Collapsing Wings
Wings collapsing in a pool of tears
Unsteady hands push away walls
Shin screams, burns, begs for the sweet release of air,
For a beautiful gush of oxygen to drive through me but it is always disappointed,
And instead it’s met with shaking,
Uncontrollable streams of anxiety flooding from bleeding eyes that search desperately for safety,
But they are always disappointed,
They are always disappointed.
Instead panic runs through my veins
A burning surge and I am escorted
By the never ending sensation of drowning
To a person I don’t even recognise
And in this moment,
This hour,
This life,
As I search for who I was,
I am always disappointed,
I am always disappointed.
Megan Foster
Trains
We were like trains
At first just passing each other
Then one of us switched tracks
And then we shared the same route.
Everyday we’d take on people together
Tackled any problems we forced
We worked in unison
Our mechanics ticked to the same rhythm
We were headed in the same direction.
And then one day a track switch broke
And one of us went a different way than usual
You just kept going and going in the wrong direction
And neither of us could stop it
Crashing and tearing
Further and further away,
Faster and faster
Further and further
And I watched helplessly, as you got smaller and
Smaller in the distance
Not knowing what had happened in the blur
And I watched as you
Continued unknowingly to a different destination
Where you’d find another train to share a track
And work in unison together
We were just like trains.
Emma Nolan
Untitled
In a dark, stuffy room
reeking of stress
a light comes on and
I almost drop dead.
Here’s anxiety in all its glory
and my heart is saying sorry
that I didn’t show my brave side and
stand up for myself
by myself.
Here’s stress poking at me
telling me there’s no time,
no hope, just humiliation and pain.
Heart racing, blood pumping.
Stop!
School! Old friend!
When I drown in the sea
of shallow, fake bitches, their new lipsticks,
name-calling, drama-making
How can I call you my friend?
I won’t.
What’s this on the ground?
A pen, a page, a tune which makes
my soul embark.
I blast it until I feel nothing but
a brilliant, brain riddling madness.
Inspiration, motivation, this drive in my veins
gives me an instant high
And so I play my guitar solo one more time.
Weronika Oglaza
Years
7 YEARS
A hug, a kiss and a bandage cured all
The biggest problem was a painful fall.
12 YEARS
You’re growing up, it’s the end of an era
Your life is changing, but it’s not getting any clearer
A brand new school, a fresh new start
Little did you know your life would fall apart
16 YEARS
At this age, you’re stuck in the middle
A child or an adult, it’s almost a riddle
Screaming and crying and calling for assistance
They all understand but still keep their distance
Sympathetic looks and ‘it’ll be okay’
But they’re not going to help you get through the day
All this trouble and sleepless nights
Hoping and praying it will be alright.
25 YEARS
You’ve got yourself through it, you’re looking back
You’ve healed yourself and all your cracks
Proud of yourself for being so strong
For looking up and powering on
You’re still so young with your life ahead
You’re a happy new person, the old you is dead.
Catherine Farrell
Love and Affection
Why do people just look at others?
When they have tears rolling down their face,
Calling them a bitch and a knacker,
Does it make you feel great?
Ignoring all those comments
Looking down, Feeling down
Remembering how it feels causing disagreements,
Nobody knows your little small town
You’re a nobody, you’re a nothing
But who said that?
When you offer love and affection,
Don’t ignore it, just enjoy it.
Stephanie Bongala
Hidden
Glitter on my nails
Gun in my hand
Book on the desk
Got to keep a reputation
Achieving high, keeping everyone happy
Running for my life, searching in the dark
Sparkly earrings
Living life to the full
Mountains of paper, pressure
Blood pooling, colours shining
Shaky deep breath, wheezing
Lungs filing up with water
Never happy or complaining
Spluttering, falling, memories swirl.
Pressure, timing, I’m finished
I just want to be found.
Chloe McGrath
Shame
You’re a slut
You are stunning
From who do you think you are running.
Time is precious
Time’s a killer
Here’s a naggin, a crate of miller.
Cover your body
Conceal your bruises
For she who dares always looses.
In rooms filled with junkie smoke
Young girls lost in a sweeping stroke.
I may be young
I may be bold
But I am not a child
I cannot be told what to and what not to do.
Yes I am young, but you were once young too.
Lauren Coffey
Constant Pressure
Under pressure, like the song
Constantly, constant at the back of my mind,
Droning, am I wrong to not care.
It’s hard, so hard to just go out and do……
Something, anything.
The Internet, TV maybe a book if I’m feeling clever for once
Comparison is my weakness
To my sister, other girls my age
“Why can’t you be like her”
Or the subtle “…….. did that”
Constantly, constant in my head
Just let me bury myself into the bed.
Anon
How Am I Supposed to Choose
How am I supposed to choose
This game is hard and it’s easy to loose
Subject choices that cause so much stress
Lead to leaving very points that are just a mess
College courses and CAO forms, which define our lives our teacher warns
Then careers and mortgages and children to follow
How am I supposed to choose when my mind feels so hollow.
Niamh Kennedy
Writer’s Block
I can’t write
Past this writer’s block
Not even a writer
But this writing’s got me in a headlock
I can’t write
No imagination, motivation
Crushed a long time ago
By my education
I can’t write
I’m drawing a blank
Like in an exam I think so hard,
You can hear the cogs crank
I can’t write
‘Cause I have to rhyme
Preconditioned by studying
Years of rhythm and time
I can’t write
But I’ll be judged on this
Same way I’m judged
On subjects I’d choose to dismiss
I can’t write
It’s over now
I don’t know how
Did what I said I couldn’t
When I started out
Never mind the doubt
I overcame my writer’s block
By writing it out.
Ciara O’Brien
School
Spending half of my life in school. It’s so shit.
Being in school is not even about learning anymore it’s about passing.
Everyone is different so don’t expect us to be the same and have the same grades.
Life is hard.
Stressing every year in school about pointless exams.
Our world needs help.
Look at the things that’s happening to this world
No one is doing anything.
I’d be scared for my own children in the future
Wondering what society will do next to make us feel like shit
About our figure how we dress and how much our clothes cost.
Jolina Gajardo
Self-esteem
You don’t need no iPhone 6
No bullshit lies
No second chance
No romance shit
No bad ass bullshit boyfriend because you,
You have self-esteem.
Anon
School
I’m sick of your lack of facilities
Your unequal opportunities
Your expectations and
Our lack of freedom
I’m sick of your narrow minds
Your stubborn teachers
Your education system designed for only one
Type of student
Too much punishment and not enough encouragement.
Grace Molloy & Orlaith Doyle
Untitled
Stars run
Tears shine
Paint pops
Balloons run
Machines grow
Trees whirl
Pin takes off
Plane drops.
Ciara Murphy
Meat ‘Haters’
I don’t agree with vegetarianism.
I strongly believe that everyone should consume meat.
Honestly, who cares about the cows, the pigs, the lambs, and all the other animals we get
meat from.
Here’s the thing, if we died and there were cows and pigs and shit walking about, and they needed food, they’d eat us.
So why shouldn’t we eat them?
You want to not kill all the animals and just let the amount of them increase?
Fine, but you know what’s next, they revolt against us, you want that to happen? You never know what animals are capable of.
Just eat meat, you know why, cause it tastes so good, like sooooo frickin’ good. Like you’ve just had a little taste of heaven. It’s like the best taste in the whole world.
People of the world, we only live once. So why not enjoy life while we can? And eat crispy shredded chicken and cocktail sausages and duck and lamb and steak and spare ribs and just every kind of chicken there is under the sun because chicken is sooooooo god damn good.
So eat meat kids, f**k vegetarianism!
Andrea Farrelly
Because I am a Woman
Because I am a woman
Society says I can’t
They think that since I’ve got boobs I’m not able
Told that if I’m not society’s definition of ‘pretty’
I’m not going places
Told that I’m meant to care more about my looks than my thoughts
Told to cook and clean and most t most important job is to be a mother.
Discarded, Ignored,
Never taken seriously
If I’m a strong leader I’m labelled a bossy bitch
If I’m angry about an injustice it’s written off as just PMS.
Constantly judged
If I put out I’m a slut
If I don’t I’m a prude
I can’t ever win
Men think they can make my decisions for me by the way I dress
Thinking they own me
I don’t belong to anyone
My mind is free
My body is my own
I can be whoever I want to be
And you can’t stop me
Because I am a woman
And I am strong enough to break down the walls society has built around me,
And if you looked close enough you would see all that and not just a pretty face.
Sinéad Ryan
Untitled
The thing that bothers me is
The way guys treat girls like shit,
Thinks it’s acceptable to do that,
Pictures and questions all personal but they never stop.
Is it too late to say sorry?
That is the new question that pops up on my screen
As he realises that he’s made a mistake and probably lost you.
Anon
Drink
I drink too much
I know I do
I drink because adults do
And because I like to be happy
I like being able to laugh and smile
And not worry about everything.
Everything that has ever happened and will ever happen
Racing through my mind
So I drink
And I laugh
And I smile
And I deny stealing that bottle
I say I don’t know
And my mother lets it go
And I drink.
Anon
Perfection
When I look in the mirror is as if it’s broken
I see fragments of myself I am unhappy with
I pick myself apart
Pointing out my flaws
Society has created an image of beauty that is unrealistic
That somehow we all want to achieve
I remind myself no one can be perfect
That even in the magazines
Behind the perfect makeup, the perfect cloths and hair
There is a makeup artist, a stylist and a team of hairdressers
I remind myself that the people in the magazines have parts of themselves I don’t like
Just like me
I remind myself I may not be perfect, but I can be perfect at being me.
Billinda Lyons
That Was You
That was you too late to say sorry falling drunk into the back door.
Nearly got hit by a bus that was you.
Hungry for love, sick and tired of being abandoned ad people just laughing,
That was you.
Bleeding out for attention but was ignored
That was you.
Drunk and high all the time, my moma don’t care, that was you.
Standing in a run-down bathroom reflecting into a broken mirror realising that was me not you.
Amy Greene, Beth Barrett Cullen, Aoife Waters & Lucy Chand
Tainted Blood
Message sent, slow footsteps
Nothing left, can no longer feel upset.
No more chains, leaning towards the wrong lane
Things will never be the same, the game will begin.
She knew my loath, yet I clung to hope
Just like when I was told, there were many things I could become
I will remember her eyes, her hair her lips
Her hands which were once clean and her smile which beamed.
My determination wouldn’t bend until she met her end
I could no longer do any mends, I need this pain to be tired.
It’s time for this tainted blood to stop its flow.
Anon
Food
Chicken tender meat or pizza?
Salt and vinegar, yes please.
Don’t forget the garlic dip
And my can for me sip.
Five euro that will be
All this food just for me.
Knock on the door the food is here
Luckily the chipper is near.
Anon