Beauty
If I asked you to name all the things you found beautiful
How long would it take for you to say yourself?
Beautiful people are looking in the mirror and seeing a twisted mess
Of societies unattainable expectations
What do you call beauty?
A perfect body only skin deep or is it more
If only our eyes saw souls instead of bodies
Imagine how different things would be
Over analysing
Destroying your self esteem
Beauty is not about having a pretty face
It’s about having a pretty mind
Having a pretty heart
And having a pretty soul
Don’t be blinded by your “insecurities” because
The foundation of beauty is not on your skin
And perfection is misleading because it doesn’t exist
Naoise Giblin
Silent
People look at you from the hall,
Judging, laughing, name calling,
Making you feel like it’s only you.
No one will help you because of your parents,
Because of what people think you are,
Of what they think you could be.
They look down at you,
Making you feel like your three inches big.
You wish for a sign that someone cares.
Some people try to get you to talk,
But it doesn’t help, the teachers don’t help.
Your parents don’t help and the people who do,
Don’t because they are afraid of being small,
They hide like shadows, never taking your side
Helping you stand strong,
But instead help those who make you feel small.
I feel like trouble is all I cause,
Trouble is all I’m ever given and when I try to tell someone I can’t
Because there is no one to listen.
I wish I didn’t say a word, if I hadn’t said anything,
Would I feel better? No.
Because I wouldn’t have been able to have the courage to speak at all.
I wouldn’t have been able to tell people I’m gay.
Sinead Hackett
Fading Distance
We wait in class, nervous for our Junior Cert results
My heart beating fast, I feel it in my pulse
Anxious I wonder, did I fail or pass
I look around and think, who will do best in the class?
All we want is for our parents will be happy with us
And to exchange excited plans going home on the bus
I sit back and remember the days I had no worries
Until I have a realization, my vision goes blurry
This is where we are shaped for their vision of the system
As the bus rides off and my school fades to the distance
James McDermott
Ashes and Dust
We come here to express ourselves
Where people can become themselves
To do what we want and what we love
With people who have an understanding of
What it means to be uniquely different
Standing out can make a difference
In this place where my passion lies
From ashes and dust ideas arise
This is what I love and want
This space where I am confident
Amy Bergin
Mental Health
Mental health is
A part of everybody
It makes you happy
It makes you sad
It helps you get through
When time turns bad
Some times are hard
Some days are rough
When life tells you
You’re not so tough
So if your heart is feeling low
And it feels like there’s no place to go
Tell somebody because they care
You will be happy again
If you can share
Anon
Mind with Thoughts
Insecurities are there
In every single mind
Real or not
There always there to find
People will judge
The good and the bad
Embrace what you are
Or else you will be sad
Be who you are
In every possible way
Be near not far
From the place you long to stay
Orla Hogan
Untitled
In school were taught to be smart
That if we fail we won’t go far
So judgemental they don’t understand
It’s hard for us teens to get a chance
Sit up straight and raise your hand
Making us feel like they’re in demand
If you don’t come to school people call you a fool
Laughing at you because they think it’s cool
Social media wrecking our brains
Making us think we should all be the same
All these influencers selling dreams
To be like them if we want to succeed
Our generation has the chance to change society
So let’s start now so we can be the larger variety
Megan Usman
This is Where
I’m growing older
I’m getting bolder
Listen to crap everyday
They tell us what to do, think and say
I’m told to do better even when it’s my best
Work piled on, no time to rest
I’m compared to others and put down
Embarrassed and made out to be a clown
This is where I can’t be free
This is where I can’t be me
Hannah Coffey and Leah Madden
The Real You
They all think you’re thick skinned
Don’t cry, don’t have emotions
They don’t know you
Not the real you
An erosion of yourself
A puppet of who
They want you to be
Because
They don’t know you
Not the real you
Anon
From the Cradle
From the cradle we are torn
And into darkness life is born
Future leaders, business people
Pointed in the wrong direction,
And others forced through stress and tears
To endure a pointless education.
Complications, ups and downs,
Sadness flips, turns into frowns.
Childhood memories lurk within,
Throughout life we’re filled with sin
We can’t help feel the darkness creep
In the dark we softly weep.
Emma Bonfield and Rachael Hannigan
Barbie’s Dinosaur
Why when we are young are we put in boxes?
There are the smart kids, the chubby kids,
There are girls and boys.
Why can’t we discover who we are all on our own?
We are told the boys can’t wear dresses and girls can’t like the colour blue,
That when boys hit each other or when they call girls names that it’s just boys being boys.
That girls have to just hold it in and just sit and look pretty,
And that girls and boys can’t be friends,
They can only have romantic relationships with each other.
Why can’t we just let children grow up to be whatever they want to be?
A woman, a man or both,
That boys can be dress designers and girls can be builders,
The walls need to be broken down and the world would be a better place for it.
Hazel Young
All Damned
First years came in droves to shift,
Through friendship’s seas we tend to drift.
We’re forced like slaves to pointless study,
The future’s clear, the path is muddy.
The pressure here is at its worst,
Our teenage heads are about to burst,
The curriculum has us all damned
Our dreams all sacrificed to plans.
Aine Slattery and Niamh Slattery
Lost
We are judged for how we look and not who we are
We see that there is always a bar
Whispers echo in your head at night
While we lay in bed holding on for dear life
Teenage drinkers fight outside chippers
With men that think they are the winners
But crying inside looking for light
You are only really liked in a virtual world
But in the real world you are just a lonely girl
Aoife and Clodagh
Missing You
The place I’m from
The people that are here
They might be who I’m with
But I’m missing you my dear
Never another like you
On that I’m very sure
Never a lie said to you
Every word was honest and true
Now you may be different
But to me you’re still the same
If I’m left without you
I might just go insane
When I finally see you
It’s like time hasn’t passed
Stay with you for every second
Every second
Up till the last
Eilidh Pope
Shadow Dance
She sits by herself feeling weak and afraid,
Unable to be herself or show who she really is,
Afraid of saying something wrong,
It all changes as soon as she’s in the hall
The music starts,
She hears the counts,
Finally she begins turning and leaping across the floor,
She feels brave and confident,
Finally herself.
Eimer Heffernan
Words take Flight
I sit here staring at a blank white box on this computer screen
My fingertips are hovering over the keyboard
My mind is wandering
I struggle to focus on what exactly is going on in there
And how to project my thoughts in words
So my template remains bare
My thoughts spread their wings and my words take flight
Erin Ryan
Lost
A boat floats in the middle of the ocean.
A needle in a haystack of water.
Lost with no compass, no map, no sense of direction.
A captain with no crew, a wolf with no pack.
If only it could go under, deeper into the water.
The depths are rich, the cities of coral teeming with life.
But this sailor can’t swim.
He’s forced to stay above the surface.
Time may take its toll but eventually he’ll reach land again.
Anon
Red Ribbon
The best are annexed from the worst,
The hunger is separated from the thirst,
Friends are made and lost, jealousy does not survive,
This is your time to grow and thrive,
Precision is key to take home the red ribbon,
Lose and you might not be forgiven,
You make every jump or lose it all,
Pick yourself up when you fall,
You count your strides and jump the oxer,
Looking to impress the well-known sponsor.
Nessa Bourke
Local Feud
Get the game winning point
All go for nice cold pints
We won the north final
We got the better of our rivals
We got score after glorious score
The whistle blew, we let out a roar
We went back to the pub to get some food
After we had settled our local feud
We left our all out on the field
We’ll be back next year you can believe
Aaron Mcloughlin
Breathless Faces
We stand huddled letting our emotions flow,
We play our game, we put on a show.
We will battle our hearts over and out,
Enthusiastic supporters scream and shout.
But sometimes your best is just not enough,
Nothing is easy, you have to be tough.
Till tears roll down our breathless faces
And we are falling to bits in sympathetic embraces.
Sinead O Dwyer
This is Where
I look at the divide in the class
I look at the screen having no clue what to do
My mind wonders through thick and thin
I stare into darkness in wonder to what awaits me
My imagination runs wild
My minds asks all the questions it fears to say aloud
I wonder what will happen next
I say what I want and no one can stop me
I feel free to be myself
No matter what anyone says I’ll do my own thing
Jacqueline Wakefield
School
6 classes a day
I go out of my way
To do stuff that will never help me
5 days a week
I get up on my feet
And go in and do my best
Over 200 days a year I go in to school
And get slated to the bone
But sure I bate on with a smile on my face as if nothing happened
Then I go home and think about what was said to me
I sit there in my room feeling sorry for myself
And think of what I could do different
And then I realise that it’s not me
It’s the people I go in to see
Anon
Animal Cruelty
Animal Cruelty happens everywhere,
All different animals locked in small cages,
From different breeds to different ages,
From puppy farms in rural woods,
To exotic animals being kept as pets by stars in Hollywood,
People dumping rubbish in the ocean,
Watching animals choke and die, their faces without emotion.
Anon
Shoulder to Shoulder
The team go out and stand shoulder to shoulder,
While all the crowd watches over.
Ready for action they patiently wait,
For the biggest game there is to date.
With helmets on and hurls in hands,
Waiting to hear the refs commands.
They go out like warriors to battle,
The crowd goes wild,
The crossbars rattle.
Blood and sweat and burning fears,
Broken hearts and roaring cheers.
Cliodhna McCarthy
Where I Belong
As I take the field begin to ponder,
Why am I here?
Is it pride or pressure?
No.
It’s simple,
I’m here because I want to be,
I’m here because I need to be,
This is me, raw and pure.
It is where I belong.
Anon
Journey
Ever got into a car and starting driving
With no destination in mind
Just driving around each bend not knowing what’s in front of you
Or what’s going to happen or trying to know if the journey will ever end
But still you wish another journey tomorrow
Life is the same
You just need to take one bend at a time
And the journey will end in its own good time
Barry Shanahan
Athletics
Athletics, the sport I love
The track, the field
The blood pumping
Around my body, the sweat
Running…
Running to, running from
Jumping, throwing
Learning, sprinting
The track forever
Forever growing
Laura Hayes
My New Life
I had made my dinner
Then I heard my parents voices glimmer
With young eyes i gave a look
As the began to explain
I could see my childhood close like a book
With hard years and a thousand new beginnings
Came easy new winnings
Out of one strife
Came my new life
Lauren Hill
Lifestyle
In the parlour
Day after day
Wondering if there is as point
Or a method
Behind the madness
Of this life
But there is
I have been doing it since I was a child
I like it
And that’s what matters
It’s not a job
But a lifestyle
Darragh Haugh
Mission Impossible
We aced the Junior Cycle
With the help of our teacher St Michael
We came to complete our impossible mission
And on the way destroyed the opposition
We will go to Ennis to celebrate our grades
And our memories will emerge and fade
We then went onto transition year
And learned that a fake ID was dear
And will go onto get be a success
And make some sense of this big mess
Kevin Cleary
The Awaited Game
Patiently we wait for the crucial game
To win the trophy this is our aim
Everyone is asked to play their best
Work your hardest, forget the rest
Conquer yourself, conquer your fear
Give it all blood sweat and tear
Laura Bergin
Untitled
From the pitch to the stands
You stand alone
Together but on your own
On your own but as a team
You fight for each other
Your club your school your family
You go to battle united
But at the end of the day some will fall
Or all will unite
The good days bring the best out of some
The bad days bring the worst
Laura Leenane
The Big Match
The big match
We walked on the pitch
With a buttonhole stitch
Helmets on
We were number one
Hoping to win
On the top of our chin
It will be a fight
But well take it on right
To win the cup
And go higher up
Leah Egan
In the Ring
When you get into the ring
You fight to win
Left hook, feint right, you miss
You swing
A left to the body
A right to the face
Throw in the head on the sly
A total disgrace
But they don’t understand
The work and the love that goes in
To make someone the greatest
Comes from within
Jack Deane
Untitled
The sky was blue
So were you
You were through
Had to review on the pain
As your brain changed
As you were chained
You gave up and were drained
As I was stained with red
Michelle Fogarty
The Flop
When all your fears are put to tears
We look around at the head that cheers
While others are wasting drinking beers
I’m in the corner watching others catch spheres
It’s not easy for me because they have been doing it for years
Suddenly I open my ears with people letting out cheers
My eyes blur and tears drop
And suddenly I think I’m a flop
James Hough
In the Moment
You are born, you are born and you only eat and sleep
You grow, and you only think about playing and having fun while the world demands you
You keep growing and start thinking about love
While everyone keeps asking you for more,
And you, just think about growing up, having fun and not being alone
You keep growing and mentalities are divided
One thinks only of himself and the other only thinks of the others
You think “some with so much and others with so little”
You start to think about your future
What you want to do with your life
Everyone cares only about that
What are you going to do with your future
While you just think about taking advantage of the moment
Jose Eduardo
Life
Prayer to molly bans
Underage drinking
Our life goes by without blinking
School, family, friends, life
It can be as sharp as a knife
Friends can help or come and go
And all I ever said was “woah”
Life is hard and rough
But I can never ever have enough
Nothing can stop me living my life
I’m as happy as Larry, I got no strife
Anon
Victory goes Viral
We come together as one entire fighting machine,
Creaming lads like a tetrachloroethylene.
Yet Borris bottled another semi-final,
Like tuberculosis we are going viral.
We will be back better than ever,
Kings of the planet, just too clever.
With attitudes that are far too strong,
And Chinese hurls that don’t last long.
We took our glory, claimed in both hands,
Letting everyone know these are our lands.
Conor Ryan
School
Schools not about getting top grades
It’s about doing well and not stressing out
Do your best
Be yourself and you’ll get a brilliant end result
Anon
Untitled
Soccer is a wonderful game
A sport where every kid has his aim
Bur not all kids are the same
Some big some small
Some skinny some tall
Some kids fail
Others rise to the top
So what you must do is never stop
Anon
Going Out
We went out late on a Saturday night
We went to the disco but the disco was crap
We went across the road to a pub and sat down
But I found out a pint cost 6.50 I was left with a frown
So I sat down all night drinking Coke and Sprite
This is when I realised that going out is crap
Jack Murphy
Untitled
We step onto the pitch one by one
Doing the warm up
The other team asking themselves where did these come from
Holding our hurleys in our hand
Walking to our positions like a marching band
As the referee throws the ball in
The crowd lets out an almighty roar
As our team gets the first score
After sixty minutes of blood sweat and tears
The other team start to fear
As we get the final point to win the match
The ball drops short into the keepers hand to catch
The ball breaks loose and we were starting to bet
As the full forward sticks it in the back of the net
Conor White
The Dream
Hurling for your club is something most of us do
But hurling for your county is what we would love to do
Winning a final for the club is a serious buzz
But winning a final with the county
Not too many of us get the chance to
To get a call up to the county you must work hard in training
And play your best in the club matches
So you can maybe one day get the call to the county team
And win a final live
The dream
Colm Cleary
Hurling
Hurling is my life
Hurling is my love,
It fits into my life like a glove
Some days I feel it could be my toughest task
Like a nightmare murder man wearing a mask
Other times it’s my only hope
Pulling, hitting and marking some strange dope
But every time i wear my jersey
I hurl for and think of my family parish and club
Whether I’m captain, water boy or sub
It’s in the sheer pride and love
That I hurl for my home club
Kevin McDonald
Game Day
It was game day against Garryowen,
It was worse than tryin’ to write this poem.
Everyone was frozen and shook
I look to my right and my friend got the book,
He got into a scrap just cause he gave him a tap.
I look to my left and the backlines not awake,
I intercept the ball and I make a break.
Garryowen look at me not understanding
How a lone man gave them a pounding.
At half time we all took five
And everyone’s still not looking alive.
Garryowen had the fire in their eyes
And because of that they took home the prize.
Joshua Delaney
The Battle
Tens of thousands of people gather
To see two counties come to battle
The clash of hurl the crossbars rattled
Sliotars whistle, people scream
Those who train and those who dream
To lift the Liam McCarthy cup
And leave their sorrows all beat up.
Tens of thousands of people gather
To see two counties come to battle
The clash of hurl the crossbars rattled
Sliotars whistle, people scream
Those who train and those who dream
To lift the Liam McCarthy cup,
And leave their sorrows all beat up.
Laura O’Meara
War
War is a death zone
You die or survive
It’s up to you to tell that lie
But no one might know that u died
Only your family after a while
It’s a cruel world
Not everyone survives
It’s up to you to stay alive
Luke Gleeson
Pumpkin on a Jet ski
First years standing in the middle of the hall
They don’t care at all
Won’t get out of the way
No matter what you do or what you say
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea
Lil pump pumpkin on a jet ski
Rhyming with Spongebob
Like it’s my job
Slotting scores over the posts
Opposition gone pale just like ghosts
Ruairi Connelly