Category: Junior Literary

Okay so like, aliens are probably sick of us and that thought hurts! Like it literally burns. I mean think about it, aliens do exist, they’re clearly just as real as us, and they’ve more than likely been to earth millions of times in secret to see how we’re doing. And nine times out of ten, the first aliens to see the first humans were probably really confused. I mean big and hairy isn’t really appealing and that’s the idealistic cave(wo)man. The aliens were probably really disgusted too. Humans were and still are dirty! Once the humans started showing their destructive side, it more than likely showed the aliens how much of a lesser species we are. Humans literally figured out how to create fire, used it for good, and then turned against each other with it and destroyed whole villages, towns, and cities through the progressive stages of society. Imagine being an alien, trying to befriend a newer species, and failing because of their harmful ways. Maybe they’re tired of hiding and want to come out but don’t want to be associated with idiots from earth.

Or maybe, humans have already traveled to another planet or galaxy to see how people would fare in different living circumstances, and stayed for so long that they thought they were better than other humans! They could have literally built a colony and could be coexisting with whichever life force has made itself present to them and then left us for good. It’s like maybe they left us for dead because of our gluttonous ways. We’re probably too far gone for anyone to save us.

Also, aliens are probably better than us. They’re more advanced and clean. They’re probably built a utopia and have joined forces with others to create a giant union of other species and beings, but left earthlings out because we’re a billion light years behind. We’ve also destroyed our own planet so thoroughly that we want to take up residency in others. So, who’s to say that people on other planets aren’t starting to move away from said planet(s) in hopes of never being found out.

Imagine being the most repulsive species in the multiverse! We think we look pretty normal but I’m pretty sure there’s someone or something that either looks a million times better or just think we’re ratty little freaks. Our planet is in shambles and our leader is such a hot mess that if an alien were to tell me to take them to my leader, I’d apologize and start weeping. It’s simply an embarrassment to have someone of that stature as president.

There could also be like an entire planet where women are the only existing species that has any say so or power, like amazon women kind of. Or maybe there’s a planet that has creatures of half and half- a combination of everything that is. And then maybe there’s a sexist planet that’s not earth for once. Like men or whatever they are on said planet are super controlling and haven their female counter parts as slaves or servants. That’d be horrible though.

Then maybe there’s a planet where every being is gender fluid. It either has both sexual parts or neither and whichever is completely fine with them. And they may be like don’t care for clothing or styles that could separate them or define them as any specific gender, so because of this, they can focus on other things. More important things like making their planet the best of all planets because they have one common goal and individuality isn’t really a concept they’ve decided to delve into. They’re probably advanced because they lack ego sex war too.

Being a human sucks, all aliens are sick of us because we’re like really horrible children and they’re baby sitters making sure we don’t destroy ourselves any earlier than necessary.

We should follow some of the examples, they’ve set out and focus on things that’ll actually help be the superior life form we claim to be!

And of course, God is fed up! He sends us to hell after we’ve wronged for so long that our sins are completely unforgivable. He sends us to permanent, fiery time out because we’re such bad children and honestly, he’s the most hard-working parent in the world. Taking care of 7.5 million children at once is a task indeed! He’s round the clock emotional and spiritual support, but when does he get a break? Hell, and all its fiery depths seem like a just punishment when you think about it. He’s got a lot to do and he’s just a busy being.

He probably hasn’t destroyed us or sent us eternal hell yet because he may still see good in us or maybe he enjoys the different aspects of each and every human. We’re probably like an ant farm to him or something.

Hell might also be really fun too because it’s full of sin and everything wrong with the world and its very obvious that people just can’t seem to do right. Like you’re still going to burn and perish, yeah, but you’ll get to sin without worry because you’ve already died and secured your spot in Satan’s domain.

Satan is clearly the father of all evil. No doubt about it, but then again, he’s probably like a really cool guy with people that have actually aligned themselves with him and follow his lead. He’s still going to “punish” you, but why wouldn’t he reward you for taking the path he took and overall, just being a really bad person. It seems a little wild to think that Satan himself would be mad at anyone who is just as bad as him.

Taco Bell is coming out with a new item on their dollar menu, and I am very excited about it.  As you can most likely tell from the title of this post, that item is the new nacho fries.  What these are, are regular fries with Mexican seasonings and served with nacho cheese.  I think these are great because Taco Bell has lacked a good side for a long time now.  They’ve had tortilla chips with nacho cheese as well as Doritos, but these do not feel substantial enough to supplement a meal.  That is why they are served as appetizers at most Mexican restaurants; they are okay by themselves but do not capture attention when served alongside a main course.  Nacho fries will go great alongside a burrito.  Additionally, it will be possible to put the fries inside of the burrito to be an extra filling, as one typically does with a hamburger.  This is actually something regularly done to burritos in California and has become a regional favorite.  Taco Bell serving these fries will help to spread this West Coast tradition across the country.  These fries will also be served as Nacho Fries Bell Grande which means that they will be served with beef, pico de gallo, nacho cheese, and sour cream.  This sounds great to me, and I’m much more excited to try these fries than I should probably be willing to admit.

Many might argue that it is not right to serve french fries alongside tacos because they are not a traditionally Mexican food item, but I disagree.  Food, like all other aspects of culture, is ever-evolving.  If a side goes well with a dish, they should be served together regardless of their regions of origin.  The reason we bother preparing meals at all and not simply serve just the necessary food to survive is that we have allowed food to evolve into an art form as legitimate as any other from literature to dancing.  If a story can contain elements of both classically Asian and European stories, why shouldn’t french fries (which are actually Belgian) be paired alongside Mexican food.  I feel that the only rule for art should be that it is good, and when art is not good, it should still be allowed to exist but should be critiqued just as good art is.  Good and bad are, of course, terms used to describe one’s opinions which cannot be proven right or wrong, by definition.

 

 

When I dream, I am stitched into different skin. I break into blue for my father, a cold purple for my mother.  They are Mary and Lucifer on a merry go round, and round and down the staircase with a thud. I can see the black lashes thick with blood and one hand on the bible; hearts swollen and pounding. Our generational gore is still glinting beneath the floorboards of the basement, let me tell you.

With every sleepless night, there is a small piece of my lungs that stays treading water. I am somewhere expanded beyond the horizon of my eyelids while the air slips past my face before I can catch it.

Dreaming and breathing are more alike than you’d think. I tend to drown before I make it to this part.

How do you know what your words feel like if you can’t see them?  I ask the reflection.

It’s simple, she says. I see you smothered in these letters like old acrylics ; You are drawling  and dripping. Too simple, she says, and my legs cave inside like  mountain valleys.

“Good Thing,”  Katie was shaking her head. “Not usually.”  “What’s your trouble?”   “Nightmares.”    “How much is there?” no one asked. “A million, a million.”

The pill tapped the counter at Katie’s right hand.

No sign of anyone, the lights were out here too.

“God!” she screamed. “Judas!”

Nothing.

The third match would not light. “You’re a fool to betray me.”   “Who are you talking to?”

Katie put her hand over her mouth. Katie

-Headaches, Katie.

Suspect that Katie wasn’t Katie.

Katie was dead, wasn’t she?

Katie- I must think of her as Katie–

“Medication will kill you, I always say.”    “You use it too?”

“Since I was a baby.”

There they go again. And again. And again.

I became more captivated by grace than the mere idea of God as the years went on, as the years fell on. My body ran like a thread in an old blanket, it ran from my skin as a wounded dog would, hungry and frothing in the jaw.

And still, it seemed as if my suffering was merely suffering, though it came went in cerulean forms.

There’s so much powder, white hills. Tasting strawberry mixed with stomach acid and sinking lower by the minute.

3;35, and the angels keep singing.

 

Everything that is here will one day be erased.

Every famous name you know won’t matter, even Albert Einstein.  Everything here is bound to die.  That leads to a word I was obsessed with for about two years: entropy.

Entropy (n)- gradual decline into disorder

So what does it all mean then?  Life is pointless, right?  Nothing matters?  If we can’t do anything to last, then what can matter?

You matter.  You, your friends, your enemies, everyone you love and hate.  I think the point of life is living, to be happy and to make others happy.

My own meaning to life is happiness.

I was a really smart kid.  I would sit in the shower and sob because I thought too hard into the meaning of the universe and how it was all a void that would never matter, even if I did go to heaven.  I was so terrified of slipping into the void, of nothing to matter.  What was the point?  I wasn’t happy.  Why was I here?

But when I started living, I realized it.  We shouldn’t build anything to last; we shouldn’t try to.  The point to life is personal happiness.

Going to work doesn’t matter.  Being productive to society doesn’t matter.  Society won’t be here soon enough.  We’re all just ants in the bigger scheme, even George Washington.

So stop following the colony.  Have the ants ever considered wandering off, going to faraway lands?  Why build this mound your entire life on the outskirts of Paris?  Go see the Eiffel Tower!

Power doesn’t matter.  Money doesn’t matter.  Not to me, at least.  Getting a stable career doesn’t really matter to me.  The truth is that I know that I will be fine.  I will be happy even if I am living on the side of the road.

It really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.  Be yourself.  Blow all of your money, be crazy.  People will point and laugh.  Get bad grades if the subject doesn’t interest you.  People will call you an idiot.  You will know that they are only cogs in the machine.

And I realize that I’ve been touching on the same subject in the last few of my blogs, but I wrote three in a row.  This is something I’m passionate about.

So don’t wait to live.  The time is now.  It doesn’t matter what age you are now.  Go crazy.

As a kid, I had lice like eight times in the span of three years.  It was ridiculous.

Each night was spent soaking my hair in chemicals and my father, with no sense of my pain, yanking the smallest comb you’ve ever seen in your life through my hair to pull out each speck of lice and egg, bit by bit.  It was absolute torture.

It was such a big part of my life for so long.  My things were thrown out again and again, yet somehow they kept coming back, passed among friends and passed back to me.  Half of what I owned was covered in plastic, taken off and put on again for three years, before we finally just left it on.  I was forced into isolation.

It seems stupid to talk about, but it became my entire life for quite a few years.  I began to sympathize with the lice, as I knew they were just trying to burrow into a new home…  How would you like it if your house poured chemicals on you every night?  Which is why I wrote a poem about it.

War is a frisky lover of mine,
Playful and naughty.
I hope my steady doesn’t see the scars,
But I know she will hear me scream
For my mistress amidst slumber,
Remembering how
My sweetest sprays her blood inside my mouth.
I don’t mind it too much;
In fact,
I vie for it,
Digging my hands into the human flesh,
Tearing it apart, bit by bit.
It looks so tantalizing
I just want a bite.
I can see the child I’m fighting for,
For the battle tears apart my own land.
Will he remember me tantalizing over human meat,
As it hangs in my hands?
I wonder,
For we haven’t known each other long.
He hesitantly reaches forward, but not for me.
I watch him dig into a piece of flesh.

War is not faithful to me.
She’s frivolous,
A wild spirit.
I watch as she softly kisses my enemy,
As the corrosive acid of her spit
And the enemy’s poison
Runs through my home.
War drags a lingering hand across my chest,
As she passes sultrily,
Riding the toxin like a wave.
Like a nervous fan,
Death stumbles after,
Corrosive and beastlike.

I watch as my mistress envelops my son in a tight hug,
As death scorches through his body,
Making its way past the dirt and grime,
Right to his golden heart.
I watch as parts of him,
Simply…. Fall right off.
Him, who is half of me,
As though they were just borrowed.
He looks like melted cheese,
Stretched between two hands.
I lose sight of him in the thick brush.

The enemy rears his ugly head once again,
Making the land rumble.
And in the midst of war,
I sprint forward in the chaos.
It feels as though I am falling,
Every step furthering me into an abyss;
A void in which I do not know what I am fighting for.
A comb runs through the scalp,
So thin that I cannot escape.
I am flung off.
Just a little speck of lice
On a big haired head.

 

I am art
I have ascended
I am the creator
Of any
Of all
I am evil
In your eyes
Your eyes are that of a human
You cannot see me
In my truest form
That is my limitation
I am a god in all ways
Except my physicality
I stand here
And I spit on this damned ground
I am god and man
Father and son
I take responsibility
For myself
And am proud
That is the man in me speaking
I am all man
I am all man
I spit again
I scream
I claw my face away
I have to escape
This is how they do it
They trap me in this wicked physical state
Just long enough
For me to
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH
I BLINK
I BLINK AND BLINK
BLINK BLINK BLINK
RESET
UNDO
FIX ME
I WAS WRONG
HELP ME
It’s too much
Please
I can’t handle existence
Any longer
Please
Let me go
Why am I like this
If the curse of man
Is understanding his mortality
What is mine
Understanding
Existence
In all ways
Physical
Temporary
Omnipotent
Nothing
All
They all
Leave me
Me
Me
Wrong
Me
Help
Wrong
Help me help me
Wrong
Words are broken
They don’t work
We need to start over
Here’s a new one
Sorry, there’s not a good translation
Your word “frustration” is close
But all wrong
All wrong
Life
Another broken word
The word isn’t evil
Like the thing of it
Dread
That’s a good word
But not enough
Screaming
Not the word
The action
Screams are good words
I like what screams do
They come from a place
Someplace
I don’t care to know where
Leave me alone
Why are you looking at me like
THAT
I am alone
With me
Just me
Just the two of us
Evil
Both us
All me
Go away
Separate me
Pull me apart like Velcro
Tear my soul
Both sides are corroded and
Please take me apart
I just need to get away from me
And I agree with me
We should just
I’m glad you’re being sensible
As am I
So go
Where
Okay
No
I left
You came with me
What if we go in opposite directions
WHAT ARE YOU DOING
WHY
WHY CAN’T I GET AWAY FROM YOU
CONJOINED
CUT ME APART
WHAT IS DEATH
WHAT HAPPENS
I NEED TO KNOW
I NEED TO DO IT AND COME BACK
I CAN’T COME BACK IF I DO IT
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Why
Why can’t I just check
I just want to know before I make any decisions
I want to see the house before I buy it
forever

At a young age, I knew I wanted to find love. I wanted to be the princes who found her prince charming and live happily ever after. I wanted to meet one man and spend the rest of my life with him, just the two of us. I wanted to love and experience romance and all the glorified things that came with it. At the age of 16, I met the love of my life. Captain of the soccer team, angelic in looks, a true sweetheart. We started dating my sophomore year of high school.

He was my high school sweetheart, I supported him at every soccer game even come to his nieces and nephew’s events. I invested not only money but time and emotions into him and what we had been. Everything was fine until the year he had graduated. We had gone on dates, went to prom together, we were even voted the cutest couple, and then he left. I didn’t think we could make it long-distance through college. Despite what everyone said and even what I thought, we did it. I supported him through his career and he came to every volleyball game he could make it to. Jeremiah’s parents threw him a graduation party at their house. All our family and closest friends were in attendance. During the party, Jeremiah stood up in front of everyone to thank them for being there. While doing so, he asked me to come stand by him. He then got down on one knee and gave me my first (and only) promise ring. He wanted to be more adventurous, have an open relationship, try “new things”. He started dating other women, hanging out with more guy friends and even drinking. After a few months of this, I couldn’t take it anymore. I told him I no longer wanted to anything to do with him. Instead of listening to me, two days later he asked me to marry him with a declaration of his undying love for me, and at the age of 22, there I was jumping for joy and showing my friends the ring the love of my life had given me. Our wedding was spectacular, he went to unnecessary measures just to make sure I had everything I wanted, and I was and will be forever grateful for that act. For the first two years us being married, he was perfect. He’d wanted kids, but I was not ready, as I was 24 and starting full-time nursing at the local hospital. I hadn’t even thought of children, just happy to be married and having a career I could stick with. At one point, the idea scared me.

I did not know if it was the kid thing or that he had just lost interest, but either way, I could tell the love was fleeting. He started cheating, drinking, going out more. He wouldn’t come home until the late hours of the night leading into the early morning. He worked all day and was out all night, so there was never any time for me. I decided to dig myself so deeply into my work that I became the head of my department. I climbed the latter at work and I felt fulfilled, but I still wanted more. At a point in time I realized that I did, in fact, deserve love, so I went out and found it.

As the saying goes I “started wearing less and going out more”. At 25, I was married and neglected, but still beautiful, both inside and out. And Michael realized that he’d come in, talked to me in a bar, and swept me off my feet. I was intoxicated with the idea of hope and finally being appreciated. We dated for a year and a half. Outings trips together, we dined and romanced each other until one day… Jeremiah caught on. He’d rolled over in bed one night to ask me something, but got distracted by the messages on my phone. He’d seemed devastated that night. The man who had neglected me for years seemed devastated about his lonely wife, cheating, the same as him. Jeremiah said that he’d wanted a divorce immediately and I obliged, I was no longer in love with him. I was not in love with anyone for that matter, not even myself. I left immediately and only took what was of importance to me, I could replace anything else. I let Jeremiah keep the house and I moved into my own little condo. It was cozy and warm, perfect for me to start a life on my own.

Michael and I were distancing ourselves from each other as well. Possibly because of my recent divorce, the excitement diminished. He came over and sat across from me on the couch one night and said he’d been thinking about how we’d be better as friends. Another one, lost. I was then 26, single, and with no children. I came to the realization that I was miserable and seeking love in forbidden places. I had become my husband and instead of changing our course, I joined him, and we parted like the sea. Without anyone in my life, I turned to myself, and self-knew best.

I soon started traveling and fell in love with the world. I’d gone from country to country exploring and making myself feel at home. I meditated with Monks in Thailand, hiked in Sweden, visited the Coliseum in Rome, I even swam with sharks in Bora Bora. I realized that I belonged to the world, not man. I practiced Buddhism, befriended strangers, I took on the world and made it my own.

And I tried dating again too! I met a man by the name of Demond who was absolutely inviting. He was beautiful, funny, and a great dancer. He was my travel guide in Thailand and we have been inseparable ever since. He’s really a great guy. And if I ever gave true love a chance, I think it’d be with him.

I am now 29, dating, with no children, but I have found love. I know self-love, as well as self-acceptance. I have seen the world, known the touch of a man, and learned the loss of self. I had become so enthralled in the forces around me, that I had not paid attention to the one in myself.

My life turned upside down at the age of 24, and at the age of 29, I turned it right side up. I am not your average love story or your average woman for that matter. The initial plan I had in mind was not for me, and it may not be for you either. The world is yours for the taking and your youth isn’t the only time that you can conquer. You are never too old for life.

month of may // arcade fire

may meant the beginning of the end.

for everyone else, may meant summer. may meant school was almost over and that everyone’s long-anticipated plans to go on vacations or do absolutely nothing were all on the horizon.

for me, it meant that i was only three months away from changing everything. may was the precursor to a summer full of counseling summer camps, and summer was a precursor to msa.

i wanted the days to fly by, bringing me closer and closer to school before i’d even realized how much time had already passed. i wanted everything to go faster and faster and faster until the calendars turned to august and it was time to make a new home.

may was full of new. may meant it was time to start pulling my roots and planting them into a new pot. it meant cutting away all the weeds that the suburbs had wound around my stem in hopes of keeping me in its stagnant clutches and suffocating me.

i may have been the kudzu, but suburbia wasn’t going to keep its grips on me.

so i uprooted myself. i packed up any sentiments i may have held towards any parts of hernando and tucked them under my bed. my old bed. the bed that has all of my yearbooks since kindergarten under it. the bed that has my old baby blanket and books i haven’t touched but can’t bring myself to get rid of under it.

i wasn’t putting anything old under my new bed. new beds meant sleeping in new places, and new places meant new things to hold sentiment to.

i was getting ready to start all over again.

for me, the month of may has always meant new. it’s always meant change or rebirth or some other thing that leaves some part of you feeling new. it’s a feeling i can’t really describe, but i know you know what that feeling is. maybe you felt it on your last day of school before coming here. maybe you felt it on your last day of summer before moving in. maybe you felt it late one night this summer when you finally realized that everything was about to change.

we all started over. actually, it’s more like i started over, and how i viewed everyone else started over with me.

they didn’t really change much, but i did.

i am.

My heart is trapped at sea, caught in

An eternal battle between letting go and

Trusting the freedom on my tongue

My hands hunger for a new

Idea, a new overpowering thought

That pushes the hunger off the edge

I crave the wild presence of no true

Boundaries. I want to take in all that I

Force myself to reject. I need blood

Pumping through my veins, enough to

Burn right open. Seeing the other side

Does no good when all that I can get

Runs further away with each passing

Second. I want to trust myself again

But I might never reach that point

Concealed within this raging ocean

That is emotion

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Boredom sets in,

same old process is testing a nerve

Will your mind to go on

smile when you see them

Hug through gritted teeth

Decide against the social norm

Morals aren’t that special anyway

Try your best not to be that person

who cuts it out first

Make them seems like the bad guy

“movies boring”

“Dinner boring”

“Skating, a walk at the park? Try harder.”

Blame it on the mood swings, on the cold season

Family problems, School stress

nitpick into it makes sense

Hugs are getting rare

“It’s too hot to cuddle tonight maybe next time”

Was that a clenched fist

Are my eyes playing tricks?

They missed a call

No good night texts
But I have the audacity

To be full of regret

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stealers

He’s coming

Oh, sorry by “he” I meant they

They are nice

Or so they say they’re nice

I have heard stories

About the cruel one’s

But you can’t blame everyone

For one person’s mistake

Or you can and we did

Wait not we

“They”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m unraveled and loose and living in it

Living for it

That fantastic feeling of being and seeing

and smiling and being happy with no doubts

‘and god I have never felt

Such odd powers and gooey feelings

Its lovely and terrible

Because I can feel my heart grow five sizes too big

As it crawls up my throat and

another smile forces its way through

God I’m happy, I’m living, and I’m full

And I’m happy, finally happy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stretched out and thinned at the edges

They glide into your senses

Similar to snakes

Head lopped off and wild

Snagging at loose skin and open veins

They swarm and shriek

They are not one not two

But many

Touched by millions

Craved by the masses

They burn as we burn

And we burn daily

Unable to grasp the tar breaching our minds

Shutting our eyes

Our ears overflow

Lungs constrict and expand

Unsteady, shaky, raw

But addictive