Who am I? SLO County youths share poems of identity and diversity
April is National Poetry Month. We’ve invited readers from across the Central Coast to share their best original poems dealing with self-identity and diversity.
Here is a sampling of the poems. We will be posting new poems at sanluisobispo.com/entertainment/books throughout the month.
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Poems
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“Puzzle”
By Zoe Curran, 15, Arroyo Grande
Nostalgia hits me in waves
Of looking in awe at people who seemed to be filled with confidence and warmth
Of scribbled drawings and dreams in notebooks and journals
Time passes and pieces form: I grow
Not only in size and hair and smiles
But in voice and passion and knowledge
Watching us
Awkwardly bloom like calves learning how to walk
Making mistakes as much as successes
Stumbling as much as Soaring
Doubts creep into my mind
About my choices and my future
The thoughts all teenagers know by heart
But I know that my life
Isn’t a puzzle
It’s a piece of art
A piece of art that isn’t putting piece by piece together
But an explosion of color, of expression, of walking blindly with hope
Self discovery will only happen
If you let it
So what I know now
Is to accept the art in life
And trust that this journey
Will create art
If I let it
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“In Dubium”
By Meg Campbell, 16, Santa Margarita
Our voices rise in song tonight
In honor of Authority
Yet after all, it seems to me,
My faith is insincerity.
We trust the dissonance of voice
To carry us to sleep with hope;
These are the moments when I grope
For faith to carry us home safe.
A harmony can’t save this world;
Though there may be no purpose in’t,
I taste the joy of Beauty yet
In doubting and the hymns of heaven.
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“Middle School”
By Landis Blakeslee, 13, San Luis Obispo
I see people winning, being awarded with gold certificates,
the color of my hair, the color of my hope.
Yet here I stand,
my ears open my heart pounding my prayers intensifying.
Then they call my name, my useless, meaningless name.
I walk to the front of the wretched class, step by step,
the floorboards creaking under my heavy shoes and heavy heart.
When I reach the front and take the yellowed paper,
they all begin to laugh
in their screeching horrific voices with judgment and impunity.
I gaze down at the heavy paper in my hand
and see that I had been given an award for participation,
an award for losing;
how quaint and painfully evil.
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“I Am”
By Amea Haar, Los Osos
I believe I Am not in a world made to last forever.
I believe I Am only one step away from goodness,
Love, contentment.
And sometimes I Am only one step away from fear,
Cowardice, falling.
I believe that I can go from falling to flying on
Wings provided by another.
I Am sure of the air that will bear me up on my
Strong wings, provided by another.
And I Am sure I Am not alone.
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“Tobey”
By Colby Stith, 17, Atascadero
Today I saw a body
Warm touch but cold in mind
I beheld it beckon to light undying
Leaving the parasite behind
Lo I witnessed a deafened dance
Twirling in idle serenity
And shuddered in awe of its chords
As it sang in moaning melody.
What dreams did it travel?
What golden pathways did it take?
Had she strayed to far away
To hear three voices spake
I love you
I love you
Sleep Well
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“The Weeping Woman (1937) Pablo Picasso”
By Daniel Tyra, 17, Los Osos
In terror a letter clutched
Eyes water from smoke.
A broken heart and a broken face
Skin melding with paper.
A soul crushed by tragedy,
A core plagued with empathy.
She sits in wait to hear news about her family.
A single year shrouds cheeks red from crying
She can hear the neighbors' children dying.
Devastation fills the room but still the walls are bright.
She shields her face in terror.
A soul crushed by tragedy,
A core plagued with empathy.
She sits in wait to hear news about her family.
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»» There’s more: Click here to read the next set of poems
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»» More poems: In troubled times, SLO County poets seek to comfort and inspire
This story was originally published April 17, 2017 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Who am I? SLO County youths share poems of identity and diversity."