What it is: The cream of the crop of teen-penned poems collected from the terrific New York Public Library and Poets House teen program, Poetry in the Branches. Editor Dave Johnson led poetry workshops where teens could write/read/share their poetic endeavors. Johnson picked these 36 pieces to represent all the good stuff he heard.
What it ain’t: Cheesy! This is sincere, from the heart poetry.
Who will like it: Wanna-be published, currently adolescent poets.
A Sample: Shoes/They’re my old men in rocking chairs,/spitting biographies into the sky./They’re gatherers of stories,/picking up the spit of kings,/the seats of beggars,/and the smell of babies/from crannies in the sidewalks/that glitter like a prostitute’s makeup/when the sun hits right./And the tales of the world,/in elegant calligraphy,/are written on their soles./–Ben Zeitlin
Can I wake up every morning knowing that you will never know how i felt and how i feel/can i live with myself knowing ill never be able to get over you/your touch, your voice, your comfort/will i ever be able to come to and just accept you as i get you/will i always want more/ we ,ade plams before but can i make myself overcome this, overcome you, and move on/i dont think things will ever be the same between us/ everyone can look at us and tell that everything we could be and everything we should be is everything we are/are you everything to me/no it cant be i must move on/when you say you could never love me again/did you mean it/can i accept it/i believed it/we were together but not forever because now we barely even have a relationship at all/but with that comes a new friendship, a new beginning for us to start over/a second chance/so can i/can i just accept what we have/yes i can!
Do you think its ok to hurt me
These scars will never go away
Emotionally youre still going to be hard for me to forget
When you look at me I get lost in your smile
Thats not doing me any good
Im only going to get sucked in and hurt again
So since I cant forget about you
No matter how hard it may be
You take the first step for both of us and
Forget about me
I hate to say it but I think its true
I pretty much have a hold on you
When I see you in the day I cant look away
When I think of you at night I only wanna hold you tight
The only thing is you wont take your pick and its making me sick
I cry every night because its her youre holding tight
I feel like you dont care because youre never there
If thats the case im not your second base
Im not going to continue to hurt because you wanna be a jerk
So tell me now stop trying to knock me down
Its either me or her you cant have us both any more
So as I sit here waiting for you to stop faking
I wont take it anymore im bout to shut the door
So go ahead leave me alone because now
Im sitting here waiting for the right one
Thanks for sharing your poetry, Taylor!