Each of the student poets has given us a poem penned by their own hand, which appears below.
Words That Kill
(Inspired by a personal experience)
by Citra Laupase
I’ve been thinking of words to say
Words to conquer and words to tame
Fantasies differ from dreams that I have
Killing me from others sight
How do I make this work out?
I’m twisting and turning as I lay late and night
Mind tricks are playing at me
They’re forcing me to stop
I find it hard to believe
That I will still grasp my existence
My bones are failing for me as bitterness melts right through
My thoughts, I attempt to sway to yours
My mouth falls beneath my feet
A sorrow of darkness traps as I escape
Now my chances have turned to defeat
And nothing seems to be figured out.
The Demon
by Stephanie Tse
When the whole world fell apart
Everyone was silent
His fake smile broke hearts
Trying to stay strong
Fighting the demon
As days past
Chemotherapy was over
The fight paid off
As free as a bird
A fresh start to life
His biggest fear came to haunt him
The demon had returned
Once again his world fell apart
Speechless
Crack in the Armour
(Inspired by personal experience)
by Ellen Buckley
Everyday we put on masks
Masks to hide our true emotions
Covering them with fake smiles
And simple lies
Why can’t we ever face our true emotions?
They wait to get out like air in a balloon
They sabotage, hit, destroy
Wanting you to crack so they can make their escape
So who are we really
under the masks
we put on everyday?
Daydreamer
by Teneal Zuvela
I run along the golden beach
As the waves shout and bang
The sun is warm, the wind sings a song
My feet sink into the sand
My mind fills with thoughts
Of hope and love
When everyone was kind
And no one could be hurt
Soon the sun goes down
Behind the sea it sleeps
Simple thoughts become dreams
Of places I’d rather be
For here I am, in the classroom
Dreaming of foreign lands
Really I should be, concentrating
On my maths exam
Dad, I miss you
by Samantha Dalwood
The young girl stands there motionless on the cliff
Forgetting her past
Forgetting the future
She slowly unscrews the lid
Grasping tightly on the antique jar
Listening for his voice
Nothing
She clenches the jar while slowly releasing the contents
She looks into the horizon
Watching her beloved father drift into the wind
Reflections
(Inspired at the poetry workshop)
by Liam Keesing
It was getting late
The alleyway getting darker
And darker
Along with his future
Then there was the chill
The feeling of loneliness
All locked up inside him
Nobody to talk to
Memories flashed through his mind
Family, friends, civilisation
But most vividly of all
The fire
The image made his heart hammer
He saw his reflection in a puddle
Trying to glimpse what he’d become
But all he saw was the fire
Everything he’d been
Everything he’d known
It all came down to one thing
The fire which had taken his soul
Icy Inferno
by Kerry Clarke-Potter
I stand alone in an empty place
My fingers grasp at fraying threads
A hidden inferno rages within
But outside it’s cold as ice
Desperately I attempt
To carry myself upright
While the world twists and turns and spirals
And slips right out of sight
My heart burns
Fiery flames licking at my nerves
Frantically I search for the happiness
The joy I once had felt
But all I feel is lonesomeness
An aloneness in which I’ve dwelt too many times
I feel myself fall to the ground
And that is where my feelings end
For numbness overtakes me
Overwhelms any life I may have had left
The truth about my best friend
(Inspired by the TV show Neighbours)
by Tiahn Pizzi
This is really happening to me
Every thing we went through
The trust we shared
Unbroken loyalty and love
Shattered in a few words
It’s revealed
The truth behind every just kidding
The knowledge behind every I don’t know
The emotion behind every I don’t care
I stand frozen
Fighting back tears
Hoping she’s lying
Hoping it’s only a nightmare
From which I can awake
I try not to choke on the words
I can’t bring myself to say
So I make my silent choice
Find strength in my pain
And walk away
Bulling 101
(Inspired by a personal experience)
by Emeleen Wilson
She stood in the corner, waiting
Anxiety smothering her face
The joy I feel as water pours out of her eyes
is like a raging fire that never goes out
I am the darkness to her light
The sadness to her joy
The black to her white
I will never go away
My hands are like claws
that ravage her,
pulling the skin from her body
and the heart from her soul
Leaving her without emotion,
without hope,
without faith
I am always behind her, waiting.
Dancer’s Oath
by Alex Bahnsen
I solemnly swear that at this moment
Give it all I’ve got, move my feet
No time for mistakes, this is it
When the music sounds, hit that beat
The little time, five minutes of fame
Put on the act, the bright show face
The spotlight’s on me, I’m the star
This is my time and space
Even in the worst of times
Troubles at home and school
I will still perform, no matter what
That’s my unbreakable rule
Bruised shoulders, blistered toes
The pain takes over again
But that doesn’t stop me, it can’t, it won’t
I’ll dance ‘til I die, Amen
Shadows
by Elise Kew
Keep a long distance from those shadows
They follow wherever you go
Sunlight of not they appear
Walk nowhere and dance alone.
She experienced those shadows
A night she shall never forget
For hiding amongst the darkness
Was a creature so vile she wept.
Do shadows come out in broad day light?
It’s impossible to tell
She’s so weak
Because he is burning her in her own private hell.
The Painting
(Inspired by a painting at my house)
by Sarah Gerrard
His oar ripples through the crystal water
The buildings that have risen into the heavens
Make him so small
However he is not scared, the sun is shining
I can see her, sitting there watching him
The move of brush capturing his movements
He then looks at her, curious
But all she does is smile
Now finished she knows that whatever might happen
This memory will never perish or die
It will always be alive
Motionless and beautiful
I now stand in the deep, dark hallway
My eyes glittering in its beauty
I wonder where it has come from
There are no markings, no name or place
Its frame isn’t spectacular; dull and plain
However there is a mark where the eyes can’t see
A small mark, withered away by the years
Left by him
Nightmares
by Matilda Holloway
(Inspired by the fear and imagination of a young cousin)
The wind is blowing through the clogs,
Of this fairground in my dreams,
I hear the barking of distant dogs,
In the morning shall come a scream
Someone shall find his body,
Rigid and icy cold,
The leftovers from an evil man’s hobby,
His face crisp, yet old
His shadow flitting through the night,
As the darkness takes hold,
Dreading the warm morning light,
As he once again is old.
The Soulless
by Megha Kapadia
(Inspired by the moon out in the sky and the movie The Grudge)
She stood still
In the dark shadows of the moonlight
With her long smooth hair
Swaying lightly with the wind
Every night she stood
Watching every living soul
With her dark, hungry eyes
Waiting for the right moment
She moves quickly and gracefully
To the chosen one
And grabs their neck
With her cold, white hands
The chosen one dies slowly
And awakens again as a soulless person
She leaves a dawn approaches, happy with
Only her deadly
Gilded Memories
(Inspired by a photo of my parents)
by Grace Jones
Glinting in the light,
The golden frame holds,
A memory most dear to the owner,
Smiling faces filled with love.
Dusty glass holds it in place,
Lovingly polished regularly,
A woman and her husband at a lake,
Love before the loss.
They don’t love each other anymore,
Not like in the gilded memory,
They live separate lives now,
Happier and filled with love.
Ode to Lily
by Jenna Johnston
Maybe it’s a crime
That brings you freedom
Hiding from the crowd
In plain sight
The rush of adrenaline
The wind in your hair
Opportunity arises
You take it,
You run.
You’re not alone
They’d never leave you
You laugh and smile together
True friendship
Such as this
Busted. Who cares?
A day of fun
Is more than just that
We still have the memories
And we still have all those photos….
An Ode to The Waves
by David Chilcott
Here I stand, on top of the cliff
Staring down at those insignificant waves
The same waves that had;
Broken,
Pummelled
And destroyed my body and mind
Reducing me to a broken man
But here I stand,
On top of the cliff
High and far away
Watching for another day
The Office
by Gavin Docherty
Locked in my tormented cell
The walls are closing in
I think that I have gone to hell
I’ll soon meet Satan’s grin
Surrounded by these mindless drones
Stapling away
And all the wretched dial tones
Ruining my day
I can’t control my clenching fists
My urge to kill is rising
I’m fading in this corporate mist
It’s all so terrorising
These stupid brainwashed brain-dead slobs
Sipping at their tea
They’re all so smug and love their jobs
As I’m supposed to be
Locked in my tormented cell
The walls still closing in
How long must I suffer? Tell?
This death hole I am in.
Obsession
by Jackson Harrison
You try to forget
You try to control
But it’s constantly in your head
You cannot think
You cannot focus
It’s buried deep inside your mind
It takes over
It’s all you want
It’s all you need
It consumes your mind like a thick black smog
You cannot live with out it
When you get it
When you have it
Everything is bright
Now you have it things are great
But it slowly poisons you
It slowly poisons your mind
Then when you part from it
It leaves you sad and old
Nervous
by Jason Pranoto
You’ve entered your fear
Your heart seems to know.
It’s loose from its chain
It’s carnivorous, it’s hungry
It’s howling, your body’s its cage
It’s pounding and pounding
the hyperactive demon.
Its rampaging pounding alerted some others.
Your bones: they’ve been startled
By heart’s vicious drum roll.
It’s a skeletal earthquake!
And it’s unstoppable.
Blood cells boil
They riot
They brawl
They run blindly
For all they know
Their world was to end.
Your skin
sounds the red alarm
Shouting purple.
Hairs stand on end
Signalling helplessly
To the outside world.
Your muscles
Are tired accordions
And tails of rattlesnakes.
The sine waves steal
The control of your legs.
When you are scared
Your brain goes insane.
Your body experiences
Its own apocalypse.
Victoria
Victoria
by Sienna Ellery
Ignites
No control
Raging with anger, bleeding red
Misunderstood perhaps
Blistering, burning hot
Scorching flames,
Powerful
Execute all living things
A cruel mistress
Once defeated,
Only death all black and withered
It waits for a chance
To destroy
Heartless
by Sean Carter
They climb desperately,
To reach the top of the pack
Only to drag others down
Happy in the endless struggle
The harsh reality of popularity
The tools of make-up and attitude
Shield you from many
You are like a doll
With your disgusting fake smile
You sicken me
A Voice
by Marney Anderson
Feathers tickle skin when you speak,
A breath rattles and shakes body surface,
Air like ice that hollows insides,
Softly fading, fading before it picks up again,
Breath that tickles and tingles faces,
Sounds like a gentle melody lost in the atmosphere,
Creates words, beautiful words that deny all,
Fighting others with courage and strength,
Birds gently whisper when you speak,
We all have a voice like yours somewhere,
Hidden and buried under all our thoughts,
We just have to find it.
The Long Walk Home
by Joshua Annandale
The anger spread through his body like a disease
He stood there, just staring
His mind was blank
Leaving his future behind
The feeling of getting sacked was like torture
He walked back home
Down the dark streets
Leaving his future behind him
He always loved his job
He worked with many friends
He was a company man
Forsaking his wife and his children time and time again
He knew why he got sacked
Does it matter?
His life had been torn apart
Leaving his future behind him
Change
(Inspired by my move to Perth from Geelong.)
by Georgia Scott
Change is what happens
When life presents a new path
A new way of living
A path brighter
Than one already traveled
Denial plays its own part
When change occurs:
The frequent claims of happiness and satisfaction
When instead pain devours you
Inside to out
However change is for the best
Whether or not
The salty tears which mark your face agree.
Change always has your best intention at heart.
The Truth About Monsters
by Ananda Chanmugam
Little Ted all tucked in bed
All warmth and cosiness, he snuggled his head
He thought he was safe but little did he know
Under the bed, was an eerie glow ...
The glow started to spread
It covered the whole room
Leaving little Ted
With a rising sense of doom
Suddenly a floorboard creaked
Announcing the glowing freak
Come to take little Ted in his jaws
And his frightfully sharp and sinister claws
With black ooze seeping
The glowing monster did move
Stalking and creeping
Toward little Ted
Trying desperately to wake the boy next to him
Ted was pushing and poking
Welcome oblivion, the blanket of slumber
The claws crept to Ted's neck, choking
She entered his room to say goodnight to her son
With horror she picked up Ted's remains as delicately as she dared
"Boris!" She cried,
"Call the teddy bear repair!"
Dentally Mental: a worst case scenario
by Adam Thorne
Dentisty, Dentaly, Dentastility, a dent!
On your tooth
A needle
Shaking
You and the dentist are
That is a worry
So is the syringe slowly approaching your eye
Jeez careless
Yeah ... that is right ... in your mouth
Narrow escape
Swear you can hear the contents of the needle in your mouth
In your mouth?
Urch! You sneeze
Dentist lurching back
You worry momentarily
That is, until you feel warm, comforting anaesthetic
In your left arm.
All poems published with permission from Applecross Senior High School students, teachers and parents.
