Kennah McMahon

Winter is
crawling underneath my new flannel duvet cover
and snapping my eyelids open at 3 am.
It's pushing warmth out of the neighborhood
the way the autumn breeze pushes the crinkled leaves
off the maple sapling in my front yard
and into the road.
Winter is
trailing behind a rainy summer,
the one that met true freedom the day I met you
by the lake in June. The perfect summer
is a hard act to follow.

Snow will rise up from the lake and ponds,
puddles and streams;
frost will frame our window sills one morning unexpectedly,
as soon as we think an Indian summer is due,
the sun's last kick.
It will cover our cars, and mailboxes.
It will separate you and I from where we once stood
in the fading light of summer.
One day, I will look up from my homework
and see wet slush falling from the clouds.

This is how winter comes;
gradually, quietly, finally.

Speaking of Needs . . .

By Kennah McMahon
Essex High School, Grade 10

I want to be able to fall asleep at night
Without feeling like dreams are an escape.

I want to climb to the top of the
Mountain and lie on the
Emerald carpet of moss

And hold his hand in mine without
That nervous, boiling-insides feeling
Racking my entire body.

I would love to spend a few days
With my kindergarten teacher
And try to understand what

She tried to teach me 11 years ago.
I want to have the faith and peace
Of a young child again.

I want justice and equal opportunity
For all of us.
I want to be able to look back

On every word and touch and
Be able to justify the inappropriateness
Of them all. All I need is the

Inner peace, that would wash
Over me like a baptism of forgiveness
For my lazy tongue.

I want to drive through California in the passenger seat
Of a pink roadster, and speed its silver wheels along the rough
Roads that line the glass shores. I want to step into Hollywood

Without feeling inferior
But have the freedom and
Audacity to leave it all behind.

I want color and music, milk and cookies,
Fire to warm myself by at night, and water to bathe in.
I want to sit on the couch,

Drink a fine cup of tea, and hear you talk me
To sleep every night. I want to be able to
Surprise you and enlighten your mind.

I want to sing from the heart
Every time.

Green is:
The 4th color in the spectrum,
A lively shade.
It is how you feel when you are ill,
And how you look when you are seasick, or envious.
It is the color of your thumbs when you are
Very new at something,
And the tinge that blonde hair gets
When you stay in the pool too long.
When pluralized, it turns into
what your mother demands you eat every night;