Mountain Springs,
by Henry Gladow

Contrast Poems 2024/25

We asked our writers to think of two opposing ideas or images. Then, they were instructed to write a short poem for each. Finally, they would weave them together showing the parallels between each, so the two contrasting ideas worked to pull the two ideas together. These are a few of the results:

by Alex Coats

Trudging home after a long day at work
Skipping along the sidewalk from school

Preparing to type up the meeting notes

Racing your friend to the stop sign

Turning the key leading to your lonely apartment

Ringing the doorbell

The door creaking open

The door flying open

The dark room greeting you

Your mother kissing you

The microwave slowing turning your feeble supper

The smell of cheese and pasta wafting into your nose

Multi-tasking between typing and napping

Snuggling in for a full night of sleep after a hearty supper

Bags forming beneath your eyes

Cuddling your teddy as sleep welcomes you

Jolting your head from the drool-covered desk

Yearning to stay wrapped in your fuzzy blanket forever

Knowing that you’re late

You have all the time in the world

Throwing your work bag on

Picking out the sparkliest and most colorful outfit

Flying out the door

Hopping down the steps, one at a time

Racing across the street and choosing to take a shortcut

Slowly sipping your orange juice

Gulping down your cold coffee

Grabbing your backpack off the hook

Hurrying along the sidewalk

Twirling outside

Dropping your checkbook

Curtsying to the invisible crowd

Bending to get it

Skipping through the yard

Grabbing it quickly

Closing your eyes

Not paying attention

Wham!

“Oh! Sorry ma’am.”

“It’s okay, bye!”

“Bye.”

Something stops you

Something stops you

A recognition

A glimpse

Of the past

Of the future

And that’s all they need

And that’s all they need

To keep going

by Liberty Milhollin

Lying in his wooden barracks
Lying in his soft bed

Soup watered down and flavourless bread

Rich stew with a smell to make your mouth water

Grueling work burning bodies and building walls

Sports and games with awesome prizes

Adults act like he’s a pest meant to be exterminated.

Adults who praise him and reward him

His Judaism beliefs get him killed

He aligns with Hitlers antisemitism

Waiting for the Allies to rescue him

Waiting for abolition of the Allies

One in trapped in Auschwitz

One found a place in Hitler Youth

Only one thing unites them

Death is coming

School in War vs School Here

by Xander Thorsten

They’re just kids,

Why should they feel the impact of war,

Parents watching their kids lives be taken,

A child weeping outside the school just collapsed

The children lie stuck under rubble and brick,

Where death is around searching for them,

Death enters the building,

A father drops his kids off at school,

Walking through the halls and hearing that loud sound,

Hiding from death,

We're just kids.

Lies

By Avery Muller

I tried to make myself a home.

Turns out my path is set in stone.

My friends left me in the blink of an eye.

Dang it. Why do I even try?

Every person, every friend, left me alone once again.

I tried to run away from home.

Deleting every number from my phone.

Don’t speak.

Don’t talk.

Don’t say goodbye.

I’m tired of listening to the fake friends lie.

I hope you’re happy I’m gone.

You don’t care, and I can move along.

Like a puppet, pull my heartstrings.

Like an angel, put chains on my wings.

Send me deep into the fiery pit.

This happens more than I like to admit.

Liar, deceiver, horrible friend.

Take me away.

Mend me again.

Don’t say sorry.

Don’t say goodbye.

I don’t want to hear your lies.

All In My Head

By Samantha Carver

Panic filling my brain

Blood leaving a stain

Your words ringing in my head

Is doom where I'm being led

I threw a punch

Or a bunch

Your body stiff on the ground

Not making a sound

People staring in shock

As they talk

I'm too young for jail

And I’ll never get bail

I pray you will open your eyes

So I won't have to say my byes

Please tell me this is fake

I feel as if my skins coming off flake by flake

Thankfully this was a dream

My sweat making a stream

My mother rushes in my room

Reminding me I’m not being led to my doom

Puzzle Piece

By Liberty Milhollin

Don't be a piece that doesn’t go there

Don't be the piece who is the spare

Find where you belong in the puzzle

Be the piece that doesn’t put up a tussle

Don't try to be the same piece as another

Be different and unique, not amongst the others

Have different edges and curves

Have different talents and perks

Have different qualities and skills

Have your own adventures and thrills

Do your own thing not like the others

And be there for each other

The Jury

By Liberty Milhollin

They'll look at you and see something

They'll judge you on what you look like and wear

They'll judge you on what other people think

They'll look at you with a piercing glaze

Guessing about you using your looks and what you say

But when you get to know someone for who they are

In your heart they could be amazing

Don’t call anyone names based on their looks

Don’t judge anyone based on their grades

Good or bad don't judge them on that

Don’t call someone a nerd

Don’t call someone a idiot

Don’t call someone poor

Don’t call someone rich

Don’t think in your head that this person is dumb

Don’t think in your head that this person is ugly

It’s what’s on the inside that counts

And if you want want to know what someone is about just go up and ask

Covers

By Liberty Milhollin

Don’t judge a book on their cover

Don’t judge people on their mother

Don’t judge a book by their quality

Don’t judge people on the curiosity

Don’t judge a book on their first couple pages

Don’t judge people on their faces

You will never know what they are

Till you look underneath all their scars

Look at their scars good or bad

Talk to them and add

To the bigger picture of who they are

Don’t judge a book by its cover no matter how bizarre

Roses and Violets

By Liberty Milhollin

Rose are red

Violets are blue,

I will always and forever love you

But when the roses wilted,

And the violets died,

I lost a piece of my soul and I couldn't get it back no matter how hard I tried

The roses finally died,

The violets have faded away,

I had lost all meaning and couldn’t think of what to say,

The roses had been dead for a year,

The violets had broken off the stems,

But then I saw a little piece of green sticking out of the ground with some friends

The roses were growing back,

The violets were alive,

My soul was put back together and I waited for the day I could arrive in the sky,

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

I shall never forget my love for you.

Understand

by Bridget Hayton

To be a bully

To be feared

To know fully

The end is not yet neared

unalike from the outside

And unalike inside

Our only difference is

Knowing how it feels to be stabbed in your backside

Now, you giggle and laugh

Soon you’ll understand the concept

Your purpose is only half

Imagine what they’ll say

When you chuckle in their face

When you blow them down

When you think you have a better pace

When you get in their way

For the last time.

Because mistakes are vital

Not a lifestyle

Then, you get called out

Your face goes red

Your tone changes

Soon you’ll understand

So hit me

Hit me with your underhand

For you don’t know anything yet

Not how to speak to the world

Or just to let go

And when you hurl that large load off of your shoulders

You should feel exceptional from head to toe

Because to feel

To know

To Understand

Its better than to be blown

Blown down by society's unspoken rules

And Though you may never grow

And though we may never know

Inside it won't matter because

You can never change by heart.