Category II
(3rd-6th Grade)

The Web of Life

Rising smoke

dragons fly

stoves that run

and never return

you feel down in the dumps

YOU KNOW, SUNK.

Rocks that clatter and chatter

there will be no

silent rock

scribbling and writing

messing up the paper

pancakes steaming in the oven

running shoes racing you…

run, shoes run

nocturnal light

with the sunlight shining

pink, blue

purple, green

you cannot see but feel.

Something, nothing, harmony, desire.

Nothing of death,

Something of ability.

Your heart pounding, scared

scared of nothing

or maybe something

something of nothing

Come back, peace.

I stare outside

nothing’s in my mind

I’m dead of happiness

no, that could not be

I have no life

no feelings,

just staring

into space

watching nature’s life

but my life is in my shoe

and shall not come

out of my shoelace

Clouds with fleeting words,

words in the river,

river of words,

Blah blah

Yada Yada

What’s the matter with me?

Happy happy of nothing

mad, mad of nothing

mad because nothing exists

mad that this poem isn’t over.

Please, please god

shine your light on me

and make the poem others

and others will love it back in return.

Do I have life?

is my marker cap black and dark?

or is it pink, red, yellow

when you turn the mirror around?

Tell me,

tell me, am I dark and gloomy

or bright and cheerful?

What has happened in my past?

No! Not past.

What will happen in my future

Why, why isn’t magic here?

why is it only in your heart?

why do I force myself

to look up but see nothing?

Who am I? Or am I just

thin air. Tell me am I a

human or a god? Where am I?

I am trapped in a series of poetry.

Is this the room of the dark abyss of annihilation?

Do I know how to spell?

Wait, am I writing? Am I alive?

There’s so may questions to be answered!

Or is this just a dream?

Stoves that run, cars that drive

flowers that bloom, hummingbirds that hum,

rain that falls, where am I?

I’m in the heart of love

red swirls around me

I’m getting dizzy

birds sing around me

a spinning spider spins something

is it a masterpiece? Or no,

is it something for me

I don’t want to be mean

but is it something for me?

Rain falls, hail falls

and bumps the ground

stoves that run, zippers that zip

and unzip. Dragons fly,

orange fire, red love.

I’m stuck, I’m stuck

in the words

ROPE or R-O-P-E.

Pink bubblegum popping on my nose

orange, pink, light blue, purple

the sunset right ahead of me

rain in front of me

hail bumping on me

rusting tigers roaring in the rainbow

rattling like a snake

snickering hyenas, stinky skunks

going back in time.

The clocks are backwards

pencil wackle, tickling tightropes

bubbles that float up in the air

whacking walruses, roaring rhinos rolling,

zipping, zagging zebras

There, there it is, the spider

that I saw. It’s spinning

the web of life.

---

Caroline Maria Woods-Mejia, age 8

Berkeley, California

Rosa Parks School/Poetry Inside Out

Teacher: John Oliver Simon

© River of Words