Flooded Banks

Fourteen teenagers face the wilds of the swollen Minnesota River and try to be true to their art and creativity.

 

I am drowning.

I slowly sink deeper into a dark abyss.

This weight getting heavier

Dragging me

Deeper and deeper into the depths.

The light shrinking;

Surroundings less identifiable.

I’m lost in my thoughts, scared. Alone.

I reach my hand up

Hoping

That someone will reach down and save me.

I’m still reaching.

I’m still hoping

I’m still drowning.

Carmen Erickson

 

 

Nature.

I see mosquitoes.

I touch my swollen mosquito bites.

I hear the buzzing of mosquitoes in my ear.

I feel angry.

Nature.

 

Damn these mosquitoes.

Going outside is alright.

Ha Ha, that’s funny.

– Lee Cygan

Mosquitoes

Burn it with fire,    Drown it with water,    Blast it with wind,   Crush it with stone.

Foul creatures  Born from evil,   Blessed with poison,    Death to it all    Mosquitoes 

Plague that must fall.                           – AJ Vue

Never expect something

 As beautiful as nature

To stay the same.

Usually there are

Remarkable differences in

Every inch of space you observe.

– Carmen Erickson

 

 

Guadalupe came running down the stairs, her eyes wide with excitement. “ I saw the snake.” I told her there must have been a reason she was the only one to see it. As we walked back, she told me she was an Aztec dancer. From the Aztec calendar, one of her birth symbols is the snake. Because of her connection with snakes, Guadalupe can feel the vibrations of things and people around her.

Larry Wade

 

Where does Beauty hide?
In the green roots of
yarrow leaves, dug in
the wounds of history’s wars
Within the king’s mushrooms
his cap showered with pride
in the audience of his subjects.
And in the corpse of a
deer long lost cousin,
Whose remains will sunk
back to life’s beginnings.

Where does Beauty hide?
On the murky river of
no return, flowing and flowing
on an endless journey.
In Noah’s bark, the boat
of life that civilization clings
onto as it sways in the water

Where does Beauty hide?
In the lenses of Eyes
In the imagination of the Mind
In all living things.

– Xe Chang

 

 

 

 

Wind is blowing, clouds are bursting,

Water is dancing,

Waves are falling, Earth is screaming,

Flowers are singing,

Land is hiding,

Storms are coming.

– AJ Vue

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the city of long nights.

Vibrant yellow escorts

At a whistle’s beck and call.

Steamy kisses against bruised ankles.

Bright lights,

A bumblebee’s sting

In your greedy little irises,

Greasy fingers

And

Clouded thoughts

 Foreign languages

Invade comfort zones.

GET OUT

Of my comfort zone,

Please.

– Roma Murphy

 

 

 

Last night I heard you sing to me.

Whispers echo through the roots of
the deep soil,

Making its way through the skimpy
branches of an aged tree.

I heard it jump through a vast

Body of cool blue water. The

Sweetness of your voice swarmed

Into my young ears,

Trickling into my deep core.

Last night I heard you sing.

– Ashley Brewer

 

We have been learning about Lakota culture, and it has inspired me to learn more about my culture and incorporate it into my art work. – Gabrielle Jackson

 

 

 

 

I near the edge of the wild
Unwanted, but crucial
Seen, yet invisible,
Loving, but feared
And know that I can change this.

-Sam Porter

 

 

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