Student Work

My grandfather died and I did not cry. It was not because I didn’t love him. It was not because he made me mad. It was not because I held something against him. It was not because I was happy. My grandfather died and I did not cry. It was because our visits were synced with the blue moon. It was because I forgot to pick up the phone when he called. It was because I was too busy to call back. It was because I thought he would pay for my college tuition. It was because he woul

A man just walked past me and left behind the stench of blue raspberry vape smoke, attached to his shirt like the microbiome it is. As it traveled through my nose, I almost teleported back to Baba Den’s house, where the same exact flavor could be smelt dancing through the stagnant air. It reminded me of the memory foam mattress at the end of the hallway in Adrian’s room that I sunk into, maybe trying to escape somewhere that didn’t always feel like home. It reminded me of the

In dim-lit rooms where paper moons dissolve on tongues of fire, A painted world begins to bend around borrowed desires. Crystal comets kiss the world and flood the chest with light, But dawn collects their glitter remains, abandoned by the night. Green ghosts curl slow in amber air, soft sermons in the haze, Promising a peace in water that only ever strays. My mirror learns a thousand angelic masks, a soul was never meant, While outside waits a hollow world. glass walls and a

different. The rain today...feels As though more than a storm brewing. Tonight, the lightning will reach the earth like hands.

Silence. Oppressive. Stifling. Empty. Only because I am warmth of searing pain, cold branding iron on soul. Body constricts, vacuum sealed No room for me. Sounds a soothing balm vibrating through space, dyeing the water of my soul colors of pondering ripples eradicating silence. Sound waves bring the first fish swimming in and around my soul humming Hymns resonating with the first note. Vibrations paint the colors of the soul bouncing jellyfish in the sea

I feel the breeze amidst the branch lightly blowing my tip from side to side I watch from outside the neighbor’s home Each day when the sun rises, children run outside abandoning their summer flip flops and T-shirts for wool sweaters and jackets That’s when I know the new season has fallen As September approaches my vibrant green layers become tints of red and yellow My fellow squirrel friends find haven below me September then turned into October with my yellow featu

Shining in the spotlight, shining on the stage and shining in their performances. Theatre is their shining place for some professional actors to appear on stage in performances. However, there’s only one kid who is working for the lobby during performances. And that's me, Andres Perez-Lopez. New person to the production crew at West High, but sometimes on certain teen stories like “New kid in the block”. Well, I am here because I am new, but I look older than the other kids i

A blue boat rests on my dock It arrives once a year It brings no one, and it takes no one It holds no maps, no navigation, no sense of direction Every year, it leaves The next year, it comes back It stops on my dock It leaves from my dock No one sees it but me Even then, I don’t hear it leave I wake up, and it’s gone A fleeting memory Was it ever really there? Or was it a fragment of my mind, Something I conjured from broken pieces of my life? Yet, I think again– If madness h

Meet the Bendaran. This species lives on a crystalline planet, Shadar. This planet has a crushing atmosphere that makes life practically impossible on its surface. However, the underground of this planet is riddled with vast subterranean caves. These caves are where these aliens live. During their evolution into an intelligent species, they learned these caves would sometimes collapse for mysterious reasons. Because of this, the Bendaran would constantly move around in order

Poetry - Grapevine, Spring 24/25 The worm had grown near a foot in length Eating Eating Eating through all my strength, of my...

Prose - Grapevine, Spring 24/25 Beginning I sat at the dinner table in my house, eating. My family sat there, too. They were talking...

Poetry - Grapevine, Spring 24/25 A life never lived Is rarely revived A phantom of hope A well made disguise. But if one does choose To...

Poetry - Grapevine, Spring 24/25 I once put a person on a pedestal. It stood high. As if held by an angel. Out of reach its miracles,...

There are spiders that live in my head As they grow restless, they creep down my throat and into my stomach Burrowing through the soft...

Poetry - Grapevine , Spring 24/25 I want someone to look at me the way the moon does With cold beauty of the dark night and the...