14. Back yard

In my backyard I can do anything I want
I can Imagine
Whatever I want
The Nature sourrounding me can turn into whatever
I choose it to take the form of
It really makes me wonder what could be out there
Beyond my backyard

Backyard

Before my parents bought the land, it had a nice little cabin on it and a nice front yard. The backyard was terrible, it was huge and muddy back there. Every time it rained it would fill each water hole all the way to the top. It overflowed into streams and the dirt got wet and it would be muddy for the rest of the year.

My brothers were taken away,
My sisters as well.
They were taken away,
Far, far away,
Across oceans, seas, and continents.

Taken away from their home
To go fight a war that
Was not their own,
A war fought for rights
To the blackened blood of
Soil stained crimson,
Soil soaked in the blood of
People and animals.
Soil in which no life can flourish,
For the shadow of Death clings to

My Yards

By Enis Palamarevic
Main Street Middle School, Grade 7

I look out my window
And what do I see?
A world unknown
To others but me

I make my journey
To the outside
The place that I love
Far and wide

So much to see
In so little time
Watching the clock
Before I climb

I start my journey
All the way to the top
It’s a long, hard climb
Until I stop

I reach the top
Finally I am there
I look around

The world is my backyard
The earth is my playground
The lakes are my waterslide
The rocks are my trampoline
The trees are my jungle-gym

I lounge and I play in my back yard
And all Humans are my neighbors

Backyard

By Jen Mariotti
Hartford Memorial Middle School, Grade 8

I walk into my backyard. Look around to see the damage. There, here, everywhere, there are trees blown down. I think that is our neighbor’s car up in our room. We did not know it was coming.

Backyard

By Ossia Dwyer
Hartford Memorial Middle School, Grade 7

The backyard is a mysterious place
And that is where I found the case.
It said open in fifteen years,
I wanted to be able to go near.
Things from the past that historians overlooked,
Things that you can’t find in a book.
Personal memories all locked away,
And put in my backyard because they knew it would stay

It was Monday morning and late last night it had begun to snow. People were talking about school being canceled. It was. I woke up early anyway. Soon my dogs were itching to go out and play in the snow. I went to the back door and saw the most beautiful sight I had seen all week. Although it was cold, it was beautiful. Large snowflakes of all shapes were falling from the sky.

My Grandparent's Backyard

By Sierra Varela
Hartford Memorial Middle School, Grade 7

It’s a big time memory
Up until the age of five
Until they moved, somewhere else nearby
Was in my Grandma’s backyard.

Where there was a small fenced yard,
With a little pretty garden,
And a baby pool just for me.
Where I would cruise in my little brown toy car,
All around in the yard,
And think I was so sweet.

Rolling around in the snow,
Until my toes turned pink.
Catching snowflakes in my mouth.
Where I would eat my peanut butter and jelly fish sandwich,
In my amazing Barbie Girl chair.
When one day they moved,
Somewhere nearby,
In a place where the backyard was all red dirt,
And nasty bugs walked by.

I miss her house,
Where I used to play,
In the little fenced backyard,
Where I would cruise all day.
It’s a big time memory,
And I will never forget,
The little fenced yard,
That killed my pet.
(It was an imaginary pet, so do not fret.)

Welcome to the land of horses, cows, messes, and hicks. Have you ever been to a backyard where you can't even see the back or the yard?

I stepped out in my backyard and I was shocked at what I saw. There were balloons tied on every tree, a cake with my name on it, a piñata and, of course, presents!

The lilac’s scent floats below my nose.
The screams of joy fill my ears.
My childhood memories cloud my mind.

Games of hide and seek return to me.
The smell of roses comes to me.
The endless joy overwhelms me.

I remember the garden,
The games,
And the fun I used to have.

The backyard is where I wish to be again.

I look out the porch window,
To the backyard.
I see the sun setting
Behind the distant mountains.
The tree I planted when I was seven
Stands tall near the newly painted picket fence.
Snow is falling gently over the once green grass,
Covering the backyard with a fluffy white blanket.

My backyard.

My backyard where the secrets and precious moments of my life hide.

Whoever knew ten pieces of wood, a few trees, and some nails could be such a special place?

I paint a picture in my mind of what my backyard would look like in one hundred years… The picture I see is so ugly, yet so real. What I see is a city instead of the woods. I see a building instead of my tree house. I see a flood of silver and gray. I look up and instead of the blue, I see black. Instead of a pool filled with water, I see a pool of precious oil lying on the paved road.

The Backyard of a Farm

By Emily Fariel
Hartford Memorial Middle School, Grade 8

A backyard is not just grass.
It’s the place where I rode my bike and the chain came off.
Where my sister and I played hide and seek, in the surrounding woods.
Where our garden grew most of the vegetables we ate.
Where we picked wild strawberries, and attempted to make jam.

The backyard is a place where all of life can live free with little creatures under the soil unseen to our eyes. Plants will grow…kids will play tag, and once dusk comes, everything changes. Flowers will close their bloom, the children will go to bed, and all things become dormant. The nocturnals emerge, hungry for a meal.

The Forest in My Backyard

By Miles Latham
Hartford Memorial Middle School, Grade 8

The meadows dance in the wind.
The pines in the forest groan.
The snow gently glides to earth.
The moon casts white shadows through the trees.

As I continue to write by just the moonlight,
I sense the evening chill.

A Walk In My Backyard

By Sofia Collas
Ferrisburgh Central School, Grade 3

In my backyard
I hear the creek
Rushing through
The rocks,
I see my
Dog’s tiny footprints
Deep in the first snow
They go
Straight to
An Oak tree
Out of
Nowhere
My dog
Comes running
Fast
Like a cheetah!
He is
White like
The snow,
Brown like
Chocolate, and
Black like
The night sky
Then I
Look up and
I see
A black
Crow flying
In the sky

I look
At the creek
A duck is
Swimming
I can
Not make
Out the
Type of
Duck

Backyard
A place of comfort
I have known all of my life
Protecting the house

Night Lights

By Zeb Dartt
Ferrisburgh Central School, Grade 3

In my back yard
A tree lights up.
Mom has finally
Put up some Christmas
Lights!
The snow sparkles
Around the tree,
Blue, green and red
Light floods the night
Like fire flies
On a summer night,
he wind makes them
Rustle like
Leaves in fall.

In my back yard
A snake is slithering
Through the garden
He twists, turns
Around the plants
Sticks out his tongue
Hisses
Slithers into the woods
Alert, sees a frog
Opens his wide mouth
Attacks the frog
With jaws like a trap
Very, very slowly swallows
The frog whole

Snake
(Inspired by Valerie Worth)
by Schuyler Coyle-Parkin

In the back yard
The snake slithers,
Hisses
He rolls up,
Looks up alert;
Attacks, with deadly
Jaws, a fast mouse
Zoom! Crash!
He got it,
Hisses, closes
His eyes: sleeps
All afternoon
In his scaly skin.

The Black Dog
By Anne Jackson

In my back yard
My dog lays
Black as coal
In green grass
A deer runs by
My dog
Is too lazy
To care

We Lay

By Katherine DiBella
Woodstock Union High School, Grade 10

So still,
Heads touching,
Fingertips spread far far apart,
Blades of grass licked our skin,
So still,
Feeling the earth sink into our skin,
Floating gently,
Swaying back and forth but so quietly,
The earth rocking us,
We are its children,
Making our roots grab deep into the ground,
Eyes held tight,

Butterfly

In my back yard
A butterfly flutters,
Sits on a flower, and
Sips some nectar.
Swish!
A net comes down
after the butterfly...
She escapes!

Dog
By Brynn

In the backyard
My rat terrier,
Sunny,
Jumps like a Kangaroo
Up the stairs
Of my slide
I follow her, and point
She skids down the slide
I follow her
At the bottom
She crouches,
Jumps,
And attacks me!

In the back yard,
My brother,
Dad and I,
Play baseball,
And I am at bat.
CRACK!!!!
I see the baseball
Soaring, soaring over
Dad’s head.
As I round 1st base
my brother,
Robbie,
Picks up
The ball,
Runs toward 2nd base...
I beat him to it!
I am on my way
To 3rd!!

In My Back Yard

In my backyard
My goat stands
On his hind feet.
His front feet balance
On a tree
While eating leaves.
A bunch of burdocks
Cover parts of his fleece,
As white as a fresh piece of paper.
He goes to my barn,
Again stands on his two hind feet,
So he can reach my wreath,