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.