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Harnessing the wind
By NANCY GREEN
Published July 31, 2006
Goodbye Stranger I want you to hate me, so that the lonely scraping of my feet touching the gravel doesn't bother me. I want you to abandon me, so that as I pack my things piece by piece, your picture won't be one of them. I want you to forget everything I have said, so that as I hand over my ticket and say "Thank you," I know truthfully my words mean nothing. I want you to move on. So that as I look out the window a tear rolling down my cheek, I know you're back home doing better than I am. Ashley Todd, 16, 10th grade, Gulf High School, New Port Richey Magical Haven Cool breeze flies through my hair when I step through the door to this magical haven. Fluffy white clouds hover over a silent pond. Its ripples dance to the beat of the whispering wind. Small patches of grass are scattered around this endless sea of green. An occasional blue or pink flower peers through towering weeds. In the distance, snowcapped mountains gaze at the golden sun. They are giants watching over us. They make sure that every bee gets to enjoy smooth, thick honey without interruption. Tiny hills appear as bumps on the road to tranquility. The pure blue sky ties everything together and makes it whole. Jackie Varas, 12, seventh grade, Tarpon Springs Middle School Is Nothing Holy Here? The wind cries through the starless night Screams of despair and agony, forever disembodied From those who could not find shelter from the terror outside Forsaken from peace and left to die, unnamed Blood is the river that marks them Caught in a battle that has no end No end to the misery No end for those who hear the voices The voices that cry out to the sky, blackened by hatred, Is nothing holy here? For in never-ending annihilation From the ghosts who carry the rotten stench of death To the shots that ring through the night Meant for one Delivered to another Is nothing holy here? And in the cold cities of cement and steel Ignorance a plague that doubles upon itself The people live as a crowd They care not for the shadow of a dying nation They turn their backs to the pleas Turn their backs to something they can't fix And between the somber walls of their tedious lives Squinting through the lies that paint the deaths Lies that wrap the world like a snake Lies that have the crowd asking, Is nothing holy there? The camera shows us truth It shows us the mothers, the fathers, the children Slaughtered by silhouettes in the dark of night The unmarked graves Wasting away, overlooked, overrun Is nothing holy there? But the crowd moves on Toward the gray future of a life secluded Where men view each other as mirrors The voids of existence grow deeper Where the birds fly through the blood-marked buildings A torrent of devastation that rises like a storm The husks of a once mighty people wander the streets Where the world is chaos Unbroken, unsolvable chaos The birds, wishing in despair for the world that once was They gaze upon the ever-darkening horizon With the life of their songs forgotten with time They look to the stars with unattainable dreams Is nothing holy left? Erica Rose Edmondson, 12, seventh grade, Bay Point Middle School, St. Petersburg Summer Is . . . The mosquito bite on your back that you can't reach Swimsuits hanging on the bathroom door to dry Block parties for the third night in a row Reading a book long after dark knowing you can sleep in Holding back tears as you say goodbye to friends at camp No more endless nagging to brush your hair in the morning Setting up a lemonade stand at your neighbor's yard sale Buying a new boogie board at Piggly Wiggly Watching fireworks from your parents' bedroom window And missing your teacher . . . Olivia Snow Smith, 9, third grade, Sunflower Private School, Gulfport Recipe for Making a Sand Storm Ingredients 19 Buckets of sand 62 Breaths of wind 30 Rattlesnakes flying around in the air 13 Uneasy camels glaring at the unwanted weather Step 1: Mix 10 buckets of sand with 10 rattlesnakes and 3 camels in a 10-gallon bucket. Step 2: Combine 31 breaths of wind with the remaining buckets of sand, rattlesnakes and camels. Step 3: Put mixture on the stove, bring to a light simmer for 21/2 hours. Step 4: Stir mixture counterclockwise every 30 seconds for 10 minutes. Step 5: Add remaining wind while stirring clockwise. Step 6: Take to Africa, let it build up for 10 minutes, release it and let it go wild! Blake Celestian, 10, fourth grade, Sunflower Private School, Gulfport Today's Xpressions blew us away: Find the peaceful image of fluffy white clouds hovering over a silent pond, its ripples dancing to the beat of the whispering wind; the disturbing image of the wind crying through the starless night; and 62 breaths of wind, as one of the essential ingredients in a recipe for making a sandstorm. To see your best work in Xpressions, follow the directions on this page.
[Last modified July 31, 2006, 01:08:14]
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