MIDDLETOWN — This is the latest in a series of Creative Expressions columns showcasing the poetic work of high school students from teacher Hilary Divine’s Middletown High School English Class.
Lake County Poet Laureate Richard Schmidt remarked, “I spent last Tuesday afternoon with these kids trading poems back and forth. Great bunch of young people.”
Hopeful Day
A day is nearing its end,
one of the longest days yet,
though, it’s light is gone,
that is until the new day rises,
a new, hopeful day.
— Anthony Nudi, MHS junior
Lightside
I live in a world of darkness.
I never see the light of day.
My memory is cloudy.
To me, the world is dead
but when I think about you
I see the light side.
I see the bright side.
I see the beautiful.
When we were together,
you made me so happy,
but love doesn’t last as long as you want it to,
and now I know the darkness
is coming for me
— John Stalker, MHS junior
Things Change
You can’t force love it ends with pain
I hope one day you feel the same
I just wanna be loved that’s really the truth
And don’t just say it cause ima need proof
I’ve been so hurt by you please change
I gave you another chance even when people thought it was strange
The benefit of the doubt but i got let down
All those nights me crying you weren’t around
I just don’t understand what goes on in your brain
You promised me a future but i guess things change
I just don’t understand why you let me down again
Now i don’t even want you as a friend
You never cared and i learned my lesson
You really good at playing people is that your profession
I don’t have much else to say i just have one more question
If i die right now will i be in hell or heaven?
— Rylynn Wright, MHS junior
Grandma
From youth to adult
you have nurtured me
never need to halt
or letting greed be
from pure to tainted
you always stuck here
through troubling deeds painted
or white lies so sheer
From outgoing to anxious
you have always pushed me
to splash paint over blankness
and dream higher than what I see
From calm to chaos
you have always been fair
through unpopular famous
and my walls stripped bare
Nothing heals like the sound of her voice
nothing hurts like her isolation
nothing flatters like her approval of choice
Her love a simple equation
— Haley Stanton, MHS senior
