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
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.
Sixteen candles on a cake,
A special wish still to make.
It seems like only yesterday,
You were but a child at play.
Now you stand almost grown,
The years ahead for you to own.
The sky's the limit for you, my dear,
So dream your dreams and don't you fear.
For now just bask in youthful glow,
Take a breath, make a wish, and blow.
3/9/21
Written for my granddaughter Hannah's 16th birthday.
Winter's cold here and gone, yet her warm heart always remembered.
On angel wings swiftly flown, gifted sixteen years gladly surrendered.
for Barbara Jean
26 Oct 1969 - 11 May 1986
Since today you are the one who is elite
For the next round you will be doing the town
Games at night, each one being a mature fight
Staying at this dance thinking about that advance
Enjoying this is an accepted prance
This action is allowed and true
Between the final two of you
But you are now 16
Excited giddy living the dream
Starting to be courted by those who at this moment
Seem important
Dressed looking for innocent scoring
As a sweet sixteen you are very luring
Make your points before the music starts to play
Then enjoy that youthful prom getting your way
Soon summer will be here
Leaving not much to the imagination after a few beers
You are now sweet sixteen
Ready to play on an adult team
"Is it a girl? I think it's a girl!!...Doc?"
Flowers form'd blooms from sunny Easter skies
Let's call her Sophia Pascal Peacock
Our first baby born with baby blue eyes
You were two, I'd brag..."See what I'm seeing?"
Sighing, your mother would cringe and quiver
"Look! We've made the perfect human being,
She got all the best things we could give her!"
Wisdom, passion, love flows from your spirit
So alive with drive, caring and kind too
Accepting defeat? No, you won't hear it
So...you know...we can't be more proud of you
Birth day, we pray'd, thank'd God that He brought her
Now sweet sixteen, my beautiful daughter
The age we call it age of teens
develops body beautiful and slim
something happens like a wandering cloud
friends are many roaming around
its an age takes silly decisions
mind want to ask infinite questions
no one can say where one go
time can find what to show
its a great play one see in genes
the age we call sweet sixteen
What a Sweet Sixteen;
I sit alone.
I stand alone.
I walk alone.
I eat alone.
I sing alone.
I read alone.
I write alone.
I AM alone.
Happy Birthday to me...
We are young
Love to sing the red maple’s sorrow
Love to ask why people are so busy
Love teasing merchants as they crazily whooped
Sometimes we see sparrow’s head overturned
We will laugh all day long
Life is dancing with the cloud and moon
Poetry is the vintage
Drunk together with sunset
The days passed, nonsense with reveries
The old prophet read my palm prints
He saw a great success in my future
But, what if it lost its tune, just like a song
No more applause and I will be totally alone
Sweet Sixteen
by Franklin Price
1/1/2016
Sweet sixteen is finally here
and sixteen minutes in
If I waited to write longer
Would be too sleepy to begin
It's eight sixteen I went to bed
At the ending of verse one
Watching the bright ball drop
Was tiring but fun
My wife said if you stay up
You're as crazy as a loon
You can finish in the morning
If you awaken before noon
As you see it's not near noon yet
And I really must confess
Did not mean to write about myself
But New Year's greetings to address
Happy New Year to you
To your friends and family
Hope this year is awesome
Hope it's the best that it can be
May your road in life be paved and smooth
May peace and love abound
And at the end of sweet sixteen
May we all still be around
its all okay,
its not so bad,
just take a breath,
for life be glad,
another boy,
will come along,
another heart,
will sing your song,
i know he's cute,
you sigh and cry,
but take a moment,
to wonder why,
could it be,
youre just sixteen,
your heart is still,
just between,
bursting out,
and growing strong,
though at sixteen,
you think,
im wrong.
You were seventeen
I was fifteen
There were two
Then there was one
The One who is left
Mom immersed in what-ifs
Sits at the kitchen counter
Death supersedes life
My here and now disappears
Into your not-to-be future
Dad in pained denial
Runs another thousand miles
Returns with his pretender
Found in Butte Montana
Who stays awhile
Every night
Alone
Insulated by bedroom walls
The pain -- rebuffed all day
Roils up
And I understand forever
Mortality is real
The empty spaces
Tell me
Just how gone you are
But I am still here
How am I to fix this?
How am I to feel this?
How am I to be?
The One who is left
Sweet Sixteen
Time to decide
Make up your mind
No time to ponder
The end is coming nearer
Graduation creeps closer
My time is almost over
The years pass like days
They pass and fade
The future becomes bolder
No way to escape
Stuck to the path like tape
So many questions I want to ask
The future like a light in the eye
I can’t look away
Must stare straight ahead
I want to run
But the wheel has been spun
And there’s noting I can do
Except follow the line
Sixteen, and sweet,
Danced with two left feet,
Wallflower somedays
Till she finds better ways
To be accepted in the crowd,
With those with mouths loud
Little knowing how cute,
She'd be with even one boot,
The mirror reflects self consciousness,
Can make a lovely one feel not so
Till over and over she's told,
She'll never hear it enough,
She just don't believe all that stuff...
Yeah, sixteen is hard...
Not adult, not a kid....
On her jar of self doubts,
There's no lid....
She see's in a mirror,
A monster of uncertainty,
Someone must give her..
The reality that she is
A flower in bloom
Most fair in the world
She must lose that deep gloom
She's sixteen years old
and clawing at the door,
"Help, I can't get out of myself."
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