South Africa Safari In an open safari van, the cold and crisp air spread through my body faster than the wildfires that destroyed the surrounding areas. The blackened, unpolluted night sky contrasted drastically with the yellow of the trees and bushes, and the light coming from our spotlight. There was a sense of peace brushing through the air. The animals slept; newborns wrapped in the arms of their mothers and fathers on the hunt for food. With an abrupt stop, the spotlight shone in the near distance towards a large rock formation. Like something out of a movie, a group of kudu and zebra stood before us. Their eyes mesmerized the group: they glowed an unnatural glow in the darkness of the night. In the darkness of the night, with everything asleep, the world felt calm.

Close We grasped each other closely, because, as young as we were, he and i somehow knew that if one of us were to fall, the other would, too.

Phoenix I rise like a Phoenix after I fall Where Once were flames I now stand tall Ashes ashes we all fall down And get back up in a cycle that goes round Round and round the cycle goes When it stops no one knows Flames to ashes Ashes to rebirth No one but you Knows what you're worth

State Of The World The state of the world Is in argument For no one can come to an agreement On whose state is whose Or What each state's fate holds England closes its channels and chunnels In an attempt to stop fighting By enacting new laws to shut down its borders And so orders come in to Write more laws To right the wrongs That terrorists made But not all terrorists are Muslims And not all Muslims are terrorists Let them migrate From the hell they call home Because for years their governments have failed them and left them alone And shot them and bombed them and tore apart families And now the US is demanding A ban on all Muslims But Americans were all immigrants once We were the Jews escaping the nazis The Irish, the Chinese, escaping poverty And Rio, the city of carnivale and beaches Struggle to find the power to reach us For they are too in poverty and corruption And tot his I have to say it enough then We are all one in the same, Suffering and fighting again and again We are all the same So to fight one another would be a shame For no man's freedom Is another man's to claim

The Grass Isnt Greener The grass is always greener on the other side, she told herself as she clutched the rotting and broken shrubs of her lawn. But when she snuck into her neighbors yard, in hopes of taking for herself a few strands of luscious lawn she was shocked to discover that the grass she had admired and even lusted over had been fake. She sat there in her neighbor's false perfection and total lies. She held onto the greenery, and though it was a beautiful shade of emerald, it felt barren and #lifeless in her hands. She walked backed to her dead, dying yard, and recounted the memories that took place on the broken grass. Childhood games and graduation parties, running through the lawn with her golden retriever, and years later burying him. She looked over to her neighbors lawn and watched as they carefully walked around the lawn, as to not destroy it. She was grateful for her browning, dying lawn.