Sunday, March 30, 2014

Five

This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Geometry

It is
like a looming rock wall
that you have to climb
by the year's end.
But the wall is so steep,
and so tall,
you wish you'd chose an easier climb.
But now you're stuck here,
and you have to climb so fast
on a such a difficult wall.
And the teacher isn't really helping,
as she watches from above
as you struggle to reach for the next rock.
She tells you where to hold, 
how to climb, 
how to reach, 
how to pull yourself up.
But she goes so fast,
and you can't hear everything, 
and you struggle to learn
as you climb the wall.
And as she talks 
you feel so frustrated
and want her to explain more,
instead of having you learn 
from ways you don't even understand.
So now, you're tired.
And someone has already decided to stop,
and climb an easier wall
and you wish you could join him.
But you stay,
climbing this wall,
and you look up,
and see you're getting closer to the end,
but you're still so far away.
And you wish that
this wall would just be over,
and you could walk away,
only to have co climb another wall.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Here's to All of You

here's to the girl
who didn't ask to lose her friends
and yet lost them anyways,
to events out of her control,
and she could only watch what happened
here's to the boy
who wishes that the past could be erased
and that he could feel better about himself
 who is afraid of getting hurt again
and has to hide that part within him
here's to the girl
who lived a lonely life
 until now never quite fit in,
and now life pulls apart what she had built
so carefully, bit by bit
here's to the girl
who was bullied all her life,
who knew only tears,
until she found a voice of her own
and a destiny for herself
here's to the girl 
who heard the quiet whispers of others
and suffered through them
alone, with no one there for her
to help her through her misery
here's to the boy
who brilliantly shone out to the world
until the day his stability fell,
who left in shame,
and was unable to return
here's to the girl,
who stuck out for her differences
and was relentlessly bullied
for who she was
and  where she had come from
here's to the people
who are all real
who braved their storms
and stuck it out through the end
despite everything against them
and here's to you, all of you
remember this:
whenever life gets hard
just keep on going
because i know things will be okay