Page 16 - The Muse 2021

Gabby Memmen, Grade 8
Body Image
Have you ever been a giraffe in a field of pigs? Standing out like a sore thumb?
Do you feel like a turkey among peacocks?
You’re not the giraffe in the crowd, I am~
Fitting in important? Beauty standards too high? Is large allowed?
This giraffe feels pretty on the inside and out~
-Lia Gonzalez, Grade 7
Drowning in the Heartbroken Tide
Seeing life flash beyond your eyes
I wonder if it felt the same as when thee drowned in your soul As my before rosy lips become ashen
My lungs filling up with water as I scream for my love
The hand of my past pulls me down to the sorrowful submerge
The water is like my blood drowning me from the outside The moon on the surface stabs me in my heart
The water pulls and ties me to the seabed
The instinct not to breathe
Overcomes the agony of running out of air The cerulean water blackens the deeper I get My infinite gold hair now umber
My daring heart now calm
Perhaps if the tide was not so vicious? Perhaps if you had not broken my heart? I’m so sorry my love; I tried to fight it, But my lungs were already far too full.
-Sophia Hernandez, Grade 7
Racism
What did it feel like being black back then? Like a mouse in a lion’s den?
Like a deer with a hunter on his tail?
Where did they go when there was one spot
left on the bus?
Did they have to get up for the white people? Was that fair?
I think not.
-Joaquin Blanco, Grade 7
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