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I HOPE

by a young person, age 16

I hope
the end of every year
will be followed by a good new year.

I hope
the weakest dog will find a big juicy bone.

I hope
the fiercest storms
will only cause goodness.

I hope
every empty room
will eventually have someone to live in it.

I hope
gunfire in the distance
is just fireworks.

I hope
when life passes that my kids are doing good.

I hope
the angriest person in me
will learn not everything is worth getting mad at.

I hope
the loneliest person in me will discover love.

I hope
the most lighthearted person in me will forgive.

I hope
my life goes 180.

I hope I get out.

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THE STREET WASN’T IT

by a young person, age 17

I was taught to never trust people.
My brother always said,
Keep your head low
and don’t feed into the Feds.

I wish I was taught to love people.
It’d probably be for the best
but every time I pour my heart out,
they rip it right out of my chest.

I wish someone would talk to me
so I can get out of bed.
Every morning I wake up
I always feel dead.

I never knew how much I loved
my family till I ended up in jail.
The next time I see them
is when I’m out on bail.
Wish I chose a different path
so I could have made my family proud.
I knew the street wasn’t it
when I heard the gunshots get loud.

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A MILITIA SOLDIER LIKE ME 

by a young person, age 17

I used to look for a toy like me, a toy with brown skin—
a Native American and African American with long hair.

The absence made me wonder
if he were real would he go through
the same thing I go through?
If he’s been through what I’ve been through
would he take it lightly or harshly?

I used to look for a toy like me,
hoping for an image of myself to hold—
a toy that a friend would need with an open ear
and walk down the long road with me
and explore the world and try different foods.
But all the toys I found seemed like they were made
for kids that don’t know much in life
like knowledge, corruption, integrity, and responsibility.

Looking and not finding, I felt I’m all alone
which made me isolate myself from others.
Sometimes I blamed my actions because my emotions
were too hard to bear.

Because I couldn’t find a toy like me,
I learned how not to depend on others
and work things out myself.
Learned how to pat myself on the back
when nobody else would.

Now that I’m older I understand that life was full of mistakes.
I have to work hard to get what I want because I know
I’m a very intelligent,
independent
human.

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Editors’ Note: A previous version of this article contained a poem titled “It’s Never What It Seems” that the author requested to be removed. This article was updated on 07/14/2021 with a different poem titled “The Street Wasn’t It.”

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Featured illustration by Alexa Strabuk.

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