I often wonder how plants feel. It’s hard to comprehend how there can be living organisms that don’t seem alive, such as trees. So still and silent. I remember the house plant growing from a seed, but it seems unbelievable. Every time I look at it, there is no movement. Then one day I notice it has grown a little. When did it grow? I can’t seem to remember. Then sometimes they die. One day it starts to turn brown and disintegrate; no warning, no reason, no explanation. And yet when I think all hope is lost, a little water and sunlight makes a sprout; and the sprout grows, resetting the cycle.

There are some in this world who long to be gargoyles

grotesques and Gorgons with rough, jagged claws

hides thick and tough as stone

silently soaring through dark clouds

until leathery drums of wings and triumphant shrieks

announce that it is too late to run

If kept for too long

our hearts begin to bleed

It leaks out our eyes and onto a page 

a canvas, a notebook, a fabric, a frame

all covered in drool from the ulcer of our souls

hacked up and spit out

the messy birth of doppelganger art

creations that make our skin shiver with gooseflesh

And we tremble with adoration and anguish

relinquishing corporeal thoughts wrecked with emotion

manifestations of our throbbing, vulnerable minds

expectantly--but sick with shame and worry

We make monstrous paintings, sculptures, plays, books

Embedded with teeth from melancholy grins

and flock to libraries, churches, museums

Because we are the guardians

and no one knows more of keeping beauty shut within

than one who longs to be a gargoyle.

United States Department of Education,

I'd like to start off by saying that this is a matter that has multiple ways of approaching it, discussing it, and evaluating it.

I am an eighth grade student who goes to school in the Champlain Valley School District. You sued my school district earlier this week for following a Vermont state policy where transgender students may partake in sports. I repeat, this is a Vermont state policy. Got it?

Great. Now, let's talk about why, exactly, you sued my school district. Was it transphobia that caused you to react in such a manner? Or was it discomfort from a liberal school district in a liberal state doing liberal things? I'm unlikely to figure this out, though, due to the growing population of lies and excuses you and the rest of the government are making at the moment.

I'd like you to be aware that people who are transgender are not only human as well, but humans that have been targeted since before World War 2. In fact, many minority groups, such as Jews, the LGBTQIA+ community, people of color, and disabled people have also been targeted since before you were born. These people have feared for their lives over and over, due to people like you, yet they have courage and bravery to strengthen themselves, to make the three words be used and seen and empowered: diversity, equity, and inclusion. These three words hold power, and by making sure that they would not be spoken, that consequences would occur if taught about them, you all gave yourselves comfort in knowing that there was little to nothing that was more powerful than you, am I right? Well, we're going to keep using those powerful words and saying these powerful things to make sure that everyone - Muslims, Jews, the LGBTQIA+ community, people of color, disabled people, immigrants, migrants, politicians, women, I could go on forever with this list of discriminated against people - gets a chance to feel at ease and relaxed in this world.

Now, imagine this: you are an alien on a planet, and you are with other aliens your age. Some of the other aliens are making fun of your purple skin when they have yellow, your three arms when they have five, and your two eyes when they have three. A week later, they start threatening you. You tell an older alien, but they shrug their five arms and say, they're just joking, live a little! A week after that, the weapons come out. You are very scared, because their threats from last week were not jokes, and your life is in danger. It's not your fault that your skin isn't yellow and you don't have five arms and that you don't have three eyes. It's not your fault that you look this way. You were born like this. Can't they see? You can't change it, and you can't control it. You're just like them on the inside, but they only see the outside.

Think about that. Think about how that would feel, being actively threatened with weapons and even hurt just because you didn't look like the majority. Diversity is important. Sure, there are triangles, but there are also octagons, and ellipses, and rectangles. There are cylinders and pyramids and cubes. See it all, not just one corner of your world. Look at the diversity in the world, and look at everything, not just what you love or hate. Look at all of the people, and really see them, see their lives, and how similar they are to you.

Whatever your excuse is for this action, though, of suing a school district - or multiple schools and school districts across the country - I'd like you to know that despite your hard efforts of instilling extreme fear and chaos in the country to secure your leadership, we are not giving in to this maneuver.

We - as in a people, a group of civilians, a collection of people affected by your shock wave, have grounded ourselves in ways that you can't reverse. We stay strong and continue standing proudly to be ourselves, unwilling to let the ceiling cave in, unwilling to give in and let the weight of the world crush our souls. It's hard, but isn't that life? Life is hard, and yet we've stood strong despite the tsunamis. You don't need to face the tsunamis, though, do you? You have money and power and ICE at your back, with their guns and vans and plane tickets to the Dominican Republic to absorb the overwhelming flood and send it off. And you know what? You can't fight fire with fire, or, for that matter, fire with water. Do you know why? It's because water quenches fire, and overcomes. We will overcome. We will survive, despite your schemes and plans of engulfing us in your flames. We will live to see the day of our freedom, our rights returning to us like Canadian geese returning in the spring. We will hibernate at times to survive, but unlike bears, we will return more powerful when we wake up. We will overcome.

Sincerely,

An eighth grader in Vermont who likes their freedom, their future, and their hopes and dreams not to be crushed by a man who wishes to be king (or, sorry, "unitary executive", same thing.)

you are every eyebrow raise

every smile

frown 

and concealed smirk 

you can't help but show 

on your canvas of a face

when observing you

I notice the fluttering of your much too perfect eyelashes

and focused expression as we watch TV

and see how that changes when you meet my gaze

you shield your face

and hide your smile from me

as if I'm holding a camera

ready to capture you in your least perfect

yet most authentic moment

this is all you

when you tilt your head back

and laugh louder than the music playing on my record player 

eyes closed 

leaned back on the floor of my bedroom 

it's you in vivid color

but when I pass your classroom

as you sit with ten more insecure boys

who put you down 

for a crooked nose

or expressive eyebrows

you're hidden away

but I know the you 

you never let them see 

even if you're blanketed in pungent cologne now 

no longer smelling of dried lavender and laundry detergent

like you always used to 

you're still you

and I hope that you 

never dies

drowning in the deep pool

of adolescence  

Dear, Venezuela and Greenland,

A couple months ago I wrote

A poem apologizing to Canada,

And saying that they DO NOT

Belong to us.

I’m deeply angered,

Saddened,

And heartbroken

That I have to write another.

This time for two countries.

We have no idea

What’s going on.

We have no idea

What will happen next.

I wish I knew how it all plays out in the end.

So, first to Venezuela,

I’m sorry.

And to Greenland and Denmark,

I’m sorry.

This makes up for none of it,

And we don’t deserve to be forgiven.

—one of millions of fearful Americans.

The sky wears billowing gowns, layers

Upon layers of silk fluttering

With the breeze, and

She dances in it with ease, never

Tripping or stumbling but

Forever stretching out her arms;

She smiles with the sun, and

Her eyes, which

Forever bear the mark

Of the stars, twinkle as

Her blue face flushes

With the clouds, freckles

Of birds countless and soaring, and

Hearts flutter like their wings when

They catch a glimpse;

She embraces everyone with

Beauty and with grace, and

She forever expands her reaches so

It is clear how endless

Her love is stretched so

Thin but

Even the most tattered blanket can

Bear the warmth of a hug;

She isn’t tattered, though, and

She welcomes all in her kingdom, and

Why is it that people refuse to

Stare up at the sky and

Consider Her Majesty a

Wonder of leadership

To behold?

Mi portóncito

My little gate that swings me across the same arc across the tile patio floor;

the cold metal gray bars pressed to my face, hanging on to

Mi portóncito- the one taking me home

takes me to all the places and people that I’ve known and loved
            Seen Come and Go

Through the in-between-bars I can see the familiar creaky swings fly high
        the same swings that brought me so close to touching the leaves, las hojas to write my story, with my bare feet

Flip-flops tossed aside, reaching, stretching towards this little piece of freedom

When it opens, my Portón opens the world to me, and takes me home

Secure, strong, forgotten
Taken for granted

Mi portóncito 

Say you're a president.

Not a king.

If that's true then what's happening in Venezuela? 

You removed a ruthless dictator, yes,

but you just replaced him with another.

And what happened to Renee Good the other day?

The mother of 3,

the poet with a whistle.

Be honest with yourself,

you're a king that's obsessed with power.

If you say you're not,

then prove it.

Nobody will believe you otherwise.