By Mary Ames
SABINO HIGH SCHOOL

The numbers come, they chain me,
Taunting all the while.
Equations, they restrain me
As derivatives do smile.
Integrals laugh and rejoice,
For all the while they know
The protesting of my voice
Is all for not but show.
And now I feel them tugging
At the corners of my mind,
And I feel I am lugging
A mountain’s weight behind
For when in life shall I need
To know or comprehend
A falling board’s change in speed
If I tug on the end?
Why should I do a page of work
For an answer of just pi?
And the numbers slink and lurk,
chuckling at my mute cry.

corn rows

By April Conway
TUCSON HIGH MAGNET SCHOOL

your black itches my skin
I saw your
premonition
when I was sixteen
you laid on sheets,
corn rows and plum lips,
in a corner studio room
I stood over a city blinking dusk on fire red & orange
body pure silhouette
you waited for me
to return to our heat.

I chased fireflies when I was sixteen
I saw them fall out of a storm after I ran through heat wild orange orchids
glimmer of deer flanks shimmering in corn rows
gray clouds belly full
as heaven fell on me.

juxtapose
does not alter the itch your black brings
from earth in either direction
my love is fierce.

The Lost Soul

By Amber Hernandez
PALO VERDE HIGH SCHOOL

His name is D.
At one time he knew what he wanted to be.
His dreams were severely destroyed
Quickly made null and void.
The monster who did this
did not care about his wish —

The standards people set for him made his future look grim.
All that was ever given to him
Was trifles and tribulations.
Wasn’t allowed to live to his expectations.
It was always there before his face
Never letting him establish his own grace . . .

Trying not to let the monster get him down
He still walks through life with a frown.
Night after night he lies in bed
Tears softly trickling down his head.
No one can ever know what he is feeling
His soul is what the monster is stealing.

Inside he feels like a weathered shelf
Trying not to crumble into itself.
One day to the monster’s dismay
He slays her — in a haze of gray.

Tears of a Clown

By Kimberly Merlin
AMPHITHEATER HIGH SCHOOL

I smile when I am sad.
I make people laugh when I feel bad. To everyone I’m just a clown
that can make them happy
when they’re down.
When I sit in my room the tears
I can’t hold back, the memories
come rushing back.
I cry but no one sees that the tears
of this clown are real.
Who will be there for me?
Who will pick me up when I am down?
Who will see the things I see?
Who will feel what I feel?
Who will see that this clown is hurting?
Who will realize that the tears of this
clown are real?

By Katie Marie Preszler
AMPHITHEATER HIGH SCHOOL

Yo estoy sentada en ropa negra.
Yo estoy sentada en la oscuridad.
Yo pienso de lo que era.
Yo pienso de lo que es.
Lloro,
Grito.

Él está muerto.
Se ha ído para siempre.
Ya no puedo hablar, andar, o jugar
con él.

Él está muerto.
Yo lo perdí.
Porque era mi hermano.

My Brother (translation)

I sit in black clothes.
I sit in darkness.
I think of what was. I think of what is.
I cry,
I yell.

He is dead.
He is gone forever.
Now I can not talk, walk, or play
with him.

He is dead.
I miss him.
For he was my brother.

Tribal illness

By Rita Romero
YOUTH STORE FRONT

the roots of my words
and i touch my face
i cover my eyes
i sink into the corner
resist the pull
calling the others
this sweat resembles
when the days begin
can’t remember
but feel the hate
every side superior
nothing wrong with me
like rotting organs

are nervous gestures
like i am made of glass you can’t see me
twice daily
arsenic and antifreeze
towards the sun
tears resembling sadness
cannot open my eyes
inequalities, responsibilities
hot sunshine absorbed
smirking like mirrors
but everything inside
in stomach curling up

Blackbirds

By Mary Ames
SABINO HIGH SCHOOL

Blackbirds line the fences
messengers of doom
they dare even the swift cat
to touch one onyx feather.

Their hoarse laughter echoes
as they mock the world
and the inhabitants
namely those smaller than they.

Beady eyes glimmer
with a cruel humor
as they attempt to intimidate
a would-be foe.

A person walks by,
and glances at them.
Bravado broken, they flee
to the treetops

Where, safe again,
their laughter echoes
at the cat and the sparrow
below.

Some Love

By Heather Bond
TUCSON HIGH MAGNET SCHOOL

Take away your sadness
accept all your pain.
Die to grant your wishes,
understand the same.
Hope to know your dreams,
What is on your mind?
Get into your thoughts
you’re truly one of a kind.
Explain yourself to me,
not one word was said.
Actions speak much louder,
don’t think, yet feel instead.