Yes I’ve been beat and
Yes I’ve been sad
Yes I’ve been taunted and
Yes I’ve been mad
But like a single star twinkling in the middle of loss
I shine
Like a hint of light through the fog and the rain
I shine
Through the pain of lost love
Through the sorrow of a broken home
I shine
Like a full moon bursting with bright in a pitch black sky
I shine
I shine
I shine

– Patricia Duarte, 17
From the WritersCorps 2012 book “Half Belly, Half Heart” by students at Hilltop School

Poem of the Month: August 2012

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

I am Lateefah
      a woman, a mother
      a survivor of my experiences.

I am a believer
     of GOD, of miracles,
     of picket fences and little league games.

I am insightful
     able to look at and analyze
     my prejudices, my troubles,
     my world.

I am everything that they don’t want me to be.

I am working, I’m articulate
I love books, I watch the news.
I am able to prove them wrong.
I am smart.
I am Black.
     I am Black, I am Black

I am struggling,
     hungry at times
     striving for my own space.

I am a winner who continues to lose.

– Lateefah Simon

This poem is featured in the exhibition This Place Called Poetry.