A long time ago, in a place far, far away, it was storming, wind blowing, the sound of thunder cracking like a whip. It was me and my brother, and we were lost in this far away land.

All I’ve ever wanted is independence from everyone and to live my own life. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve never had that before living with a large family and controlling parents but it’s something I always long for.

On the way to the hospital I could feel no pain, but I knew what he had done to me earlier that day. I had just flown in from Kansas City, and it was my first day in Vegas. My dad had already gone to work, and grandma was out back mowing the lawn, unable to hear the sounds around her.

Regretful murder suicides

Or better yet, just suicides.

Acting as if you knew all about it,

You’re helping a lot,

Really, you’re not.

A class clown attempted murder today.

A mother’s little boy,

a child’s best friend,

a teacher’s beloved terror,

stood over the monster who raised his freckly faced son

like the animal he’d become,

clutching a knife.

Built into the foundation

Of this very earth

Is a virtue,

More mysterious,

More powerful

Than life itself.

resounding majesty

abundant light

interceding with the heavens

nymphs like beauty

bestowing radiance

overpowering reign

wondrous creation

I look at your face,

the flowers in the vase,

I never wanted to be in this place,

As I pace the floor,

Searching for the door,

I realize I miss you more,

So I kneel at the cross,

And pray for my loss,

The words that I say may confuse you

corrupt your mind

drive you crazy

but the one thing

it is for sure to do

is kill you

make you cry

try to run

but the words

will find you

O, furry friend with aerial ears

Short in memory, but long in years

You hop, you stretch, you yawn, you drink

But as I can guess, you do not think

What passes through your fuzzy head?

You eat, you run, you go to bed

Though you’d never admit me to be justified

in saying “no,”

I think you know why I’m doing this.

Too often

I catch you staring at me, wanting me,

but never know how to say

what I have to say.

Fighting never ends…

Words back and forth…

What will come next?

Why do I put up with it at all?

What to do?

Why try anymore?

What is the point of things?

What should I do to fix things?

I need help…

I’m torn between two worlds

One where I’m accepted from what I’ve become

And another where I’m hated for who I’ve been.

Each day I walk the line between the worlds

Trying to keep each other apart

But I know one day I will fail

My life is trapped inside glass walls

I try hard to make them fall

But nothing can penetrate them

The only escape is around the rim

I’m stuck to the earth around me

Hoping one day to be free

I try to grow over the rim when it’s low

Sometimes I think you’re doing this on purpose,

Locking me up inside.

With no light seeping through.

My skin turning pale,

My hope being lost.

Leaving me by myself,

A world so alone.

I feel trapped in a prison,

As the wind blows a harsh breeze,

And the trees start to sway on their knees,

Within the surface of the fleeting river,

I see myself sitting in the harsh weather,

As a boy, slouched down in the freeze.

The dust and straws are driven up and down

as the sky darkens from the clouds up high.

It starts to get cooler as the first drop hits the

ground. Then it brings more drops in till it starts

pouring from the clouds above. Some of the drops

The wind is intermitting, dry and light

It rustles the trees and leaves

with silent gracefulness

The eye catches a

glance of the honey auburn leaves

The night world is listening

to every sound echoing

Immovably unquiet and forever

Is the moon’s perch in the sky.

Sitting in a blanket of mismatched stars

Is the place children go for a sweet midnight dream.

Horrific scenery fills my mind

Some from the future, some from behind

Nightmare images that fill others with Dread

The world would be better if My Kind were dead

In spite of the sacrifices of those we’re above

Before time was invented, there was a city. Half of the city was as light as day, and the other half was as dark as night.

I wish that I could speak my mind more easily.

I wish I didn’t fall in love so easily

and that it weren’t so obvious.

Your hopeless little tragedies

Spill so hopelessly on the floor.

The ones that take over all the attention,

The ones so goddamn impossible to ignore.

The not so gentle news

Is burning away, all this trust once built

Standing stiffly in an elevator,

An automatic mouth swallowing,

The girl who so surely stepped inside,

When she was little,

Hoping for a ride.

words

like amorphous chunks of metal

they rest on a shelf in my brain

and beg to be molded

I long to hold them in the

fire of my skull

till they are soft and malleable

Jaden Gragg is 14 years old. Her writing submissions received the highest marks from our team of young adults. The poise and focus displayed in her writing is simply suburb. Jaden has three poems and one prose poem published in this issue.