the bird on fire

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New Year, New You–Is that really true?

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By 8th-Grade Blogger Soleil Antle 

It’s the start of 2026, but to me it still feels like 2025. When I think of the saying new year, new you, I wonder if that’s really true. I believe that people can change but not because of the tick of a clock. I think that no matter how hard one tries, the same things they hold onto get carried into the next year–that could be romance, a feeling, a memory, an item. I don’t think that a new year really defines a new personality for someone. This is an original poem based on my experiences with the passing of time. 


A New Chapter?

I count down the minutes as the clock ticks. 
I watch the uneven hands move slowly,
Wondering what this new year has for me.
I hear loud chanting as the fireworks rip
Across the dark night sky, 
The smell of tacos in the air.
The clocks finally change.
It’s now a new year.
I see others’ smiles big and content,
But the same thoughts still circle my head. 
A new year has come, 
Though I still hold on to the past 
Where memories arose, and emotions lapsed. 
Days go by quickly, 
yet I still write with a five at the end. 
I turn to my resolutions,
Which I have yet to begin.
People act differently but are entirely the same.
New year, new you – is that really true?
For some reason I believe that a change of a clock
Doesn’t define who you are, or who you want to be. 
People seem as if everything is okay,
As if nothing bothers them. 
But I bet they are just trying to fit in.
We shield what’s on our face, all for what? 
Our true feelings and thoughts are the ones that matter.
I still carry things from the past:
How is that so bad? New year, new you?
It isn’t true for me.

Prepared for Poetry?

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PVS Blogger Soleil Antle on What’s New in the PVS Neighborhood

This month Palm Valley students will be participating in our annual Poetry Recitation competition. Middle-school finalists have the opportunity to recite their poems in front of an all-middle-school assembly; and while our upper-school finalists have that same opportunity with an upper-school assembly, they are also eligible to move on and participate in “Poetry Out Loud”–a national recitation contest. Two years ago, Mirabelle Lee (Class of ‘25) made it to the California State Poetry Out Loud Finals and placed second! This year we are aiming for that first-place spot. 

Students have selected their poems in preparation for the exciting event ahead. Classroom competitions are taking place this week. The PVS Middle-School Finals will be held on Friday, November 14, in the MPR. The Upper-School Finals will take place the following Friday, November 21. Both take place during Firebird Time, from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Parents are invited to both assemblies. English teacher Ms. Zachik said the events are worth seeing because not only is it “an English teacher’s dream to listen to students recite poetry,” it moves parents, too.

Palm Valley School Middle-School Poetry Recitation Finalists 2023

The Beast Inside Its Beauty

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By 8th-Grade Blogger Soleil Antle  

Sarah challenged us to write about The Beauty and the Beast of Things. Sarah explains, “I think everything, beautiful or not, has a ‘beast’ in it. For example, a mountain has a lot of beauty, but it can also be seen as a beast with its landslides and avalanches. Also, the sun produces a sunset, which is gorgeous but when too close, it becomes a scorching hot star.” Sarah challenged us to describe a thing in detail–addressing the positive and the negative of it.

Soleil responds with a look at the beauty and the beast of relationships.

I’m sure anyone has that one person whom they loved so deeply at some point in their life but was betrayed by. It’s hard to imagine a time when they were your core, and now all that’s left is a distant memory. I can’t express the physical destruction it causes, but I know it’s not a pain that goes away quickly. Both love and companionship can be described as beautiful and substantial, but there’s a beast hidden inside its beauty. Not every love story works out nor does a lifetime of commitments, but that is life, and in every fairy tale someone usually gets hurt. This is an original poem about the complexities of someone you once loved turning unloving. 

Winds Change

Always be ready to lose anyone
Because people change like seasons. 
They say they’re there forever
But still end up leaving, as if you meant nothing. 
One second you’ll breathe the same air,
Your joy and laughter are untamable.
The next it's all a distant memory,
One you can hardly remember.

When you stop giving, you see who’s genuine.
When you stop talking you see who actually cares.
Silence is power.
Loyalty is strength.
And truth is reality.

My mind wanders
As the illusion of you roams free in my mind; 
Maybe you left your mark
Embedded in my brain
Reminding me to forget 
That someday I will see you again,
As you left this hurt to me.

I’ve seen the scars you hide beneath– 
The tears shield inner peace.
I would’ve stood by you, so caught in the dark.
But you are not the only one who’s lost.
We could have taken on the world just us;
not anymore. 

There’s no right place to be.
And though I can’t bring you back,
And I don’t wish for another like that, 
It still hurts to breathe
From long ago
when you dug that hole so deep in me. 

Loyal, I once thought you were,
But you crushed me like dried leaves.
Now all we share is our community of air 
And the silence of our old joy.
Nothing is forever, as seasons pass through.
Be ready to lose someone.
Hearts and courage hold truth.

People come and they go in your life, but your true friends are there forever. A person’s mental health is always affected after losing someone or something so special. When you imagine their laugh or smile again, it hurts more than physical pain, but that is the risk we take for love, isn’t it? Sometimes the good things in life don’t last, but they add to the story of your journey.

Faded Smiles

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By 8th-Grade Blogger Soleil Antle 

Our PVS bloggers wanted to explore emotions. Soleil turned to verse. She’s capturing an exchange that happened recently, an exchange that prompted layers of emotions–including, and most strikingly, sadness.

When I think of a strong emotion, sadness comes to mind, the aches and pains, without the blood or the scrapes, a constant reminder of regrets that dangle over your head, like a moment you missed that could’ve changed your life. Your efforts to move past that grief and despair create a hole so large that only greater pain can make an impact. You don’t know how much you love something until you can’t have it. For me, the heartache and sadness occurred in a missed conversation.

An original poem for people who have regrets when talking to a loved one–by Soleil Antlle

The nothingness I feel in my lungs
Conspires against what once was.
Words pour outside your mouth
Not ones I listen to, but ignore. 
Your presence annoys me. 
I’m not sure why,
But in the end I’m not the same. 

Wrinkles fade as smiles turn into frowns.
Hurt, confusion as you look at me.
My sassy smirk of a face grins.
Memories of you holding my hands,
Teaching me to fold, hugging me tight,
Those boastful moments you had about me–
I don’t care; it's ancient history. 

You look at me and see a toddler,
Though I’ve changed. 
Still you imagine my old actions,
A little one who loved so deep.
I’ve moved on to a new journey, 
One too hard for you to climb.

The thoughts of you hold me back, 
But I yearn for one thing as I leave–
A conversation of sentimental exchange,
One where I tell you I love you, 
Though I never did get that conversation 
As I drove away watching you wipe your tears.

The same depth of emotion that makes it so hard for people to hide their feelings is also what frightens them when trying to reveal their heartbreaking vehemence. For me, not being able to have that single conversation has kept me thinking of what could’ve been in those moments. I missed a talk that could’ve patched a broken relationship. – Soleil

Summer at the Beach

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By 6th-Grade Bloggers Reagan Kaminsky and Greenlee Bartley

Summer is coming up, and we are very excited, to say the least. This week’s blog post was free for all, so we decided to write a poem about a beach day with our best friends (each other) during the summer. We hope you enjoy!

–Reagan and Greenlee



I rolled down my window, took in the salty air.
We halted to a stop. I stepped out like I didn’t care.

Then, our eyes met, in one quick moment
My best friend for the summer, the greatest bestowment.

We checked into our room, just to get changed.
The beach always comes first we silently arranged.

Bright sun gleaming, fills the sky with orange and pink.
Sunset on the beach, the best time, we think.

Then, the next day, the cycle repeats–
The best summers of all, our trips to the beach.

An Ode to Morgan

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By Middle-School Blogger Soleil Antle

As you might know, seventh graders Morgan Richardson and Soleil Antle are the closest of buddies, and have been since fourth grade. Soleil writes a poem about her dear friend, and all the thoughts and memories that they share. 

Your evil cackle, your grinning smile, 

I can’t help but stare for a while.

Us together a chaotic scene,

Kids running around calling us mean.

Our laughter untamable don’t you agree,

Our souls forever set free.

Teachers putting us together, 

Oh how they must be under the weather. 

The expression of thoughts similar indeed,

Angers one, the other succeeds.

The competitive edge you’ve set in me,

Sparks wisdom, to the third degree. 

You and I don’t make much sense,

But our confidence level is over the fence.

You make me happy; you make me sad, 

A crazy duo I might add. 

Our inside jokes we don’t even understand,

Oh, our actions quite unplanned. 

Sumo wrestling, I always win,

Accept the times, you spin, spin, spin.

Nonsense-filled ideas flood our mind

Connect us like a tight bind. 

Little white lies, we tell for fun,

Concerning numbers more than one. 

Milano’s your day’s sweet treat,

Oh we enjoy that middle-school seat. 

Always an adventure no doubt,

I hope the staff don’t hear us shout.

After all is said and done, Soleil thinks on her friendship with Morgan and concludes, Acknowledge the people that matter to you because at the end of the day they are there for you.

What Gabriel Hears

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The PVS Upper-School American Literature class is half-dragging, half-dancing through the American Transcendentalists. I shared with them Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing.” Then, I asked, What do you hear singing? Junior Gabriel Rodriguez-Portugues had a delightfully surprising response. I share here Whitman’s list o’ singers; then, you get Gabriel’s. — Ms. Zachik, Blog Advisor, English Teacher

I Hear America Singing

By Walt Whitman

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,

The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,

The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,

The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,

The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,

The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,

The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,

Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,

The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

____________________

I hear something singing

By Gabriel Rodriguez-Portugues

I hear teachings of historical people who I don’t think about;

I hear a teacher singing about math equations that I just don’t want to hear;

I hear younger, contemporary, or older people talking about things that I either care about or don’t care about;

I don’t exactly hear what Whitman hears;

But there is so much singing that sometimes I can’t keep up.

Hello spring 

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By Senior Jess Billimore

In the springtime haze, there is a breeze,

Petals dance around with ease, breathtaking sunsets,

My love for spring is true, each beginning is new,

Birds sing melodies, sweet and serene, 

Living like this feels like a dream, when the day ends i take a sigh, 

An array of colors kiss the sky, i envy the birds as they fly,

Lost in spring, nature’s hush,

Each day i feel a rush, butterflies dance in the soft sunlight,

And my dreams take flight.

Mirabelle Lee Comes in 2nd at State Poetry Out Loud!

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PVS Junior Mirabelle Lee travelled to Sacramento on March 17 & 18 to compete, as our Riverside County representative, in State Poetry Out Loud. And, she placed 2nd! Out of 18,000 statewide participants, 51 county representatives, and 5 finalists, Mirabelle is our #2 poetry recitator in the state of California. In rounds one and two, she recited Toi Derricotte’s “My dad & sardines” and Lady Mary Chudleigh’s “To the Ladies.” Then, the five finalists were selected.

Mr. Satterfield’s Economics class and I logged into the live stream just in time to watch the finals. In the third and final round, Mirabelle recited “Meeting at an Airport” by Taha Muhammad Ali. Mirabelle brings home a trophy and a record performance for Palm Valley. Previously, Jackson Dean (Class of ’19) placed 3rd in the state. Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of poetry via a recitation competition for high school students across the country.

Junior Mirabelle Lee, pictured here in the state Capitol, took 2nd place in California’s Poetry Out Loud competition. Photo Credit: Ms. Shawane Lee

–Blog Advisor Zachik

Mirabelle Lee is Riverside County Poetry Out Loud Champion!

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On Thursday, February 8th, junior Mirabelle Lee, her parents, the family dog, Ms. Zachik, and Mr. Koehler traveled to downtown Riverside where the Riverside Arts Council hosted the Riverside County Poetry Out Loud Competition. On stage, Mirabelle recited, in Round I, “My Dad and Sardines” by Toi Derricotte. She followed up with “To The Ladies” by Lady Mary Chudleigh in Round II. Before a panel of four judges, Mirabelle won! She advances to State Poetry Out Loud on March 17 and 18 in Sacramento. If Mirabelle wins there, she heads to Washington, D.C., for national Poetry Out Loud competition.

Palm Valley has been fortunate. We’ve sent half a dozen recitators to Poetry Out Loud State Competition. Jackson Dean (Class of ’19) went so far as to place 3rd in the state. Mirabelle continues this fine tradition.