Students at American Renaissance Academy in Kalaeloa are studying poetry in their English classes, where they’ve leaned about different types of poetry and how to create poems of their own. Below, two students of Leanna Chew test the waters with their words.
“All that I am” by Cassidy Peters, Grade 12
You did it, you caught me.
I did things that you never thought your daughter would ever do you put it all on me to be the best that I can be, well maybe that’s too much.
maybe I can’t be perfect.
Maybe what I am is a girl who just wants to be loved, a girl who doesn’t need the world to be happy.
A simple kiss is all it takes to fall in love
A simple word can make me melt
Simple That’s what I am: Simple. But that wasn’t enough, was it?
You always needed more, you always expected more.
I would go till the ends of the earth just for you to say that you’re proud of me.
Why is it, when people do good, barely anyone sees, but when one does bad, The whole world looks at you?
My world no longer cares, I will walk around with a smile even when I want to cry
I will hide my face to block my smile
I will hold my head high when I just want to fall
I want to be everything that you ever wanted.
Why can’t you just accept me being a girl who just wants to be loved?
“Light and Dark” by Brittany Lindo, Grade 11
Why is everyone afraid of the dark?
The cold and simple moonlit night.
Yet when you see a sudden spark,
You run and go embrace the light.
If we’re so scared, why do we sleep?
In that time when ‘monsters’ creep.
BECAUSE IT’S SAFE You don’t know …
The REAL monster’s in the light,
The monster just beyond your sight,
Behind the sun, so blinding bright …
Because monsters, don’t creep at night,
So get your rest, don’t be afraid,
Because at night this monster lay,
And slept until a brand new day …
Yet still we never get it right,
We fear the dark, why fear the light?
