Emily Jaramillo - Legacy High School

I press my pencil so hard against my notebook that the tip snaps. Perfect. Another distraction. With a sigh, I toss it aside and grab a new one. It’s nearly midnight, and the biology textbook in front of me blurs as my eyes struggle to stay open. The words on the page—something about cellular respiration—might as well be written in another language.

Giovani Gilbert - Central Catholic High School

A wave of depression possessed me, my eyes opening like a floodgate, tears I didn't even know I owned. Sadness, crying, tears; such a foreign concept to me. My whole life we were taught to be strong and conceal that hurt and pain. Now I'm driving down a street to a house I know no longer protects him. Him. All I can say is “him”. I can't fathom speaking his name. How could this have happened? Why did this happen?

Benjamin Barrick - Clark High School In NISD

In my dream, you rode a horse

Whose flanks were pale and white.

I tried to speak, but ‘round my neck

A serpent coiled tight.

Lily Thomas - Texas Online Preparatory School

it's the pencil on the doorway

marking every year and age

as you grew taller and taller

Isabella Bazan - Brandeis High School

I see my dim reflection and seize,

tears of regret bringing me down to my scabbed knees.

There was once a sweet grin in my lip’s place.

Now I can no longer discern my own face.

The girl in the mirror used to be sunny like a cloudless day.

Emily Jaramillo - Legacy High School

There was a time when paper held no weight,

When ribbons curled with careless hands,

When mornings hummed with the rustle of prosperity,

and laughter did not count its cost.

Addison Lucas - Harlan High School

Those hidden in the shadows,

Hidden from sight,

The people no one look for,

Are the strongest.