Memory Boy
I come from places unknown,
Foggy feelings highlight my life in tides.
The sand drips slowly,
But I lost count of how many golden drops have dripped.
My past is missing,
Ripped away from me and buried,
My treasure maps lead me nowhere,
But I can only hope X marks the spot of time I lost.
My time is lost,
To the void of the sea,
A spec of sand pushed away from the shore,
Forever forgotten as my next voyage starts.
Voyage after voyage,
Thought after thought,
Lost to the sea of sand.
I am a pirate,
A voyager,
A memory boy who lost his thoughts and feelings,
A memory boy who lost his memories with every ship crash,
Every ship crash that sends his sand away.
Not All Men
Yes, we understand it’s not all men,
But in a game of Russian roulette are you willing to take the chance?
Yes, we understand it’s not all men,
But are you going to take a chance by walking home alone at night?
Yes, we understand it’s not all men,
But do all other men stand up for women when their friends are objectifying women?
Yes, we understand it’s not all men,
But how are we to judge the good from the bad when walking down an unlit street?
Yes, we understand it’s not all men, but still 97% of women have been sexually harassed.
Yes, we understand it’s not all men,
But the other men don’t stand by us when we speak out about our experiences
The only thing about saying not all men is invalidating
How women are constantly on edge while alone.
They only thing about saying not all men is taking away from a woman’s experience
And changing the narrative into a man’s experience.
Yes we understand it’s not all men, but this is our experience
Society’s Eyes
Life isn’t easy you can’t disagree,
When people are telling you who to be.
Why does it matter if we like girls or guys,
As we feel the glare from society’s eyes.
Fear
I come from a safe village, a safe home, a safe life
But I am not safe in the world
I cannot walk alone out of fear of not coming home
I cannot be out late at night out of fear of being taken
I cannot go out in a group anymore out of fear of catching Covid
There is so much fear that I am not safe in this world anymore
COVID-19
The virus is spreading
It feels never-ending
All the money we’re spending
The people we’re “friending”
I want to scream and shout that it’s our world we’re defending
By spreading a message
And not a disease
It feels illegal to cough
Illegal to sneeze
It’s ‘the new normal’ they keep repeating
As people are fired, struggling to keep eating
Our lives in the hands of others,
Our government, our country, our sisters and brothers
It’s like the 1700s we’ve got a new Black Death,
Complete with racism and sexism all we need is exotic pets,
To hope that it blows over is to hope tor the rain to pause.
We are not in control; wait for the curtain to drop and the audience applause.
Expectations
We are expected.
Expected to have our futures planned out
Before we can even understand our present
Expected to be good at school
Expected to still be cool
As the world is hurled on our shoulders
I feel the ice crack beneath my feet
It’s hard to keep moving
I feel like I’m constantly proving
I can be a scholar and an athlete
Fed Up
I’m fed up,
Fed up of this pandemic,
Being locked inside with no way out
Of this tortuous, horrific global epidemic
The toughest thing I have faced without doubt
I am scared there will be no end
To this endless lockdown
Wondering if I will ever see a friend
Or be allowed back onto the streets of town
I’m fed up of online school
And staring at a screen
Wondering if I am just a fool
To keep this up, wasting my years as a teen.
The novelty of no school has long since disappeared
What I would give to be back in a classroom
And to forget about my fears
To get away from this place of never ending doom
I want to see my peers
I approach six pm in suspense
In a great fear of numbers
Dreading fidning out how many people have lost their friends
To long eternal slumbers
Sick of this trapped feeling and endless bad news
With vaccines proving dangerous
And hope that I quickly loose
This world seems so outrageous
Hitting us bruise after bruise
I’m fed up of this life with nowhere to go
It all came upon us so abrupt
Remember two weeks? The ignorance of long ago
So coronavirus, please stop we are all FED UP
PERFECT
It’s a perfect little town isn’t it?
Small families of four,
And smiles galore,
Expect that’s not hidden in the drawer.
There’s drugs in the streets
And children in the sheets,
But its okay cause the schoolgirl’s skirt has its perfect pleats.
Watch as she walks to class,
Hearing remarks about her ass,
But its okay the boy was only messing, wont you relax?
Look there she’s running away,
Afraid of what people might say,
Because little miss perfect is oh so very gay.
And finally she gets home,
Embraced by family yet she’s so alone,
That is why she’s sat writing this poem.
Because perfect isn’t real,
It’s someone else’s ideal,
So please tell me how to be perfect,
In a place thats even not worth it,
When you can’t even feel all of my hurting.
Growing up too Fast
Growing up too fast,
That’s what we’re doing
Used to be bout princess fairytales
Not caring bout what people are thinking
But now its all changed
We’re growing up to fast
Not cherishing the moments we have,
Its all about do you have the new bag
Are you really wearing that
Social media making you question
Why do I not look like that.
We’re growing up to fast
Soon it be us paying the bills
Starting a family
And questioning are parenting skills
We’re growing up to fast
A Family
A family is a place of comfort and warmth
A family is where you call home
A family is people who look after you
And make sure you’re never alone
A family is not cold and bleak
A family is not just a house
A family is not yelling for hours
At both your kids and your spouse
Life with Covid
The life with Covid is different from past years
I hate the way it gives me tears
Just cause others cant listen up
We all have to give up
The things and people we love in life
Seems like it wont get back to life
Im hoping for a better way
That will make the virus stay away
Missing Out
What we are missing out on…
We are missing out on ditching class and getting in trouble,
We are missing out on going to parties and dancing all night long,
We are missing out on our first drink, our first kiss.
We are missing out on travelling the world and exploring the unknown,
We are missing out on staying up all night,
We are missing out on creating new bonds and friendships.
The one thing we aren’t missing out on though
Is the feeling of being alone and disconnected from the world.
Get Out
I wanna get out of this town, I’m feeling down,
But all I’m trying to do is bury down my frown.
Way too young to be feeling this embarrassed,
Would I still feel this way if I was on my way to Paris.
I wanna make a living out of catching people’s memories,
My love for rain, words and music should be hung up in a gallery.
Ballet and opera will forever be a beauty, and will always be in people’s history.
This pain in my chest, this anxiety in my body,
Held down so deep to the point I am now numb.
Covid
I hate covid
It makes me livid
It’s taking away my fun
Because a few people are being dumb
We continue to fight
And the end is in sight
If we all hang in there
Then we will be free to go anywhere
Men
Should men be allowed?
No!
Why shouldn’t they be allowed?
Just because.
And what is it they aren’t allowed?
Everything.
2021
The hurt, the pain, it drives everyone insane. 2021 is going down in flames.
To start, we got a global pandemic, so we can’t go to school to attend our academic.
Got pubs closed on paddy’s day, it’s like my life is fading away.
Kids can’t go out to their friends to play.
This is our life everyday, please someone make the pain go away.
Love
Love is a very broad topic. Love can do with a person, a place or even a thing.
Love to some people is just another word in the dictionary.
Love to other people, can mean a lot more. Love can tell a story,
a story about people, a story about a place, a story about a football or a beautiful person’s face.
Love can change our lives, for the better or even in some cases, for the worst.
Love is powerful, it can change our mind, our future and our past.
Love can lead us down the right path in life.
Love can show us the light but can also bring us to eternal darkness.
Love isn’t an option in most cases.
Love is a feeling that has been brought onto us without us giving it consent.
Love can make our lives better, it can show us the true meaning of life.
Love can break us down and turn us into a ball of nothingness lying on the floor.
Love is a beautiful feeling which if we treat it right, it can last, forever.
Untitled
I don’t know, I was told to write a poem but it reminds me of school. The only place I love and hate, the digrace of students face makes hate for race amd opinions for in unpopuar kids whom are tied up in the rope and hope of a reward but nope, instead learn about the pope and the chemical make up of soap whilst outside the sun shines on a roof covering enclosed minds for endless time under rules that condenm all crimes of passion and love above which a broken system stands on sin.The girl you saw leans on the chest of another man who broke school law shot down a dream youve seen in a movie and dreampt at night of a land where u can fight and think hard enough you might just light a path for you live and give back to the people that broke my back from an unprovoken attack held down by sacks full of weight and hate for not taking the bait. I could do this all day but now I run home to mount my bike and train in the rain for a weekend of racing and homework not done cause fun is precious in the days of school but as long as I know this, I live in a paradise rich of knowledge so rare that only I rule.
Untitled
The way men treat girls
Is not at all stunning
It makes me want to hurl
But they will soon know god is a woman
Untitled
Covid is here,
It ruined our year,
Online classes,
Workshops cancelled,
With the rising cases,
There was fear on our faces,
Social distancing, 2 meters apart,
Is the new normal now,
But will hopefully soon depart.
Untitled
HI my names Ashleigh and I’m still 15
I’m a basic girl you have probably seen
I’ve lots of hobbies I like to do
Cheerleading is one you should try to
16 on June 17th
Ye I’m so excited
It’s the charm bracelet I want
My mams buying
And then go shopping until the day ends
It’s night time now I’m going asleep
And that was a poem all about me
Boxing
People talk about how violent things like boxing are.
How can someone hit another person like that?
How can you break their bones and call it a victory?
Boxing is a sport, boxing is an art.
It’s so complex and yet there’s also a simplicity to it that we’re not given in real life.
The real world is burning, the real world is crashing down around us,
the real world is cruel for the sake of making a profit.
The real world has a lot of problems and not a lot of ways to solve them.
But when you step into the ring that all fades away and you only have one problem,
and I know all to well the solution to that problem.
When you step into the ring there is no hungry businessmen,
there is no oppression, there is no injustice.
There’s a simplicity in boxing that lets you forget, even for a moment, the horrors outside the ring.
Yes, you get broken and bruised in the ring, but in the ring you can hit back.
Summer
Covid is trite, why can’t everything just be alright.
I can’t do it any more it’s just complete bore.
No travel in summer another shocking summer
I just can’t hack it anymore
The Bod
I can’t believe my eyes
I want to see my prize
Not eating through the week
Has left me quite weak
My body isn’t perfect
So it must never see the light of day
Why can’t I look like her or her every other day
My body isn’t tall or grand it’s actually quite bland. I don’t like my body so why should anybody. Hopefully this will go away because I want to eat today.
Everybody has their flaws so I shouldn’t be the cause.
I’m going to love my body cause it’s the only one I’ve got.
So now I’m going to eat a lot a lot a lot.
Niamh Gordon