Yesterday, I walked through halls
crowded with memories that aren’t mine.
Dust fell from rotten frames.
My reflection was lost
in an endless collection
of uneasy smiles
and identical, cold stares—
frozen,
waiting for freedom.
But a few feet away,
the cycle repeats.
Every time we talk,
I wonder who they’re hearing
behind the door
that has been broken,
painted,
but never replaced.
What I found was unfamiliar.
There was a new kind of silence—
the kind that doesn’t expect anything,
doesn’t reach for someone
to break it.
Today, the past is drowned out
by the reassuring glow
of sixteen candles.
With each tired song,
that hallway is built over.
And a path is carved
through what remains,
in hopes of a miracle.
I confide it all to my journal.
I'm forever trying to understand
my place in this big world.
It's not easy growing up and fitting in.
Truthfully much of life hardly makes any sense.
But still curiosity has the best of me
so my journal and I plug away
and peel back the layers of each day.
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
When I see you,
I forget those bad moments;
When I love you,
Light comes from darkness.
Oh, God! Is that heaven
Where I wish to die?
Is that heaven where I want to lie?
Little high, little shy
Oh, Love! Say 'Good bye'!
When you come to me,
Heartbeats like to play within;
When you look at me,
My world looks for nothing.
Oh, Eyes! Are that you
Made me to cry?
Are your eyes where I want to lie?
Little high, little shy
Oh, Love! Say 'Good bye'!
When you promise me:
'I shall wait for you ever!'
When you trust upon me,
I can bide your each tremor.
Oh, Trust! Is that you
Led her to defy?
Is that hype where I wished to die?
Little high, little shy
Oh, Love! Say 'Good bye'!
I cement my seriousness with warm resolve
I have sixteen horrible math problems tonight to solve
If anyone despises mathematics, it is certainly I.
Every math problem except a word problem makes me cry.
Haven't been clean since I was sixteen.
Maybe I'll never become clean.
I just want to be loved,
I want to love someone.
I want to have that 1-in-a-million love.
To be loved unconditionally,
Two sided love.
I want to dance in the rain.
To cuddle and watch movies,
Kiss each other on the forehead.
Look at each other and know,
Know that it’s real.
Know that I’m yours.
I want to go on picnics,
And match on Halloween.
You are part of the family.
I want you to come over,
Bond with my siblings.
My hand fitting in yours,
Just right.
Asking my parents for a curfew.
Late night drives,
Feeling the euphoria together.
I want you.
I want us.
I want love.
Real love.
At sweet sixteen, I had a job at a supermarket
Worked after school until nine
my boyfriend worked at a competing grocery
at a quarter until nine he came over and sacked
to get me out of there sooner
People said "Joe, aren't you at the wrong store?"
This was a small town.
On weekends I babysat.
Back in the day we were paid $1.25 at the grocery store.
Babysitting paid a quarter an hour for six children.
I was not getting rich, but I was getting experience
and money for college.
It was all upon you. Its all but you:
the brokenness, the wickedness,
the wilderness.
Sixteen seasons.
Obsolete for mere reasons,
taught a boy valuable lessons.
The scorpion and the frog:
its me but you.
Shall I hail the rising ray
Or overflow my cup with tears of joy
Shall i run as with no direction
As a madman full of happiness
Or woe for such a glorious day has come
Will his prince my friends’ mirth receive,
And bless his birth, and wish to live?
Or shall he Forever wave to his past
And dreamed time was like a divine vine.
oh, this glorious vine
That grew with glory rippled here and there
by the glorious winds of hopes and fears.
Sang like a happy bird
rejoicing, for God made it grace
That so divine vine be me so,
I rejoice for I lived to be 16th
I rejoice for today is women month
And a beautiful, intelligent woman gave me life
Once wish but now present
Impossible has finally been defeated
I, my dear, was born today
16th, my love greatest pride
Sixteen: a perfect square and fourth!
Good Lord, your age is headed north!
So slow it down, just linger, tarry;
Always be my Mary Berry.
Though both of us seem not so young,
It’s clear we scarcely have begun;
Sixteen’s not old, that’s plain to see,
Not when you’ve got eternity!
So raise your voice today and sing,
One day, you’ll dance before the King.
----------
(a birthday card inscription on the occasion of Marion’s 16th birthday)
From sixteen to sixty you have loved me
I have loved you
Destined to share this life together
A blessed fulfilled life… tried and true!
Together we have grown into adulthood
A loyal team side by side
Conquered all life handed us
Each other’s support and guide
We have agreed and disagreed
Gained life knowledge along the way
Through all of these life’s moments
Side by side we constantly stayed
Humour and laughter a daily occurrence
Playfulness, fun and silly times
Constantly making each other laugh
Our minds and spirits aligned
I could never imagine life with another
Or my life ever without you
Even just the thought of you not in my life
Generates anguish through and through
Thankyou for loving me so well
Always ensuring I am happy and safe
Side by side with you in this lifetime
Will forever be my place…
the smell of suntan lotion
scream of seagulls
uneven sand walking
blowing up an inner tube forever
looking at swimming suits
loving it that we drove out here
without our parents
for the first time
feeling grown up
on the beach
welcoming summer
tasting freedom
They rolled him into the ambulance,
feet drumming weakly on the steel gurney.
He was undoubtedly an impatient man.
Some claimed
that he had once (in a fit of pique),
thrown his cell-phone off a bridge.
Today an automated voice had said:
‘his call was very important’ --- but
sixteen were ahead of him;
after fifteen long minutes he lost the connection.
Then it was that he took a kitchen knife
and stabbed his noisy neighbor
who had bugged him all year.
Fearing incarceration
and having no reason not to,
he cut his own wrists.
It’s the little things that inflame;
the oft repeated annoyances.
After fifteen maddening scratches
a persistent itch can turn murderous
As I walk through the sun
He who is none,
Calls my name
Time and Time again
I hear the beckoning, of my soul
He says it’s not out of my control
I should sing His song
Who is sung by none other, than the gone.
So alluring and inviting
He says there is no use in fighting
Why fight when it is pure serene
But, I am so close to sixteen.
Someone tells you
‘I believe in you.’?
Pass it on.
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