Jake, McKinleyville, CA >
Patrick Do, Sacramento, CA >
Aaron Ingles, Peoria, IL >
Brooke Taylor Walker, Franklin, TN >
Nicole Hemings, Fishers, IN >

Jake (15 yrs.), McKinleyville, CA

My Disease
(From the perspective of an adolescent Jew in the 1940's)

Hitler's tragedy,  
Is my disease. 
The loathing bestowed in his one-track eyes 
Forces my fleeing, forces my fear. 
I am one, an individual. 
Family gone,
Allies undependable. 
My identity is lost
In this labyrinth of hate. 
I resist his magnet,
And the horrible force field it creates. 
The constant slurp of fascist evil
Demands what is now normal. 
This unspeakable lifestyle,
My home, is driven solely
By will; will to survive. 
That is my role. 
That is my duty. 
As a unique individual my designated
Job is to live: living through escape,
Escaping through deceit, and deceiving through trust. 
Trust is what is drives my will. 
I must trust those who hold my identity hostage. 
Through this and only this, can my self worth be salvaged
to a place where my resistance is successful. 
Though other people are the most
Colossal enemy, they are also
The most colossal helper. 
I must learn to thrive on their
Coexistence. 
This is where individual becomes group
And resistance evolves into resisted. 
As an individual my role has been fulfilled, 
The role of survivor.    

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Patrick Do (16 yrs.), Sacramento, CA

Nature Walk

As I stroll along the old trail,
Its natural beauty never stale,
I smell the scent of fresh flowers. 
I could walk along for hours. 
 
The refreshing aura surrounds
My mind, already feeling sounds. 
My energy is replenished. 
It is more than could have wished. 
 
The sweet whistling of the bluebirds;
They respond to each of my words
With a unique and pleasing song. 
It seems now nothing can go wrong. 
 
I hear water flowing nearby
Cascading over a ledge high. 
The smooth sound refreshes me well
The plants provide a fitting smell. 
 
Fresh air passes through my nose,
Cleaning out my body and clothes. 
It separates me from reality. 
It fills me with vitality. 
 
Billions of years old, the Earth
And all of the things that it's worth. 
Billions of years old, the air. 
The scale of time can not compare. 
 
Pure and unscathed the ground remains;
Through lightning, storms, fires and rains. 
Passing through, the experience
Never ends and never begins. 
 
I see the raw nature throughout. 
As eternal as the wild trout. 
Nothing matches the purity
Offered by such obscurity. 
 
As much as people think, however
These nice places aren't forever. 
Inevitably, industry
Will take away many a stream. 
 
Throughout nature, it's always nice
If replaced, nothing could suffice. 
Nature is always pure and free. 
Nothing else can satisfy me.

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Aaron Ingles (14 yrs.), Peoria, IL

Fate

In the beginning there were but two
With given time our numbers grew
Providing the evil, which will fuel our doom 
Like a beautiful rose resting over a tomb 
Slowly wasting away into the grave 
While authority makes us its slave 
What lies hidden behind glory and fame 
Is a presence that no mortal could tame 
Driven by rage and instinct we fought our wars 
Spilling our blood down into the earth's pores 
After five millennia we had ruined our home 
And left the animals with no place to roam 
What was thought to be the beginning became the end 
For from the sky our punishment did descend 
All they had worked for came crashing down 
The terror had struck every city and town 
Fright and despair ran through their veins 
Just as arrogance had broken our chains 
To the paradise where hope still remains 
Still survivors were left to tell the tale 
Of how the human race was destined to fail 
Bringer of light that none can see 
Shall show us our part in destiny

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Brooke Taylor Walker (12 yrs.), Franklin, TN

The True Story About Shannon

From when the phone rang,
and my brother started to scream,
I tried to think of what could of happened, 
But then it would of had to be a dream. 
 
I went in my room and started to cry,
Then I thought to myself, "Why did she have to die?" 
 
In that next month when I went to her grave, 
I thought to myself, 
If only the car could of behaved, 
I wouldn't be sitting here at her grave.

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Nicole Hemings (9 yrs.), Fishers, IN

My Niece

When I first saw her beautiful eyes,
it was like my life was starting over. 
Only this time with a beautiful girl, 
that will change everything. 
She will make my life, even brighter than before. 
Beautiful, she will always be,
in my life and I will always be in hers.

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