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Me and Only Me

I come here to show people what I can do and what I have to say.
I come here to be me and only me.

I come here to be myself
I come here to be someone

I come here to express myself
I come here to be all I can be

I come here to make something out of my thoughts
and write them down on paper

I come here to be my best and
to say that I have no fear of what comes near.

What Matters, by Josh
What matters to me is to be successful
Less stressful, To be determined, to unleash the emotion without fear
Because if I do, rage is the next stage and I’m not trying to let that out of the cage
So I think uncertain thoughts, Pondering around in my mind
Trying to examine what’s the next line
How controlling it will be
My thoughts, and the inner me.

The Lab’s Poetry Anthology, Volume 7

Here’s a sneak peak at Volume 7 of The Lab’s bi-annual poetry anthology, set to drop this May! Local graphic designer, Kim Arps, volunteered with Donny, a student in The Lab, to design the book’s cover and chapter pages. The following are three of the over 90 poems you will find in this book.

What is True?

How do thou know what ‘tis to be true?
For if they asked me who I was, I couldn’t really tell you
They say we’re made, but I beg to differ
People are often slow,
But I’m a little swifter

D.
(Murray Junior High Student)

I Come Here To

I come here to write
I come here to learn
I come here to follow my dreams
I come here to meet my goals
I come here for me, myself and I
I come here to do the things I
Know that are best for me
I come here for me
I come here for you
I come here to…

D.
(St. Andrews PAS Student)

Judgment

I see you looking at me
Like I’m disgusting
Who are you to judge?
We might not have the same color skin
But I’m not what you think.
Yes I am black and proud
That doesn’t give you the right to think I am lazy.
You’re white and I don’t judge you
Tell you I hate you for what your people have done to us
I treat you like an equal
Like you were one of my people.
Please don’t judge what you don’t know
Because I do get good grades.

L.
(Como Senior High Student)

What is Respect?
by S.

What is respect?
Where does it come from and
does it have more than
one meaning, like
roasting on someone you care about
running with a friend
being emotion, equal or having envy for
a person you care about or
being special for knowing you are or
being thankful for your skills you were born with
or being polite to someone no matter what race,
style, and home they choose or are,
and that is what respect means

A Dream Can Be Anything You Want
by S.

A dream can be anything you want
all you have to do is take actions
to make that dream become real.

But you must not judge or use violence,
but use words to express your feelings.

And if we all join together
this dream will become truth.

This is an Ode to my Skateboard
By L.

We are skaters
We are pushers
We are jumpers
We are strong
We are skateboarding
We are the future
Now go skateboard day and night
until the sun gets bright like light

Part One

Black History
Mystery

I sit and see
All the stuff people do and fee
Of what she do and me
I sit in peace.

Black people say “why us?”
And all I can say is “Because—
Why not, look what we do
We do stupid stuff, we use
Pots,
Pills,
Glocks,
Kill
We need meals
Why kill
And use glocks;
And we don’t need pills
And why pots?”

Black people say “why us?”
Because most protect in the time of lust
There’s a time for soft and a time for hard
When we are down,
I’ll help and guard.

Part Two

I’ll help and protect
I’ll help you
Because I’m here for you
They bust I’ll shoot
That’s what riders do
If you don’t like it shoo
Be real, I’m better than you
I’m smarter than you
I’m too sick for you.

“I need help
Victor can you help me?”
I say with what?
She say I want to be like you
I say for what?
Just try

I can’t
Yes you can.
You’re a girl, I’m a man
But you have all these fans
That’s why I said you can.

You still want to be with me,
But we both been through slavery.

Part Three

This is just my life
The sun is dark
I’m in New York
My boy got a kite
But I’m not a dork
I see it on my flight
Leaving New York
I just saw a fight
I see the man with the torch
I’m off the plain with a bike
He pushed him off with some force
I spit this off the mic
Of course
I am the spotlight
I leave no remorse
When you see on the field
It’s all highlights
I am the joy
Of my life
Of your life
Of the life of me

V.

Click “Read more” at the bottom to see the other Highland Senior Poets’ work!

Untitled

I think about what I want to do…
But I don’t have a problem with you.
The things I do are not tight
We mostly
Smoke
Drink
Fight
‘till late at night.
Until I wake up deep inside and realize what I’m doing is wrong
The smoking and drinking
I’m thinking about life, the future,
Will I ever get married and have a wife?
A life, two kids, a job and a great house,
Things to take care of– like the house mouse?

E.

Read more

Click “Read more” at the bottom to see the other Highland Senior Poets’ work!

Check it Check it

I don’t gang bang nor do crazy things
OK I’m from the hood I would change it if I could
Everybody say “where you from” cause I don’t blend in
So I gotta believe what’s within
Within my heart and that’s to be smart
That’s to be the smart guy with out stealing or dying
I’m trying to make it through life
And start a family and have a good wife
Have three kids
Take ‘em to buy shakes without the lids
I ain’t trying to go down, I’m trying to go up
And not keep a frown

M.

Read more

Click “Read more” at the bottom to see the other Highland Senior Poets’ work!

Hard Times
It is hard trying to keep up with life
You wonder why
People kill people for a pip
You see people on the street
Gang bangin and selling weed
Is that how you want to be?
Stay in school, get your education
Because when you go out into the real world
It is going to be a lot of hedonism
So try not to pay attention
And even know you’re struggling
Got to keep your head up
Don’t let no one being you down
Just keep going up
Never go back down
Where there’s a will
There’s a way
And you can change
What people haven’t changed

D.

Read more

Click “Read more” at the bottom to see the other Murray Poets’ work!

I love my mom
But there’s no connection.
When I look into the mirror
I see her reflection
Dad’s never home
Doing my homework alone
Almost eighteen
So pretty soon, I’ll be gone
Just another child rejected
Mama had AIDS
So I might be infected

Thievin’ on the corner store for a treat
On Halloween
I steal candy to eat
Even though there was some drama
I still love my Mama

D.

Read more

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