Wesley College, Sandyford, Co. Dublin

My World

 

My world is kind, boring and bright.

Cream walls and yellow lights,

Plain and dull simplicity.

I rot in my own anonymity.

Replaceable in a hundred ways.

I do nothing but sleep away my days.

 

Nobody knows me, I know nothing

I have no conflict or painful something

That makes me interesting or worth a shout

I don’t have a thing worth writing about.

Even though she is the great unbending

I hope Atropos at least gives a good gripping ascending.

 

I burn my futures and fig trees in waves

As a thousand tortured souls turn in their graves

Because the present passes and the future has ways

Of tormenting me with identical days.

Their stories are beautiful and tragic and precious

And I hate that I’m so damn jealous.

 

Teenage Reality

 

As disease spread,

The loneliness begins,

The isolation becomes real,

The nights become long.

 

As we hide behind masks,

The thoughts become loud,

The pressure becomes too much,

The being is never enough.

 

As needles plunge into arms,

The fault is still ours,

The thread is about to snap,

The freedom feels far from reach.

 

Anxiety

 

My head pulses with anxiety,

My body caves in

As I hide

From people I fear.

 

A thousand choices

Narrowed down

To three words.

Three paths, each unique

But which to choose I do not know.

 

Competition surrounds me.

Who will score the most points?

Who will be forgotten?

Who wins?

Really?

 

Jovian Eclipse

 

And it tastes like bitter saccharin when it hits –

Hits like bricks. Spit it

Out.

But, it sticks like paste.

Swallow

Whole.

 

Saline – like a salt ring

‘Round a snail to keep it in

The sightly shell…

 

I am Chelone: too slow for the male bolt…

 

Or like the solution

Preserving the rose-tint;

 

Pink kept under your thumb.

 

Untitled

 

He sits at the back of the classroom.

A boy so quiet you would think passes unnoticed,

Except he doesn’t.

You are aware of his every move.

From the mutters under his breath,

The stretch of his shoulders,

To the shaking of his leg.

The lifts of his brows

To the rasps of his laugh.

A boy so quiet you would think passes unnoticed.

He sits at the back of the classroom,

Laughing with his friends.

He stays silent,

Keeping his oh so many opinions to himself.

You try to reach out,

But it’s like grasping onto loose ends.

A boy so quiet,

That becomes unnoticed.

 

It’s a Big World

 

It’s in these halls I walk down every day,

The stories of others criss cross in every way

Each world is intricate and complex,

It’s in this way my mind can be vexed.

I look at my own world, it’s simple and sleek,

I talk to the lovely girl sometimes each week.

I’ve fallen in love, it’s new and it’s bold,

But her world is complex, she’s lonely and she’s cold.

It’s in these walls I stroll past every day,

I now hold the memories of a once quiet May.

I’m in love, there is more to this place than just me,

When I talked to the lovely girl, there’s more than I can see.

It’s a small world, but it’s also inconceivable,

Ignorance is a blanket that is also crass and evil.

I’m bounded by love to do something joyful,

To make up the peace that’s been lost by the shameful.

 

A Day in School

 

Tyres screech on the wet road,

Approaching school, a second abode.

 

Heart beats quicker

As I step out the car,

Beads of sweat coming out my hand,

As I make my way to another land.

 

Nearing the gates now,

Heart pounding like a rock.

Reared into our classes,

Livestock.

 

I sit in class wishing the day away,

Until the clock strikes four.

Fleeing from this broken land,

I tell myself,

“Only two years left.

 

The Mess

 

Like my kinky curls, intertwining and loving each other

Forming a complex crown that shields my wild thoughts

I am an unlovable mess

Like my deep, dark eyes

Leaving the deep, dark riddle that is me unknown

I am a dangerous mess

Beware, you might get lost

Because in all this mess, there is beauty

I am a beautiful mess

 

When I Needed It Most

 

At a time when I needed it most, religion abandoned me.

I thought it was my choice, this was how to be free

And put an end to the person I never wanted to be.

Instead, it left a desperate hunger for something to believe,

But I have no faith in God, no faith in the world, or in me.

 

I looked at the gaping hole deep in inside,

The rotting edges that I wanted to hide.

So I filled it with whatever the world supplied,

And with it came a long-forgot sense of pride:

I then thought my life was mine to decide.

 

Now I can see how life screwed me over,

It wasn’t help, it was a hostile takeover,

And I reach and reach, try to get close

To that girl who was beautiful, like a four-leaf clover,

But I’m afraid that the world has made me a pushover.

 

Yet, I can’t help but hope for what is leftover.

 

The Girls that Sits Alone

 

I remember that girl that used to sit alone

Every lunch and break she’d be sitting by herself reading a book,

Or sitting on the bench in the shade,

Sometimes she’d try to join in with the other kids,

But they’d all give her that glance she knew so well,

The one they’d give to each other, the look of disgust,

 

Her mum used to tell her she didn’t need them, that she had her books,

She had her friends,

No one else could see or hear them,

But she knew they were there.

 

That little girl always had a book and her little bag with her,

The book was her enchanted shield and the bag was filled with her magic potions,

She needed those potions in case she was poisoned by something she ate,

Or something cursed her to have no breath, she could take the antidote.

Like many other little girls, she imagined herself as a princess.

But for her there was no Prince Charming to break her curse.

 

I don’t tell people about that little girl, they wouldn’t understand

I don’t want them to

I was the girl who sat alone,

I am the girl who sits alone,

But this time it’s different,

This time it’s not the same as before,

This time I have people sitting beside me

But it feels off, like there’s a small box around me

No one else can see or hear it

But I know it’s there,

 

So please don’t forget that girl who sits alone

 

‘The Blame Game’

 

But what were you wearing?

Oh come on, it’s a fair question really.

Were you rude, or a prude, were you drunken and swearing?

What were you wearing?

You should have said something earlier, now you’re just causing trouble

He was barely fifteen, not even the faintest sight of stubble.

This could ruin his life, he may never find a wife.

This is all in your hands

He was barely a man.

 

What was I wearing?

Go on then, I’ll tell you sure,

A dress with a label that reads,

‘Girls: Aged 4’

 

Your Best

 

Is this really your best?

Focus, you have a test!

Endless fears and worries

I’m trying to press

 

Press down deep

For only a smile and cheerful gleam to show of course

Nothing else is to be accepted

You can’t show a weak force

 

But If I did show a slight litttle frown

All faces, all eyes would be looking down

Don’t be upset, you’re such a moan

Sat in a crowded room yet feeling so alone

 

Sometimes

 

I am lucky.

I am loved

And I am happy, sometimes.

Sometimes I feel unlucky.

Sometimes I feel unloved

And sometimes, I feel unhappy.

Sometimes I laugh.

Sometimes I cry.

Sometimes, I am scared.

Sometimes, I am confident.

My life is filled with sometimes,

But you know sometimes is enough.

 

Highs and Lows

 

My friend’s say you’re using me

Maybe I like feeling useful

I love the moments when I think ‘could it be?’

And the ones where I know it’s futile

I just want something to feel

The highs and lows make me feel youthful

 

Untitled

 

Its a teenage romcom you lend me your coat

Kiss me on the doorstep after walking me home

You get in a fight with my ex

My parents hate you, I think you’re the best

 

Its a historical drama with longing stares

Everyone has an opinion, oh everyone cares

We make a bad first impression

Over time it turns to affection

 

But in the end, my life’s not a movie

You’re just the star of my daydream

To be my love interest you’d have to be

Actually interested in loving me

 

My Haiku:

 

Trapped in a system

That takes creativity

And casts it aside.