illustration galway

Colaiste Iognáid, Galway

Loss

I watched him limp back home today, I know something’s not right
And there he stood, contrast to dark, a cat of brilliant white.
A smile had spread across my face, I opened up the door
But worry spread, instead again,  as he sunk down on the floor.
The night had passed and off we went to bring him to the vet
I let him rest upon my lap,  so worried for my pet.
The vet prescribed some medicine and said they’d make him well
Ostensibly, it’s nothing big, but they really couldn’t tell
Then dad returned, back to the vet, after 3 days had past
I stayed at home, alone and scared, if the day would be his last
My dad returned a solomn face, informed me of a bad affair
A car had struck his diaphragm, damaged beyond repair
Sedated so he’d rest in peace, and tears had filled my eyes
I wish not to elucidate my feelings and surprise
But he will live forever, in memories of gold
A lovely cat, so strong and sweet, I wish he’d lived till old
With hazel eyes and sleek white fur, as vibrant as a swan
And after all these happy years…I can’t believe he’s gone.
Anon

Distance

You started acting different
You broke hearts
Even mine
But how was I to know
Not everything was going well
But sure life’s not always swell
How was I supposed to be able to tell
Maybe I don’t know you so well

Anonymous

Lost

I don’t know from where it came

What it is

But it is there

And I am lost

Filled up with nothind

And this one question

Why

Anonymous

Obsession

Order is easy
When everything is organised people are safe.
Messiness is a killer.
It is easy to become obsessed.
Waking every night in a cold sweat because of the fear that everyone you know is being murdered because YOU only touched the door handle  9 times and not 10 and that’s wrong and you’re a failure.
U sit there trying to hold in sobs because everyone you care about is slipping from your grasp.
And why?
Because you cant control your compulsions and they are sick and tired of your antics.
If only they knew that your sick of them to but you cant stop because guess what?
We do it out of fear.
We do it for you.
Anonymous

Grades

Teachers say without good grades you’re nothing!

But what are you with grades?

They test every individual on  the same intellectual test

Its like testing a fish and a monkey on the same thing

They are complete opposites

So don’t judge by testing two individuals on one test

Every single person has a different talent

What if the government  made ‘drugs ‘ illegal because the air we breath

Is a drug and the things they call drugs make us see the world the way it actually is .

Anonymous

Our World

This is where  people are going to judge us on the way we look (the clothes we wear and how the brands brand us to be rich, popular) .

This is where people are judged on their sexuality, their religion and their wealth and not on how they treat others or who they really are.

This is where billions of innocent people are terrified to be the victims (chosen sacrifice) of an evil, wrong , opinionated, judgemental,  attention- seeking evil group that are willing to destroy lives of thousands in order to make a point that they are right.

This is where men treat women like objects and choose ‘the one’  because of the number that shows up on the weighing scales and if her dress is tight.

This is where men are judged based on the physical strength they have and they are declared weak if they refuse to participate in violent acts because they believe that fighting is not the answer to “who is better?”

This is people judge women based on the amount of different men they have been seen with even if they have never met her.

This is where people  manipulate each other in order to make it like they the bully is superior when really the truth is they are afraid that somebody else is better than them when really they are their only enemy.

This is where sons and daughters believe in make believe when they are children and realise reality as they grow up but they never let the truth of loss speak to them and when they lose somebody they are shocked and they don’t believe it because they never let their self-accept the fact that nothing and nobody lasts for eternity.

This is where people leave lights on, water running and rubbish on the ground of our precious home not knowing that one day it will burn out.

This is where we all live. It’s our world and in order to keep it safe we should love each other and treat everyone equally no matter who somebody is because that’s what life is all about.

 

Eimear O’Tuathail

A Knife In the Darkness

A knife in the darkness could be nothing at all
It is unheard and it is unseen
It could be a spider crawling up your wall
or a monster under your bed, big or small
It could be a tree about to fall
or a cat making a hairball
but in the end all will fall to,
A Knife In the Darkness
Anonymous

Limbo

Everyone around me gives the impression of being perfect.

Or at least being better put together than I am.

I’m sure they probably aren’t like that.

But I just don’t know.

And there’s no way I can find out.

I’m not close to any of them.

They all seem normal.

As in they fit the typical teen stereotypes.

The sporty, camaradrie filled group of boys.

The chatty, light hearted gangs of girls.

That isn’t me.

When I’m around them,

it feels like I’m wearing a mask.

I’d never be comfortable enough to talk with them properly,

about REAL things – how I feel, who I am on the inside.

No one seems to understand

I just drift through life.

There is always emptiness, absence,

my tormenting awareness,

that nothing lasts forever.

Anon

One

two
three
four
five six seven eight
look at me this feels like fate
i hate this poem its really not good cant think of anything
ooh its “I T APOSTROPHE S” isn’t that just such a mess
i’m rhyming away….. but not anymore
i feel so cold just like a bore all i want to do is snore
look at that i’m back at it feeling like a big black rabbit
TADAAAAAA!!!
Caoimhe

What I see

Looking at the room around me, I see a bitter sense of achievement. Oozing through the walls from other teens in other pompous classrooms sharing their opinionated thoughts, that teachers politely listen to, while secretly they roll their eyes, in hope the teenagers arrogance and imagination will soon drown in realism and be replaced by artificial optimism.

Looking around this room, I sense show off aspiring writers, grappling for more to write about, than their dull, boring lives.And hoping that someone will look at their screen and congratulate them on forming a masterpiece. But no one will.
because.
Looking around this room i see 19 young adults. That equals to 19 fast and slow pumping hearts. 38 judge mental eyes.
and no one will praise anyone. In the fear their personality will be shown and rejected.
And no one likes to dangle the dream.
Sinead Casey

A Beautiful Life

flowers,easy,chocolate,rainbow,snow
that’s tv it’s all fake
realisation what’s the point…..
diddlydum curse and swear
work hard but just die
religion,rules even clothes
created by all whom? (grammar rules don’t get me started,teaching a different way to think)
all is fake but somehow still real
made up language klingon in a book
yet still spoken so is it broken?
made a new world inside a book
can imagine it, is it real
never seen the sea, is it still real, not seen with your eyes just other peoples stories
Fantasy and History how can you tell what’s real
you can’t at all that’s just the deal.
don’t delete that’s what he said regret it now am i on meds?
Caoimhe

It’s very bad

i know it’s true but look at me obviously made to write poo
a piece of s*** that’s what most people would say
but I’m not all at all at all I’m very small not tall
4 feet eleven and a bit
Anonymous

Underage

school bag in hand you hear a clink
funny how easy we find it to drink
underage ha you think thats a joke
when even at 12 people are starting to smoke
no need for telling us to stay in and study
we all know we’ll end up struggling for money
on the way out the door you say my skirt is too short
its weird you worn me about that yet i always retort
Anonymous

Wind

Winter has come and the trees are bare
Within the cities that I dwell
In the open I roam all around

I make the lightest sound as I bid you farewell

Nowhere to be seen is green is in the fields
Night draws closer as the hours pass by
Days they will get shorter and then all the while
During the day is when I do fly
Evan O’Riordan

Fair Play

Society today is not very fair
people get judged because of the hair
people get judged on  the way they  look
 even made fun of because how many friends they have on face book
people are black people are gay
so its about time that  we change are old ways
and accept that society is changing every single day
just because hes a traveller doesnt mean his not the same
at the end if the day its only a name
stop making  fun of people because there family do not have a lot of money
by all means that is not one way funny
at the end of the day we are all eqaul
so we need to change how we threat other people.
John Quinn

  I have had enough

I have had enough of MY self worth being determined on the grades I get.

                                They know me by my examination number.

                              They dont know the voice and opinions hiding behind the opinions

                                                 molded  by my “superiors”.

 

 

                                     They dont know that my only passion is music,

                                                              his sport,

                                                            hers reading,

                                                             his drama,

 

                                                              not maths,

                                                            nor science,

   

                              he would rather be pouring his heart out on a stage in front of hundreds,

                                         she would rather be on a pitch scoring the winning goal,

                                      not sitting behind a stiff wooden desk writing out maths theroems,

                                  and that should not make any of us a less intelligent or driven human being

                                              but an interesting and passionate person for doing what we love.

 

                                                 Anonymous

Christmas

Christmas is coming, yesterday, me and my family we start to decorate the house. Only put two Christmas trees and some Santa Claus figures. Today I think that we will continuous with the decoration.

I love Christmas, this season of the year is lovely. All the streets have some nice decorates, in the shops are a lot of it and the children are exiting because they wait Santa Claus Presents.

I hope that when I go back to Spain on 22nd of December my mum have my home decorate, because the Christmas is not the seam without decorates.

Christmas night I eat the dinner with my family, my grandparents and my cousins. After dinner we dance and sing, and them me and my brother go to the party in my village.

In Spain Santa Claus only give us some small presents, because our big present give us the wise men.

 

Gema Cabeza

The Baffle

If there is one thing in the world that baffles me is that seniority is still a thing
We are taught to treat everyone the same
apart from those who are older
we treat them better that’s how we’re trained.
Just because the time they’ve spent on this world is long doesn’t mean it is wrong for them to be put in the same pedestal as their youth
Respect is not treating someone better,
its treating them the same.
Anon

 

Family

They are always together no matter the weather,

Some drift away but they leave the rest with a hole in their heart,

It is always sad to see them break apart,

Although they are all tethered together,

parents wont always be present,

We feel that they wish to torment,

But it is because they are loving,

Everyone agrees that it is worth the bugging,

Caoilte Curran and Luke Gillen

My life

I come from a house of horrors

My mother works from dawn to dusk minding the accidents of rich parents who don’t give a shit. All the while she severely suffers from depression and refuses to seek help no matter how much I try. Sometimes I think she is just going to drop dead on me she is so stressed.

My father works from 6am until 2pm and then spends the rest of the day trying to help my mother as best he can but gets treated like crap by my brother. He suffers from extreme stress and every day I pray he doesn’t have a heart attack.

 

My brother is a troubled child. He is the most aggressive person I have ever met. His temper is as short as mine is long. He treats my mother like shit and has no respect for my dad. He treats me and my youngest brother like we are not equal to him and I am scared for him. I know when he gets to adulthood despite being a straight A student will never achieve anything because of his behaviour. His dream is to save animals in Africa but he is the most homophobic and racist person I have ever met.

My youngest brother is scared to death of my other brother but is becoming more like him every day. He struggles at school and finds it difficult to focus. He spends his life playing football and I would give my left hand for him to be good enough to be professional.

As for me, one of my earliest school memories was being punched. I used to be in love with football but I was no good. My whole team hated me and claimed I brought everyone down. So I quit. Never played it again and at school I couldn’t do it because I was scared of what people would think of me. My entire year, it seemed, hated me and I spent nearly 6 years of my school life alone. When most people were outside playing I was inside reading afraid to talk to anyone. None of the teachers gave two shits no matter how hard my parents tried. I still find it difficult to speak to my peers but thankfully things have changed. When I was 13 I fell in love with rowing and as of last year I am an All-Ireland Champion. I realised a few years ago I couldn’t let those people beat me down. So I searched and searched until I found something I loved and poured my heart and soul into it. Things at school are better but I am still looked down upon by my peers but my home life has never been worse. I spend my entire life finding excuses to stay away from home.

-S

Tough

Life is hard that’s what they say
keep your head up you’ll be ok
but how do you keep your head up
if you’ve nothing to help you
you start to question why
why try
why care
it wont matter if I dissapear
the sun will rise
the moon will still shine
even if i dissapear
i need someone to prove me wrong
but how
when your only friend is a song
because somehow lyrics understand
something i cant compreheand
Saoirse O’Rourke

A Weird Sensation

You get a weird sensation  deep in your heart
Is it love? it it lust? or maybe a fart
You can’t tell for your life where it’s coming from
But you know that you feel it from your head to your bum
The feeling can make you feel great or feel sick
And it comes when it wants you’re not allowed pick
Maybe its just because you’re a teenager
But all that you know is that this feeling is major
After days and weeks you begin to worry and panic
These thoughts in your head are making you manic
In the end you decide to go to the doctor
She lets out a gasp you know that you’ve shocked her
You know for sure that it’s just not in your mind
Something is wrong you could be one of a kind
Then all of a sudden you hear a rumbling near your ass
It turns out this whole time it was just some gas
by Fionn Murphy

Shelter

Bullets spray and ricochet
Every day they hear the same bang on the wall
Some can barely hear at all
Hurt, they crawl and look for shelter
where there is none.
Dáire and Paul

Growing Pains

You’re growing, you’re fine,

 the pain is still on going.

frighting yourself, you’re scared,

cause the whole worlds fighting itself.

there’s so much terror, you’re afraid,

you feel like your an error.

you’re thrown overboard, you’re unwanted,

you’re ignored.

you’re petrified, you’re shaking,

No where to hide.

You ask why, no one answers,

you cry.

you wonder how they didn’t care, you ask,

turns out the answers to hard to bare.

Anonymous

 

Trouble Maker

She sits quietly where ever she pleases in class, shes does not speak her opinion, she wears a similar outfit everyday, she does not make jokes nor does she laugh when they are made, when she does home she studies. she then reads a few chapters of the book we are studying in class and goes to bed at 9.30 so that she can ensure that she wakes up fresh as a daisey in the moning to repeat the exact same prosscess that she had just gone through the previous day.
she is a model student
i come in late to class becasuse my brain is constantly disorganised, i come into class saying somethinglike “sorry mrs i lost my timetable and didnt know what class we were in “sorry mrs i lost the key to my locker and had to get the lock cut “sorry mrs i came into school this morning and realised only then realised that i had left my school bag at home” i get sent down to the office and get yelled at for being late. in class i sit at the front where the teacher has put me. i give my opion in class, it looks like i am trying to disrupt class. i get in trouble. the teacher holds me back after class and asks me why i didnt have my homework compleated. i explain to her that i had a busy weekend. i explain that the weekend is the only time when i get to do stuff i actually enjoy doing so i dont intend on doing school works on the few days that i dont have to go to school. the teachers writes a letter for me to bring home to my mom, complaining about my lateness, distrupting of class and my lack of homework. i get home from school i sit having cup of tea with my mom and dad we have a long chat filled with laughter and debating. i then make the dinner and serve it to my family, i love cooking. after dinner is finnished i hop in the car quickly and go to my dance class. when i come home its already 10 oclock. i feel a little bit of guily for not doing any of my english homework because my teaacher is sound. but i have other things to be doing. i stay up untill half 2 in the moning slaving over my sewing machine, making the dress that is going to wow everyone at the disco im going to next week. using all the sewing techniques that i have learned from my mother over the years. once i am finnaly done i try on the dress and i couldnt be happier with it. its like soemthing i would see in a shop window.
i come into school the next day, so tired and looking like a zombie.
i am a trouble maker
 Maria Cunningham

Nothingness

 

 I don’t know what to write about,

I don’t want to scream and shout,

I think I’ve got writers block,

My brain is the thing I’m trying to unlock,

I only have one more verse to do,

No one can deny that this poem is true,

Just two lines left and that’s fine with me,

Now I must go because I’ve things to do and people to see.

Liam Divilly

When you’re bisexual

When you’re confused
remember you’re not alone
there will always be someone that will be there
there will always be someone that will care
no need to live in fear
But yet will still fill it
Because it will be apart of you
and thats how it is
its become apart of you
and thats how it always is
there is no changing that
so dont be scared
there will always be someone that will be there
there will always be someone that will care
so dont be scared
Anonymous

Prodigal Son

Up until two years ago, I had never met my brother before. My mother gave birth to him when she was quite young and the best thing for him at that time was adoption. This was a very tough decision for her but she knew his adoptive family would take very good care of him. Fast forward 27 years, and my mother receives a phone call from an adoption agency informing her that my brother was looking to make contact with her. After about a year of email and letter contact, they both agreed to meet for the first time in 28 years. All this time, my brother, that I had never known about was merely 2 hours away from me. In no time, it was my turn to meet my long lost brother. Meeting him was the best experience of my life. I was overcome with so many emotions. I saw so many similarities in him and I. Since then, we have all kept in frequent contact and have also met many times.

Last September was by far the best experience of my life. My family and I had the opportunity to attend my brother and his wife’s wedding in Portugal.  We were introduced to all of my brother’s friends and adoptive family. It was amazing to meet the people that he grew up alongside and I feel they were happy to meet us also. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. It is an experience my family and I will never forget. I am very happy that my mother could share this celebration with my brother, his wife, their friends and my brothers adoptive family.

I am so proud to call him my brother. Although I did not grow up with him, like I did with my older sister and other brother, I feel like our relationship has grown immensely since we first met in 2013. He will always have a special place in my heart alongside the rest of my family. I am so happy I had the opportunity to meet him and am now a part of his busy everyday life. I love him very much and I cannot wait to hear what adventures lay ahead of him in his life.

Anonymous

P.E.

I hate P.E. I’ve hated P.E. since primary school. One of my earliest memories of primary school is being at home the morning of PE and hating the tracksuits I was wearing. They were loose and tight at the bottom.
I think that ‘hate’ is a strong word and should only be used when necessary, which is why I’m using it.
.
When we were allowed to pick teams in primary school I was usually picked near the end because I was never very good at PE. I’m still useless at it. I never try to hard(or at all) mainly because I think it all looks so stupid, (I don’t mean to offend anyone by saying that). To me it just looks completely ridiculous to run around chasing a ball and throwing it around. What is the point of that?
PE isn’t even good exercise it’s one hour a week and the time during PE that you’re actually exercising is very small. My Mom keeps saying that it’s good exercise but its not. I like exercising, I just hate PE. I don’t hate PE because I’m incrediably unfit, even if I was the fittest person in the world I’d still hate it.
Just because everyone else seems to love sports and paricipateing and PE doesn’t mean I have to.  there is nothing wrong with counting down the minutes and seconds left until I can walk out and not have to waste my time for another week.
Sarah Conneely

Nothingness

 I don’t know what to write about,

 I don’t want to scream and shout,

 I think I’ve got writers block,

My brain is the thing I’m trying to unlock,

I only have one more verse to do,

No one can deny that this poem is true,

Just two lines left and that’s fine with me,

Now I must go because I’ve things to do and people to see.

Liam Divilly