CHHS's Literary Magazine
Ali Porterfield
Do you think that I should have gone back there? I’m sorry I came but there’s just nowhere Else I could have gone. I left them, you know. It wasn’t like I could have saved them, though, Right? I had to save what I could, and that Turned out to be just me. And, really, that Wasn’t my fault; I know I’m not to blame. It wasn’t my fault, and I’m not ashamed. Well, I mean, sure, I feel bad. They didn’t Do anything wrong, and we knew it; it Was awful to watch them cry. I never Made them cry, you know that. I was kinder. I wouldn’t do anything like that to Anyone. Don’t be afraid! You know you Are safe with me. I’m not like them! You could Pick them out in a crowd. Trust me, you would Not have let me in if I was like them. You can smell the evil on them. Well, then, I guess that’s that. It’s too late now to Go back. Those girls are done for. I can’t do Anything, so I might as well let it Go, right? Tell me I’m right. All this baggage Is making me feel stuck in my head, ya Know? See, I’m a victim too. I get “trapped.” You think I’m making excuses and all, But you don’t know the full story! At all! I won’t tell you about it; it’s just too Graphic, but know I did what I had to. Anyways, have you got any spare food? I’m starving. Oh! Have the children been good? Not to eat them, of course! I haven’t seen Them in a while. Oh, the girls must be teens! That’s crazy. It was forever ago That I left. I’ve missed all you, you know. What’s this? Mom, you really can’t kick me out! There’s nothing here to be worried about.
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by Maddie Wiener
Gooey Bumbling If I ever dare to burn you You sizzle at me like a hissing cat Humming a delicious tune Whispering to me Take a bite Watch the cheese melt Play the long strands that fall from the fork and grow from the plate Like a harp with your tongue Surprise yourself with the little lakes of cheese Tucked in the crook of the shell Unleashing themselves upon your mouth As if your bite was a gunshot Signaling these liquid soldiers to pour out of their trenches And find new solace between your cheeks and gums But they carry this battle Into your fragile stomach Where you hold all your worries and fears and not-so-good feelings And now all your anxiety’s covered in cheese But don’t fret I know just what will put you at ease Just one more bowl of good ole mac n cheese by Jakob Ware
Shiny shiny so shiny coin Glimmering and shimmering in the right light Sitting with your friends in the box adjoined On your back you bear a bridge that took the fright Out of crossing a river Most treacherous that once kept the city apart The bridge that joined the hills and plains Crossing the river that would have made one shiver When crossing on a pontoon, a trip which in winter which could make one forever depart Now those days are gone and only remembered on your back and on the bridge’s chains Two-hundred forint! Not even a dollar you’re worth! In the West your value would be a death warrant Not even bread you could buy and so your owner would return to the Earth You’re a coin of a dying breed Soon Euros will replace you And you will be melted down Were you once a pure coin of gold born of greed? Were you once a bullet or a screw? Or will you escape this fate and be left forgotten and worthless far from your hometown? Two-hundred forint! Worth enough to be carried with your kin And exchanged for what is warranted You are no pretender or has-been Even when you can no longer be used in stores You will still have worth And be remembered as part of the forint tradition Which began when the first was struck after war In the Nitra gold mines to celebrate the birth Of peace after the Mongol expedition. by Noah Van Hook
let me think on my own terms i know you did all you could for people who need much more than i but really just stop talking about it i get it okay but for me this matters even more than all else you can tell me about i dont care about the man that killed his wife and kids after a vision from god or that kids sleep without heat or that men in other countries hold people as slaves for sex and or labor all that matters for me now is what i experience myself is it too much for me to ask you for some sympathy when my own life is just a little worse than it usually is more stressful than it usually is when things dont go the way they are planned im sure the kids going dinnerless are used to that life by now i am sure they arent as duressed as i am right now even if i am not in any sort of danger even still this sucks alright and i want you to at least listen to me when i vent to you you dont have to be such an asshole god Delaney Tallett
It wasn’t meant to go this way, not now! The plan was simple, so I ask oh, how? We had a simple shot. One and we’re done Now I’m here with you, I know I should run, But I can’t leave you. This wasn’t the plan. I’d rather die than tell pop, your old man. This was never my intention, sorry For this. Your blood spotted my shirt starry, Your eyes look calm and strong, far from ready For what I did to you. Far from steady, My hands shake as I touch the woven life Now trapped in my shirt. Painful like the knife Left sitting beside your bloody being. When you wake up, it will be so freeing No orange jump suit or metal chained cell The mere sight of your blood puts me in hell But I won’t go. Not until you wake up, Then we can return to the plan, clean up The blood spilled by both our hands, just not mine Or yours, for it will be the boldest sign. The throat cut of the man we both despise And over his lifeless body, his eyes Will be left to see what he did to us. Leaving you, a destinationless bus Took him away from us, and he will pay Child support checks piling up, birthday Cards never received. And for that he’ll die. I need you to get up, I can’t say bye. You can let that vein bleed when he is dead. Oh please stop spilling all your lively red! Why is your skin turning so cold and pale? Wake up so we can kill that sorry male! Please stop giving the ground your blood, it's wet Enough. Wait till he gets caught in my net And pays for what he did to us. I’ll make him sorry he boarded that bus And I’ll whisper your name in his bloody Presence. For he destroyed us and muddy, Blood-soaked boots will be all the proof you need, Just wake up and we’ll murder Mr. Greed. by Gabriela Warner
Oh, cellphone, how I miss thee. How you fit delicately in my hand And I held you with fingers of three. You sang to me my favorite band And gave me everything in the world At my fingertips. I cherish you And let you bring me anything. I was but a lonely girl Who wanted nothing but to be true And to only hear you ring. I did not know the damage you would bring And that you would tear me away from life I wanted to hear you sing But you decided to give me strife. You tore me away from those I love And covered it by bringing me More to love. More to hate. I thought you were an innocent dove But you will not let me free And keeping those I love as bait. But do I ever really want to leave When you brought me so much? All I need to do is breathe And for everyone to hush. I know what you did was wrong, But there was some good too. You just didn’t want to be lonely. I was there to hear your song When no one else wanted to, And you will still always have me. by Delaney Tallett
Well not that long ago there was a girl, One you wouldn’t like. She took everyone for quite a whirl The day she went on strike You see she was sweet as honey, her beauty lit the night. That is until the town turned sunny, Then she’d flee in fright. Her name was Bailey Blaze And she sure lit the way. The way right to our big, bright days, Well, that's just what they say. Bailey Blaze sure lit the town Leaving everything burned down Why sorry folks I seem to be going a bit too fast. Every dawn the towns folk woke to walk out in the sun, Thought they had no idea, that walk would be the last. Don’t mean to cause a fret just wait till I get done. Miss Blaze was quite upset And right she was to be. You see, without her, the sun would surely set. She couldn't control the sun, so just wait and see Give me time and I’ll tell you how she lit the town. Born from a matchstick, she was small and thin, Though that doesn't make her any less of a beauty in her gown. She wears it with the best of grace, holding up her chin. Bailey Blaze sure lit the town Now here comes the countdown, Ten, she had said dress, nine, sewn from shine Eight, made from the town's founders, she got it as a gift Seven, had it not been a gift she would’ve paid a dime Six, though back then that would be the cost of a face lift The gown was small but fit just like a glove And only she would be the one to show what it could do. The first time that great gown glowed, I swear she was in love, But then she got her job description and her pale face turned blue. The job was far from fun and far from good pay, The stress was great and the stakes were high. Her job you ask? To make the night time, day All was great for all but her until she said a goodbye. And Bailey Blaze left the gown Burning in the flames along with the unpleasant town by Cole Fish
I swim the same way everyday Going past my neighbors As they swim around their coral home Past the crab as he emerges from his shell I move past the snail as it crawls along Leaving his tracks over where his previous tracks were We all do the same ole dance And are all afraid to take a chance I see the starfish on the same rock as always I keep swimming and see a whale I hide behind the rock of the starfish A routine the I am used to The whale goes by I greet the same plankton on his fin I always see I decide to swim to the surface I see the chaos of the world above water I see creature floating on something with strings coming off I see seagulls fighting over a fish on a rock I duck back down into my routine Before the seagulls can spot me I keep going and say hi to my turtle friends As they head for a area that they always go I see a group of clown fish Then pause and listen to the same jokes they always tell I laugh though not amused to make them smile like normal Then I continue on my daily journey Then I spot a shark who I knew I would see I dash for a hole but he knew my route He swallows me up and I feel at peace I finally escape the daily routine by Gabriela Warner
What value do words have When you feel you have nothing to say? What value do words have When you don’t even know what your thoughts are saying? What value do words have When you aren’t even allowed to use them? When you are told to write About what you feel But you can’t even tell what that is. When everything is dazed And the world feels hazy And the words are paralyzed in your mouth. The bitter taste of nothingness And the constant dream of feeling anything And nothing at all. Using clammy hands to write down something, Anything. The words jumble in your head And you are left with nothing to say. The white paper becomes a ghost to you Of what it could have been. The numbness is back And you can’t tell what’s real anymore. I just want to be real. Suddenly the words come crashing down In an avalanche of anger and frustration. Nothing that you write makes sense anymore But it’s something. Something that could turn into anything. I just want to be anything. It the moment you feel anything and everything And it feels like too much after only having nothing. It’s too much, too much! You feel like nothing But have everything And it’s just too much. The words suddenly have meaning And the paper doesn’t look so white anymore, But the ghost is still there Staring. It seems to be done But the words say otherwise. Shut up, shut up, shut up! It feels like days, Years, Before the words leave and the numbness sets back in. Because your thoughts are too loud And the world is louder. And you’re back to thinking What value do words have? by Jakob Ware
Here we are! Here we stand! Holding the line None shall pass, this ends here Protecting the city, protecting our homeland To retreat is to betray, to stand is to be loyal From the East the Giant advanced, Casting a bloody red shadow On ruined cities, lonely villages, and shattered factories. Hasn’t anything been learned from the trenches of Belgium and France? Or from the deserts of Sinai, the Alps of Italy, or the forests at Tannenberg? Permanent Revolution, that’s what they call it They promise equality and bread for all And yet they cast their comrades into Siberia, And shove others against the walls and let the gutters clog with brains and blood All the while preaching equality and peace Not one more inch we will give! This Revolution ends here, Germany shall not fall and neither shall France And we certainly shall not fall! We have fought in the fields and fought in the forests, And we will fight here too, Warszawa semper invicta. Prepare the trenches, load the machine guns Prepare the mortars and cannons Men, women, children of Warsaw! Today it ends, not one step back! If we fall, then our nation will be enslaved once more The trains steam from the South and the West Foreign volunteers pour in Even from nations where the devastation of the Great War is worst Volunteers arrive from America, from Lithuania, from Hungary, from Germany Ready to serve, ready to fight, ready to hold the line Here we are! Here we stand! Holding the line None shall pass, this ends here Protecting the city, protecting our homeland To retreat is to betray, to stand is to be brave In the trenches and marshes we fight A dozen languages shout and cry As the bullets whiz and as the machine guns chatter Shells explode like stars Rending men and women from limb to limb Here we fight, here we pray Slaves no more our destiny is to be commanded by us Urah! Urah! Here come the cossacks! Bring more ammo! No time to cool the barrels, fire until they melt! Cut them down! Cut them down! Bayonets! Bayonets! Here comes the Red Army! Broken the ciphers, now we know their plans Strengthen the lines, bring up the tanks! Now is the time to strike Now is the time to press on Strike the center, break the center, crush the center Bring the hussars about, encircle and crush! No one escapes, show no mercy This ends here! Burn the banners, reverse the red tide! Cross the Vistula, retake the beachheads! Retake the Modlin Citadel, bastion of our former overlords Here we are! Here we stand! Holding the line None shall pass, this ends here Protecting the city, protecting our homeland The red shadow shall loom no more |
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