In Thomas Wolfe’s Back Yard

By Connor, Ethan, Sophie and Katie

Summer 2008

Light green like limes.

Grapevines like rock climbers,

reaching and pulling up the stone pillar.

Sort of light, sort of dark green grapes:

Sweet? Sour? In between?

Tomatoes, looking tasty, juicy

yellow, red, and green.

Construction, cop car, loud horn, hammering.

Sirens shrieking alarm.

Drill vibrating through the ground and up my legs.

Constant rrrrrrrrr-ing.

Bumpy bricks and the smell of cooked chicken.

Squishy-firm green thing.

Getting close to the toxic smell of a white fence.

Hard seed pod thing and the scent of old wood.

Worn down reddish-grayish brick

and the comforting smell of stuffed animals.

Greed

by Oliva, age 12

If greed were an image,

I know what it would be.

Greed would be a BIG, FAT, powerful dictator-

Evil, no doubt,

Busting out of his golden, emerald-encrusted throne,

Waving around that big fancy stick that

evil dictaters usually hold,

His crown threatening to topple off his

Sweat beaded, half bald head,

Round face turning a nasty plum color.
do you want to know why?

its because he wants more fah-ncy food!

but the hired nutritionist,

adjusting his wire rimmed glasses and

patting down his thinning, groundhog-colored hair,

sitting on a wobbly wooden chair below, says that

um, w-well your highness, um if you want to be- i mean, you

uh hired me so ylou could be in shape and uh,

quite frankly, you er, ate a a nice good amount already---

but the dictator cuts him off.

and his eyes are piopping

and his buttons are, too,

‘cause he already at waaaaaay too much-

pheasant underglass,

fresh salmon glazed with pig fat,

baguette fresh from paris,

double chocolate truffle cheese cake with perfect fresh rasberries flown in from Sweden, and of course, a twinkie on the side.

BUT HE WANTS MORE!!!!!!

so of course,

more is what he gets.

Untitled

by Tatianna, age 11

Where I may sit

and watch out my window

the days going past

marked by the iceman

or years go past

marked with the same shyness

of last year's grade

but the familiarity of the same room.

I sit in this space

watching and writing

of the past, present, and future

to pass the time.

When I am gone

I will have given this space to you

to do the same as I done with it,

in my mind, heart, and soul.

The Squeaky House

by Tatianna, age 11

Here in the place

the place where I have rejoiced

and mourned,

where there is a picture

that I have talked to,

a dog that I live with in my imagination,

the best out of my collection

of daydreams,

here is the squeaky house

where I have made memories

and sadly mourned

but at the same time

this is the happiest place for me.

Dream

First Draft

by Terrance, age 13

I had a dream about the world ending

I was walking in the street

when all of a sudden

 I looked up to the sky and saw this huge cloud,

it was a huge cloud and the cloud was of a dove.

It was a white dove with an olive branch

hanging from its beak.

Then I saw a man come through the clouds

and a yellow wall of light moved in front of him

and every person who was a believer

and touched by the light

 just dropped and I saw their spirits go up

with their guardian angels.

 I was shocked and disbelieving

and thought, “ I don’t want to die now”

 so I ran as fast as I could

I ran and I ran into an arcade and

I hid in the back room of the arcade

and God found me and told me it was ok

that everything would be ok.

 I was relieved.

I took God’s hand and,

I don’t know why it came it came to this,

 but everyone around me had their guardian angels

and there was light like in a driving game.

Their guardian angels would take them into the screen

and there was a giant translucent pillar of light

and everyone was going with their guardian angel

 and when it was my time

I was going up with my guardian angel

I don’t remember who my guardian angel was but they seemed really nice.

I could see everyone while I was going up

When I was going up it felt like the best thing in the world

no worries, peaceful, happiness.

We got to this platform of cloud

I saw God and he called my name.

He called my name separately as everyone was going past.

I said yes, sir and it was such a nice experience

I felt ready. I wanted to go in and see what it would be like.

It would be cool. You could meet so many people, like even Thomas wolfe

Ben Franklin and my great-grandmother and my great- great- grandmother.

God said, it’s not your time. It’s not your time yet.

I said what do you mean, what do you mean?

He just smiled and pushed me back down,

he pushed me back down to earth.

It freaked me out.

 He told me it wasn’t my time.

I was like what do you mean, what do you mean.   

I asked him, but you had called my name and

He told me this wasn’t my time.

He told me this wasn’t my time.