I love summers
going with whim,
being with him.
What can compare
to no schedule, no plans,
the cool of martinis
or beachside bikinis?
an underdressed me,
outright hedonism,
shapeless Freedom.
I love Fall
The hustle of classes
their immediate demands
the need for fierce focus,
and the challenge of exams.
The overprepared me,
intense, mental involvement,
a future, academically solvent.
two such separate worlds
that can never collide
which is actually better?
I can't decide.
Both are simply systems with costs
the texture of one, depends on the other
and neither state is fully sustainable.
.
.
Songs for this:
Wake Me Up When September Ends by First to Eleven
Another brick in the wall by Pink Floyd
Lies protect us from Lies blatantly demolish
damage and reprimand, the credibility of our
creating an articulated relationships, eroding
shield for the vulnerable the basic foundation of
self-defense instinct, helping fundamental mutual trust,
to gain power to influence making future interactions
as the strategic advantage. outright unstable. Habitual
White lies are fabricated to lying weakens the moral
avoid impairing someone’s fabric of personal integrity,
fragile sensitive feelings demeaning the ethical
for the societal harmony. standards of righteous mind.
Truth is a principled idealistic concept, but
contextual situations may justify altering
the reality for showing empathy. Lies need
restraint, but they may be the hallmark
of convenient wisdom for protecting life
or pride, not for meeting the selfish ends.
There once was a fogbow so white,
Who cried, "All my colours took flight!"
Said Rainbow, "Your elbows
Keep bending your bow~~so
Each bend spills another colour outright!"
the wolf pup chose the boy
and you know they find a companion for life
flattered boy was filled with joy
named his wolf pup Randy Rife
Randy Rife was loyal to him all his days
Stayed next to him, devouring meat scraps
They were best friends in so many ways
both learning many computer apps
the wolf heard a howling one night
it stopped his video gaming, outright
What is that? He asked his favorite boy
Boy knew he would soon be losing his favorite toy
Yes, the next time the howl came, gone was Randy Rife
Out in the wilds of the night to seek a better life
He ended up with a wonderful life long mate
He brought him to meet his pal, who said “she is great!”
All of us are the other person's lighthouse.
Without asking outright we seek each other out
Finding truth and joy through the dark and murky
World that just doesn't get us.
Our way.
To each other we are that luminous reminder
That blood is bond and wonder and easy love, really.
Flashing our hard halogens through the night storms
Searching for salvation with our rotating gaze.
It’s where I live, breathe and walk,
I cant just outright cry and scream,
Because of how I was born I suppose,
Or better yet,
How I came back to be,
If the scripts were just flipped,
If the scripts were how they used to be,
Maybe…it would be less weird for me to,
I’ve grown so accustomed to today’s script,
It feels so common yet still so weird,
Keeping my long hair,
Expressing my well of emotions,
Wearing the cute things I love deeply,
Are the Varry few things I can fit into today’s role,
Today’s script taking away everything I once held dear,
My dresses,
My pretty crowns,
My dazzling heels,
My vast jewelry collection,
All gone like a distant memory,
Turning into nothing but shredded paper,
Like all my old scripts I planned to keep.
-Kitsuko Dragonstar
Farewell to any and all privacy
Greetings to hordes of old friends
knocking at my door
Overnight, a revolution of expectations
Most bound to go unrealized
Never knowing whether to sigh or outright cry
For I’ve just won the Lottery
We’ve reached a point,
As in 1861, when America
Is a nation divided,
But unlike then
It’s unlikely the current state
Of rebellion and silent coup
Will spill into a larger
Outright civil war
Mostly because it’s not a battle line
Drawn on geography
But instead on ideology,
And those ideologies aren’t about to change.
If anything the divide just widens
And solidifies with each passing year.
The effect is cultural apartheid
Separate media, schools, sports and entertainment
With of course, the resulting separate histories
To be lived and told
In separate lives and libraries
Until we live in a single united states
In name only.
(2/10/26)
Time doesn’t pass.
It claims.
First, it gives you room.
Then it fills it without asking.
Days repeat until repetition feels like evidence.
You wait for meaning to announce itself.
Completion arrives quietly and keeps moving.
The future enters as obligation.
You move with it, the way gravity expects.
The past reorganizes itself without permission.
What remains is what went unattended.
Loss isn’t loud.
It sounds like continuity.
Nothing important vanishes outright.
It just stops calling your name.
Moments thin under daily pressure.
One day feels ordinary.
Later, it becomes everything.
You realize you’ve been living in the aftermath,
long before anything officially ended.
Time never takes everything.
It takes enough.
Under the guise of transparency...
Fibs and outright lies are tossed around.
Can't we just get real?
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
So keen to get a pound of human flesh, Shylock,*
Was jubilating, wearing his long beard and frock,
But young Portia, garbed in lawyer`s dress, with mind bright,
In court, solved the case against Shylock, outright.
*One of the principal characters in "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare
Loneliness is not a Thies
It never steals outright
It simply hides the silverware
And dims the hallway light.
You reach for what you swore you owned
But grasp a shadow instead
And learn the rooms you thought were yours
Were rented, by the dead.
Summer like an eagle has swooped down
Under its tearing claws, the Earth shrieks and groans
Days and nights breathe out the stench of dribbling sweat.
Roads rage and roofs steam like an overly heated pan.
The midday Sun flares right overhead,
Spitting fumes and fire all around.
The Earth lies scorched under its burning breath.
An oven pre heated, hot enough to grill and bake.
Rivers and streams pant in wild unrest
Canals and cisterns lie distraught
Dry leaves in whirlwind swirl around.
Fallowed lands yawn with mouths wide agape
From the woods, rise coils of sooty smoke,
As the dried undergrowth burns in the forest fire,
Sucking the last vestiges of grass and green.
The flames of fire dance in wild ecstasy.
Alas! The self same summer has barged into me
Burning outright all my unsung songs.
In my ears, echo the rustle of dried up thoughts,
Which waggle round me like disembodied spirits.
How I lament the loss of my lovely rhymes,
As the ink in my pen also is drying up.
Oh! I wish it were moistened by the waters of Helicon
And like a stream, trickle down into the paper I hold!
In a realm where kindness has vanished,
Where no light dares to appear,
The echoes of darkness reign,
Majestic and cruel in their sphere.
Sharp tongue, slice like a knife in depth
as you speak.
A flashy eye glare soothes your skin
as you walk past.
Words are full of deception, discrimination,
hatred of your color, identity as you-a settler
in their shadowed kingdom.
Lost in the darkness, I was once
But a spirit lifted me up.
A silent brawl without harm,
Choosing peace, lighting hearts
With outright kindness and love.
Don’t tell me change is impossible.
I’ve done the math.
3,000 people.
$10 a week.
That’s $30,000 every week.
Invest it wisely, even at 3.25%.
That amounts to $1.6 million per year.
Enough to start a small business annually.
Enough to buy homes outright.
Enough to give dignity without debt.
And if thousands of groups did this?
Poverty wouldn’t need handouts.
Governments wouldn’t bleed through welfare.
Education, health, pensions—they’d thrive on the dividends of collective care.
I don’t care if you follow this.
Just don’t complain when you didn’t try.
This is how we fight unemployment.
Not with blame—
But with unity.
Not with pity—
But with the possibility.
The greatest gift you can give a child
Is a career that lasts a lifetime
Wages provide money to feed your family
creating employment worldwide
would overcome both poverty and starvation
creating independence with employment
lets everybody thrive
If every working person that could invest ten dollars per week
Invested in groups creating employment for the unemployed
You could create better lives for everyone
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