Artists' Corner
artwork, essay and poetry board
THE GREEN SPACE
by Meagan hume
In the U.S., littering and pollution seem to be a growing concern. As the world becomes more industrialized, more fossil fuels are being burned and more greenhouse gases are being released. Due to this, global warming is a growing problem. The blunt way to put it is we really are destroying our planet. Biodiversity is being lost and ecosystems are being destroyed. Pollutants are filling our oceans and atmosphere all because of us. Because we created this problem, it is our responsibility to fix it. It seems that many people have forgotten that we’re not the only organisms on Earth. Current data shows that we need to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in developed countries by at least 80% by the year 2050 to even have a chance of avoiding an average temperature rise of over 35º Fahrenheit.
Factory farming plays a huge part in these events. In order to have large, clear spaces for factory farms, companies must cut down entire forests. By doing so, many animals are being forced out of their natural habitats, which are being completely destroyed. Trees and other oxygen-producing plants are being cut down and demolished for space for factory farms. Between 1980 and 2000, an area 25 times the size of the UK was created for new farmland-- over 10% of this land was cleared at the expense of valuable tropical forests. As of 2008, 169 marine areas have been identified as “dead zones” (areas where no animals or plants can survive). In 1995, this number was only 45. By putting forth effort to stop factory farming, we can make a final attempt to save our planet and all the inhabitants, as well as ourselves.
Art Club Paints The Alma Mater
club sponsor: Amy Richardson
Artwork Across Campus
Poetry Board
Iceless
by: Mexgxn
An absence is soaking through
my seemingly nonexistent emotions
Not of who I (myself) would expect
It’s a missing thought
An unspoken word
A shadow that’s lost
They all belong not to a person
But a time
When every second was seemingly priceless
A time when my heart was seemingly iceless
Vault
by: Mexgxn
Often times I find myself pondering my existence and loneliness
I spend my time in solitude, as my mind wanders elsewhere
My mind dreams of innocent fantasies
Where I feel safe and protected
My real thoughts and words sit and wait in a vault
Where they’re safe from rejection
Endless unspoken conversations
Millions of memories
Untold and unexpressed fears and twisted feelings
They all wait deep inside the vault
Locked tight like Brinks
Where they will never be felt or told of -
Not even by me
Disgust
by: Mexgxn
Onions are nasty and bitter and crude
They make everything go from sweet
To looking like you
Now Shrek might disagree
As they are his favorite treat
But I can tell you
That even devouring onions are better
Than having to look like you
Your hairline is sideways
Your teeth are hilariously stained
Your voice gives me nightmares
Of evil, wicked CareBears
Your incest rates are of Chattanooga
When you sing you sound like a dying beluga
Your IQ is as low as your standards
Of which have hit rock bottom
Now that that’s out the way,
I think that you’re the problem!
Dear You
by: Mexgxn
If you’re reading this, I hope you know who you are
I wish you the best
And I hope you go far
Love reserved for only you
Still lies repressed deep inside my bleak heart
You changed me, you know?
My words no longer fall in a poetic way,
I haven’t much to offer
Therefore I understand why you didn’t stay
I wasn’t surprised,
But it still hurt anyway..
Three Words
by: Mexgxn
I sit and wait
Silently for the day
That we’ll speak again
I sit and ponder
What was the matter
With me to believe those three words
I can’t be sure if you meant them
I would take the risk
To believe the benefit of the doubt
Just to hear you say them
Memories of bright emotions
Flood around three words spoken
For a time my heart was enlightened
Those days are over now
My heart is no longer light
It’s heavy and dark
And with a single spark
It can ignite
Crossfire
by: Mexgxn
Oh the things that pour
from my demented imagination
A small child of five
being rejected from creation
The memories, they scare me
The sound of your loud voice, it haunts me
Screaming and slamming
Demons - they haunt
A small child of five
Who is now forced into the crossfire
Broccoli
by: Mexgxn
It’s green, I suppose
Or is it blue?
Only one person can see it the way you do
And that person’s you
What if it’s purple or orange or red?
Maybe the real color
Can only be seen by those whose brain cells are dead
Maybe it’s the intellects who overthink the color
Ha!
Well, I’m not one
So I guess this poem’s over
I Love You
by: Mexgxn
A single word can change a thought
Three of which can hook a heart
Three of which I send to you
In hopes, they’ll lighten up a rainy day blues
I speak to you and my stomach drops
The fluttering of butterflies have at last stopped
I chain my feelings to a sinking rock
So that when I’m hurt it won’t be much of a shock
Three of these words I send to you
With a fear that a distance of three years
Have ended things true
Ignorant
by: Kelpy G
Sky blue eyes and unused fates,
Stuck in closed shipping crates.
Everyone overlooks the beauty of what’s around,
Noses in phones - facing the ground
Where would we be without our concealing screens?
Driving into ponds and bumping into trees.
The clouds in the morning are so wonderfully pretty,
But you wouldn’t know that.
Affected
by: Maddog
We are affected by what goes in
Others are affected by what comes out
The words people say can affect all ages
We don't think that what we watch can affect us
We watch and we subtly change the way we are
We don't think about what we play on our Xboxes or PlayStations
The games of war and killing are affecting the way we think
‘’To control what comes out, you must control what goes in’’
2019
by: Maddog
The words that are said are more hurtful
People don't know how to care anymore
Most people are stuck up snobs
That care only for themselves and
Want nothing that isn't handed to them
The World We Live In
by: Maddog
We forget the world we live in.
We are so busy with our phones
That we don't know how to stop for a second.
We’ve forgotten how to talk to people -
To look at what is left of our beautiful world.
Our world was once a magical world
Inspired by both books and nature.
Now...
Now we are scared to think about what is out in that world.
We are scared of what is in books.
We are so enchanted by our phones
That our world gets ignored and books don’t get picked up.
Passing Through
by: Mexgxn
Where does a lonesome somebody belong
In a world like such?
A single glance could make everything Become too much
The walls close in and nobody notices
My lungs fill with fire without a single motive
A world where I don’t belong
Is a place that I don’t plan on staying long
Time
by: Kelpy G
Around and around
The world spins in circles
Leaving dark ones under your eyes.
It’s going too fast, some would say -
Fueling continuous, tired sighs.
Where did the time go?
It’s getting dark so early.
Everything you did that day replays,
And the next morning you have a family of four
Play fighting in the middle of the floor.
Where did the time go?
You ask again
Everything was better
Back when you were just ten.
If I Had Never Cared
by: Kelpy G
The stars have been stolen
And placed into boxes
Whose keys will never be
Where did the light go
From the moon and the sun?
When did the light go from me?
Was it already gone, or did you take it away With your harsh words, actions and stares?
Sometimes I wonder what could have been
If I had never cared.
Snow
by: Anna Milner
Walking through a field with my little brother,
I pointed out where kids had made angels in the snow.
For some reason,
I told him that a troop of angles had been shot
And dissolved in the ground.
He asked who shot them.
A farmer, I replied.
Then we were on the roof of the lake,
The ice mimicked water.
Why? He asked.
Why did he shoot them?
- I didn't know where I was going with this -
They were on his property, I said.
When it's snowing,
The outdoors seem like a room of cotton and sheep.
Today, I traded hellos with my neighbor,
Our voices hung close in new acoustics.
A room with the walls blasted to shreds and falling.
We returned to our shoveling
And breaking the hard crystal ice.
Then I turn to my side and my little brother asked,
But why were they on his property?
Through Her Eyes
by: Anonymous (11th grade)
If I met my seven year
Old self today,
What would I tell her,
What would I say?
Would I warn her of the future,
Or the bad things yet to come?
Or would I leave her to be naive,
To keep having fun?
Because my seven year old self,
Thought the world was a perfect place,
Would she recognize herself,
If she looked at my face?
Even though I learned so much more,
And years have passed since then,
I would give up everything I have,
To view life through her eyes again.
Nobody
by: Anonymous (10th grade)
Nobody the dead
Nobody the alive
Nobody in light
Nobody in darkness
Nobody is the one you love
Nobody is the one you hate
Nobody is Everybody
Nobody is no one...
My Title
by: Caitlin Blackstone (11th grade)
Not long since you’ve been gone,
Barely remember that you were ever here. The war has passed and I have won,
Your demons I shall never fear.
They won’t come for me,
But I know you will find them in you. Hopefully, others will see them,
And I hope it is before they come to.
They may wake up and take over,
But no longer are they my problem.
As I said, the war is over,
It is your turn to get rid of them.
For me, I found better a spirit,
The new has conquered the old.
He doesn’t allow me to take hits,
He is more passionate and bold.
I found one that cares for and loves me,
He sees my beauty and talent.
We sit and he listens to my story.
He renders me happy and content.
It's Amazing, Isn't It?
By: Cassidy Kabetzke (11th grade)
It’s amazing, isn’t it?
Looking up at the starry sky.
Almost wishing you were a Lost Boy,
So you could be a kid and fly.
Feeling so small in the world around,
I just sit here and listen to all of nature’s sounds.
It’s a gift, isn’t it?
To get a nice dose of fresh air,
Especially after running scared.
I never knew the peace to be sound,
Especially from this gift that goes from sky to
Ground.
Worry not,
When you’re sitting in peace,
Because everything you is on your team,
Allowing you to forget anything.
Drifting from limb to limb,
I watch the leaves as they fall,
From life to grim.
It’s beautiful, isn’t it?
It makes you really think.
Life can come and go that fast,
Even faster than you can blink…
It’s amazing, isn’t it?
Addiction
By: Autumn MacNear (11th grade)
Cold shivers all through my body.
It scares me at times.
I scare myself!
Thoughts, oh, terrible thoughts about places and things.
My mind roams off and my brain’s gears start turning.
Thinking of all the wrong possibilities that could happen.
Always waiting for the worse to happen when I am prepared, Then hitting me blind sided.
But, hey, I am addicted to the pain it causes.
Not knowing what to do when the pain is gone.
Call me crazy, psycho even,
But we all have addictions and thoughts that are uncontrollable.
Our addictions.
Lost
By: Anonymous
They say you can’t lose something
That never belonged to you.
Does that mean that you lost me?
Because you had me,
Right in the palm of your hand.
I guess I was too heavy
Because you dropped me,
Even though you knew how small I was;
How easily I would shatter.
Maybe I was dropped
And you just couldn’t find me.
If that was the case,
You didn’t look hard enough.
You didn’t turn over every stone
And you didn’t ask anybody if they’d seen me.
You didn’t search every crack and every crevice.
No, you gave up and got a newer model.
But hey, I didn’t lose you...
You lost me.
A Pearl
By: Anonymous
I miss the way you loved me.
It’s been a long time -
I miss the way you touched me.
Every inch of you was mine.
Now I see you with her,
You seem so different.
I knew you so well,
After all the time we spent
Together, we always were
After all, we loved each other.
That’s what you told me.
Was I chosen just to please your mother?
I was kind, smart, and true,
The one you showed your family.
The one you held hands with on the beach,
The one who treated you so kindly.
After you, there was the cheat -
I thought he was true.
He seemed to be,
But turns out he was just as fake as you.
Don’t get me wrong,
I miss your sense of humor.
Your kind, big heart.
I wish I would have appreciated you sooner,
I didn’t think it would be so hard.
To find a good guy in today’s world.
Turns out, the ones I find that I think are good
Break my heart,
They don’t care if it’s swirled.
The same way you didn’t -
The same way you shattered me.
I’ve built myself back up
Into the one you call “she.”
Or ... that’s what I like to think.
In reality, all I’ve done is put up a wall.
I can’t let myself love again
Because no guy will catch me when I fall.
That’s why I want to be so far away
Physically and mentally
If I let you back in, I will fall in love
I can’t let myself come back to you
In that pitiful crawl
So, greetings from Texas
Or Florida
Or California
Or where ever I decide to go
God only knows how my life will twist and turn
Maybe one day you’ll watch me on a show
And you’ll think:
"I knew that girl
But I broke her heart
And today...
I found out, she was the best kind of pearl.”
My World
By: Anonymous
I gave you my world
My rivers flowing through
All of my plains carpeted by lawn
The mountains that shadow over the land
Swirling watercolors that paint the sky in vivid color
Even the stars that bursted into supernovas
I created a masterpiece out of nothing
And you treated it as if it were only a pebble.
Other Side
By: Anonymous
My favorite pieces
Are from all the pain
This masterpiece
It is somber
And then it is red
They all say
They don’t know why an artist would continue
To draw gloomy faces
With grey clouds
If they want to see
Clear river banks
And the bluest sky
But you don’t get it?
The best art comes from within
And this, my love, is how
We survive
This is how we reach
The Other Side
My Life Book
by: Caitlin Blackstone (11th grade)
We learn to walk,
But with every other step, we fall.
We learn to talk,
But when we have opinions, we stall.
All because this world has us scared,
All because the world has silenced us,
All because the world has us scarred,
All because this world wants us to adjust.
When you have problems, I beg of you,
Speak up and solve them;
It is the best thing to do.
We grew up in a similar society,
But there is a difference between us.
Still, we both stress over our anxiety,
Now we must see how life is beauteous.
Life is like a river,
It expects us to go with the flow.
Even though it is cold, no time to shiver,
If we stop, we shall sink below.
They want us to swim,
But what if I were a lit match?
My fire starts to dim,
Life is unfair, I want a rematch.
How will I get to the stage,
Unless I take the stairs?
To finish the script, I must turn the page;
But if I make it ... who will really care?
DALTON BURKE
I made this painting in 2017 in memory of a dear classmate, Dalton Burke. Dalton was a very loving and caring person. He had a heart as big as the moon, and he was always happy and cheerful. He had a beautiful smile. Even though I didn't know Dalton very well, I can tell you something I did know, he was a very loyal person to himself and everyone around him. Dalton always made good grades in school; he was a very smart and intelligent person. He was also a very respectful person. He never let silly stuff get to him. The main reason I made this painting is because I want everyone to remember him. Dalton will always be loved and missed. - Hagen Smith