Anchors As I breach the surface My lungs are filled with lead As my body gets towed under My eyesight shifts to red You're an anchor in my stomach You're a bomb in disguise You're not the only thing that's pulling me under But to say you're not the problem would be a lie Once I'm filled with happiness And my organs feel alive You're the one to drag me back down And I know the anchor has arrived I'm pulled through all your sludge I'm pulled through all your ropes I'm pulled through all your insecurities And I begin to lose my hopes You say the storm above you Is rocking the sea and making you sad You say this is what's affecting me As you drown me twice as bad Please understand that you're an anchor Please understand it's not just him Please understand that all your anger Isn't excused by another's whim We are all anchors I am someone's too But until you admit you're my anchor I will leave this sea to sink with you

Screws A screw turned too tight No! There’s some elbow room We need to diminish by several milimeters A screw to be tightened A mind aspiring to be enlightened A foundation shuddering, frightened That the screw will fail and the building will fall Why are these wrenches not fitting to the person? How can people learn one method, one mouth, one test If we assume every screw out there is identical Our world will be screwed And the generations before us think “What happened? We gave you a foundation We told you how tight you have to be to succeed” But no My screw is 10 millimeters larger than yours and your words of success are suffocating as you pull me tighter into this boa constrictor that seems to never let go By the time I finish high school you’ll see That when you step back and view your “masterpiece” That you instead loosened my head and when I open my mouth Screws fall out and you’ll see how broken your “masterpiece” really is So if it’s not my screw that needs to be tightened Then maybe it’s you, the mother, the father, the foundation That needs to be enlightened

Work Of Art Shape me like plastic Carve me like wood Paint over my errors I'd stop you if I could Praise me like a painting Call me a work of art Sign me like a waiver Before you tear me apart Rip me like paper Because that's what I really am Loose scraps Mishaps Its time to start again You once told me I was a portrait You once paraded me through the streets You once sold me for a load of cash So I could end up at your feet So mold me like a sculpture Break me into many parts Build me up into a structure You're the artist, I'm just your work of art.

Smiles I hug you and wish you good night With my eyes closed and smile keen I peck a kiss upon your cheek And you leave, my frown unseen I saw what you did to her I heard you scream as she cried You didn't lay a hand on her But your words were where your brutality lied You think my ears are deaf to it That I am young, and thus naïve You believe my smile is truely lit But smiles were made to decieve I remember the quake of violence A shiver of hatred, a glance of fear When she finally stood up for herself And when her blatant smile appeared I watched when you threw your hands But never to blacken an eye She slowly submitted to the violence And I closed the blinds with a subdued sigh You think that your smile solved everything That there were no tears on her sleeve You think that I am blind past my smile But smiles were made to decieve

Silence Silence What is the loudest scream into the night? Silence What is roaring cries that go unmissed? Silence What is cramned down the throats of those who wish to speak? Silence What is the hateful curses that rumble in one's mind? Silence What could possibly be more riviting than the murmurs of society? Silence What is stronger than a thousand words? Silence Join the silence on Friday, April 17th in support of anti-bullying.