Look in the Mirror
You look in the mirror, what do you see?
I see a person but not made in my own way.
I see bundled chains forged from the stereotypes in the sea
That is our society and I’m drowning.
I feel the weight of the insults thrown at me, like lead weights, melting in my chest
And sinking into the pit of my stomach.
They say, “keep reading, it makes you much smarter”,
But the werewolf stares and dripping claws of what they our peers beg to differ.
Their howls hone in on that glass pane of confidence and shatter it.
The claws they reach into the mind and take out the love and rend it to pieces,
Drinking in the despair from their prey toying with them like a cat with a mouse.
Even in the home it’s an island behind my door, “cutting yourself off from society”
But every desperate bridge built to connect with the shore is burnt, apart from two others Islands.
Shafts of pure light in a dark stormy sea of loneliness
Adam Cusack
She Craves
She counts the calories and counts her bites.
No food, No nothing, Just to be light.
But no one ever notices.
She tries to be brave but she craves
Craves the life
Just wants it to be night
No worries, no stress.
Not another breath for fear of being left
Ciara Foley
You Said
You said you’d never leave,
You said you’d never go
Just as I went on stage to dance,
You got up and left the show.
What did I ever do to you?
Leaving and lying, letting me hate you.
I can’t believe you’d do such a thing,
I thought I was your baby boo.
Anon
Everybody Changes
Everybody changes, everybody moves.
No one stays the same everyone goes away.
Once you move and start walking,
You will end up running,
You’ll find yourself hiding behind someone you aren’t anymore.
A person you aren’t anymore,
A person you pretend to be,
So your family doesn’t worry about you, so your friends don’t leave.
Kaitlin Sullivan
Confession
So, I’m here to tell you something,
I make mistakes all the time
It’s okay it happens to everyone
It’s not a terrible crime.
I say stuff by accident
And sometimes people get hurt
But I don’t intentionally set out
To make you feel like dirt.
And that’s the end of the message
A little short paragraph
So please don’t take it seriously
When I’m only having a laugh.
Simone O’Sullivan
God Forbid
Everyone has to be skinny, blonde, have the perfect weight and have a happy family.
You can’t be overweight, come from a broken family or have a strange hair colour.
God forbid that girl isn’t skinny or isn’t with the popular gang
God forbid she likes the popular guy, and never tells him.
Being the funny positive girl
But suffering from anxiety and depression
And going to counselling every Wednesday,
Pretending you’re going to town,
Instead sitting down with your councillor about your issues.
No one is ever always OK.
Anon
I’m Fine
I’m fine, I have a family, love, protection, chances,
Money, nothing to worry about,
I’m fine, I have friends I trust, education, a future.
I’m fine.
Why does this tiny word get the power to build?
A wall and separate everything from me,
Let no one see,
The lies, the fear, the worries.
No one would understand because
I’m fine.
I hide and try to pretend,
No one should see that I’m weak and scared.
That this is a mistake,
That I can’t protect.
That I can never be honest to myself,
But none cares cause
I’m fine.
Antonia
Taking Control
One day I woke up
This is where I found who I care to be,
I was all alone
Nobody around me
Nobody at home
Nobody to talk to
Then I thought to myself
What can I do to change this?
Then a light bulb flicked,
This is up to me
And only me,
What I do now, I can change this
Or I can sit back and do nothing,
Anon
Mass Production
The machine roars with all its might
Forcing the lies into our minds,
Telling us what is right or wrong
Keeping us constantly behind the line,
Like robots, eat, work, sleep and bang
When I’m done, they just put me in a grave
And watch,
As the light from my soul fades away
Every morning the judgement begins
On a big, leather seat behind an oak desk,
Greedy, psycho men dressed in black
Passing laws that push our human powers back,
Fuelled by malice
Expressed with violence,
The monsters behind the curtain
Command their puppets.
Michal Wilk
Yearning
His life is like a never ending spiral of defeat,
He’s abused, bullied, taunted, for trying his best.
He wants nothing more than happiness, love, a strong bond.
He’s yearning for a friend, and acquaintance even.
The smallest bit of affection could change his life for ever
Anon
Untitled
The allies of the untamed hunter’s blood,
I can hear the dark stars calling to see their shadows in the wild,
The brotherhood of the endless light are marching to the sole of the blank storm,
Their ghosts are crawling from the floor
In the grave diggers dawn
Abby Carroll
To Think
This is where I come to think,
And I get overwhelmed,
I am so young and all these choices,
Thoughts, decisions zapping through my head,
Who do I want to be?
Who do they want me to be?
Does it really matter?
They tell me to just be happy,
And maybe that’s what I’ll try to be
Anastasija Monova
Train Wreck
The train-wreck in silence,
Remains is just violence,
I can’t stop the crying
A fire inside me,
The forest is burning
But still they aren’t learning
To kill a girl equal,
We must write a sequel
S.O.
Someone Close
When you lose someone close it’s not like pain
People think its heartbreak people think its pain
Well it wasn’t pain for me it was emptiness
Like you lost a limb or got a tooth pulled
When you run your tongue over the hole
Like the time you realized there really gone
It’s like passing their house and your heart stops and
You think about their laugh and smile
What they really thought about you and the world
Kaitlin Sullivan Grant
She
She sits in silence,
Staring out the window,
She stays unnoticed,
She gets called a freak,
She thinks she’s nothing,
But she only wants one thing,
Her boyfriend abuses her,
He left her, raped her,
Threw her away…
But no one cares,
No one is there
Until one day,
She finds the one,
She is finally wanted,
She is loved,
Cared for,
No longer broken.
Finally she can
Be Free.
Anon
Max
I rescue my dog from Mitchelstown,
To give him a second chance at life.
He’s a mutt of a lab and a Great Dane.
How could you mistreat a dog or any animal?
His name is Max.
He is the greatest pet and he is so obedient.
Mark Canty
Championship Dream
Hurling is our favourite sport,
It’s a shame the seasons fairly short.
When I step on, my emotions step off.
We believe in our soul,
A championship medal is our goal.
We will fight for every ball.
We won’t stop, we’ll give it our all
We will lift the trophy at the end.
With our teammates and our friends.
Jack and Adam
Da sesh
Lone on da’ sesh but you don’t drink you sit there laughing at people falling
People getting shifted
And when their coming down from their fun night
And want to stay there asleep face down on the grass
Sick all over them lying in someone’s piss
How can this be fun?
Kaitlin Sullivan
Secrets
She was petrified,
Scared she’d never realize that she needed, to be honest,
She couldn’t always please someone else,
She never took her emotions into consideration,
She had a secret,
She didn’t want it to be secret, but
She couldn’t lose them for they were her light in the darkness,
And the happy to her Smile
Secrets
Anon
Soccer Stars
The sweats a comin’
As I’m running
Adrenalin’s’ pumping
Center backs jumping
That was the wrong thing
Now I’m regretting
Smoking that bad thing
Always desiring
To be the best of the best
All the lads with their chicks
Bruised with all the kicks
Haven’t gone to the gym
Apparently I can’t swim
This stupid stereotype
I’m starting to miss all the hype
They won’t swipe
Because I’m not their type
This isn’t right
Noah Thomas-Njanque
Toes Grows Home
My hair grows down
To my toes
I never wear no clothes
I wrap my hair around my bare,
And down the roads I go
Down to Joes I go,
Down to get Sunday clothes
On the way home,
I bate my nose,
Then off to hospital I go
Jack Dorgan
This is Where
This is where I lie awake at night
This is where I wake up in the morning
This is where I get up to eat breakfast
This is where I go to school
This is where I learn boring stuff
This is where I go home and do nothing
Antoin Cloherty
In the Match
In the match I play,
The ball flies by, hits the guy,
And he cries.
The match is over so I go home,
But I trip over and land on a stone,
I don’t feel pain but when I stand up,
I see I broke my bone.
Kacper
School
School starts at ten to nine,
Doesn’t end until twenty to four,
In school for half our lives,
Some hate it – feel like it’s prison,
Its there to learn – everyone says,
But school is school – just boring,
But everyone has to go.
Amy Keane
Weekend
When the weekend’s here
We crack open a beer.
It’s time to celebrate
Not waking up at eight.
A break from school
Not having to follow rules.
Not a care in the world,
Just out with da girls.
Anon
Untitled
I stood there in the middle of the night,
Getting ready for my fight.
I was standing there, not sure if I was ready.
My feet on the ground, really unsteady,
I was there alone with the only armour I could afford.
Then from my side I grabbed my sword,
I ran at my foe, hard and fast,
Until I realised there was no one there
And I could rest at last
Eimear Dorgan
Family
My sister’s name is Alanna,
My nan’s name is Joe,
My mom’s name is Helen,
She has a wonky toe,
Sometimes she wobbles,
Sometimes she’ll hop,
But her big toes spasms,
Will never stop,
Megan Zerbane
Where
This is where I am from
This is where I play
This is where I shout, laugh and cry
This is where my father is from and his before him
This is where we get called knackers or travellers
This is where we get called druglords or gang members
But this is also were we don’t care about what people think
This is where you know everyone
This is where I will live
This is where I will die
Tomas
In my School
In my school
The kids don’t follow the rules
Driving the teachers’ crazy
Not doing work cause they’re lazy
My school is great
From outside the gate
Inside school it’s dull
It wrecks my skull
Kate
My Mate
School is bad
It makes me sad
You have to get up early
The school is dirty
Exams are muck
The groups are split
I have a mate
Her name is Kate
Anon