Xpressions

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Journeys of the imagination

Discovered friendship, a doctor's hands and a monstrous Misty Grouper are just three of the subjects you will find in today's open-themed Xpressions. Read on to find snow in Vietnam, ravens casting a shadow across the sky and worms, worms, worms. You will also find some more quiet poetry and prose from March's Silence theme.

- Nancy Green, Xpressions editor

Artists for April Xpressions

Will and Olivia, Amy Weber, 17, 11th grade, St. Petersburg High

Playground, Taylor Martin, 15, ninth grade, St. Petersburg Catholic High

All Things New, Ryan Ortega, 17, 12th grade, Gaither High, Tampa

Saving Freedom, Carlyn Cavalieri, 16, 11th grade, Gaither High, Tampa

I Am Faded, Lubette Cruz, 16, 11th grade, Gaither High, Tampa

I am really happy when I get to travel. I still remember a trip back to my country, Vietnam, last summer. We visited a city called Sapa, and it left a deep impression on me. We drove all the way to the top of the mountain to see Sapa. The roads were quite dangerous. It was a small place with very few people living there. They said it snows in Sapa at Christmas.

Katie Ngo, 14, ninth grade, Osceola High, Seminole

Where I'm From

I'm from the soccer balls, basketballs, roller blades, bikes and scooters played with every day.

I'm from the many clothes in my closet, which we constantly buy.

I'm from all the family vacations we took to New York City, St. Augustine, North Carolina and Tennessee.

I'm from the mom who has never once slowed down, who buys her little pumpkins things she can't afford but always works to make it happen, the mom who doesn't need anything or anyone to complete her.

I'm from the playroom with Barbies and baby dolls that have not once collected dust.

I'm from the board games that we love to play every night.

I'm from the coloring books that have already been colored.

I'm from all the pictures that we don't have enough photo albums for.

I'm from the family in which you have to be nice to everyone even if you don't like them.

I'm from the house where independence is the key and the star.

I'm from the house where we are forever close to each other and always have something to do.

Kristin Delbridge, 12, sixth grade, Centennial Middle, Zephyrhills

Latent Feelings

A discovery

Not of diamond nor silver

but better: friendship

Haiku by Hana Princip, 13, eighth grade, Tampa Preparatory School

I am the volcano

I sit, disguised as a mountain.

I wait,

I wait for the earth to shudder,

Then, I explode.

I gush lava that turns into rock

As it slides down my sides.

I spew deadly gases.

Hikers flee in terror,

For I, the almighty volcano,

Have awoken.

Chet Allen Mahoney, 11, sixth grade, Martin Luther King Middle, Berkeley, Calif.

From students at St. Paul's School in Clearwater:

Hockey

I love hockey

The fog from the ice

Rises into the cool

Misty air

Your heart is beating

As the speed

Of the

Game increases

I love hockey

Ryan Pickren, 10, fourth grade

Worms

All over my garden

On chairs

Swings and

Trees

Little green

Black-headed worms

Hang from long

Sticky spiderlike strings

Worms worms worms

The bright sun

Makes the

Strings shine

On which

Little green worms

Swing with

The chilly wind

Worms worms worms

The chirping of birds

Fills my ears

Like the cold wind

And I listen to

Children laughing

Worms worms worms

I wonder why all of those

Little worms always come

At a certain time of year

Worms worms worms

Happiness fills my body

Chasing away all of

My bad feelings

Replacing them

With the feeling of

Running through

The shining strings

Worms worms worms

Margot Samson, 10, fourth grade

The Ghost

On a dark and gloomy day

When the sky is heavy with snow,

A little boy sits isolated

In the back corner of a classroom.

Raising his hand, he is called on,

And his lips move,

But nothing comes out.

His pale face looks around the classroom,

But no one seems to see him,

He doesn't understand.

He waits a moment to speak,

But all that is heard

Is the soft crackle in his lost voice.

He has become invisible to everyone in the world,

And the silent sound of each tiny, falling, dying snowflake

Touching the earth and melting away

Without anyone even knowing it has fallen,

Is all that is left of the boy.

Christina Cardy, 13, seventh grade

Hands

Wrinkles of old age

Branch from the center

Like tributaries of the Mississippi River

Callused

From work in times

When it was hard to find it

The skill and grace

Still etched into the palm

Ingrained in his fingertips

A doctor's hands

Graceful

Quick

Precise

Darkened to a crisp

After hours of work in the sun

No play

There wasn't any time

My grandpa.

Sam Fisher, 14, eighth grade

Twilight

The sky darkens,

the sun desperately sends its last rays of light.

An eerie glow illuminates

the street sign.

which stands out against

the pitch black bridge.

The ravens gather

casting a shadow across the sky.

Not quite day,

Not quite night,

Twilight.

Margo Sultenfuss, 13, eighth grade

Hope Is Fuel

Hope is the savior in the mist

It is the faint chance that lingers in negativity

No matter how melancholy your life can be.

Brian Jowett, 14, eighth grade

Train

A train is a mad bull

With a glare of red

A cloud of steam

And a constant pounding

It charges toward its goal

James Lewis, 12, sixth grade

Haiku

low rolling thunder

threatening the earth below

fierce as a lion

Adrian Cook, 13, seventh grade

Manoli Mark Lagos

Manoli Mark Lagos might catch a Mangrove Snapper,

Maybe a minnow instead,

He makes minute rods to catch many fish.

He also makes massive rods to catch Marlin,

Or maybe Mullet instead.

It will be a miracle if Manoli catches a massive Mahi-Mahi.

Mackerel also give a mighty fight!

Manoli might get pulled in by a monstrous Misty Grouper.

Manoli loves to map Marbled Grouper,

Because they have magnificent meat.

These are Manoli's many methods to catch marvelous fish!

Manoli Lagos, 12, sixth grade

Where I'm From

I am from the pink and orange pastel-colored sun sinking beneath the blue-green ocean at the beach,

From sitting by the lake watching white birds soar across the sky, then swoop down to catch their prey like sly foxes.

I am from little gray mice scurrying to their deep dark holes in the baby-yellow painted wall.

I am from seeing a gold and white gigantic-eyed puppy as a gift for my third birthday,

From bright gleaming stars in the midnight constellation.

I am from walking along the hot, sandy beach watching gray dolphins leap six feet in the air, glistening like the sun itself,

From swimming in the blue-green lake that never ends, with great willows looking down on me.

I am that sunset-seeing, bird-watching, mice-scurrying, puppy-seeing, star-gleaming, beach-walking, lake-swimming girl.

Katie Papa, 10, fourth grade, Sutherland Elementary, Palm Harbor

The Way I See Myself

Cool, calm and content

Happy, handy and helpful

Active, alert and athletic

Secure, sensible and self-confident

Easy-going, energetic and entertaining

Showy, skillful and silky smooth,

Mysterious, mobile and mischievous

Impulsive, independent and indestructible

Talkative, theatrical and thrilling

Humorous, hip and heroic

Chase Smith, 11, fifth grade, Palm Harbor Elementary

Silence from Kathy Preble's eighth-grade class at Espiritu Santo Catholic School in Safety Harbor

Silence is when you are peacefully lying in bed trying to fall asleep. You can hear nothing but your own breathing and your heart beating softly. Outside your window, the night is so very tranquil and you can hear frogs croaking out in the distance. The night is still, and you can even hear the wind blowing and the air conditioning flowing silently from the air vents. As you slowly get drowsy and drift off to sleep, the silent environment surrounding you lulls you to sleep.

Silence is when you are sitting in the dark, and you can see nothing at all. It feels like you are in the middle of nowhere, or somewhere far out in space.

Ryan Heaphy, 14

Silence is something so hard to think about that it hurts your brain. You can't touch it, hear it or smell it. Pure silence is impossible to have. If you were in a soundproof room with nothing but your body in it, there would still be sound because you are breathing.

Michael Ruel, 14

Silence is emptiness. Silence is in the middle of nowhere, with nothing around. When nothing is moving around you, silence creeps up and takes your senses. You can see blackness as silence. You hear absolutely nothing. Your imagination speeds up into thousands of thoughts and ideas. Your mind brings you to your own place. There isn't anything to prevent you from thinking.

Trevor Campbell, 14

Silence is the emptiness of the streets in the cold night. Silence is when you are alone in a dark room, not thinking, not doing anything but listening to your heartbeat and your breath.

Jeanine O'Connell, 14

Silence tells so much but is so little

Silence is being in your own world in your own time

Silence is like the world passing by you without any words

Silence is like being in the hands of an angel

Silence is being blessed with what you have

Silence is like listening to the rhythm of the sea

Silence is all of your thoughts coming together

Silence is hearing nothing: only the steady beat of your heart

Silence is everything

Taylor Sabella, 13

Silence from Molly Barnes' students at SunFlower Private School in Gulfport:

Silent as a rock in a cave.

Silent as a plant in a house.

Silent as a baby when it's sleeping.

Silent as a stop sign beside the road.

Silent as a car when it's off.

Silent as a ladybug on a leaf.

Silent as a teddy bear on a pillow.

Silent as a book in a library.

Silent as a grave in a graveyard.

Taylor Morgan Scott, 10, fourth grade

Silence is comforting and silence is disturbing.

Silence is the dark and silence is the sun.

Silence is the unused items in, and outside your house.

Silence is beautiful, silence is meditation,

Silence is a book being read.

Miller Judge, 8, fourth grade

Silence

Is the middle of the night.

The soft sound of the wind,

The cloud-capped towers,

The gentle swaying of the trees,

The silent quivering of the bushes,

A flowing stream, and the sound of blood rushing through your head.

A time to read, and a time to sleep,

The stars in space, a time to think, and a time to write,

A deer frozen in its tracks.

Alex DeCosmo, 10, fifth grade

Silence is when the wind stops. Silence is when the shade of night covers the town. Silence is when you cry to the moon that says nothing and only stares. Silence is when your heart stops, when it's gone. Silence is when there is no sound so that silence is loud. Silence is fear. Silence is death. Silence is what makes the world go to sleep.

Rowan Stanley, 10, fourth grade

Silence is . . .

The wind blowing across my face, little girls whispering at a party, reading a book by yourself at the library, the clouds moving in the sky, singing softly to your baby cousin, lying alone on your couch, playing dolls in your room, making coffee and reading the newspaper in the morning, someone sleeping at night. Shhh!

Olivia Marger, 10, fourth grade

Silence is a bee making honey.

Silence is watching clouds float across the sky.

Silence is a spider spinning its web.

Silence is watching the stars through the window in the roof of the tent.

Silence is a walk through the mountains alone.

Silence is a good night's sleep.

Silence is a mouse running across the floor.

Silence is a bear in hibernation.

Silence is a time to think.

Evan Kraybill, 10, fourth grade

Silence is a bride walking down the aisle for the first time . . .

Silence is dreaming about whatever you want to dream about . . .

Silence is losing someone you once cared for very much . . .

Silence is reading a brand-new book that you can't put down . . .

Silence is staring at the clock waiting for the hands to turn . . .

Silence is waiting for a package in the mail . . .

Raquel Leah Rubin, 11, fifth grade

Here's the rest of today's Xpress