Susan McGowan

Grade: 12

St Joseph Academy

Instructor: Erin Libbey

Reflections on Americana

Poetry

Reflections on Americana

The Doll
Skin like porcelain, smile that never wears
oh how I wish it were fair
My skin is blotched with freckles, my smile often falls
why can't I be more like the doll
It is plastic perfection I pursue
maybe then I will be desirable to you

Divided
Like oil and water we are divided
Division is sown in our skin like the seeds in spring, it sprouts like weeds in our hearts
Its thorns prickle and poke until we bleed
Its vines tangle and twist until they surround us, pulling us into the soil of despair
It covers us with filth until we can no longer be seen
and
It hides behind pure white robes and elegant uniforms, masking its true nature
It incinerates our dreams, our vision, us, until we are no more than dust
like dust we rise
Through the thick mud of hate we triumph, stretching out like the flowers of summer, rising
Clinging to the tough vines we summit, clawing and scraping we are born anew, a phoenix
Our strength like flames melting the irony chains of hate
We are,
One

Alice
Be quiet silent, make no sound
make one error and you'll be found
Run fast, hard, run for your life
a gun cares nothing for your strife
Don't stop no tears you're on your own
survival depends on you alone
Get past the lockers, desks, down the halls
you must escape from these walls
You've practiced this, you know how
the time to use your skills is now
The blood is grim, but death is colder
you must fight if you wish to grow any older

Ode to the City
How I do love you
I love the skyscrapers that rise from your ground like arms reaching for the heavens
I love clear blue river that snakes through your busy belly
I love the graffiti that lines your walls like makeup decorating a pretty woman
I love the cacophony of screeching cars and fast moving commuters, navigating your labyrinth of twists and turns
Your sweet sonata sings out, tears and joyful glee
louder louder
The clamoring and clashing of hopes and dreams against your steel scape, breaking
louder louder
You engulf them, chewing and churning, swallowing them whole
louder louder
Spitting them out with knowing irreverence and built indignation, time and time again
louder louder
How I do love you
for all that you are, for all that you could be

B.B.Q
The aroma dances into my nose, tempting me with each sniff
ribs sizzle and smoke creating a scrumptious summer song,
voices erupting with passion and delight
The warm summer light melts into brisk evening, inhibitions released by the onset of the summertime buzz
voices twist and turn taking rise with bitter memories of the past, grudges left to simmer
The melody shifts, darkening, until silence falls over
The sweet scent of the pure air turns sours, tense smog takes control
As the sun falls the darkness takes over
The darkness is the clearest time of them all