Mirror on the Wall — By Sara Elder

Don’t Say You Love Me — By Kristen Bardon

 Mirror on the Wall

By Sara Elder

Always having to be someone else

I don’t have an identity –

My identity is yours,

Or his,

Or theirs.

My identity is unknown until you walk up to me

You look right through me and only see yourself

I watch you put on makeup,

I see you try on clothes,

Why are you so conceited?

Why do you even need my approval?

Are you that insecure?

Go on your date.

Go to school.

Don’t think about me.

I can be broken

And I can be replaced,

Because I’m nothing but a mirror.

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Don’t Say You Love Me

By Kristen Bardon

By Kristen M Bardon

Love is something that is strong.

The meaning of it is everything.

Just look it up in a dictionary.

Love is something that also means forever,

If you truly love someone .

If you treat that someone as if invisible it is hurtful

When you say you love someone you say forever.

Forever was a lie. Forever was not in your mind.

In the end the bruises are the scars that are there forever.

Did you truly love someone?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Summertime

By Guiyu Xu

Summertime is the end of the exhausting school year,

and saying good-bye to all of your dedicated teachers,

including Mr. Bretsch, Mrs. Snell, Mrs. McMillen and Ms. Sekula.

Summertime is a piece of Kit-Kat, which everybody loves.

Summertime is walking toward to your grandparents’ house for a visit as the sun heats your back which is soaked with sweat by noon.

Summertime is watching the clock, wishing it could go faster,

and waiting impatiently for the day when you can go back to your mother country.

Summertime is carrying the heavy suitcase which hides your cherished clothes and dolls,

and taking the huge “bird” and flying on the sky for almost two days.

Summertime is reuniting qith all of your uncles, aunts, and cousins on the airport again,

and hugging each other excitedly,

and saying how much you’ve missed every one of them.

Summertime is living in the house where you spent the entire childhood,

and sleeping on your tiny bed, on which you have slept on since you were born.

Summertime is singing under the roof of the two-floored cement house.

Summertime is shopping with your cousins on the bustling Fuzhou Street,

and reencountering your elementary classmate, Lin Chen, and middle school desk mate, Rachel Xu accidentally,

and saying “where have you been these years? I missed you so much, my friend.”

Summertime is travelling around the famous and beautiful cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanking, and Suzhou, at which you’ve dreamed, 

and admiring how wonderful your country is,

and saying “I am so proud of myself for being a Chinese,”

and taking hundreds of pictures crazily until the camera is out of battery completely and shuts down automatically.

Summertime is eating the super tasty Chinese-styled BBQ, Summer Iced-rice, Bubble Tea……

and yelling “OMG, so yummy, I want more,”

while the waiter is laughing at the grain of rice that is sticking on your cheek.

Summertime is waving to all of your beloved cousins and relatives in the entrance of the terminal,

and saying “See you, take care. Wait for me to come back again,” before you are leaving your root, and flying back to the United States where nobody understands you.

Summertime is hiding in the corner where no one could find you,

crying and recalling the interesting time you have with your friends.

Summertime is swimming and diving under the freezing water, and wishing it could cool your body and calm your mind down.

Summertime is visiting Staples, looking for sales, and buying papers, pencils, and binders

for the upcoming school year.

Summertime is playing flash games,

such as Amateur Surgery and Five Minutes to Kill (yourself), for the whole day,

and enjoying the last few days of the vacation.

Summertime is absorbing in Lenka’s Trouble is a Friend, Michael Jackson’s You Are Not Alone….. and lying on the bed, relaxing.

Summertime is keeping fit, trying to lose weight, having a new hair cut,

hoping your friends could be surprised about the new you.

Summertime is staying at home all day, and reading the extremely boring summer reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, unwillingly, in the last minute.

Summertime is sighing, suspiring, groaning, and complaining,

“OH MY GOD. I can’t believe it!”

“How could summer be so short?”

Summertime is the beginning of another school year, carrying the new backpack,

and walking to Quincy High School with a fancy smile on your lovely face.

Summertime is saying, “YES, OF COURSE, I CAN DO IT.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Laughing While Dying

By Sara Elder

“What’s so funny, honey?”

Nothing, just the way my face bruises when you hit me

And the way your eyes light up with glee

At the sound of my pain,

And how you tell me “no pain, no gain”

It’s funny how I cry myself to sleep

and it’s sad how you make me feel so weak

I laugh because I don’t fight back,

I laugh because you have what I lack,

Sometimes I laugh because I can’t stop crying,

And sometimes I laugh because I’m slowly dying.