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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