2016
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The past three years have been the
hardest
strongest
most vulnerable
time of my life.
2016
granny died suddenly, stage 4 pancreatic cancer
two weeks,
three days,
gone.
I know how strange you’ve been feeling these days
My Golden Girl’s gone cold
But all of that could change
Yet still you remain with me
Hi
I'm 18 years old
Or should I say 18 years young
But old enough for to know my rights and wrongs.
It doesnt mean I always do what's right.
They are saying It’s Christmas The bells are all a’ringing, But somewhere, deep inside Someone’s not singing The beds may be made, full of joy and of care But a little girl’s still crying Since her idol’s not there We’ve all lost a lot This year,
My lips turn sweet as honey
from the thought of you.
I tend to long for your melodious words
even when I’m with you.
And, this silence we sit in
On long car ridesShe chooses the music playedCarefully setting the moodUsing songs to portray emotionShe turns melodies i
Old soul
Young bones
Turmoil and pure insanity-
This time last year I was really feeling the shit hit the fan, man
And I mean, really
March again; Revive; Awaken!Build atop what has been taken,Find your mantra, young disciple:"Do not tarry; carry on."
-
Life came without a heart this year
And Death came greedy
Vengence came with pride
And racism came needy
Prejudice found a cozy home
In the white house of D.C.
And an orange bigot
I am a seed, a sprout, a tree,
all at once.
Over hundreds of days,
thousands of moments.
Leaps of joy, and millstones
for a heart
2016 went by in the blink of an eye.
I started it 17 but ended it 18 and shy.
No one warns you what a new era brings,
Just like no one warns you how quick adulthood rings.
So much happened in 366 days.
From youth, I knew not all plants grow --
Some are cut at the roots,
Some sprout of row,
And some never see the light of day
And feel the rain on their leaves
And the sun on their cheeks
It started quickly,
And when I looked back
It felt like I was opening up a time capsule.
It felt like nothing could possibly be like it was before.
And it felt real, because it was.
I once wandered the lands- with nothing but the dust.
The journey I took- I had no one to trust.
My year long journey- began in the spring
It was at this time, lonliness began to sting.
As my mind sits here, meandering,
my attention was focused
on the dripping sand
of the hourglass of the past
Every individual speck,
every small memory
gradually collected at the bottom
Many minds rest on politics
So many engaged in the political
Yet the majority forget this is literal
When many are waiting for the fix
They are disappointed just with tricks
A door
A door with chips in the paint,
reminded me much of 2016.
A year full of dread,
for me, that is.
The knob shined as bright as a newborn star,
representing the new year that was yet to come.
2016 was gone so fast,
I couldn't believe it was in the past.
In the beginning school had me feeling blue,
Especially because I had to stay past two.
Graduation day came and it was a big deal,
Death...
I learned about how unhappiness has led to death when the boy I once went to school with killed himself because no one listened.
Decisons...
I am a part of Generation Z and amending society
I wonder what waits for me after this inaguration
I hear voices in protest and anger
We broke a lot of things last year
Just to build something new;
Something that grew my fear
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
We broke a friendship last year
Just to rekindle an old one;
They always say, "Quiet down,
use your Inside Voice."
but after last year,
I know that's not a choice.
I've learned to Love Louder,
Think Louder, Act Louder, Be Louder,
Two-thousand and sixteen
Crowned one of the worst years in many peoples’ eyes
For many it was a year of distress, chaos, uncertainty
For me it was a year of self-discovery, growth, and learning
January
A happy and optimistic girl I was back then.
Found myself in an everlasting hurricane in the middle of March, starting with my grandfather’s death.
I tried to be a soldier, protect my heart like it was my nation.
Ups and downs,
All around,
Don’t take me back,
Don’t let me drown,
This time was a tale of someone lost,
They didn’t know it so they had to pay a cost,
And now in the present the debts are due,
Bubbles are dangerous- now, let me explain.
Not the nostalgic solution,
Innocence and iridescence
Cherished in childhood
Loved by young and old alike.
No- these bubbles divide
Leaving behind
Glad It’s Over.
Because it was closer than the celebrities for me.
He died.
Then he died.
Then he died.
And it all piled up.
Twenty sixteen
Why’d you have to be so mean?
All you seemed to bring was bad
I never felt so sad
I wanted you to treat me good
Instead I was like a car hood
Protecting everything inside
2016 changed me.
I felt afraid,
Angry,
Sad,
Frustrated,
Hopeless.
I saw acts of terror,
Hate,
War,
Fear.
I wished for strength,
Peace,
Love,
Acceptance.
You ever watch Donnie Darko?
That scene about the spectrum:
Between two bounds, the heart goes—
The emotings of fear and love.
I felt so sure about it before;
That love existed, and surely it does.
Jumping into the year with exectations so high
Played football but got out because my school work was too severe
Tried out for the basketball team didn't make it
Day one. The Year is born, boom!
Fireworks gleam above shaded cities today.
Years back, fifteen, to be exact. Beat.
Mother's love? Pah! 2016 sends her away.
Feel unhindered. Free, they say.
of all the sauces the one that's the best
that's head over heels and tops all the rest
with a helping of spice and a helping of zest
is siracha sauce.
you can put it on pizza you can eat it with lime
What is a year?
What can it befall?
Does it bring happiness or fear?
Does it bring anything at all?
It took 12 months, just 12 months for my life to completely change
I thought "forever" would last a lifetime, but sometimes God will block out certian people so you can fall into a better path in life.
Did I really change?
Did I change for the past year in 2016?
Was I ready for 2017?
Am I ready for my Graduation?
In 2016, I saw some things new,
2016: The Year Fear Took Over
You Think it will be the best year
You Think you will grow
You Think you will change
2016
was 366 days
of dreaming,
of learning,
of reflecting,
of growing myself
into the person I long to be.
2016
was 366 days
of laughter,
of ideas,
changes
friendships grow like dandelions through weed killer
belonging
a feeling never experienced before, now as normal as the sky is blue
black skies
late nights, struggling to pass the test
pain
I’m worn and withered from being this bird.
Of fire and ash, ash and fire.
Over and over, morning-born,
evening ebbing.
Waking up weary in the fluttering, frail flakes
burned paper, song, and skin.
I picked up a pen again
I placed it to paper
And it’s kept me sane
Relatively
The past year poked a hole
In my boat
wrestling with an impression of myself,confidence scant and creativity diluted,I found solace in the arms of a soldier who decidedmy dreams encompassed all the world-just not the war he was fighting.
My year
My year?
A roller coaster taking a nose dive off a pier.
I've lost some,
Far and near.
Some close and dear.
But I persevere
I ask myself, why am I here?
They say that up to half of college students go in
not knowing what to do
struggling, drowning in money
while they try to choose.
Pick one
In 2016
A cloud of depression hovered over me
I felt hopeless
And angry and empty
Why couldn't I just be happy?
I have a great life
And a loving family
Caring friends and many talents
The Paradox That Was 2016
Your 2016.
My 2016.
The year of attacksThe year of deathThe year of Trump.
2016 was such a difficult yearI started with ache.My relationship wasn't doing well,And there was too much distanceSo we decided to break.
Built up hatred
Oozes out of the pores of the misinformed.
Can't seem to escape it.
Can't seem to rise above it.
How can I become an example
When I feel like a sample
Of America's weakest?
Finally we’ve reached twenty seventeen,
And it’s time to reflect on last year’s scene.
Once upon a time there was a broke girl
Who decided she should give a job a whirl.
She applied and interviewed high and low,
This year,
love has so many more meanings than the last.
Love takes up more of the space in which emptiness lived until now.
This year, love can be definable,
or not.
2016 wasn't a rollercoaster, or a carousel, or a blind leap off of a cliff like they everyone says.
This year was an ocean.
The year I was born, we started the drive.
As the year began, I switched from the food industry to cleaning house
I also became pregnant and got married to a wonderful spouse
I have seen uncovered food blasted all over in the microwave
2016 -
The year my hopes and dreams
Were supposed to come true.
Somehow blue
As a blue bird I flew
Up and away from high school
Winter.
January 30th, 2016
I officially start my 19th year.
I am strong and I am proud.
Spring.
March 2016
I begin my journey into sisterhood.
I am hiding under a window curtain, watching the 5 roll towards ocean beach and pretending that I am not a person and that my friends are friends without knowing me.
Remember:
Doctor’s appointment on Thursday.
This past year has had its share of drama
Not to mention emotional trauma
But the one thing I’ll remember
At the end of December
Was the love we received from our mama
At times things seemed so bleak
I’m seventeen years old.
The real world is coming at me fast,
Not quite yet at terminal velocity,
But I’ll be getting close.
I have a new hand to hold,
I started the year as any other
I never thought I could learn so much
Or grow so much
The year was like an unpaved road
But it sure was a trip
It started out with Insecurities
One year passed, and the world could have used more of me, but I forgot to listen
To listen to the billions of other lives
What about their stories?
I think I slept through the first half of this year –
I can barely remember the way my hands fiddled waiting for
college acceptances. At my senior prom, I slow-danced
with my crush. He told me he was joining the army
I think I slept through the first half of this year –
I can barely remember the way my hands fiddled waiting for
college acceptances. At my senior prom, I slow-danced
with my crush. He told me he was joining the army
The spectrum between bad and good is grand and intricate.
From radical hatred and anger to complete love and mercy, the space
between is massive and most commonly occupied.
This year I was filled with fearFor the future of our countryFor all the people who go hungryFor those who feel unloved Or ever feel that they aren't enough.This year I learned to guard my tongueI felt so naive and so young.This year it seemedMany
Life has been busy
I got accepted into university
Got rejected from my dream college
Went to many family members’ graduations
It would be outrageous for me to say anything has shaped me this year more intensely
Than my own grand failures caused by my need for outside approval.
A year ago, I wouldn’t have been willing to admit that.
2016 came around
Basketball dominated my mind. It gave me joy I had found
It was my last season
I was sad for it to end, and for a good reason
It was my passion, it gave me life
The world anticipates the new year
to forget what has gone past
but in 2016 we had many firsts
and certainly many lasts
Now we came into the year expecting a fresh start
Last year was a train wreck of emotions
I found myself adopting unhealthy habits
Staying up late, not working out, cutting people off
I needed space to explore myself
The numbers 2016 will forever be engraved into my mind,
Not because of me being confined,
But in truth, I became defined,
By all of this year’s problems combined.
2016, it started simply divine,
A flower made of fire
Was consumed by fear
And went up in smoke.
"Kick down the walls,
Open the window,
Let the light shine in.
Embrace the way your soul repeats,
'You are unique.'"
How strange it is
When a bright soul goes dark
A fire put out by the hose of insecurity and depression
Facing this world
While feeling alone
But is there beauty in the struggle?
These last few days have been beautifully uneventful
My GPA is climbing steadily
No one’s nappy headed son tried to play me
And the freshman 15 is coming in nicely
Few things shape a persons psyche
In a year like a lover
and the first to entice thee
Sixteen shaped me through a love I lost
At the time keeping up no matter the cost
The birth of my brother
As the years go by,
I wonder,
if each resolution I make is truly a promise that there will be
a resolution.
As the years go by,
I wonder if there will be a promise,
for less misery,
twenty sixteen and moved out at seventeen
seventeen and get my own rent paid
seventeen and grew my eyebrows out and slayed
seventeen and moved to another state
seventeen and two jobs, full plate
5…4…3…2…1…The ball is down2015 is in the rearview mirrorWelcome 2016“New Year, New Me”The meaningless phraseThis time is differentThis time, it will be a new Me
Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock,
The days they pass
The months, they fly
And suddenly the year is over.
Memories flit, like light lightning bugs, past your eyes
Glossy stares, vague smiles
My art’s wack, but no discrimination;
Destroy the use of alliteration-
I’d take the use of rhythm & rhyme
over drawing and shading anytime;
Starting from January:
I led
I learned how to be a leader
and how not to be
I spent another Valentine’s day alone….
It all started with a blur
Who am I and what do I want?
Nothing makes sense, that’s for sure
2016A strange year indeedI've grown closer into an adultfrom a small child in need
And sure I've changed a lotbut how much can really be new?could I be a whole new personcould that really be true?
Do something. Don't just sit there.
Twelve months have flown fast. Another year in the past.
You complain. This year sucked.
Did you do something?
Or were you just an observer in your own story?
Seventeen in sixteen,
I touch the tip of childhood
letting the memories flow through
and the future to stand still as I
wait, puzzled
at the crossroads of life.
Seventeen in sixteen.
January of 2016?
It is a time for reinvention - my pal
You must diferentiate yourself from the last.
Self discovery is key; how do I know?
Someone told me so
also
America, we are under attackas guns burst in our classroomsthe federal government signs the Patriot Actbecause we are wil
Act I.
The curtain opens on an empty stage
Naked, suggestively waiting for come what May.
Actors slowly file in bare of the costumes I had
Echoes bouncing off the walls from your tongueWhispers dance across your teeth, you are youngThe muscles flex in your face, next to your lips, a smileA feeling grows deep within me, my heart beats wild
Snowflakes spinning 'round as I reflect upon my year
New adventures from going far,
And losing those whom I hold dear
Pain blooms forward
But that is not the only coloring of the rose
What have I done in twenty sixteen?
I had the uneventful birthday of nineteen.
I didn’t believe what the upperclassmen were trying to sell
2016 began with new hope,
2015 felt like a tightrope.
One needs to learn to let go of hate,
For it is not innate.
Agape love learned from the cross,
All were hunched in fear as we looked and saw
Our eyes glued to the pixels counting down
The end. My father’s face began to sink,
Use to feel like I was on top of the world
But due to foolishness and absurdity from the company
There I was looking for my next opportunity
One phone call in May saved my year, giving me the best news I can hear
Twenty Sixteen
sucked.
I complain with my friends
"wow this year sucks"
Because it's the year I realized
we're all small
and so out of luck
Deaths and chaos
Over time, I've seen hate
I've seen resentment and anger
If I were asked if I could relate,
I remember at the start
Everybody prayed
Twenty sixteen please be better
They said and said and said
I remember at the start
2016 started off great
Plenty of money and plenty of cash
If only I could see my future
And how it would not last
Falling for someone I thought was genuine
Learning his tricks and then going back to him
Knives thrust deep within the backs of others;
Smiles that keep igorant minds at bay;
Words that break barriers and bones alike;
Deception and destruction and acts of strife.
In a world so empty of hope.
Tonight was never meant to end in a murderous fiasco of hate and pain. I crouch by the bathroom sink in order to preserve what was left of my dignity and desperation. With each shriek of the gun I crouch lower, lower, lower until my tummy reaches
The racing of our imaginations --you argue, perhaps, that is our incentive?Lives without incentives are insane,and insanity with incentive is life.And how can we know what is beyond our mountains,
She had a smile that would brighten your day.
Not just one of those smiles that some old guy would say “nice smile sweetcheeks”
Her smile made your soul bleed and the blood
would
"This Just In,
The issues of society have made different varieties
Of opinions, thoughts, and actions
Causing riots in the factions
And laws to be completely changed,
I'm shedding tears for all the people we've lost just this year. From senseless violence to overgrown conspiracies, can't you see the enemy?
They hide in plain sight so no can ever see.
Amongst a crowd of people,
I am always the one furthest from reaching the sky.
In other words, I am short.
Petite.
Vertically challenged.
Believe me,
You don't want to vote.
It's corrupt.
It's useless.
It's a pain.
It's a bore.
It's too hard.
Tell that to women who were told they were too emotional to make decisions.
Questions of adequacy flood my mind.
Always thirsting and never full,
Like the moon to the waves - so close, yet so far.
The clock strikes twelve and the rain begins to pound -
it burns with promises of
salvation or damnation
which one is it!
will it be sweet as honey, and bountiful like grass?
Or might it be like a blade emotionless,
ready to pierce you
which one!
Every four years,
We see something so rough that it brings some to tears.
It's not a disaster;
People come together to pick our political master.
First there was twenty, now there are two.
To observe everything and everyone
Is nothing more than leisurely fun.
I keep to myself and say not one thing.
This is why I write: for the joy that it brings.
It is amazing how the mind works.
I could live without a phone.
I don’t need an Instagram,
I don’t rely on siri.
I could live without electricity.
The sun and moon shall light my way,
The desolation of one's existence is a challenge Thoughts are rampant with no expression On this facade of emptiness lives love one so powerful, one so nurturing. When there is nothing we must overcome to build something to live off of. She will b
I had a Kids Bop 5 blasting in my own CD player
Watching crayons melt into the black leather
of mama's Infiniti
And Orange Crush from 7/11 was about the only reason I would put my shoes back on.
The sea runs through my veins And stars have landed in my eyes
I wish to travel the stars To see them in their natural glory
How do we know?
Do we truly need something?
Or simply want it?
I want to stay close to my family
But I could live on without them
The red wings flew
Carrying the words of the people
They went far as the wind blew.
And it caused a ripple.
I raise my voice for the one I miss
who left me oh so long ago
I know you will return to me soon my friend
Lately I ve been distracted
Writer's block so powerful
Hands crippled aching with regret
Turning to my temptations
My soul, my creativity dies a little each time
But now Im bac..I hope
If I could choose one singular thing
To draw back the loneliness, boredom, and pain
Of living away from all I know
On a deserted island so far from home,
I can no longer see color:
Once vibrant, cerulean blues dwindled away
Into dreary grey-ish hues,
Dancing, smiling dandelion yellows dulled out
Every day,
Ever since I was young,
I hoped
I hoped to play with my friends afterschool,
I hoped to eat ice cream for every meal,
I hoped to get that toy I saw at the store
Even today,
I will remember 2015 as the yearI was obsessed with Starbucks and sadness.When the coffee stains mixedwith tear stains on my notebooks.
I could not live without it
It is the banana to my banana split
Why, you may ask
Well, let me unmask
I could not live without it
It is the banana to my banana split
Why, you may ask
Well, let me unmask
I could not live without it
It is the banana to my banana split
Why, you may ask
Well, let me unmask
Today is officially the start of the new yearIt is January first and the cold weather is hereThe Christmas decorations are all put away Safe and sound until next year, even dear Santa's slay
I know I am. Being all someone needs snd more is not likely to happen in 2016.
I don't see nothing wrong with staying single, but ask yourself who wants to be?
I put the tape
in the VCR last night,
watched years flash by
in reverse,
watched it all come undone
then I flicked out the tape
looked at the black box of memories
and stories
She needs a person. She needs a person to tell her deepest secrets to, the ones from the heart.
Life, right?
Everyone always says to embrace it, to live it and to love it, that we will never be as young as we are in this moment, to live with no regrets, that life is so precious.
You sit there and pick at other people's flaws
But yet you dare to self-reflect
Not know how you effect other people's confidence
You show people how to hate themselves
But not how to love them
Walking thruogh these streets,dirty sneakers matching concrete with so many words to speak on this world, its a brand new
