They Told Me
They told me I am nothing
That I am lazy, crazy
They told me I am too stupid
But too intelligent at the same time
They told me I am young, just a child
That my voice doesn’t count
My opinions don’t matter
I should behave like an adult
I am too old for that stuff
They told me who I am
Who I am supposed to be
That I’m not good enough
But stop!
I am not “just a child”
I’m not “lazy”
I’m not “too stupid”,
I am a human being,
One in 7 billion
I’m 15, a teenager, I am strong, free, confident
I’m alive
I am breathing, my heart is beating
I am right here
I am who I am
And despite my flaws, mistakes
Even though I’m not perfect,
I am good enough
Katharina Burghardt
In These Moments
We are living in these moments,
In our heads nothing else seems to matter,
Everyone tells us to think outside of a box,
What happens if we only think in these boxes?
To me everything seems so bland,
All I want to do is to relive those moments,
As they take me back to simpler times,
Those snap shot moments
Crashing Dad’s car into the ditch
The trampolines of summer
Treasure hunts in fairy tale woods.
I could remember the past back then
I could see the future
And what life had to offer.
Sarah McGrath
Untitled
No heat, no warmth no safety,
No one standing by me.
A father who doesn’t know, brothers who don’t care,
And a mother, ha, only god knows where.
Living in a house without a fire,
Maybe that’s what powers my desire.
Only looking for someone to stand beside me,
Release me from my binds and set me free.
From the pain of losing Val,
From my lack of morale.
Someone who brightens the darkest day,
In her own special way.
Someone who’s hand I can hold,
Who won’t be tense or cold.
Someone who will love me for me,
To show me who I was born to be.
Myles Forrestal
Incomplete
Them latest phones
Them branded clothes
Those designer jeans
All just for show
We can do so much more
Then just make ends meet
Ambition always
Incomplete
Sophie O’Neill
Compared
I am always compared
Compared to my mam
Compared to cousins
My brothers and sisters
I am always compared
To other students
To strangers
To everyone
And no one at all.
We all have something different to say
Some people have more than others
Sometimes it’s something bad or something that they’re feeling
Or sometimes it’s to make someone smile.
Sometimes there is no comparison.
Olivia Salamon
Break Free
The clouds hid the sun
She tried to break free,
She tried and she tried
But the sun held her heart
With a skeleton key
The clouds were determined
But the sun couldn’t be broken,
She wanted to sing
What had never been spoken
So she sang and she shone
But the clouds hid the sun
Until the wind came
And blew them away
Eadaoin Lee O’Rourke
Nobody
Nobody is perfect
Especially not me not you
Or anyone else that you see
When I’m alone at home
In the dark
I compare myself
To another sweetheart
It’s something I do
When I over think
It drags on forever
Each time you blink
Hannah Monks
Imperfectly Round
Where I come from
The world is imperfectly round
Boys will be boys
And girls will wear frowns
Children taught to sit and listen
Be good, behave
And medals will glisten
Its work and pay
Then sleep and play
The never ending end of the day
Programmed like droids
Get up for work
Keep up, head down
Do our job
Measly wages,
Helpless animals
Locked in cages
Rhiannon O’Sullivan
Untitled
Everybody loves the colour black except the people
With their hashtags on twitter acting like we’re equals
They do the little dance and shout ‘blacks lives matter’
But when the police come around just like that they scatter
They only in it for the hype, it’s just a trend
Talking bout “you my brotha” but they stay till the end
They are only here for the music they don’t know how you hurt
Because at the end of the day your just a pass for the ‘n’ word
Marata Sida
This Is
This is time were waiting to be
This is the time to be young wild and free
This is the time you drive in the car
This is the time you go very far
This is time you hang with your friends
This is the time you can’t comprehend
Una Donnelly
Stop and Listen
Stop and listen.
Watch the sunlight glisten.
Its a bright new day.
But no time to play.
Life is never as easy as it seems.
Especially when you’ve low self-esteem.
School is tough believe me I know
Never able to flourish or grow.
Jessie McCabe
Untitled
It has a presence that comes from nothing
It won’t leave like a bad smell
It’s like a bomb that that does damage you can’t see
I lights a furnace in my chest that burns my heart, neck and face
It ripples through me like like a cold hand
Makes my goose bumps stand up but my shoulders slump low
No matter what I do or say it will always win like throwing stones at a tank
Arguments mean nothing
Joking means nothing
Violence means nothing
Because you can’t hate the player
Hate the word
Jordan Knight
Scouts
This is what scouts really is,
The whole of Ireland has been judging us this past year,
But do you really know what scouting is?
Do you really know what its like?
Long hikes,
Long Nights,
Dreaming about how we never wanna go home from camps,
Long chats,
Great bants,
Meeting the greatest people that will become like brothers and sisters to you,
Meeting people you can be with while doing something
As standing in the rain, freezing and numb and you wouldn’t rather be anywhere else,
A place that everyone knows each other and are friendly to anyone they see,
Where the youth and adults get on better than students get on with their teachers,
Its almost like the leaders help us more to guiding us to who we wanna be in our future
Instead of our teachers, the leaders are more like second parents to us,
A place where camping is surprisingly enjoyable
Because we’re surrounded by our friends and people who love us,
Don’t ever try judge us until you here from the youth of this organization,
We are the best that we can be when we’re scouting.
JennI Minogue
Untitled
From wearing Nike air, to a skin fade in your hair,
People stop and stare, look back if you dare.
They say this place is free, doesn’t seem like it to me,
Come to school and see, I think you will agree.
There is so much pressure, pressure everywhere
Exams, family, peers, popularity,
Fist fights, word battles, people are mean,
Life is hard, almost like a bad dream
We’ve a lack of self-esteem, it’s so hard being a teen.
Darragh Skehan
Untitled
Carpe diem I am still thinking
Carpe diem but my past wouldn’t let me.
Mistakes were made.
Mistake are made to learn.
But that is the point:
I don’t want to learn.
That mistake I will make it again
And again, and again.
Because I am still thinking carpe diem.
Because if I die tomorrow.
If I die.
I will want to be with you.
Constanza Risa Maristany
The Point
This is a load of pointless work,
Work without fruit
At the point where you want to give up,
The point of a break down,
The voices that tell you to live your own life
Or a life without point
This is stupid
Brian Binder
Dell
I’m writing this on a Dell,
Poetry is hell,
It’s called OptiPlex,
Weird flex,
Waiting on the bell.
Senan O’Neill
Beautiful Melody
She is like a beautiful melody
It does not matter how much we listen to it.
We will always remember her,
Not because of how beautiful she is
But because we love it with our hearts.
Anon
Speed
I have speed
I am quick
I run on petrol
My tires are slick
I rev hard
My engine roars
My tires burn
I have no doors
I race on a track
Its made from tar
I am of course a formula one car
Eoghan Bolger
Sometimes
Sometimes you don’t know,
How to rhyme and get the flow,
But you only have to think,
And all will come like if you drink,
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Don’t mind if you get,
A crap poem and don’t argue.
Eric Millan Lombarte
Tractor
I am tractor,
Diesel powered
Grumbling in the throat
Of the morning
I am strong,
The ox that pulls the load
Far and long,
The crack of dawn,
The falling nights,
The rain that falls
On neon lights.
Dan Mitchell