12

Locker 218. You hear people talk about it starting the moment you walk in the door as a freshman. No one wants to be assigned that locker. There’s a curse on it they say and if you get assigned that locker, you will have horrible bad luck and failing grades for the rest of your life. This year, I was the lucky student assigned locker # 218.
“Ari!” I cried to my best friend. “What do I do? I have locker 218!”
“I don’t know. Do you even believe the stories?” she replied.
“How do you explain the valedictorian dropping to the bottom 10% of the class in a single semester last year? He had this locker!”
“Right… I forgot about that. So what do you think you are going to do?” she asked methodically putting her books in her locker.
“I have no idea, but I have to break the curse.”

I ran through the woods
Fleeing in terror
From what lie behind
I ran through the woods
Not sure what to do
Afraid of what lies ahead
I ran through the woods
Going in circles
Trying to make up my mind
With minimal success
I ran through the woods
Looking for an escape
But will I ever find one?
Will I ever find you?

i'm sorry
the two words we don't want to hear when we lose a friend
knowing we won't hear their voice again
the next time we will see their face is in a casket
painted and looking plastic

i'm sorry
thats what the doctor said
when i looked down to see the white sheet pulled over his head
with his body lying still on the bed

i'm sorry
i never want to hear this about you
live so that one day i can say i do.

As seven hundred spruce trees burst into flames
she can’t stop staring.

A sea of bright
smells satisfactory like single-handed success.

Slowly growing
with such grace and precision.

Swallowed by
sparkling shades of sapphire.

Stars start to shine in the sky overhead
surrounded by spiraling smoke.

Small animal shelters soon disappear,
consumed by nature’s sin.

A splendid sight of a site
sought by someone searching for simplified beauty.

So soon it ends,
in one year,
everything will change.
everything.

All will be leave
Some will succeed.
Some will fail.
Some will be left behind.
Some I may cross paths with
but
All will leave.

In a sense,
it's a reboot.
a new beginning.
a sucess.
a new way of living.
the first day of the rest of your life.
so they say often,
repeating it as though it is law.

Some parts are good,
leaving behind
the fake,
the plastic,
the insecure,
the immature.

Yet some are far worse,
leaving the best friends
the ones who really mattered
the ones you love
for a new life somewhere else.

At the end,
all of the struggles,
the successes,
the pain,
the sorrow,
the sadness,
is rendered moot.

At the end,
everything changes.

My Lullaby

By Erin Trzcinski
Rutland High School, Grade 12

Cradled in your arms,
My head upon your chest,
I hear your heartbeat,
Strong and steady.
I listen to your breathing,
Slow and deep.
Listening to the rhythm of your heart,
Coupled with your breaths,
It never fails to lull me
Into a deep, peaceful sleep.

Lovebird Lane

Chapter One

The sun shines high in the sky as it slowly tans my soft body. It is finally summer vacation and I am spending the first day tanning in my backyard. Fake palm trees surround our back porch, which my father made an extension on last summer. The once plain porch now leads all the way out to the middle of the yard forming a circle, leaving us plenty of room to relax. The palm trees surrounding the circle gives me a sense of paradise. It makes me think I am in a completely different world and all my worries just wash away. The soft music playing through my white earphones relaxes me and I close my eyes. This is going to be the best summer. I am going off to college in the fall and I just need to start over, start something new. The four years of high school just seemed to drag on and I am happy to finally be out of there.

I’m writing this to you
Because you avoided hugging me yesterday
When I was leaving

Because when you do hug me,
you let go too quickly and hold on too loosly

And because when I was eight you took a picture
Of me sleeping, with my face against a pillow

Dad, I watched you
watch me
Fall apart

You hold your pride
I hold my composure

There was this boy.
Everything I knew before we met...
Everything I learned after...
All lies.
The glimmer of his eyes and the words he said
Meant nothing to him, but had the oposite effect on me.
Nothing feels better than always having someone captivating around.
[[I don't believe that captivating has ever been used as an adjective but then again there's a first time for everything.]]
My name was Naivety
And he was taking advantage.
Still, I was having the time of my life.
Then Deciet came along and stole his heart out of my hands...
And he disappeared.
He is different now; changed.
And the "I'm sorry"s were the emptiest words I (n)ever heard.
broken.badnews.
goodbye. you left and took my feelings with you.

Again. . . None

By Casey Hayes
Rutland High School, Grade 12

I wish you could see
The look on your face at this precise moment.
The way those blue eyes sparkle.
And your lashes seem to be taking a nap.
You're only half-smiling
'Cause you're not entirely sure
How to handle me.
[Or this situation.]
I'm sorry I'm a disaster.
[I never meant to drag you down with me.]

You told me love was a waiting game.
[I'm always waiting.]
That was some time ago now...
Before the tear stained faces;
Broken smiles.
And just after everything
STOPPED
Making sense.
You remind me of the tilt-o-whirl at amusement parks;
The way you spin too fast...
And make me sick from time to time.
I wish you could hear me speak these words.
Cuz I've decieved you into
Be[lie]ving
You had no affect on me.

Love's Toys

By Daniel Wyman
Montpelier High School, Grade 12

They are the sweetly doomed
Young lovers, holding hands.
a ring on Her finger, His innocent gift.
She loves it, She loves him, loves the look in his eyes.
He loves Her, He holds Her, but soon come the lies.

That ring loses luster
That look in His eyes
Has dimmed as the shine of their innocence dies.
She loves him, She holds Him, but deep in Her mind
She doubts Him, He wanders, but love tells no lies.

She knows that they’re destined
This damned, sweet two.
He thinks that he loves her
If only He knew.
She loves him, She thinks, oh where is Her ring?
He’s noticed, He’s hurting, oh look at His eyes.

He finds her old ring
Of all places here:
The back seat, a friend’s car
Does confirm fear.
She loves him, not Him, not her ring-bearer boy.
He hates her, He hates him, love treats us as toys.

The beautiful sun fills my body,
Temperatures rise slowly but surly.
The spring and summer are my favorite,
The smells, sounds, and all other senses tingle
Lacrosse in the spring, work in the summer.
College is almost here, nobody can wait.
The excitement, anticipation, and anxiousness,
fill my heart and head.
For this fall I cannot wait.
3 more weeks, 19 days, graduation will come,
Are we ready? Can we do it?
We all have these questions, when will they be answered.
Anywhere we go we will all have a place to call home,
and people we call friends.
Our lives are just starting on this warm spring day.
Here we go into the world unknown,
One day we will have our own family, lives, and fun.
That day will soon come, but first we have to graduate.
Its deffinitly going to be our day, the day
of friday the 13th.

The Grass is Dead on the Other Side

By Daniel Wyman
Montpelier High School, Grade 12

I feel ripped from a tapestry
Taped hastily
To the facing wall
Only to watch the hole I’ve left.

Morning, I watch my void
Voraciously
Wishing to return
Now light edges in, illuminating
The easy brush strokes from which I was torn;
A scenery coming clear
Of inviting white light, bordered by cherubs
Carefree and safe.

Midday, my past position glares
As if to cast blame on me
Implying with a stare
Infidelity
But I can only gaze in want
And hurt at my rejection
While gardens and doves join the cherubs
In beauteous insurrection
They rejoice in notes of splendor
And songs of lovers.

Night, I squint at the remains;
My old outer edges blurring
But reflecting still
Their reverie.
The skewed cherubs fade and doves fly away;
Gardens grow thin to grass
Until
There is no anything, there lies a frame.
But I lay bordered by limitless boundaries

I Hear, I fear, the Wide World Calling Me

By Douglas Clift
Mt. Mansfield Union High School, Grade 12

I hear, I fear, the wide world calling me
But still I feel a deep connection here
Uncertainty is all that I can see

I still remember tumbling from the tree
And hands, her hands that wiped away the tear
I hear, I fear, the wide world calling me.

I still remember bouncing on his knee
And music, music whispered in my ear
Uncertainty is all that I can see

I still remember Christmas morning glee
And wonder, wonder at the magic near
I hear, I fear, the wide world calling me

I still remember standing by the sea
And watching, watching our sun disappear
Uncertainty is all that I can see

And now, they tell me, I must turn and flee
And leave the people I have held so dear
I hear, I fear, the wide world calling me
Uncertainty is all that I can see