MPitS - Laytonville High School

MPitS

Laytonville High School
2008/2009

[untitled]

It was a hot, dry day in June, when all of a sudden total silence was upon us.
The horses were stirring, pacing back and forth.
Rearing and running, they wouldn’t hold still, they couldn’t.
They were in a trance.
We couldn’t stop them. We didn’t try. We just watched and wondered.
Suddenly we knew, their pacing got faster. They reared up and kicked at the sky.
They raced from here to there, not holding still for a second.
They were scared out of their minds. They were in flight mode.
Then we heard it, thunder. We saw it, lightning.
They went crazy with fear. They broke fences, ran in circles, and didn’t stop.
They were trying to escape, to where they didn’t even know.
It happened every few minutes.
They calmed down for a second because it started to rain,
but the second it stopped, their craze came back.
We start hearing sirens. The horses do too. They start acting like race horses.
They jump 5-foot fences, they kick and break the wood.
They won’t stop, not to eat or breathe.
They only stop to drink water.

Nicole
Grade 12, Laytonville HS
Dan Roberts, Poet Teacher

Fade to Black

The flames, they merge and split
recoil, hissing and spitting
and then sigh and move forward
as if to a lover.
Flames
Are all flames one?
If they are all the same,
then what of the blue
ones - the heart
the violet ones - the mind
the red and orange and yellow-gold bodies
in which the green spirit leaps and jubilates?
Flames are born the same,
they are alike, yes.
Mercurial in shape, intensity, and intention
a friend one moment, an unstoppable traitor the next.
At once they are all.
The facets of the nature of the fire
are many, are complex.
They are born the same,
they grow the same,
but only some will achieve the greatness
which devoured the Hindenburg,
while others, yet striving,
are slowly choked out.
...Fade to black.

Kelsey
Grade 11, Laytonville HS
Dan Roberts, Poet Teacher

Fire

1
Fire: my heat, my weapon, my source
Harmful when touched but
gentle when surrounded.
Fire is not only an element but is
a desire inside all of us
I am fire, I have its strength
Fire always has a lasting effect
I hold that honorable power
After fire comes growth of fresh birth life.
Life never before seen is created by fire.
Fire burns, destroys, kills but fire also
cleans, renews, and nurtures the planet
giving back its own nutrients.
I am fire in human form
we are all fire in ways unimaginable
We like fire create, destroy, grow,
and start over.
We like fire take what is ours.
2
Sweeping over hillsides devouring dry
dead grass is our fire.
Burning down houses and destroying
landmarks is our fire.
Once created it’s very hard to stop.
Fire: the lightest force, hardest to quit.
After a long burn of a pasture, a new fresh
life starts to form.
Fire gives back a new start at life.
Fire is the burner of barriers.

Lydia
Grade 11, Laytonville HS
Dan Roberts, Poet Teacher

My Grandfather’s Hands

Emotions leak from the old weary hands of my grandfather
They tell stories of love and hate
Hands helpless
Expressions of life shown here
A strong firm handshake to people unknown
The softness to whom he loves
His hands are like a mystery
Where have they been?
Where will they go?
The beat of a heart
The bang of a hammer
Life fills his palm with scars of untold stories
The head of a newborn once held here
Now they rest across his chest
In an eternal sleep

Desiree
Grade 11, Laytonville HS
Dan Roberts, Poet Teacher

Hands Off

My hands hold my secrets
They let me tell my history
My hands are who I am today, the expression of feelings and needs
They are motivation; terror or bliss
They are my emotions, rather a hit or a kiss
My hands are my options and my decisions
My hands know me better than me or you
My hands will never lie, they’ll always be true
My hands are my spirit raised high to the sky
and they will still be there when I die

Audrey
Grade 10, Laytonville HS
Dan Roberts, Poet Teacher

[untitled]

We are as one
earth, forest, water, nature and time
a family that lives and dies together.
Time is always changing appearances.
Nature gives you the skills,
earth gives you its resources
water gives the solution.
Trees have no boundaries
water holds nutrients to replenish
with enough time nature will grow strength.
Man is only one of nature’s children.
Man can last the times only if he
holds fast to the gifts from our family.

Ashley
Grade 11, Laytonville HS
Dan Roberts, Poet Teacher

[untitled]

I am the Malakai fish, swallowing falling stars
I am the mountain daring to pop the sky with its peak
I am the laughter of small children
I am unique like the one brown moth in a series of silver
I am lost like a bird that doesn’t know how to fly
But in my confusion I know I am lost, so therefore found
I am the essence of troubled times
I am free to do with myself what I will
I am a gift to the lone blue pebble in the lagoon,
completely obvious, yet obsolete, mysterious
I am nobody, therefore I can be everything
I will always be free
I am not going to be swept away,
because I will flow
I am the one white hair in my mother’s head

Sean
Grade 9, Laytonville HS
Dan Roberts, Poet Teacher

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