hell

After I spent so long

Making hers hell too

Eighteen years of shenanigans

It’s amazing that she still can

Put up with me daily

Without trying to strangle me

I guess it’s her duty

To keep my on my toes

And although it annoys me

I suppose she’s annoyed too

She’s the spine of the family

And sometimes it’s quite scary

When she’s at the end of her rope

Best not to get too close

Maybe she’s a superhero

When I get on her nerves

Maybe she’s a god, or

Maybe she just loves me

Sometimes she upsets me

Irritates and dictates me

And although she’s a terror

She’s my mom, and I love her

Mountain Top

by Aiden Ellis

Grade 12

Think back to when you used to be so high
You rarely spoke and I refused to cry
but its coming back the days gone by
it's just a fact the hammer split your soul

You'll sing off a mountain top,
But nobody knows,
Nobody hears.
But please don't you ever stop.

It seems you don't recall the beating of the drum.
You're taking what you can not caring who it's from.
It's just as if it all was new,
and you had no one to answer to.

You'll sing off a mountain top,
But nobody knows,
Nobody hears.
But please don't you ever stop.

It All Amounts to Silence

by Margaret Slate

Grade 11

I walk a lonely road, full of lovely black dresses
And black parades with marching bands playing too-sad songs
All full of all too-big words, sung all too loudly just
Amounting to silence.

I’m no hero, just a person paying my rent
To live in this not-so-fair world full of
Not-so-nice people that shout too-loud speeches that only end up
Amounting to silence

So after years of built-up lies, memories and complaints
And old cobwebs and coffin-nails forced in too hard,
Boards hammered unrelentingly again and again, it’s all just sitting there,
Amounting to silence Read more »

Compound Eyes Convict Me.mp3

Everyone else would see just a fly on the wall

But I know the truth

I see you for what you are, “insect”

I see you stare, and it’s hardly fair

That you chose to antagonize me

Me! Of all people! Why?

Because I see you silently judging

Silently tormenting

Silently torturing

Silently silent

Because I can hear in that silence

Every wrong word, every quiet curse

Everything I have ever said

And it burns

Because I see behind your eyes

Every misdoing, every transgression

Every false play I have ever made

And it stings

I see you watch

As if you would have the final say

As if you would seal the gates of Hell behind me

As if you would be my undoing

And maybe you’re right

To antagonize, to judge

To torment and torture

And to silently wait until my end

Because you know

You know my guilt, and my pain

You’ve seen my shortcomings

You’ve heard the things I wish I’d said differently

And you know what I’d be willing to do

To do it all another way

So maybe you should hold the trigger

Maybe you should tip the scales

Maybe you know

But I’m not sure how I really feel

With my lies and my life in the eyes of a fly

Bouncing Red Ball

by Sasha Fenton

Grade Eight

Sometimes
I sit and wonder
I sit in front of a blank page
I hold a pencil in my hand
And wonder.

What is it that makes us writers?
What is it that motivates us?
What is it that gives us ideas?
What is it that makes us constantly think?
Think of what we could use?
What we can gather from the world,
And put into words?

What is it that turns our minds,
From a red ball bouncing in a metal room,
Into a Read more »

1366943254.wav

Anyone notice how hopelessly broken

Our TV screens seem to be?

We’ve been raised on it since we were children

But now the cracks are all I see.

The news divides the nation,

A place where suicide is advertised,

We’ve destroyed this generation

With all we’ve monopolized,

Fear and makeup is all I see,

War is painted on the screens,

And death is served with morning coffee,

Replacing our lingering sweet dreams, Read more »

1366059038.wav

One thousand peas.

peas are my worst enemies

please dont make me eat em!

1366058781.wav

Most people think they

Aren't afraid of anything

That is so not true.

If they weren't afraid,

They would be lost already

Now that is the truth.

I think it's true that

Everyone is afraid of

Something in they're life.

They just won't admit.

If we share out our fears,

We will all be respected.

Mr. Paddington

by Roland Downey

I stood at the window, watching the red taillights disappear into the inky blackness of the night. I waited, hoping that suddenly I would see the bright whites of the car rushing back down the dead-end road, but as they turned the corner far, far away, I knew that would be the last time I ever saw her.

I slowly turned around, to face my almost empty house. Now that all the big boxes of clothing and furniture were gone, the house seemed too big, too lonely. I walked away from the front window, towards the dining room, where I expected the other occupant of the house to be.

As I shuffled my way down the long hall, my thoughts started to overwhelm me, and brought me to my knees.

You're gone. You've actually left me, and I'll never see you again. I can't make amends for what happened, I can't just say ‘I'm sorry,' anymore. I wish I could. I truly loved you, you know. I messed up once, but I'm not going to be able to fix it. I'm sorry.

Darkness began to close around me, as my tears streamed down my face, and I slumped towards the ground even farther. I sobbed openly for the first time in what must have been 15 years. I couldn't even see the wall in front of me I was crying so hard. Read more »

That Taunting Spider

by Emily Slate

Grade Nine

All the memories,
All the days gone by,
All the hours I spent with you,
Are gone.
Because everything that was right,
Was wrong. Read more »

I stood at the window, watching the red taillights disappear into the inky blackness of the night. I waited, hoping that suddenly I would see the bright whites of the car rushing back down the dead –end road, but as they turned the corner far, far away, I knew that would be the last time I ever saw her.

I slowly turned around, to face my almost empty house. Now that all the big boxes of clothing and furniture were gone, the house seemed too big, too lonely. I walked away from the front window, towards the dining room, where I expected the other occupant of the house to be.

As I shuffled my way down the long hall, my thoughts started to overwhelm me, and brought me to my knees.

You’re gone. You’ve actually left me, and I’ll never see you again. I can’t make amends for what happened, I can’t just say ‘I’m sorry,’ anymore. I wish I could. I truly loved you, you know. I messed up once, but I’m not going to be able to fix it. I’m sorry.

Darkness began to close around me, as my tears streamed down my face, and I slumped towards the ground even farther. I sobbed openly for the first time in what must have been 15 years. I couldn’t even see the wall in front of me I was crying so hard.

Dear, I only got drunk once, it was only once that I messed up. Why couldn’t you let me screw up, why did I have to be perfect? You do realize that perfection is impossible, and whoever you’re going out with now will not be perfect either. Right? Read more »

bouncingredball2.mp3

bouncingredball3.mp3

Sometimes

I sit and wonder

I sit in front of a blank page

I hold a pencil in my hand

And wonder.

What is it that makes us writers?

What is it that motivates us?

What is it that gives us ideas?

What is it that makes us constantly think?

Think of what we could use?

What we can gather from the world,

And put into words?

What is it that turns our minds,

From a red ball bouncing in a metal room,

Into a

Brilliant light,

A paradise of tales

A new world full of new people

A place that anyone can be anything?

What is it that makes us different?

What do others do?

Instead of searching the world

For a tale to be told?

What is it that makes them not see the characters

Pounding against the glass door of imagination

Telling you to come and play

To come and get lost in their world?

What happens in that metal room?

When we use the world to come up with new ideas?

I keep sitting here

And looking at the first hundred or so words of my story,

And completely re-writing it to be in a different voice

But I soon realize that there is nothing.

Nothing that may be as perfect as what I have already.

Life is like a story

Forever going

But having to end at some point

To have that last page

but with the story forever held within.

We all write Read more »

Driving is Scary so I do it With My Eyes Closed

by Noah Smith

I was never exceedingly good
At focusing
Or staying in one place for too long
So most of what I say Is my wishful thinking
Grabbing the wheel
And driving off into the sunset
As we drive past dead towns and cities I will wonder
About better ways to fade away
And better ways to die
Or worse days to let go
And lose control
And wonder how I still move forward
So, if life really is a highway Read more »

That Taunting Spider

All the memories,

All the days gone by,

All the hours I spent with you,

Are gone.

Because everything that was right,

Was wrong.

Everything that I knew to be true,

Was nothing more than a well spun lie,

By the spider that taunted me from its web,

Where it looked down upon me and smirked,

Because it knew. Read more »

My latest poem, brought to you in sound form!

A present for everyone.

Another present for everyone.

Hello good citizens of YWP! I have brought you some poems for your reading AND listening pleasure. First I would like to post the words to all of my poems that I am uploading. (They may not match the recordngs 100%. Sue me, I'm bad at talking.)

1) Dancing with Puppets:

You know, it hurt

When I tripped and cracked

My metaphorical skull on

The proverbial pavement

But I got up

And licked off my wounds

Cause I did not want you to see

Or tell any other soul

And the truth is

That after all this

I never fully recovered

Or at all for that matter

And every day

I’ve done stupid things

To make it look like I wasn’t

Missing some bits and pieces

I walked around

While missing a leg

So I crawled off into the woods

And found a wooden decoy

And I tied it up with string

To make my ruse more convincing

When I limp away

All by myself

But I’m dancing with puppets

Held by strings made of iron chains

That move me because

That’s all I am

And you had asked, “did it hurt?”

When I cut out my heart with words

And I responded

With just a nod

While they all yank on my chains

For that is how I learned to walk

And how I learned to

Lie through my teeth

So I’m waiting for someone

With just a small bit of mercy

Stored inside their soul

To set me free

  Read more »

Podcast of "Silence"

I walk a lonely road, full of lovely black dresses

And black parades with marching bands playing too-sad songs

All full of all too-big words, sung all too loudly just

Amounting to silence. Read more »

The Sky Laughs and Cries

Avery McLean

Grade 7

She loved the way you

Always laughed with her.

At secrets that only

Believers can see.

Because you taught her that

Pretending is

Different than believing.

That sometimes imagining is

Knowing, not just

Wishing. Read more »

Everyone's a Critic

by Aiden Ellis

Grade 12

Woodstock Union High

Out of his reach
He said, "Lord I do not mean to beseech.
But I'm a preacher, can you teach me how to preach?"
Crashing wave,
I know that I'll be workin till the grave,
I'm a slave, Can you teach me to behave

Everyone's a critic in the end
But it's what you choose to do with judgment
That matters here my friends Read more »

Fine is an Ugly Word

Clara Henderson

Grade 9

It's sad when you don't feel special no more.
Makes your thoughts all jumbled
And your smile all sore.
Makes that mask you've been wearing
Feel just like your skin
And I'm not sure I like
This fake skin that I'm in.
And I'm not sure I like all these cellophane people
With their looking-glass thoughts
And their dirtied up steeples Read more »

1362683933.wav

I am a vessel, a soul, a mind with a body and a name, a story with time constraints, I am the cosmos, a dot, questionable like an ink blot. I am a connection.

Come and Go(3).mp3

https://soundcloud.com/dj-green-knees/come-and-go-feat-patricia

Home.mp3

Hold on, to me as we go
As we roll down this unfamiliar road
And although this wave is stringing us along
Just know you’re not alone
Cause I’m going to make this place your home

Settle down, it'll all be clear
Don't pay no mind to the demons
They fill you with fear
The trouble it might drag you down
If you get lost, you can always be found

Just know you’re not alone
Cause I’m going to make this place your home

Settle down, it'll all be clear
Don't pay no mind to the demons
They fill you with fear
The trouble it might drag you down
If you get lost, you can always be found

Just know you’re not alone
Cause I’m going to make this place your home
 

Clocks
By Lydia Smith
Ninth grade

The last screw in place, He tenderly shuts the door. A final twist to the knob on the back brings the gears to life.  Pride etched on every feature, He gently passes the tiny clock to waiting hands, eager to display it in their home.  Fragile and fresh, the little arms tick, telling the time on its shining face.  The clock strikes one, a sweet note.  A little scratch adorns the back, but none can see the fault, hidden behind Read more »

A new song by Anna

This is a song done to a common lullaby, All the Pretty Horses