Arts Features - Clarion Poetry Submissions

Well DoneBy Makayla Smith, Clarion Staff Congratulations You pushed through over the hurdles of doubt You may have have fell once but You got back up and kept runnin’ You had people tell you different Holding you back from your purpose Wanting you to stay and wait But you left and kept runnin’ No matter how hard it was You didn’t look back Now it wasn’t always easy With constant weight being put on your shoulders You wanted to give up People constantly in your way Tellin’ you different Holding you back from your journey Pleading you to stay and wait The only difference is now You decided to look back You wanted a break So you slowed down Stickin’ with the people that holding you back Watching everyone else pass you up A part of you wants to keep going ‘ Another part is that you still held on To the ones you were still running with Up until a certain point Up until you realize Time racing by quickly So you rise The people tugging at your feet Still begging you to stay and wait You run as fast as you can Away from them You getting back on track You mustn’t stop now You almost at the finish line Just keep on going You see people cheering you on Even the ones that love you the most Challenges and obstacles you faced Jumped over the hurdles of doubt You may have fallen But you got back up You finished the race So I say congratulations my love Well done

The EnchantedBy Anna Gudzeva, Clarion Contributor I watch the forest Through my window The forest seems enchanted By Winter Magician Under the thick snow is mute, motionless, and shining with life Standing enchanted Not dead, nor is it alive enchanted by the magical dreams completely covered, with the wings of fallen angels If winter sun cast a sudden flare Looking over its summits, Not a thing will shake it. It will sparkle and flame And be blindingly fair.

Between the Silence and SoundBy Maya Vargas, Clarion Contributor Her throat ached From singing too loud and too often. But she didn’t stop. She couldn’t. When she sang, she had to lift up her head. She had to push back her shoulders And summon the melody that had forged itself as a second language that dared to whisper its native tongue to her volatile soul. It dared to break the façade of silence that disguised Her utter malaise as pathetic complacency. It threatened to make her use the voice she had tried So hard to choke down. The voice that swelled in her throat and fought to crawl its way out in sobs and screams. It clawed and scratched until, finally, she succumbed to The vulnerable appeal of the foreign tune. And she sang. She sang until her façade was obscured to reveal pain, Who had built a home in her mind and a metropolis across her body. She sang until anguish seeped out from her pores and trickled down into the ocean at her feet. She sang until the familiar faces of guilt and anger surrendered themselves to the fierce hurt, ringing from the dialect that was only felt but never spoken. Never spoken until she decided to give in. Until she sang. In her melodic disarray, she tried in desperation to reach the reality that reeked of fiction, to grasp at the resolution of even just dim rapture. But her throat ached. Her eyes stung. Her skin tingled from the rare, heated blood. And she realized that broken bodies can only reach so far.

We, the Hmong

By Chai Lia Vue, Clarion Contributor

We, who fought and lost

We, who will never find our own land

Though, we expressed

Our existence on art

We, who first came

From China.

Throughout our life, we faced a difficult hardship.

As guns shot loudly, our instinctual told us

To run as far as we can

Running for our lives

From danger to find freedom

Like a lost bird finding its’ home.

Those beautiful blue eyes

And long blonde hair had disappeared

We, who lost our land

Those million tears that were shed

Can never be replace

As guns shots got closer,

Their hands slipped.

As it’s raining cats and dogs,

No one seem to notice

Their struggles

Their little sweet boy was

Forever lost

The beautiful clear rushing river now became

Bloody

The wind waves back and

Was forever lost.

But, we are proud of

Who we are

Throughout any hardship,

We will face together.