Youth

Dylan James

Four Years-The Story So Far

All my friends have gone away

Sailing vessels leaving the bay

For the best four years and the promise of pay

But they don't even know what they're chasing

Greater men have tried and failed

And all this time I thought that I'd stay

As a ghost who would haunt this mountain

And all this time I thought that I'd stay

Alive in the ground digging out my coffin

Time was short on courts and pavement

We knew we had to leave

But did I make the most of every day

And did I give to not receive

Are there any better words to express the full extent of my grief

It hits home when you're not home

There's no space to grow, and all this time not much to show

Continued

Maybe I should hold my tongue

And do my best to live with the stress that's mounting

I never thought I never thought a bond was something we lacked.

I got to find another way to keep myself intact

I understand we all went away so we could have the stories to share when we're back

Try to pass the same old s*** to get ahead and start your paper stack

I never thought I never thought a bond was something we lacked

I guess some of us just needed a change to heal the bones we cracked

It takes four years away from your friends

To make you all forget how much time you spent*cussing is very naughty

I like this poem (song) because of how real it is. I’ve seen both of my brothers graduate High School and when they leave it’s like it never happened. They rarely see their old friends and college is a whole new experience. The mood this poem expresses is real. High School will not last.

Basic Sally

Basic Sally loved romantic flicks

She wanted a guy like one on the screen

On her 14th birthday she made a wish

This wish had magic unseen

I wish for a famous boyfriend

I wish he’d knock at my door

Never once will our love end

Movies made sally want more

Sally waited on her front steps

Days and nights not wanting to move

Holy s***, Sally actually thought her wish would come true

Nostalgia-Alicia ShultzWhen I look back on the last three years of my lifeThere's nothing to consider, nothing but airThree years of nostalgia over the previous fiveAn out of body experience-Going through motions but not truly alive

I wasn't interesting, did nothing worthwhileNothing that I can look back on and smileI can't look back on what was me looking backFor all I see is echoesFrom some time, some place

This poem grabbed my attention because everyone has a warped perception on their youth. Some remember it as being much better then it actually was, and others remember it being much worse. I’ve listened to my parents and grandparents talk about their early life and they all seem to have that trait in common. The tone of this poem is what drew me to it. The writer has very strong feelings about nostalgia.

Uhhhh…“Do you ever feel, like a plastic bag?

Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?”

No I don’t…

Katy Perry, you have schizophrenia…

The Face Behind-Nipun Arona

Masks I have many, masks to hide behind

Masks to hide the bitter truths, masks that make you blind

Masks that I am afraid to take off, and none of them is “we”

For pretending is an art that is second nature to me.

True, I give an impression that I am all secure,

That everything is sunny with me, and life a vigor

But please don't believe me, oh please help me find

Find the truth beneath the lies, find the face behind

I chose this poem because of how true it is. Many people are not themselves and are “fake” in a way in public. You can not judge someone based on what you see. There is always more underlying things to a person. The rhyme scheme in this poem was suberb with end rhymes in lines of 2.

Weekend Brevity

Fall asleep with the moon

Wake up about noon

That’s when the sun hits my face in my room

Laying in my bed not wanting to move

Serene Saturdays with nothing to lose

Martha-Bo Burnham

Martha was ugly like a shaven baboon

So she wrapped herself in a curtain cocoon

A week later she finally emerged

And smelled like s***

What a psycho

This poem had a great sense of humor if you can understand it. What does that have to do with youth Dylan? Everyone in the world is beautiful Dylan? What’s your problem Dylan? You have the questions and I have no answers.

Magic-Bo BurnhamRead this to yourself, read it silently.

Don’t move your lips, don’t make a sound.

Listen to yourself, listen without hearing anything.

What a wonderfully weird thing, huh?

NOW MAKE THIS PART LOUD!

SCREAM IT IN YOUR MIND!

DROWN EVERYTHING OUT.

Now hear a whisper, a tiny whisper.

Now read this next line with your best crotchety-old-man voice.

“Hello there Sonny, does your town have a post office?”

Awesome! Who was that? Whose voice was that?

It sure wasn’t yours!

How do you do that?

How?

Must be magic.

This poem has a overall good sense of humor. It makes you think and provides a good dose of imagery. I chose this poem because it is different from the norm. It really makes you think in a weird way. It is my favorite by this author.

Johnny Johnny and his pals sat by the camp fire with night overhead.

A bear walked out of the tree-line looking angry and unfed.

Johnny took out his magical wand.

Chanted at the beast to be gone!

Then the bear tore them all to shreds.

When I was Young-blink 182I woke up today surrounded by blackness

The small morning sun devoured the process

It's always been fun when I get a bit nervous

And it's hard to say but I feel a bit weightless

The more I admit I feel a bit anxious

The more I go on the less I can face this

And those rotten things that live in our shadow

We walk on the line of death and the gallows

And hope that we clear a path we can follow

It's the worst damn day

(It doesn't hurt that much)

Of my life

I made a mess today

(It doesn't hurt that much)

I'm alright

It doesn't hurt that much

When I was young the world it was smaller

The cities were vast the buildings were taller

I felt really strong my parents seemed stronger

But life has a way it showers with greatness

Then takes it away those pieces that made us

Then teaches you things you'd never imagine

We all get the same the memories the burdens

The pictures we made they still form a pattern

They cautiously say does it all matter

I chose this poem because the words are relatable. There is also a distinct rhyme scheme that rotates in and out. The lyrics are very strong displaying the writer’s feeling about youth and nostalgia. This song was released in 2012. It’s been overplayed by myself ever since.

When I grow up-Grace Andreaachii

 

I'd like to be a fireman

And put the fires out

And ride the big red engine round the town.

Up and down! Up and down!

The big light going round and round!

And the big siren screaming.

I'd like to be a Ringmaster

And wear a coat and hat.

I'd crack my whip and just like that!

Lions and tigers at my command

Clowns and elephants under my hand

The big lights beaming out of the stand

And the big crowd screaming.

I'd like to be the daring girl

Who rides the high trapeze.

I'd swing from my toes, I'd hang from my knees

In my glorious sparkles like stars in the breeze

The big light shining so everyone sees

Me up there gleaming.

I chose this poem because of the very complex rhyme scheme. Intellectually the author of this poem has a high I.Q. Never have I seen a poem show more thought. I want to be a firefighter now. Wow, what a intelligent poem!

Lovely Night RainThere is a sound outside…

A sound so booming!

Lightning strikes as the dark skies are glooming.

There is a sound outside…

My windows light up in rhythm with the storming!

Wait…It’s not storming…

There is meteors coming down!

Everyone is dead!

What the…?

AHHHHHHHHHH…

INKED FINGERTIPS-MICHAEL FALOTICO

I cling to reveries of youth, the tender

Sentiment of plucking words from summers' root,

That in my journal hours when the red skies

Are aglow, the phrases extend long as

Straw. I burn language the way one does in

A flamed trance swerving in pure daze beneath

New moon, a blur of penciled happenstance

Flapping like a winged feather that on the

River of late afternoons, I would still

Scribble in a hay, where syllables grow

on racy tunes. And I then could not help

Myself but drown my hands in raw and humid

lines, bury my eyes deep in verses’ fanned.

I'm loathe to leave my untamed story as

Twilight fades; letters drip and clouds see

blown paper sailing like inked fingertips.

This poem stood out to me because the author has a very unique flow with his words. This poem really makes you think. Sure, comedic poems are good, but only with a healthy dose of seriousness in between. This is one of my favorite poems on this slide show. The author has my respect.

Youth-James Wright Strange bird,

His song remains secret.

He worked too hard to read books.

He never heard how Sherwood Anderson

Got out of it, and fled to Chicago, furious to free himself   

From his hatred of factories.

My father toiled fifty years

At Hazel-Atlas Glass,

Caught among girders that smash the kneecaps

Of dumb honyaks.

Did he shudder with hatred in the cold shadow of grease?   

Maybe. But my brother and I do know

He came home as quiet as the evening.

He will be getting dark, soon,   

And loom through new snow.

I know his ghost will drift home

To the Ohio River, and sit down, alone,

Whittling a root.

He will say nothing.

The waters flow past, older, younger   

Than he is, or I am.

I liked this poem due to the personification the author gives the bird. There is a distinct mysterious element to each verse. The meaning of the poem is underlying. We are all young and old in a sense. I got this poem’s message.

After Youth-Evelyn Scott

Oh, that mysterious singing sadness of youth!Exotic colors in the lamplit darkness of wet streets,Musk and roses in the twilight,The moon in the park like a golden balloon ...

 Then to awaken and find the shadows fled,The music gone ...Empty, bleak!My soul has grown very small and shriveled in my body.It no longer looks out.It rattles around,And inside my body it begins to look,Staring all around inside my body,Like a crab in a crevice,Staring with bulging eyesAt the strange place in which it finds itself

I enjoyed this poem because the wording was nice and it had a good mood. The tone the author set is quite serene. She converses about youth in a positive and negative way. This is my 3rd favorite poem in this slide-show. It’s simple yet hits the point dead on.