The Wall
 
Love
I use to look for love in all of the wrong places
The love I thought I needed, I really did not need
The only thing that it got me was an STD.
There are only two places where I could find love –
My mom and the one above, Jesus
Only if I knew what love really was
I wouldn’t do the things I do
Why don’t parents love their kids?
I wish I knew.
My mother always says she loves me
Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it
But now that I am here, I know that she does
 
Jameka, 13

I’m Just Being Me
It’s my ATTITUDE that drives people crazy...
It’s my EYES that keep people gazin’...
It’s my BOSSINESS that makes guys date me…
I like everything about me, and so do you
Because if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be listenin’
 
Salaceya, 16

Untitled
My personality is what I like about me
But sometimes when I show it, people just can’t see it
They just can’t understand how nice I can really be
I try not to fight, but people provoke me
So I try to stay cool, that’s my main rule
But sometimes it doesn’t help,
Then I have to turn someone into a complete fool
 
Yasmine, 15

Survival Story
Everybody has a story to tell
And yeah, I know mine well
See, once upon a time I was a young girl
Who believed in daddy’s promises
Broken promises that were constantly told to me
But my daddy was the one who constantly consoled me
No one could have told me
That what he did was wrong
Cuz all along, what I knew was that my daddy was there
I didn’t care that my mommy cried
Cuz of his negligence to her
Didn’t care that he lied about why he wasn’t home sooner
Cuz guess what… I was just daddy’s little girl
A fantasy world of what only he and I knew
A world that disguised his treacherous ties
To drugs that messed up his mind
But to me he was fine, he was the Superman of all time
But somewhere in between his “Hi!”s and his “Goodbyes”
I was told lie after lie
As tears drowned my eyes
And eventually his excuses – “Baby girl, I apologize”
Meant nothing to me
I could finally see the truth that revealed
Endless yesterdays where his one-day vacations
Turned into a permanent termination
And the daddy I loved so much
Became a stranger I saw on special occasion
Now let’s hear this equation
Subtract my earthly father
Add the gracious one from above
Equals the peace of mind I could never find
In my daddy’s love
What I relied on in the world could never compare
To how God consoles me
I depend on Him only
And finally forgave the man who didn’t hold me
And through this testimony
I have told you my survival story.
 
Bridgette Burton
Redan High School

The Innocence of Youth
Do you think
I’m just a friend?
Do you think
My broken heart can mend?
Do you think
You will ever fall?
Do you think
About me at all?
 
Do you know
How much I feel?
Do you know
That I am real?
Do you know
What you will do?
Do you know
If you will pursue?
 
Do you feel
What I do inside?
Do you feel
When I break my stride?
Do you feel
My heartbeat increase?
Do you feel
The floodgates release?
 
Do you have
What it takes?
Do you have
Forgiveness for mistakes?
Do you have
Time for me?
Do you have
A way to be free?
 
Do you see
All that I am?
Do you see
Past my great sham?
Do you see
The truth?
Or do you see
The innocence of youth?
 
Kathryn Knight, 15
Paragon Cooperative Learning Academy