Seven Hills Review - editor's favorites

Spring 2002

Lynn's favorite:

The Stone Arc

This structure is like a drunken, old, and retired man pushing a button on a remote controller, aiming it inaccurately at a t.v.

Matthew, Grade 8
Cardinal Pacelli School
If you liked this try Hair and Other Happy Things

David's favorite:

Tongue Show: Mr. Haap Eats A Sandwich

A wicked grin crosses
His face and his eyes
Widen as he takes
The first bite of fried
Taste buds and chopped
Muscle. Dots cover
The gray meat where
The tongue-less creature
Tasted its meals. He smiles
As tongue smacks on tongue,
Smashed between two
Pieces of bread and
Drenched in sauerkraut
With a slice of cheese.
He wipes his mouth
With his napkin proudly
Ending his Tongue Show.
Caitlin, Grade 9
Purcell Marian High School
If you liked this try Hair and Other Happy Things

Miko's favorite:

To the semaine prochaine
that fell down shot.
The curving in and curving out
of the ribs and shell cases
and the gradual flattening of cold faces.
The sky wailed and screamed
and in its naiveté crumbled more and more.
But he could not shake the falling dust,
no so much dust but shrapnel, gas, and hair-
the flesh of war.
Their eyes were more like bombed out bunkers
and the footsteps of bullets and bayonets,
skin shaken loose by the mighty thunders
adteominis caroveniet.
Dennis, Grade 11
Walnut Hills High School

If you liked this try Poems of Descending Grace

Dana's favorite:

Birthday Guest

PV Fury
one boss of bass,
dressed in sleek blue silk
and exposing his maple wood neck.
I myself,
first made his acquaintance
three days before my birthday,
a gentle push further up the hill.
He and I
settled down to a drink,
he sipped on a chord-like straw
and guzzled the glass of electric gin.
Mr. Fury most obviously
could not hold his liquor
for he belched quite loudly,
and ripped out a thunderous E.
The liquor unfortunately
went straight to his head,
he began burping loudly,
in punchy alphabet prose.
Finally he downed hid gin,
his metallic lips relaxed the exhausted straw
and he slumped back in his chair.
In his drunkenness
he mumbled somewhat of a moan,
which seemed to say,
"Let's meet again, my friend,
in three days, for another round."
Jordan, Grade 9
Purcell Marian

If you liked this try Deep Fried Poems

Emily's favorite:

placid blue sky
white marshmallow clouds
dance in harmony with
a cool fall breeze
with a swift and might blow
a city is paralyzed
blazing sky, fire engine red
charcoal clouds
strangle with fury
choking
autumn breeze
Eric, Grade 10
Clark Montessori

If you liked this try Of Peace and War

Ben's favorite:

ouroboros

ouroboros-the snake swallowing its own tail
humanity-the monstrous collective that is devouring itself from the ground up
crucified and bastardized lies Christ upon the White House steps
only money graspers left in the once great house
but few're those left that hear him truly
misguided causes only left herein
misguided causes only shoot heroin
what once was pure now is tainted
left to humanity only this arose
the valley's grave made of sludge from mines
the pond suffocated by cement and cars
the forest burnt alive with its self as stake
the stream now choked and drowned
hell on earth? no only home
Peter, Grade 11
Mariemont High School

If you liked this try Of Peace and War

Lyndsey's favorite:

Splintered

she rocks
gently
scanning the barren
forlorn concrete
and the untamed
weed-infested grass
she is hurt
the chair
dark green
wooden, splintered
hair sweeping across her face
expression overturned
in confusion, pain, fear
her eyes, wide, deep bloodshot
she opens a can of pepsi
shaking hands
the abrupt hiss awakens the silent, cool neighborhood
3 am, darkness prevails
glowering at the flag blowing
back and forth
staring at the railing
which holds her long lanky feet up
rocking gently
into the night
Kathleen, Grade 12
Madeira Jr./Sr. High School

If you liked this try Poems of Descending Grace

Kristin's favorite:

relish

don't fight so much
give more hugs (the way i held my mother, the way she trembled)
take vitamins daily (i feel so sick inside sometimes)
remember less (live more)
digress from jaded (the way i was before my father died)
digress from jaded (the way i walked that day, that year, three years)
looking the mirror less (misshapen fun-house reflection)
inspire
break the axle of the weeping wheel (now i lay me down to sleep)
tear up when babies are born
sing (like breath it comes too instinctually)
love my sisters (you know me too well)
no more depressing music
water the roots (strength, sacrifice, and Catholicism)
apologize (forgive)
let the atmosphere skip a beat (the way i walk into a room)
don't try so hard
survive (do i have to see it this way)
pay out less of life mourning (earth's receptacle of grief)
say the word "daddy" (hear it without wincing)
spend more time among the living (fewer sunsets through gravestones)
don't let it get to be too much
appreciate coincidence (i make my own luck)
love my brother (November Rain)
laugh heartily more often (the way i find everything hysterical sometimes)
scream less (i should count to ten instead)
don't fidget when upset (sometimes i'm so transparent)
let people cry
find spiritual foundation (i sample concepts like cheap brands)
learn (know what i don't know)
remember the Greats (Motown, the Chairman, Ella, Janis, and the Beatles)
remember the Greats (both sides of the family and the best friends)
fix heart ("she breaks just like a little girl")
swim (delight in summer)
don't slip on the A/C water leak stream in the basement (delight in winter)
write
try not to break down after watching the Wonder Years
relish everything (love what i am)
Michelle, Grade 12
Colerain High School

If you liked this try Deep Fried Poems

Elyse's favorite:

Harvest Moon

1,2,10;
Help me color cranberry dreams...
Of bare-footed passion,
Of long summer nights
Of chasing lighting bugs and
Fighting mosquito bites with
Nursery rhymes and jujubes.
With a flashlight of foliage
And Kool-Aid flavored nightmares,
I tossed aside ambition
And linger in the absence of my childhood.
I leave self behind
And discover unknown fervor,
Lost long ago
Under the living room sofa
Where traces of dust-covered innocence
Might murmur their existence,
If only someone would kneel to regard them.
Listening to the clamor of silence,
Used to bring wild visions and
Uncontrollable laughter;
Now it brings only despair.
Plunge forth in adoration-
Trust no one but the taste
Of your own paradox.
Insanity will settle
On the banks of a bleeding river-
Where old buckets were once enough
To make us fishers of men
And silent smiles of elderly folks-
That used to flow faster than the vivid
Colors of the horizon across the water-
Were enough to find genius
In our adventures of the golden days.
Amanda, Grade 12
Purcell Marian

If you liked this try Poems of Descending Grace

Malcom's favorite:

Precious Life

Whereas ye know not
what shall be on the morrow.
For what is life?
It is even a vapor,
That appear for a little time,
And then vanished away.
Countless hours
Wasting time
Breath by breath
Surviving in the midst
of my mother.
From one foot to six foot,
Mischievous
And
Impatient
Hoping to achieve
THE AMERICAN DREAM.
When our time on earth
Is finished
And we're laid down to rest.
What have we accomplished?
rushing through life
day after day
We realize
The great punishment is death
to who's next breath is promised
no ones.
Nathan, Grade 11
Mariemont High School

If you liked this try Deep Fried Poems

Erin's favorite:

"The Cactus"

He stands still; watching as bolts of
powerful electricity spider vein around him.
He is not afraid - he welcomes the storm,
for he knows it may be his last
drink for a long, long time.
Leland, Grade 8
Cardinal Pacelli School

If you liked this try Instant Messages

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