Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Welcome!

Welcome to the MTD Uni High poetry blog.

The Uni High MTD poetry project was started with the goal of connecting the creative efforts of high-schoolers with the larger Champaign-Urbana community.

The goal of this site is to allow people to respond to poems they have read on the bus. Feel free to leave your comments and responses here.

Thank you!


With a Knife

With a Knife
By Xanthe Brown
What you’re doing is
Picking your teeth with a knife.
You hold pain so close to those jaws,
As if it is a cup of tea.
Steel is no more daunting to you than a stick of gum,
No snickering is to you un-maskable,
As if you, alone and natural,
Clean your mandibles with a handy sword.
As if your molars are so holy they merit
A wholly, very different floss
Whose dissent means certain dental loss.
But everyone can see,
When you wield words and wade through conversations
Waving your blade,
Kicking up dirt in everyone’s faces,
The sparkle in your eye and the smirk in your grimace.
You’re picking your teeth with a knife.

Lies

Lies
By Fatima Bobat
The truth may hurt a little,
but a lie aches forever.
Someone once told me,
it's better late
than never,
but here I am
and the words taste bitter.
So what you told me
I will never forget.
For your sweet words and memories,
I am indebted.
As I write,
the sky turns dark
like your eyes.
But in the end,
during a time you could've saved me
with the truth,
you only told lies.

The Things That Last

The Things That Last
By Collin Jung
You always value the fleeting,
the things that come and go,
Like birthdays and moments of happiness,
that only last while they are shown.

You say the world's as you want it
But you know this isn't true,
Because our lives are not forever
And your ideas may die with you.

You can try and shape the universe
for as long as you are staying,
But once your heartbeats start slowing to a stop,
your determination will start caving.

You always value the fleeting
but not the things that last.
How amazing would it be
if the things you loved didn't pass?

Everything comes back to nothing
and you can't ever change that.
You can yell into eternity
and never get an answer back.

But always finish what you've started
Because the chance....

way away

way away
By Anonymous
i take a right
it's windy
But the trees don't
Move

there a
light somewhere
blue in nature

i get a left
there's hail
But the heat is
Out

flowers
Make things
pretty
 right

in such a world
there is much to love
But the human is
Here

Uniquity

Uniquity
By Jake Regenwetter
It's just another
Long day ahead of you or
Maybe behind you

And you're just waiting
Glancing around because you
have nothing to do

so you end up just
reading some poems that were
put up on the wall

And you see this one
On the wall, waiting right here
And maybe... Maybe

it's been waiting and
Glancing around because it
has nothing to do

And it saw you and
Decided to try to catch
Your attention so

that you would read it
and now you are reading it
and it's being read

and for the first time
it feels wanted, cared for, loved
and all thanks to you

The Things My Heart Desires

The Things My Heart Desires
By Collin Jung
What my heart desires,
Is where my loyalty lies.
Trying anything, being anyone,
I hope it’s without much ail.
If I want to be a king, reigning over all,
Helping the poor and feeding the hungry,
I know I shall prevail.
If I wish to be a blacksmith,
I’ll work my hammer all day
Smashing away and creating
The greatest tools ever made.
And if I am ever in the darkness,
Without light or even a match,
I shall use the fire in my heart, burning so fiercely
It would put you in a trance.
But what my heart desires,
Is to be young and free,
Yet the only gift I can’t give it,
Is time,
The most desirable thing.
The lesson I hope you learn as you read,
Is to be joyful and playful and do as you please.
So when the time comes in the end as it will,
You will not regret all the things you gave your heart,
And be at peace with all the things it gave you,
As well.