Editor’s note: BRsq.org just wrapped up a summer/fall Poetic Arts workshop at the Multi-County Juvenile Attention Center. The project was funded largely in part by ArtsinStark. Participants names could not be published with their work due to privacy issues. Watch for students’ completed art and poetic works to be published soon in an upcoming chapbook. We look forward to returning to Multi-County and working with all their talented kids in the new year!
Untitled
Regret is a lake
If too overwhelming
You can drown
Just Because
Just because I’m me
Doesn’t mean I’m you
Doesn’t mean I’m her
I’m different.
Just because I’m independent
Doesn’t mean I’m selfish
Doesn’t mean I have money
Doesn’t mean I’m alone
Doesn’t mean I don’t need help
Just because I’m smart
I am not a doctor
I don’t make smart decisions
Doesn’t mean I like school
I am a hard worker
Just because I’m beautiful
Doesn’t mean I’m thin
Doesn’t mean I wear makeup
Doesn’t mean I’m quiet
Everything about me is unique
Anger
Feels like a sunburn
Smells like blood
Tastes like bile
Looks like a thermometer
Sounds like a
Heartbeat
Eraser
I am an eraser
I rub off
All the bad in my life
And move on
All I have
Is good memories
I don’t let anything
hold me down
I just keep wiping it off
Until eventually
I rub away
Jack O’Lantern
Halloween
‘tis the time of year
To induce mush fear
And watch tears
Blur the vision
Of children who can’t
See very clear
It’s full of ghosts and ghouls
Who are standing by
To catch unsuspecting fools
Kids
Keep their pillowcase handy
Ready to collect some candy
To stuff their mouths
And make their dentists
Unhappy
At the end of the night
It is quite a sight to see the
jack O’ Lantern
Smiling full of Light
The Unlucky
There once was a big white dog
Who always wondered in the fog
One day he ran into the road
The poor dog was splattered like a toad
He only wanted to go for a jog
What Do You Do?
I am wondering
What do you do
When you are alone?
When you can’t sleep
When you hurt and need some love?
Do you give up
Or stay strong?
Cuz that’s what I do cuz
I miss you and you miss me
Too
It’s like math class
I never have a clue
It’s like a math answer
It’s something that will never change
I remember looking at the stars and
spelling out Your name
feeling a lot of pain
and it’s driving me
crazy
but I still am your
baby
but I have to move on
and know you’ll never come home
but I am not alone
and my fear is gone
Roses
I am a rose
Pretty but has bad spots
It’s like the thorns come
And go
But I love myself
I can be snapped but
I grow back
I can hurt you.
I’m just like that
You hurt me
And I hate that
Unspoken
Sometimes I sit and wonder
Wonder about the littlest things
Things like
Why am I Here?
Why do I even care
I don’t understand how things go
But I will soon understand
Down the road
The closer I get to things
The further they go
So all I have to do is
Hold it all in
And no one will know
Until the very end
What am I?
I am a mountain
People walk all over me
They come and go as they please
They sweep through like the wind
Snow piles on me like a blanket
Shielding me from the
Pain and hurt
From people disrespecting me
But this is the time to stand
Strong
Like that mountain
And be someone that
I truly can be
Survivor of Change
Sometimes I sit and wonder
Why do I do bad things?
Things like
Not listening
And breaking the law
Then I realize I do it
Just to fit in
Or to prove a point
When someone makes me mad
Or says
I won’t do something
But then again
I also realize when I’m done
Doing something bad
I know I’m going to get in trouble
But I don’t care
I keep doing it
So I hide all my pain
And hat insid
Then let it all out
With razor blades
I cut my writs to take all the pain
And bad stuff away
But when I’m done
It’s still there
So again I ask myself
Why do I do the things I do/
Now I’m in RTC looking out on
Everyone
Knowing if I would have just
Done the right thing
I wouldn’t be in here
To this day I still mess up
And wonder shy id do bad things
But from this day on
Is when I take a stand
Do the right things for me
And my family
So I can go home
And stay home
To be the best person I can be
And most of all
Be a survivor
Of change
Untitled 
I am a dragon
Fierce and flightful
I am one of a kind
But similar to others
The thing that is different
Is my wings
I can’t fly high
But higher than you
I can’t fly far
But farther than you
I’m not big
But I’m not small
And when I feast,
I blow fireballs
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