The Colour Blue

Blue is the colour you see,
When a small bird flies by.
It is the colour of freedom,
For it is both sea and sky.

A Constant Battle

They came for me one night
As I was lying in bed
Thinking about my homework,
I was stuck in my head.
I saw the darkness creeping
Gently through the window
Their shadows against my wall
Slowly crawling on my pillow.
I couldn't make a sound as they
Make my head their home
Enclosed my thoughts and feelings
In  maze of catacombs.
My mind was lost, they wasted no time
The demons invaded my space,
Broke everything inside, yet
Left without a trace.
My nightmares came more and more,
To my absolute horror
They started invading my days
I felt so much shame, I couldn't walk past a mirror.
My words began to leave me,
Soon I was unable to talk at all,
Every time I tried to speak
My words would hit a wall.
They slowly merged and festered
The darkness inside stared to grow,
It took root in my heart
And fed off my sorrow.
I had a tree of darkness
Deep within my soul,
No amount of medicine
Could get it under control.
It was a constant reminder of my pain
I could no longer stand to have it there,
I went to my mother and said
To you, my soul, I bear.
I have a darkness inside me
That will no go away,
No matter how much light I shine
It just seems here to stay.
I don't know what to do anymore
With these demons in my head
They are constantly pushing me towards it,
I know they want me dead.
I can't fight them off much longer
My voice is growing numb,
I'm here to ask for help
To get them under my thumb.
Together we went looking
For someone to help me save
Myself from these demons,
Teach them to behave.
We found a wonderful doctor
Who agreed to take me on
She said she was by my side
Until all the demons were gone.
It would be hard work she said,
But I should not be scared
For demons will never come back
Because I would be prepared.
Placing my trust in her was hard,
I went to see her twice a week
At first I saw no progress
But slowly I started to speak.
I told her about the things inside
In return she armed me with tools,
That made the demons a little fewer
Those who remained learned strict rules.
The weight of my heart became lighter,
The tree grew smaller
As I cut it branch by branch,
My world slowly went from black and white to colour.
I started to notice it when I saw
The vibrant blue of a blue jay,
Next was the yellow of a sunflower
To celebrate I bought myself a bouquet.
Finally I could permit myself to talk about what
Had happened to me,
I knew there were others out there,
And now that I was finally free
I could possibly help others
Who fell ill to the same demons as me,
Help them unlock their potential
Teach them that they are not a nobody.
Some days are impossibly hard, and
The demons have come back now
It is harder to fight them off,
But I know with help they will surely bow.
It is an on going battle,
Just like cancer,
It can come back some day
But now I have the answer.
I know how to fight my demons,
Even if these ones are new
I will fight them off as I did the others,
I will show them that I grew.
The tree is still within me
But it has much changed,
It is no longer of darkness,
Crooked or deranged.
It was fused with my spine,
And helps to hold me straight.
It reminds me what would have happened
If I had let the demons decide my fate.

Her Oncoming Storm

Her laughter echoed off the cliffs,
Carried by the winds
Announcing the coming of a storm.
A handful of petals
Swirled in the breeze,
Thrown by her little sister
Who wished she had seen
The signs warning her
Of the oncoming storm
Before it was too late.
This one was much
Like the one she had
Inside.
Little warning before
The rain began,
Then came the thunder, like
Angels, chanting her fate.
The scariest of all,
Lightning,
Was to help her find her way.
She had been a hurricane,
A beautiful and perfect storm,
Towards the end she was
A boat, lost at sea.
Once in the Eye of the storm,
She felt the sun on her skin,
The beautiful warmth,
The peace,
And followed the Eye
Into uncharted territories.

Some People Are Black Holes

She was as big as the universe,
Enough love for everyone
Who needed some of her strength.
You could see suns in her eyes,
Hear worlds unknown
In her laugh,
Imagine a whole universe
Pulsing to her heartbeat.
She was told she was too
Proud, too big,
Too loving
To fit in this world.
They tried and tried again
To bring her down to their size,
Until finally
A black hole appeared in her galaxies
Taking everything with it, leaving
Nothing but a porcelain doll,
Fragile and delicate.
One more little push
Made her shatter.
She tried rebuilding herself,
Tried to hold
What her once strong arms
Could, but collapsed under the weight.
She worked up the courage
To ask for help, and
Received it.
She is rebuilding herself,
Piece by piece
Relighting the stars in her constellations
One by one.

In the Dark of Night

When the sun falls below the horizon,
And the stars come out,
That is when you find yourself completely alone.
It is a time for reflection on oneself,
For deep thoughts and big decisions.
The dark that scared us so much as children
Now liberates us
And allows us to be ourselves,
Even if the moon is our only witness.
Things are different at night,
The world seems peaceful,
Filled with endless possibilities
For adventure.
In the middle of the night,
When the world is sleeping,
Look up at the stars.
You realize that you are alone,
Alone with your thoughts and feeling,
With your inner demons.
In the dark of night
Many people find themselves,
For only when you are truly alone
Can you hear your heartbeat,
And finally understand
What it is trying to tell you.

Leaders of Tomorrow

My generation has a right to be angry,
Angry at the dying world
We are inheriting from our parents.
Angry, at the senseless acts of discrimination
That are considered the norm
To the eyes of most.
We are the leaders of tomorrow,
Yet we are called lazy,
Technology-addicted,
And good for nothing.
Have you ever stopped to think
That the rising levels of anxiety
And depression
In teenagers today
Are linked to this problem?
By the judgment alone
Of the media,
And of the impossible beauty standards
We have to comply to.
By the perfect grades we must get,
And the enormous tuition
We must work two jobs,
And 50 hours a week
To pay off.
This was not our doing,
For we were but infants
When the previous generations
Decided our fate.
They decided that this would be
Our problem,
Think about it for a moment,
We must save the planet,
It's animals and it's plants,
But not start any wars,
Or offend anyone.
We must be the saviors of humanity,
The light in the dark.
We have been given
An impossible task
By the leaders of yesterday.
All that we are asking
Is that history
Not judge us too harshly,
For the people and the leaders we will need to become,
In order to survive.

Empires

Enough.
It is time for a change.
We will no longer stand by,
We will not let you hand us
A broken world.
We have had enough,
Enough of this game of power.
Our sisters dismissed,
For no other reason than their gender.
Our forests and wildlife,
Sacrificed to Greed.
Our youth, unable to find work,
And burdened with enormous debt
From an education they were told they needed.
History says that Empires
Collapse from within.
Well hold tight my darling,
For here it comes.
The tidal wave, the earth-shaking
Last drop that sends us all over
Into darkness, while the ones in power
Struggle to stay on top.
Things must change,
People must be taught once more
How to care for others,
That we cannot eat our money,
Nor can it buy us a better world.
Our blindness to what truly matters
Demonstrates our ignorance of our race,
For how can we help others,
When we cannot help ourselves.
In a world where promoting equality
Is considered a threat,
Where the color of your skin
Determines your worth.
Humanity is not cattle,
We are not simple machines
That exist only for revenue,
And easily replaced once broken.
This is how the world works now,
And this must change,
For an Empire that ignores its people
Is an Empire destined to fall.

The Music of the Storm

You looked up at the clouds
And saw the darkness coming.
You braced yourself for a violent storm,
For thunder, lightning
And never-ending rain.
You stocked up on provisions,
On blankets and books,
So as to pass the time,
And not have to go out
While the storm ran its course.
The rain started it off,
With its soothing rhythm
Varying in tempo and in strength.
Then came the thunder,
As loud as angel's drums,
Shaking the house and scaring the dog.
It added substance to the music,
The deep bass, the heartbeat
To accompany the main melody.
Finally came the lightning,
For what is music without a good show.
It lit up the sky, one second at a time,
Adding magic to the whole affair.
You put down your book to watch the show,
Knowing that nothing created by humans
Would ever equal Nature's beauty.
Slowly, the lightning became less frequent,
Then took its final bow.
Thunder quickly followed,
But refused to slowly fade.
Instead, went out in style,
Shaking the earth one last time.
Soon you were only left with the rain,
The soothing, calming melody,
That filled the background as you continued to read.
Slowly, carefully,
So as to fulfill its promise to the audience,
The rain began to fade.
A hundred pages later, you look up from your book.
Only to look out the window,
And find the show has ended.
The dark clouds are gone, the sun is shining bright,
And you can't help but to smile
At the rainbow in your sight.

An Ode To The Night Circus

I opened its pages and began a new life,
The feel of the book on my lap,
The paper, thick between my fingers,
The inked words dancing on the page.
The image of it formed in my mind;
The black and white circus,
The tents, the grass, the iron gates
The sign that greeted eager patrons.
With them I entered a world
Unlike any other I had previously visited.
When I closed the book,
The smell of apple cider
And caramel apples
Hung in the air.
I could see the reflection of its tents
In the wind.
I longed for the moment
I could open its pages once more
And rejoin the circus again.
For days, I ran away with the circus.
When I finished it,
I felt empty.
The world within these pages holds
A life of its own, a dear friend
I wanted to visit again and again.
To see its endless tents, the brazier burning
At the center of it all.
The tick of the clock
That stood at its gates.
I fell in love with the idea,
Became a rêveur, desperate for one more night
Within its gates.
The mere sight of the book
Made me smile, thinking of the secrets
It hid deep inside.
I still dream about it,
Looming in the distance,
Its paths, characters and gates open to me,
Should I want to come visit again.

On the Curb

As I look at the cars driving by,
The shops and the people passing me,
I wonder what they might be thinking.
Of my suitcase packed tight,
Of my purse, filled as much as possible.
I stop walking, and take a minute to myself.
I think of the previous years,
Of the bullying, the abuse, the humiliation
I'd been forced to endure.
Today is my eighteenth,
Today I packed up everything
And left home.
I look at the world carrying on,
Passing me by without a thought.
I catch a glimpse of my reflection
In a passing car, fleeting.
I see a face with eyes
Filled with hope for the first time in years.
No one knows what happened to me,
And they are very content to imagine
I have a good life.
I do now. I am free,
I think as I step off the curb, and into the street.
Smiling at the people,
Loving the feeling of just melting away
Into the crowd.

A Place Where I Grew Up

When I think about my life,
I don't see people, places or games,
I see the books and characters that filled my life,
I see Harry Potter, Eragon, Percy Jackson,
Who where the first characters that I met on my journey.
After that, I met Jonas, who until recently,
I didn't know how important he had been.
I met Ruby, who taught me that people aren't all bad,
And introduced me to Sarah Dessen, who saved me many times,
Through all of the people in Colby.
My real journey began when I met Isabel,
A slave who was trying to break free of her chains.
My eyes opened when I met Melinda Sordino,
Who taught me that the truth is hidden deep inside,
But the people who care will search for it.
I then met Clary, Tris, Katniss and Thomas,
Who helped me through tough times,
Always there with words of wisdom.
I then met Elissa Wall, through Stolen Innocence,
The story of a teenage bride, and a polygamous sect,
Which drove me to hours of research,
On the subject of child brides.
Soon after, I met Erin Gruwell
Who taught me to put my thoughts
And feelings down on paper,
That they matter.
I then met Charlie, in Perks of Being a Wallflower,
However I did not fully understand until I met
Hannah Baker. Combined, they showed me that
People are terrible, but if you let them,
They can be your salvation.
By this point, I had already begun writing my novel,
And Insurgent, the story of Tris,
As well as A Song of Ice and Fire,
Opened my eyes to death of the characters,
And what it means to the author and the reader.
Death was a tool to use to move the plot forward,
Something I should not hesitate
To use.
This journey has brought me here,
To you.
To whom it may concern,
I grew up in worlds bigger than our own,
Not on street corners, or at the park,
But between the pages of a book,
Alongside friends I will have forever.

Writing, a four-line poem

Nouns, verbs, adjectives,
Words, flowing through my veins
My fingers,
The pens that set them free.

Trapped

I am tired,
Weary of the world,
Its inhabitants and its petty problems.
Angry, at being misunderstood,
Mistreated, set aside
As just another casualty of the system.
I am angry at the world I live in,
Angry at previous generations
For handing us a broken world
And expecting us to fix it.
I am tired of trying
To prove to others I deserve to be here,
I am done trying, done holding it in.
I will scream and fight
For myself and all the others like me,
Who feel cheated by the system
They were brought-up to believe in.
Its time to rise up, denounce all
The injustice done to us.
I am no longer the quiet girl in the back of the class,
You will hear me loud and clear,
For I am just like you;
Angry, tired, desperate for a change
In a dismissive world.
I will scream until you hear me
Until changes are done,
Until something is fixed,
Until students don't feel trapped
Nauseous at the thought alone of school.
Something is wrong with the system
When students would rather die,
Than learn.

Our Broken World

Humanity has grown tired
Of the company of others.
We search for companionship
Through screens and messages,
To convince ourselves we are not alone.
But we are.
Who could we call,
At 2 am, when our world
Has been torn to pieces.
When we can only scream
At the injustice that has been done to us,
When we take to social media
To tell people what has happened to us,
We get love, attention, help,
But only if the situation is truly horrible,
Or if we are of privilege.
We no longer speak up for the weak,
The poor, the hungry.
We used to help others,
Collaborate all together.
What has happened to us,
For humanity to grow so selfish and self-centered
That we no longer care about war,
The suffering of millions,
About children crying, going hungry
How has it come to this?

Soul

Don't let them tell you,
That they know who you are
When they've only seen your summer.
Don't let them define you,
For you are not a single thing
You do not fit neatly in a box,
You are the ever changing tide,
The relentless waves of the sea
Different from every angle,
Old and young in harmony.
They have not seen
Your inner demons,
The secret box you keep hidden,
Within the fortress of your heart.
You are not a label,
You are not one thing.
You are the wind that howls at night,
The rosy first rays of sunlight,
The soft petals under one's hand.
Your body holds stars,
Planets, solar systems,
A whole universe waiting to be discovered.
But don't share your secret,
For it is far too precious.
No one can imagine
The vast plains, the waterfalls,
The tidal waves, the hurricanes.
The perfect storm,
That is hidden within your soul.

Our Walls

Life is defined by what we hold back,
What we chose not to say.
No one knows better than us,
What we hide from the world.
Each one of us projects an image,
A façade, of what we believe
Society wants to see,
Trapping who we are
Within ourselves.
The walls we so carefully built
The ones we were told would keep us safe,
Have become a prison.
They no longer keep us safe from harm,
But isolate us, keeps everyone out.
We have become a world
Caged within our minds,
Unable to speak up.
But this doesn't have to be the way it is,
You can say no.
You can tear down your walls
Brick by brick, show the world
Who was hiding inside them.
Stop staying quiet,
No longer be a standby,
A mindless drone,
Letting horrid things happen
To the people around you,
Things you could have prevented.
Do not regret what you cannot change,
But change so you don't regret.

The World Teens Live In

School is a prison
Its where ideas,
And dreamers,
Go to die.
They teach us to conform,
To abide by their rules.
They tell us that we have a say,
A voice in the world.
They are there for us,
If ever we need help.
These are lies.
They do not care, do not listen.
Students are screaming,
Their throats raw from the effort.
Yet we are written off,
As hormonal, disruptive teens.
We are bullied, pushed to our limits,
By our peers.
Going to the principal,
Or the guidance counselor,
Will not make a difference.
They are too busy,
To worry about our petty problems.
They take away our art programs,
And our history classes,
Then blame us for our outrageous behavior.
How to talk to your teen,
How to understand them,
Are common books and articles.
We are people.
We hurt, we laugh, we cry, we dream.
Just like you.
We are people,
Trying to find our way in a world
Where everything is broken.

My Body

My body is not a sin,
It is not a temptation, an object
Built for your personal pleasure.

My body was built
To climb the mountains
Of despair, hopelessness and anger,
So I could outrun a world
Without imagination,
My body was built
So I could build a life
On the foundations of trust and love.

My body was not made to be perfect,
Molded to society's ideal of beauty.
It is unique and controversial,
Daring to be different
In a world where conformity is the norm.