The day is bright. Full of sunshine. But there is darkness in the air. You can feel it thrumming against your skin. Pulling on your hair. It tries to slow you down as you run. But you resist. Resist. Resist. You know that you are sprinting. But you feel as if you’re trying to run through molasses. The darkness is playing with your mind. You keep running. If you can get to the end, you’ll be safe. So you keep on running. Trying to reach the end that will never come.

Note: constructive criticim is appreciated! 

 

she used to be amorphous,
she used to pour herself like wine 
into a glass and become a new shape. 
she used to cascade down rocks and leave 
bits of her soul in between crevices and cracks. 
she used to be inexorable, ineffable. 
but now i see her and i am overcome 
with the feeling of loss. 
like she’s gone somewhere without telling me. 
and i shake in my bed, under ten comforters but still somehow cold, just wishing i could grasp her warmth in my own hands and whisper to her as she sleeps
’please don’t ever grow up without me’

Please state your name and the power you wish to have.
I hang up.
7.5 billion people will try to get a power today.
Except for me.
I don't need a superpower to feel special.
I don't need to fly or create rainbows.
I just need a pencil and paper.
And then I can write.
My "superpower" comes from within.
If only the rest of the world would see that they don't need powers.
That they are perfect just the way they are.
Someday
The ones who will be remembered
Are not the winners
Not the superheros
But the ones who wrote down the message of the world.
The ones who understood that you need to work hard to overcome challenges.
That will be me.
Let's hope they never forget.

 

The book Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson is about a yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia, 1793. The whole city turns frantic and hectic with the pestilence, and only the strongest can make it through alive. Matilda Cook is a  young woman growing up in her family’s coffeehouse. She struggles to survive as everything she loved is demolished by a terrible epidemic. Halse Anderson utilizes many elements of literature including characterization, plot, and imagery to help the reader understand how Matilda struggles to grow up as a woman in a city influenced by the roles she must play, from wearing painful clothing to being compared to racehorses. By analyzing these elements of literature, we can compare Matilda’s journey to current events that affect our world today, like so many factors afflicted her’s.

The ship sails through the still ocean
At top speeds under the cloudy moon,
Wind rustling through the sails.

The smell of salt hits me and sticks to my dress
And tangled hair.
A sword hangs off my hip,
The silver glinting in the night,
My hand rests gently on it as I walk to the wheel.

The waves start to role in
Pushing the boat back and spraying the deck,
Birds that are to afraid to fly sit on the posts
Squak in fear.

The storm comes closer, purple lightning scrapes the sky
Letting the blood of rain pour down.
It will be fine I whisper
And turn the ship taking to the storm.

The birds become restless
Their trust in me becomes faint
But I will not let anything die.

The acid rain touches the ship and moves over me
I ground my feet and pull a bottle out,
I grab hold of the storm letting it go through my fingers

      Billions of people. One wish. One chance.

      I close my eyes and begin to think. Certainly people will choose things like flying, invisibility, or something cliché. They’ll waste their opportunity. I’ll have to really think hard about this. This is my only chance. I have an idea, but someone will definitely think of it, so I must make it more unique, but that will make it even harder. I only have today to think about it and decide. I have to take my time and think of something unique but I must also hurry before it’s too late.

      I sigh and sit at my piano, playing a parts of a few songs I know. I can’t read sheet music and I’m certainly not an expert on playing the piano. I could ask to become better, instantly learning every song I want and performing perfectly, but that’s cliché and someone surely would have chosen that power. I continue to think, trying to find something that is unique.

I hear the man yell “next” and I take a step forward. Only 5 more people to go before I’m up. I'm about to have the power of my dreams. I can't wait to take the warm weather from Florida and slam them with snowstorms. I’ll then put the warm weather and sunshine in Vermont. I'll be able to take and distribute weather wherever I want.

Don't get me wrong I know winter is a Vermont thing and we do definitely need it… but we could cut it short or have a break from it once in a while. Like wow 3 feet of snow, negative temperatures, wind, ice on roads… we could do without it.

I'll take the weather from all over the world and put it wherever I want. It would be evil on my part but I would also have a lot of fun. I could be warm when I wanted and cold when I needed. I could make those Florida weirdos experience some real cold weather for once not fifty degree weather they think is so cold.

The soccer ball flies in between her legs. It twists through the air like a living thing - like a wild animal ravaging the grass in its rage.The ball slides gracefully in between the oppenents legs, while she flashes by, not letting her eyes off the goal for a second. Flip - turn - she sprints down the sideline. Two players draw closer and closer, until she fakes them out - leaving them in a pile of corpses behind her. Sweat drips down her forehead - the only thing in her mind is to push on through the pain. She crosses the half-way mark- swoop, she spins the ball into the air in a perfect rainbow. Thump! Thump! Thump! The ball tears through everything in its path, shooting up a trail of dust. “Here! Here!” a teammate calls. She glances up for just a second - it’s not worth it. Coach yells at her to run faster. Faster! Pushing even harder would mean even more pain. She pushes harder.