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Untitled 
by Gabriel Ibarra 

We are growing day by day 

They cannot control us 

Unless we let them 

We have 

In the future, not so far from today 

We will rise 

We are rising

Rays of light, clouds shifting,  

Souls waking up, minds shifting 

Plant a seed and flowers should bloom,

Individual authenticity found,

And caring about oneself 

Will become caring about us as a whole,

Human to human, 

Soul to soul, 

Light up a brain and it should enlighten the next, 

A day not far from today, light will be found in dark skin 

And not in the skin of the white 

I believe that we can fight the fight 

But to fight another

One must fight himself 

Breaking boundaries of “Me” 

And thinking beyond the limit 

You’re limitless

Infinite energy

No start 

No end

There’s riches richer than money 

All within the core 

When the center is found 

You shall find your mind 

And that is when your mind shall explode 

With ideas 

With dreams 

You’ll gently have life at your fingertips 

You will gently touch air

And see ripples of water 

With the fire that’s inside of you 

As your feet touch the earth 

Magic is real and it is within us all

A hood educated young black man. 
by Mack Paradise
PROVING MY POINT 
by Faith Sheppard 

Proving points is something people do 

No Bull 

FROM NO ONE 

PEOPLE DOUBT 

Knowing some will make it 

I know myself 

It's what you make of life 

Easy or hard 

Choose TO BE GREAT!

OLD DAYS
by Rachelle Gibson

Running and kicking through mulch
hoping nobody takes that swing.
Swinging so high,
kicking my feet
to get a good increase on my speed.
The air beating my face
while I pump back and forth.
Monkey bars,
my jungle gym,
I climbed,
hung,
swung from them.
These were the old days I remember.

MY VITILIGO
by Sahriah Dickerson

My vitiligo 

Not only shocked but scared 

Maybe happy, sad, surprised oh my 

Spreading throughout my body 

Everyone stares but this is who I am 

I love it 

The skin I'm in

Wasn't born with it but grew into it 

So pretty like supermodel 

I could be a model 

Anything I desire 

Whit blotches on my face 

They call me Patches 

This is my vitiligo

RIDE TO 59 STREET
by Angelica Dutan

On the D line

They sip their coffee

They wake up and come to the reality 

Of working

Enjoying their music for as long as the ride can take 

Rap, hiphop, Spanish music 

Enlightens the subway with diversity 

The man next to me talks about college 

With every word his smile gets bigger 

The woman next to me talks about her lover

And cries 

I hear this all throughout the music 

She bites her lip and shakes her feet 

She's late 

He sings while he taps his feet in rhythm

They sleep confidently they will reach their stop

Some are anguish and grab their bag 

It's their next stop.

The train goes faster 

It’s all pitch black until 

110 st

Pitch black again until 

96 st, 86st 

I become part of the anguished and my tummy churns for the next stop 

I become self aware like the rest 

Until I see

59

SUBWAY SOLACE
By Reshawn Smith

Soft sounds that shake the ground
tightly wound around her.
Hands that hold her hopes of “home”
a snack or a phone-call
a chance to hear a familiar voice
Dash past without a glance, a thought.
She sits in the subway, searching for solace
perched and pondering she settles for the six.
and at six sharp, the hands return.
shimmering coins and crinkling bills cascade from her tin, and all that’s left
was never there in the first place.

UNTITLED 
by Yailyn Montes de Oca 

The seat is as hard as concrete

I am traveling on a rollercoaster

The patterns fade as I move away

The lights are blurred before me

Every stop at the station consists of meaningless posters

I turn to my side noticing

Phones lined up

Human connection nonexistent

Plugged to their phones consuming

Consuming

This is disconnection

Disconnection from real nature

UNTITLED
by Jasmine Foroughi 

Dance is hard

 

It's a movement of expression 

 

We dance to express 

Not to impress

 

Push ourselves to the max everyday

 

Going home to a hot bath 

Is what all dancers need 

 

We are perfectionists 

But nothing is perfect.

PLAY PLACE
by Breanni Alvarez

Pitter-Patter 

of our feet 

as we ran around

the plastic playset 

 

Laughter of children 

as they hid behind the 

trees 

The cool breeze

that hit your face as you 

sat down saying time out

 

The taste of refreshing

 water as you finally 

listen to your mom after she told you 

again and again drink some water

and you finally drink some .

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PLEADING WITH MYSELF
by Mariel Martinez

 

Am I just a slave to myself or prison in my own mind

Should I double think the things I do wrong or just 

Stop and triple think the things I should do right 

I might seem like a jerk or seem like I am selfish 

But the the real truth is that I really care

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Art by Michell Angamarca

AGE 5* 
by Matilda Suli

I arrived

through the clouds 

swiftly, reluctantly 

into my gilded cage

to the city filled with pearls and smoke

I don’t know you.

Moments ago, I stood surrounded by grapes of hope

But parasites and weeds have destroyed my vineyard

Now 

I cower in confusion

with tears in my eyes and foreign words in my ears.


 

*Awarded 3rd Place in City College City-wide Poetry Contest 2018

THE BLOCK
by Brad Pion

You won’t find it here.

Success is across the bridge where the grass is greener
Where education is a figment of our imagination

Money doesn’t grow on trees because trees
Don’t exist on this bleak barren concrete block

Anything you’d want is not on this block
Unless your only goal is to sell pot and rock
Yeah... That’s the Bronx

You can’t even find your way here.
People - that’s what they’re called, right?
Hanging out... hanging out... hanging out
Is what I see outside my window every day.

However, this is not my
Window of opportunity.
These are simply my win-don’ts of life’s impurities.

Leeza and Abraham read to youngster at PJ Program

DANCING IN THE SHADOWS
by Alexander Cisneros

In the heat of it all, I choked on the mouth that wasn't mine

I grabbed the frame that lead me to the undivine

We threw the costumes that covered us on the outside

Time passes a glimpse of the Vulnerability 

that makes up their corporeal self

As I drive them to the edge of their world

It brings me to a zone in the seam of heaven and hell

My limitations are pushed

I can't contain myself no longer

Escalating to levels never touched before

Discovering myself in oneness

Clarity that this intimacy has grown to become greedful on both parts

The avidity on their image exhibits gratification from my actions

One thing lead to the next

The fire burned too bright

With everything in life it must end 

Reaching the peak of the mountain

Face filled with a cascade of emotions

Thoughts roaming of the fruition that has came to be

Loyalty to the earthly presence

Intensity in what seems days in reality was only hours

The impression of how innocence leaves suddenly from such a fragile state,

Yet so breathtaking.

PLEADING WITH MYSELF
by Mariel Martinez

Am I just a slave to myself or prison in my own mind

Should I double think the things I do wrong or just 

Stop and triple think the things I should do right 

I might seem like a jerk or seem like I am selfish 

But the the real truth is that I really care

A smile like no other

Wise words spilling from your mouth

Missed like no other

NO MATTER 

by Isaiah Alford

Two souls

One of childish ambitions & confusion

And the other 

Of free will

SIGNAL 
by Emily Ojeda
GEORGE TRUMAN
by Amira Gundel

Anticipating your 

SOS signal 

Never arrived 

Captain 

of prosperity 

“Climb aboard” 

But you opted for the anchor 

Witnessed my treasure 

Slowly drift out 

Into a sea of indecisiveness 

Enjoy the mareo? 

I wanted you 

You needed me 

I wasn’t your life preserver 

By the docks 

Anticipating your 

SOS signal.

You are competing with my solitude
by Myriam Alegria
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Photo by Alexander Cisneros

MOSTLY MISUNDERSTOOD         
by Bianca Dachoute

Mostly misunderstood

Often called names 

Nothing but invisible pain 

They may think they know 

But they have no clue 

They don’t know 

What I’ve been through

EXPECTATIONS
by Emily Ojeda

In hopes of a white tulip 

The petals screamed orange 

Displeasure and disappointment was engraved 

on her at a young age 

She tried painting herself as the monotone shade 

Everyone desired her to be 

Hatred for the vibrant color grew 

perspective of perfection

corrupted 

Intelligence, determination, passion 

It wasn't visible to the naked eye 

Lost in the field of white 

Waiting for someone to pick her.

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Darvin and Brandon reads to a young student as part of the Pajama Program (SP 2018)

WHO I AM
by Darvin Perez

Born and bred in the Bronx seventeen years in the jungle,
I remember every summer we had a block party, 

water balloon fights and dance contests,
Moving to a new block
where I knew no one
They thought I was soft
because I was quiet
Now I’m known as in-between
hanging around with the popular but
at the same time hanging around with the outcast
My future is as bright as the diamond in my ears

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Artwork by Luiggi Ramos

FUTURE KING/QUEEN*
by Justin Cervantes

Can I take out my heart that is 

made out of stone and keep on 

constructing to make it into a tiny

throne?

Dismantle the floor I walk on every day and

build a fortress for where their head is comfy

while laid?

Roll over the white with sky blue or hot pink

they’re the star of the show, so take the 

spotlight off me

Out of the projects and into the suburbs

A life like mine shouldn’t rewind or be discussed of

Roof, food, and water will always be given

I blanket over you while the wind’s being driven

comfort while you sleep.  dream on my little

Master

 

Life is very fast.  I hope it never goes faster 

while you grow in my hands, just know you’re

uplifted.  If Mom’s not around just know your

daddy existed

Even when you’re old and crazy you’re my

young man, my young lady

In my hazel eyes, you’re still my little baby



 

*Won Honorable Mention in 2016 City College of New York Citywide Poetry Contest

I COME FROM*
by Lanasia White 

I come from city lights, city tribes 

Where multiple minds strive

And multiple minds die 

I come from Broken stoves, and broken shelves 

Broken homes Like stories they tell 

Ghosts roam 

Knocking on a door 

Does sound pass through? 

Staring in your eyes

Can they see the truth? 

I come from Standing on a land

that slips away, and 

Silent words that went to waste.


 

*Honorable mention in 2017 CIty College Citywide Poetry Contest

UNTITLED 
by Brauly Plier

Stuck in the same room, in the same mood

Everybody tried to tell me what I can't do

Everybody tried to tell me that I changed too

And I changed lanes from you lame dudes

It's been a minute since I spilled my pain

Had to take a step back and look at life in a different way

If you want the change, you gotta be the change

Now we're all the same

Nobody wanna take the reins

Nobody wanna push their brain

Nobody will admit that they're fake for the facts they claim

You see we're all imperfect in a perfect way

And while we work all day, we all work, no play

We are slaved to the loans and the bills we pay

You consume a double cheese when the radio play

Mainstream, Mickey D's and my shit gourmet

I've been up for seven days straight

Tryin' to figure out my fate

Tryin' to figure out any way to put food on my plate

But I sold a few tee's, so I'm eating today             

Okay, doing okay

Could probably do better, came home to a letter

Eviction, I know I don't fit your description of rapper

But me I'm a clearer, they threw all the chatter

I know everything that glitter ain't gold

Life is the clay, you too busy to mold

Time here is taking its toll

We spend all our time without passion and then we get old

Was told I should go quit

But none of you see all the letters I get from these kids

Who hurt from within and don't wanna live

And tell me my music is all that can give them hope

Yeah, all we need is some hope

And they tell me their family's broken and broke

They usin' my music to cope

I've been on that boat, held down by a rope

Held down by a string, y'all looking for things

I'm looking to change the perception of people

And all of the beautiful things that it brings, yeah

Record in my closet, don't make enough profit

Y'all used to have morals and somehow you lost it

Don't care about the money I spend on my coffin

I care ‘bout the people attendin'

And often we're lost, lost in this world

We're selfish to think, "I could find happiness in a girl"

We're selfish to think we're elite, we destroy and deplete

Our whole planet no smarter than squirrels

So who wants to talk about that?

Who wants to talk about facts

Maybe I'd be in your mag

If I added "Tai Chi" or "bap bap"

Or I talked about weed when I rap

But fuck all of that, the voice of the youth

The voice of the people, the real and the truth

The voice of the one who had nothin' to lose

I speak for a heart that's been broken and beaten and bruised

I'm tired of holes in my shoes

Tired of having to move         

Tired of coming unglued

Tired of cleanin' your table and servin' you food

We are what we choose

If only you knew the shit that I've seen

I can't tell if I'm lucid or livin' the dream

I don't do it for me, do it all for the team

I remember back livin' when I was a teen

And my grandma, she said I was worthless

And my teachers said I had no purpose

And my mama she said I was perfect

I'm sittin' on Twitter while I should be workin' on verses

You're worth it, and when you feel weak

The deeper the trench, the higher the peak

See y'all are a piece of my legacy 'cause you believe

We can be anything and I wanna be…me

I AM
by Rokeha Hossain

I am emotional and reflective.

I wonder if attraction for myself exists.

I hear the diva dance.

I see a soul rested.

I want to be loved always and forever.

I am emotional and reflective.

 

I pretend to breathe when things are tough.

I feel the weight of my past.

I touch the fire on the candles during the candlelight dinner.

I worry that people may misunderstand me and leave forever.

I cry thinking about the love I found.

I am emotional and reflective.

 

I understand that not all relationships start and end well.

I say, “When time is right, it will come...”

I dream reaching the stars with my hands and blowing out the moonlight.

I try to start strong and happy.

I hope that I will find myself soon.

I am emotional and reflective.

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Heaven Dennis with big sister-goddess Lisa  (SP 2018)

UNTITLED
by Diovianne White

Happy, brave

I’m not a slave 

All is lost

That was given

Closing old chapters 

To new beginnings

Seeing People with my skin

Win

Leaders 

Lean on me

I’ll help you carry on 

Should be our motto

Not something to follow 

If you don’t know 

You’re sleep 

Wake up 

And live in peace

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Photo by Essence Fort

ORIGIN OF HATE 
by Stephanie Blanch-Byer

The diatribe in the deep of his eyes managed to soothe hard hearts before the lynch

Blood washes over me

I embrace its drowning influence

Black; dark

synonymous with hate and all things bad

Why?

I was taught that black is beautiful

Not the case in the black sheep though

obviously

Shunned

hated for all its years

And the years preceding and after

As I was trying to think in reverse

I became consumed in my thoughts

Dying in captivity

I try to let this world tell me something

Other than to hate you for something you had nothing yet have everything to do with

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Photo by Essence Fort

GUITAR
by Enmanuel de La Nuez 

From the depths of Obscurity 

I have a permanent stone in my mind 

crushing 

all the moments, 

adding a weight to the already fragile. 

 

The rise of a melody 

I ride the fall back to Obscurity 

Every pull of the string, time gone, 

a missed opportunity to say 

that it hurts, 

a flash of your face and what you do 

you don’t know 

It’s not real.

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Photo by Essence Fort

SIX-WORD MEMOIR 
by Emmanuel Batista
 

Eat the food, cherish the food

i'm confounded by the lack of common courtesy 

afforded children of color
by public servants of color dressed in blue
and charged to be
courteous 
professional 
and respectful 
it's as though they
have taken pages from
willie lynch's manifesto or 
the overseer's handbook
on the most effective way
to break the spirit of a child
"the power inherent in my badge"
gives me the right to
belittle 
             bully
and boast about putting
"the little n_ggers" in their
place
however it's a grey veil of shame
that covers you 
from head to toe
because you have 
failed
to do for them
what you would want
to be done
for 
       you or 
your child

CPR???
by d. alan ward
UNTITLED
by Heaven Dennis

I am butterfly with direction in my eyes

Color on my wings and soul in my heart 

THE NEW WASTE LAND
By Tamra Plotnick

Young millions wander through a desert of food

Where chips and empty calories abound

And yet we wonder at their wasted attitude

 

If justice won, McDonalds would be sued

For lives surrendered by the quarter pound

Young millions wander through a desert of food

 

For all the junk and garbage that they chewed

Digested demons in their souls be crowned

And yet we wonder at such wasted attitude

 

What if each ripe fruit and vegetable was nude

Then toxins by the ton would not be downed

Young millions could escape the desert of food

 

But markets in the hood sell stuff so crude

With artificial poisons inside ground

And still we marvel at their wasted attitude

 

So if a child approaches you so rude

Please wonder if her meals are square or round

Young millions wander through a desert of food

And yet we wonder at their wasted attitude

Photo by Mecca Mshaka-Morris

You can run me over like roadkill,

you can shoot my heart.

I am a helpless bird

Sweep me under the rug

Attach me to strings

I am at your command, puppetmaster. 

You can throw me away like leftovers

I'm always at the end of your fridge

forgotten.

However, 

in the garden of your heart, 

dried, unnurtured, and damaged, 

even the driest dandelions

I will pick out of you

And I will still consider you the most beautiful person I've met.

KINDNESS
by Anonymous 
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If only you had heard my voice scream your name
If only you had not taken hold of my hand
Maybe you would've lived a better life in this world

You and I are both mortals blinded by the idea to touch the skies and swim freely In the sea
This is what happens to everyone who follows my rise
You hoped to be closer to the light, but instead it blinded you to die

Just like me
Everyone else will be missguided towards the sun
And you will fall to know the empty void that awaits below the sea.

ICARUS TO US
by Oscar Matias

by Yarimar Torres

The Shame of Racism
By Shaniyah Pedrero

The first time I learned about racism was in the second grade. I was attending Paul Robinson Elementary School at the time. I didn't really understand it until I got older and saw it happen to others. 

I witnessed my first racial act on the train with my best friend when I was fifteen years old. She sat next to a Caucasian man, and he immediately stood up and looked at her nervously. “Do I make you feel uncomfortable?” she asked. 

“Yes, because you're black,” he replied. I have to admit, I was hurt. It didn't feel good at all, and it made my best friend feel like she wasn't good enough, but I knew that that wasn’t the case. I stepped in to explain to him that it isn't okay to treat people that way, that everyone rides the train, and it’s not a place just for him. I told him that if he was uncomfortable, then he needed to get a train car of his own.  

I arrived home still feeling upset, even though my best friend was over it. I don’t understand why, but I felt the need to talk to my mom about the incident. After telling her, she also seemed angry and hurt that I had to experience a situation like this. She told me that I would experience racism again, but that I should never let it break me down and that I should continue to be a loving person. 

It is heartbreaking that people have to experience this. It’s not right. What if blacks treated white people this way? If the roles were reversed, we would have been removed from the train. Black people are always the ones to get punished while white people always seem to get a pass. There really isn't any reason for people to act this way. I wish racism would end, between whites and blacks and in general. I think racist people are ignorant. Racism has led people to commit suicide and homicide-- and even driven them to depression.

Artwork by Egypt Lopez

INFERNO 
By David Ortega 

I'm chained, held down by the chains of judecca, bounded and bare.

 

Dreams drifting... 

 

In a room so small and tight, with the door unlocked. I see strangers who walked amongst me. I see. I see their faces, as old as mine. Here they are. 

 

Hello stranger, it feels so good to see you again, how long has it been?

 

They say nothing. I say nothing. I stare, standing idly by. I can't speak because of my speech impediment, my repetitive words. I’m too scared to speak in fear of being lost and forgotten like a distant memory, thrown down into the inferno.

 

Darling baby, oh darling baby...

 

I'm a skeleton with the face of a murderer, the voice of a criminal, and the heart of a sinner, who will do anything to love and be loved. 

 

It seems like a mighty long time. 

 

I'm covered in tattoos. I’m soon to cover my whole body. They will protect me from the plaguing thoughts of strangers that left me in this desolate room I call home.

 

Look at me. I am grown. Shivering like a child in the cold, wet rain. What's in a man? How can I leave like he did? Like she did? Like they all do? 

 

Darling baby, oh darling baby…

TRANSFORMATION:THE CHANGING OF AN OBJECT, PLACE, OR PERSON INTO A NEW FORM
by Joel Camilo

This definition, both limiting and expansive, I think captures the essence of how the concept transformation shapes the physical world as well as the social. One of the greatest contradictions science has discovered of the universe are the laws that govern it; these laws which determine how every single quantum, up to the largest black hole, will interact with others, irreversibly changing their neighbors and themselves being irreversibly changed—the contradiction lies in how the laws themselves are immutable: unchanging rules to determine how everything changes. And these laws that never themselves transform transform us. Every day. Not just in the way that every single one of your body's atoms is replaced in a little over a year, or how the same is done of your cells every seven. No, what I mean is how we transform as people. Just as atoms lose energy when they bump into another atom of lower energy, our spirits dampen when we see someone despondent. And just as that same atom may heat up when bumping into a particularly energetic particle, we are invigorated by the presence of a merry friend. And these are only the minor transformations that affect us in a day. Every friend you've made, every sibling or parent you've loved or loathed, every lover you've adored or admirer you've scorned, each and every one has had a share in making you who you are, and you have done the same for them. Perhaps your father is the reason you're skilled in a craft, or your mother the reason you have such a calming presence. Perhaps a childhood friend from your hometown is the reason you wish to travel, or perhaps an ex is the reason you have trust issues. Each one has shaped you, for better or worse. And you will continue to change, for better and sometimes for worse. Perhaps you'll solve those trust issues, but then a death in the family makes you fear the same will come of you. However you rise and fall, understand it never lasts. So appreciate the highs while you can, and remember the lows aren't forever.

THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE
by Adriana Malaysia Del Valle 

My beauty doesn’t only come from my body or my light soft skin. My beauty comes from my mind. My mind is insane yet joyful, messy yet clean. My mind has these thoughts that I just can’t shake even if I tried, but sometimes I don’t want to shake these thoughts. My mind is a hurricane and this is the eye of the hurricane.

My head is a hurricane, yet feels like a wonderland. My head has joy, laughter, excitement, etc. But my mind has its dark corners of pain. My mind has been scarred by the lightning bolt that struck at nine o'clock. The lightning that took away everything from the mind and left that mind stranded. For the first time my mind was empty and alone. My mind became my prison, but felt like I was at Six Flags. I’ve been a prisoner of my mind for so long I’m starting to think I’ve imprisoned myself. But I’m not the only prisoner of my mind. Sometimes I can hear their voices crying out to me; begging and pleading to me asking me. Some of those prisoners are wondering why they’re there. Some wonder why they left. My mind won’t let me forget only forgive. My mind takes control and tells my heart to fall so I can fly. I never understood until that day. THAT DAMN DAY…

Goodbye. Don’t ask why-- just be ready to say it you can’t stop it or slow it down-- all you can do is be prepared to say it. Even though you don’t want to you have to and you will soon heal. At least that’s what they say, but it doesn’t feel to be true.

But my mind has that one day when I feel that little ray of sunshine. I can feel their love and hear it. It’s like they never left. Those memories start to flash before my eyes. These memories would make me wanna cry out a waterfall. They were the only ones who could see the beauty of my mind. They could hear the melody that would play from my mind even when I couldn’t. They saw it when I didn’t. They felt it without touching me. But soon after this all fades away. All the words I type or say will so all fade away. When they do all my prisoners will soon regret what they’ve done and stop asking questions as to why they left or why they were there. Soon light will show in darkness. Soon everyone will see my beauty. But until then I am still a prisoner of my mind. My mind talks to my heart and tells it to be empty because we can’t trust no one. My mind can show you the collateral damage of my pain but I will show you the collateral beauty of my pain.

My heart was left empty and alone just like my mind so now we are just dust in the wind. My mind and my heart is a tornado that won’t take me out of Kansas. But shh...did you hear that?...It’s the eye of my hurricane.

Artwork by Egypt Lopez

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Photo by Stephanie Blanch-Byer

VOICE
by Rachel Peralta

I think every voice needs to be heard. But for my voice, I think it’s important because every person has a different opinion. I mean a lot because I could express myself and give my opinion about a topic and I think that people would like to hear my opinion to see what others are thinking. I mean it’s ok but at the same time it’s important because sometimes you need to speak so that other people can see what are your thoughts. Well, I don’t do it like that much, but when I do it is in crew only. It’s difficult and frustrating because sometimes you cannot express it how you want to say it. But it’s good to listen to ideas in other languages; it is important to see what other people say in other languages.

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Jassly Zapata

LABELS ARE LABELS ARE LABELS 
by Michael Brito

Sexuality is more than gay and straight. Those are just labels and labels are labels and not meant to be placed on people but on boxes and usually those labels have a meaningless purpose, “all of the things that you are not taking with you goes into that box and the things that you are taking with you goes into this box.” Anyways we are not boxes or at least I'm not a box, I'm not a pretty preferably big package, I'm like the wind NO! I'm like a strawberry NO! I'm like a bike, yep like a NO! I'm just that boy or that person, but wait I could be like the wind or like a strawberry or a bike, I'm whatever, but whatever can't be whatever when it's not whatever. It's more than that. Wait do you hear that ….. The silence speaks louder than words just listen. Just listen. In a world taken over by sound just listen to nothing because nothing might be something If you believe it's more than nothing listen you might hear something.

The moon is like a mother to me
She sees me and shines on me
On my darkest days she's there, shining like no tomorrow
Oh moon am I your child?
Even in such darkness you shine brighter than anything else
The stars around you show a sign of life
The planets i've yet to know about
The universe so dark yet you make light
Every night I feel so lonely when i'm with me, but you are always there.
Oh moon can I be as big as you?
Cause when I cry and fear your mere presence is enough
When I walk, you walk with me
Every step I take is another second I live and you are there when I take a breath
I was born to be in the dark to light and make ways for others
Just like you my moon who has been there since i was born
Maybe after all I am a moonchild.

MOON 
by Oscar Matias
Fear
By Diselys Liranzo

A fear so enormous it

makes you feel so weak

up to the point where your can’t feel your feet

Fear Fear Fear

I can feel you near

In my mind you can win

but in my heart

I can overcome the power

to be courageous

I overcame fear

and became brave

image24.png

Artwork by Egypt Lopez

I am a bright

Star in the night

A sun in the clouds

And the bright full

Moon in an owl

I present myself

As a unique person

With defects An

Emotional person

When I feel

Lonely I imagine

Things in my life

That I want to 

Happen, but I’m 

Not really lonely

Because there

 Is always

That one person

Who can turn

Darkness into a bright shining

Star This 

Is who I am

UNTITLED
by Daneiry Polanco
SCIENCE PBAT CONFERS VITALITY 
by Liz Cabrera

     My class “Climate Change and What New York City Can Do About it,” was my first and favorite PBAT. My favorite teacher Caity was grading my PBAT. My love for science and my admiration for Caity’s optimism and happy going attitude made me love the class even more. Science is the best, anything implying the wellbeing of the Earth just turns me on. Anything involving space, the environment, animal behavior, the brain, genetics, archeology to extrasolar planets, stem cell, bird flu, autism, and evolution draws my attention. 

     In my PBAT I discussed how the temperature of the Earth is rising. The rise of the Earth’s global average temperature is called global warming. Due to CO2 exposure in the atmosphere and people cutting down trees, the risk of this happening is increasing. MY PBAT question, “How does land cover affect temperature?” explains how lighter or darker land covers can increase the chances of local areas to become hotter or cooler. MY hypothesis involved observing the temperatures of lighter and darker land covers in urban areas with a flir one camera and see if different land cover temperatures has an impact on local areas to be hotter or cooler. 

     The overall PBAT was very enjoyable in completing. My only struggle was when it was time for presentation. Explaining the PBAT on my own in front of someone else wasn't something very endearing. Also to be honest I don't appreciate being watched; it made me feel self conscious. The last time I recall someone studying me was when I was  thirteen years old and I hadn't realized I had a huge red zit the size of two raisins stuck together across my forehead. That day I was in such a rush to get to school on time that I hadn't glanced myself in the mirror. The moment of realization was too late. A batch of middle school teachers had gathered together a good five5 feet away from me across the lunchroom table I was sitting at. They were whispering loudly, “My Lord” and “Poor thing” among one and other as they were gaping at me with such intense concentration and with the look of yearning on their faces. It almost felt like they were figuring out a way to pop my zit just from across the table. So that’s why I wasn't 100% confident about presenting to someone. I also feared of not making sense or being clear due to my tendency of talking low. Just the idea of explaining something to someone else made me nauseous. 

During the moment of the presentation my hands were shaking my mind was filled with I can’ts and I won’ts. Just the day before the presentation I even spoke to Caity to express my doubts. Nevertheless, I knew the presentation was vital for my grade and my doubts were unreasonable. I knew I had to get this done one way or another. Plus, the fact that it was something I enjoyed and worked hard on and it would be nice to share my passion for science with someone else gave me the confidence to push forward. I needed to break out of my comfort zone for a little while. I had to adapt myself into doing something I was not used to. Just like a lizard when they adapt to new living environments. I didn't like the idea of change at all, but who does?. It made me feel uncomfortable and self conscious. It's just one of those things that you have no control over it had to be done and it can't be helped. At the end of the presentation, I felt great pride and accomplishment. I had done something I thought I couldn't do and it felt great.

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