the bird on fire

The Palm Valley School Student Blog

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Listen

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By Peter Kadel

 

The trees sigh

The mountains howl

The rivers roar

The plains rumble as thousands of hooves stamp and pound across them

The desert deafens you with utter silence

And the sky accepts this noise and waits for it to disappear

Listen

The songbirds twitter and titter

Their wings beat as they whistle and tweet

The hawk lets out a piercing cry with the same lovely twang as an old guitar

The placid lake prefers silence wishing to listen to the lyrical beauty the frogs have to offer

And the fish are the glorious percussion as they leap through the glassy surface and then slap back down like a lazy drummer

Listen

The bow of a ship scrapes and scratches against gravely beaches

Metal tools clatter and clang as foolish explorers build monuments to materialism

Black powder ignites and lethal projectiles fly forward snuffing out our most precious treasure–life

The aggressors’ voices drown out the screams of Mother Nature and her children

Listen

Her anguished cries subside to gentle sobs as coal iron and timber are extracted and used to fuel the machine

Cities like arteries are linked by roads like veins bringing the stolen life to those undeserving of it

Gears and engines turn and grind a roar and devour the freshness of the world

We feed on the flesh and blood of earth and we smile as her blood drips from our faces.

Listen

Look someone cares

They speak out and carry signs wishing for change

They are defenders guardians warriors citizens of the natural world

They care and they aren’t afraid to tell the world

They hold marches

They practice conservation in everyday life

A generation has found their voice

Listen

But no one does

The bastards still drown us out with screeching machinery

Our peaceful resistance grinds to a halt as they grind the forest into dust and strip the world bare

They tell us we are wrong

They have the audacity to call us conspiracy theorists

I can’t bear to listen

So I won’t

It’s my turn to make some noise

It’s their turn to listen

And they don’t have a choice

My voice is my weapon and my wit is sharp

My battle cry will shake what little trees are left

I will roar like a hurricane

I will bellow like the machines you cherish

And I will drown them out and destroy them as they destroy the world

I will do it happily

You’d better listen

 

Editor: Makena Behnke

Ghosts

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By Brennan Nick

Ghosts are a blurred idea, the dwelling of unfinished business.

 

When moving from your old home you may have had bitter feelings left,

 

The ones from unfinished business that murmur back to be resolved.

 

But less than a day later, a new family may come, a fresh coat of paint that faded away your impact.

 

All that you felt, had, loved, is no longer there, “tasteless,” you’d say, now  just in your thoughts.

 

Maybe that’s why we believe that those icy ghosts exist,

 

That our lives had such an impact that they can still hush where we have been but no longer.

 

Editor: Peter Kadel

Kindness

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Every human being is

Equal.

Each human being is an

Individual.

No one has a right to

Look down on someone

And laugh at them,

Or scold them.

We are all unique,

But we’re all

Human.

No one should look

Down on another just because

They’re “foolish” and different

When compared to the bully’s

“Brilliant” mind.

If only everyone would be respectful and kind,

We’d have a happy, peaceful world,

Full of joy,

Where evil, misfortune, and depression

Are extinct.

Sadly, that’s not the current truth.

 

But,

Will you change the world?

Editor: Shelby Armor

Heroes

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By Makena Behnke

those whose hair covers their eyes

those who decorate their bodies with ink from a needle or rings pierced into their skin

those whose hair is the color of the rainbow

those who are the rainbow

they don’t judge you as you anticipate, but you judge them as they mind their business

you judge them by their music or their favorite color

not as who they are but by the color of their fingernails

or what gender wears the makeup, or how much they apply and where it is applied

but little do you know the music you call “crap” and “stupid” is the music that helped them

those “idiots” that scream into the microphone are their heroes

and the way you judge is the reason why we need these heroes

Editor: Claire Jenkins

The Ultimate Therapy

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By Charles Schnell

 

When you write down

Your thoughts and your feelings,

Truthfully,

You materialize it.

Your thoughts and feelings

Are a physical substance,

Made by ink on paper.

Your brain recognizes them

As real, and

Not all in your head.

That’s why

Writing

Is the ultimate form of

Therapy.

No one controls your

Thoughts and feelings

But you in your writings,

Just like how

I am writing this poem

And sharing my thoughts and feelings with you

Now.

Editor: Peter Kadel

First Day, New School

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By Renee Vazquez

 

Waking up,

6 o’clock am,

nervous to an extreme,

get ready get dressed try to impress,

or leave yourself floating out in the void.

You’ve done this before,

oh many times, but those experiences,

cannot compare at all.

Don’t you dare get lost in those halls;

do you want to be the fool again?!

Well what a surprise the teachers are actually nice,

this is a welcome change of scene;

WAIT the textbooks are actually from this century!?

End of the day,

I’m completely exhausted,

but it didn’t end in a complete tragedy.

Maybe this school really is for me?

Editor: Makena Behnke