Scoil Chatríona, St Mobhi Rd, Glasnevin, Drumcondra, Co. Dublin

Diamond Rough

Though we grew up among these broken things
We were always taught we were good enough
Those endless nights and puppet strings
Our highlight reels were diamond rough

We grew close back then and have stayed together
We broke our chains just to be free
And danced as light as an angel’s feather
To escape from the concrete misery

Ella Ní Chocomáin

The Warmest Teardrops

The warmest teardrops are destroyed,
By hypnotising screens
Fears are masked Facebook likes
But no one hears the screams
Comments, followers, stalkers, trolls
Words hurt more than knives
Maturities scatters what insecurities shatters
That ruins teenage lives

A pretty face, a fancy phone or expensive clothes
An outcast because of who you are
Individual I suppose
You need to worry about your life being broadcast
Social media swept the nation
And you realise that we’ve all been cloned
A messed up generation

Anon

You Must

Thoughts brew
Shadows break through
They play on repeat, on and on
I am told to do what I do
Say what I say
To feel all this rage
It won’t go away
All this hurt
But I question it all too
They talk us down
We are told to stand up
Speak out, try hard
Think straight
Do it right, look this way
Be yourself
You can talk to us
Trust us
Stop complaining
Good job
You can do it better
You can’t do that
You must do this
You must be good enough
I had so much hope
For but now can’t wait to get out
Everything could be so much better

Megan

Untitled

I’m screaming knowing your already gone
Drugs turned you from right to wrong
from the person I loved to a stranger I don’t
I lock the door and breakdown thinking
Why you would destroy someone you claimed to love
I think of how stupid I am to still love you still
After you keep ripping away my personality
You rip away my will
Leaving me not knowing who I am
When I think of you
The butterflies that once flew as high as the sky
Are dead yet I keep trying to revive them
Because I am a firm believer in hope
Even when there’s none left.

Amy O’Connel

Catcall

I have to stare ahead to avoid the boys,
Praying to anyone above to give me some poise.
I reach for my earphones as an excuse to ignore them,
While fixing my skirt from the bottom of the hem.
I cross the road to avoid the whistles ’n’ sneers,
As they slag and put down all the “dirty queers”.
I keep my head high and my back straight,
So they don’t think of me as their fresh bait.

Ciara Sheridan

Count the Cost

Friendship is made to last
With bonds that can’t be broken
The scorching sun shines through the cracks
Of all that’s left unspoken
You were once loyal
You once were true
The fool you made of me was you
For friendship ends where love is lost
And this is where you count the cost

Jade Kavanagh

My Virtual Self

My virtual self comes to die, the reality of me you thought you could buy
I realise I’m not who you thought I’d be, this disease of” chosen” life is itching like fleas
I make my own decisions on who I am, “it’s what’s best for you”, nothing but a scam
The perfect image you have of me fades, the real me locks him up and barricades
This is where my renaissance begins, that stranger is more than the sum of his sins

Anon

Trapped

I’m trapped forever like a prisoner,
In a prison cell of shadows
Left to rot for eternity,
My thoughts surround me,
Eating at my mind
Like insects beneath my skin.
My personality is stored
Locked away
Because society wants me to be someone I’m not,
The chemical substance lay tricking my mind
Into think the world isn’t such a cruel horrible place.

Hope O’Leary

When I Go

When I need to express my darkest feelings
I fade into the dust
I go there to keep me breathing in
The cobwebs and the rust
To keep my imagination dreaming
Of a brighter place
To keep my racing heart a beating
Just to see your face

Eva Clerkin

Street Talk

It’s hard to learn in these rooms
For the smell of fake tan
There’s fellas sitting on the wall
Suppin from the can
Someone screaming ‘here’
You know your ma is fat’
The graffiti on walls
Says your father is a rat
There’s always stuff waiting
I’ve had enough for one day
There‘s junkies hopping in the bins
When the squad car comes their way
They hang like urban zombies
As high as ghostly kite
This town’s a sad and angry place
Ready for a fight

Taylor Dolan

The Catholic Church

The Catholic Church is in control
And they tell us we can’t love who we want to,
The Catholic Church is in control
They tell women they can’t have a choice
In what happens with their own body
The Catholic Church is in control
They say if you love someone the same sex as you.
You need it shocked straight out of you
It ends here this is where we love who we want to
Woman get to choose what they do with their bodies
This is where we say no to their therapy
And the shocks this is where the Catholic Church’s control ends

Amy Curran

I Question

The thoughts brew
The thoughts break threw
They play on repeat on and on
I am told to do what I do
Say what I say
To feel all this rage
All this hurt
But I question it all too

Megan

Untitled

The night I play about doesn’t even compare to the one inside.
The stairway I sing about is just like the one on which so many have walked,
Where so few are known and even less remembered.
My pianissimo always comes before the flood of a strong crescendo,
And the forte that follows is overcome by a raging sforzando.
Where heaven’s door is painful to knock on.

Anon

Where I Live

The drugs are dealt and the junkies wander round
They hang out and inject in the playground
The guns go off and people get shot at
Everyone’s uploading it to Snapchat
The Garda stopping me Da cause he drive an Audi
Wishing I was somewhere like Milwaukee
I stay inside all day cause I hate where my house is
There’s guns on the street and drugs in the houses

Toni King

This is Where

This is where I am at my very best no matter how much it puts me to the test
This is where I focus at my best no matter how much I do be stressed
This is where I am determined to reach my goal
This is where I will not stop until I successfully do so

Niamh

The Football Pitch

I’ve put in so much effort to find myself here,
Watched and cheered on by my supportive peers.
I mimic and mirror the actions of my idols,
To hopefully get that much needed edge over my rivals.
We all play and fight for each other,
Everyone representing the same two sacred colours.
I feel on top of the world,
And I’m surrounded by all the girls.

Caoimhe Ní Thuathail

My Second Home

This is where there is always blood sweat and tears
This is where I’ve trained hard for years
This is where trophies and championships have been won
This is where confidence and unity will conquer anyone

Aoife Ní Dhuibhghinn

It’s all a Play

Teenage girls are objectified
Cat-calling boys are glorified
When girls aren’t smart
Boys hide their heart
We’re labelled then and generalized

Girls are faker than their tan
Boys cannot act like a man
It’s all a play
The same each day
You look amazing hun
On Instagram

Katie Downey

Untitled

We live in this cruel world.
Our love as pure as a jewel.
What is this we show on the outside?
What may man within him hide?
Is this what we call a society?
So we quietly pick each other apart until what?
From those mouths we spew our hate.
‘Till what? Until it’s far too late.

Andrea O’Connor

False Location

This is where the houses get raided at dawn
The ghetto block still meets the middle classes
The junkies drift like shadows progress by windows
Police aren’t present and no one is repentant
The Government put up the rent to the extent
Of leaving relations in a tent

Michael Mulhern

Ballymun

By the crack of dawn crack heads come out
All hope is turned into riddles of doubt
Life and Death, Sweat and Tears
Lost in the mist throughout the years
Yearning for a glimmer of hope
Maternal communities learn to cope
United together under the sun
Never will you see a place like Ballymun

Jordan Tyrrell

Freedom

Smiling faces turn into empty spaces
Glares of anger turn into silences of angst
The only sounds at dinner are the scraping of forks
And the hum of the radio
Facades grow and the truth fades away
Freedom inches closer and closer each day

Anon

Untitled

Not a lot goes on, sitting outside in the beaming sun
We would be looking for something to be done
And to not be done by a bloody bum.
We sit inside and decide to play Fortnite.
We place second it comes to seem.

Ciaran Farrell

Untitled

I grew up
I went to school
I made my friends
I had good times
I made mistakes
I had bad days

Eve Weir

Takes its Toll

Nothing much happens, a silent road,
The construction sites overload,
My mates seem to never float,
Everything seems normal and life takes its toll.

Muiris O’Carroll

Gold

The junkies crawl from concrete graves
Lookin for an angry fix
Hookers stand on corners
In leathers doing tricks
There are muppets talkin murder
Out of twisted metal mouths
I’m watching over me shoulder
Cos there’s eyes watching me house
Around every graveyard corner
Someone’s boiling up with hate
These blocks are like a border
But there’s gold in this estate.

Adam Bryne

Stuck

I lived for many broken years
Hiding beneath my shattered tears
I overcame my biggest fears
Trying to understand my peers
I feel so trapped underneath the smack sometime it shows
I start to crack
I cannot seem to break free
Sometimes I feel like human debris…

Sinead O’Rourke

Untitled

Put an Instagram mask on to cover emotions so we don’t show demotions
School
Convince ourselves our classmates are true and honest so we feel comfort in their promise
Trust gets broken, yet it stays unspoken
We grow as a person but sometimes worsen
Despite the changes, our life is on pages writing through the ages
It’s a mind field full of disasters but can be fixed with a taskmaster.

Grace and Aoibhin

I Go

I go when I don’t know what I’m feeling
I go when I feel like my insides are peeling
It’s not much, just the marbled sky.
I sit there and think, let my heart untie

Katie

Opinions

Surrounding opinions get me down
Corduroy doesn’t get a liking
I very much like to think I frown
Drinks have all been given spiking

Don’t worry about your second hand bling
On days when it’s okay to wear brown
Girls who share a love for hiking
When people enjoy feeling down

Fionn McLaughlin

No Matter What

I can be myself, no matter what
I can say whatever I feel
And not worry what people think or not
None of it is real
I laugh here so much, they are my crutch
When I deflate it’s not too much
My friends make sure to motivate
They don’t judge me or discriminate

Aoife Bourke Boyle

Never Spoken

We became friends
Where friendship ends
Where bonds like chains were broken
Loyalty promised
Friendship demolished
By what was never spoken

Ava Miles

I Can

I can be myself
Make memories
Find happiness
And learn who I am

Correct my mistakes
Do what I love
Be passionate
About what I plan

Killian Ross

I

I make some of the best memories of my life.
I can be myself and not worry.
I speak my mind.
I show all my emotions.

Isabel Byrne

Kids

Kids sit at home playing Fortnite when it rains
Kids sit at home playing Fortnite when it snows
Kids sit at home playing Fortnite when it’s sunny outside
Kids used to outside playing on the road

Turlough