I am lightning
I crackle and I boom
Look at me, look at me
I branch across the sky
Like a giant fiery try
I stalk across the musty earth
On legs of crackling flame
I flash beneath the clouds
Brighter than the sun
But when the sun returns
The clouds carry me
Grumbling away.

– Ramona Santana, age 13

From the anthology “Tell the World,” published by HarperCollins
Poem of the Month: October 2009

You make me feel
Like an African Queen
Who doesn’t have to lift a finger
You make me feel like a butterfly
Who is getting ready to burst out of her cocoon
To show off her beauty
Even though you are a woman who has been beaten
And didn’t say anything because you were scared
Through all that you survived
You make me feel like an African Queen
You make me feel
The way I feel

– Emauni Crawford, age 12

From “Tell the World,” published by HarperCollins
Poem of the Month: April 2009

I am the green of your eyes
and the red tiny tomatoes
filled with the water of sadness.

I am the snow bear
skating on a frozen lake
and the Himalaya
shrinking day after day
and everyone knows why.

It’s hard to say my name.
That’s why people call me my nickname, Abdul.

I am the soccer ball who never
betrayed its team and offered them
the World Cup.

I am young male red apple
feeding humanity,
an African of Moroccan blood,
fishing for the fourth language.

I am a giant cactus all alone
in the center of the ocean
protecting myself from the noise.

I am the end of the week
at school, the day of my favorite food,
couscous on the moon.

I am the blood of the Red Sea,
calm and warm.

– Abdessalam Mansori

From the anthology “Tell the World,” published by HarperCollins
Poem of the Month: March 2009

For Chad Sweeney

The little mute girl was looking for her
Voice, in a drop of water.
Standing patiently, on the other side,
The dog grants the snow
A loaf of bread on his shoulders.
He said: The way is long,
But what you have,
Is this wave, snatched by the seagulls.
By the way, did you know that
A watermelon can heal in fifty ways?
The child was only listening,
Writing her own questions,
Clenching and opening one small hand.
You think I am speaking in riddles,
But the world only means itself.
There is nothing to throw away.
A proud voice later speaks:
I give to Chad a tulip
To thank him for teaching me
How to see.
To thank him for teaching me
How to build.

– Indiana Pehlivanova

From the anthology “Tell the World,” published by HarperCollins
Poem of the Month: December 2008

Today is my future.
With knowledge and education,
I care more about my future success, about my family’s future.
My heart now has a list of things that must be completed.
I have my head up staring at my destiny that is so close
yet just out of reach.
I see my career that will put bread on my family’s table,
more friends that will guide me through life,
And I will write poems about the whole adventure.
now all I have to do is make my destiny, as I see it, come true!
That’s what must happen, because I can’t live in poverty anymore.
That’s why I can’t wait until tomorrow because,
Today is my future!

– Marisol Rodriguez, 13

From the anthology “Tell the World,” published by HarperCollins
Poem of the Month: November 2008