Ode To My Watch, Ginny Georgekutty

Silently Ticking as the hands move
so precious is the time
that your mechanisms express
smooth is your metallic plate
wrapped around the black oval
1-12 do you range from
but eternities do you hold
so granted do we take those seconds
those singular moments of anticpation
that years later
we look back upon
with simply
regret and remorse
with dread do we then realize
that your knob on the side
can not turn back the hands
to those moments
a second time
for us

Grandma's Thimble, Ashley Alongi

My most prized possession is small. It has never been and probably will never used by me. It is tucked a way in a small blue box. It is a thimble. But not just any thimble. It was my grandmothers. It was the one thing I wanted when she died. Through the piles of jewelry my cousins kept shoving at me I found it, entangled in a strand of pearls. Taking it out of its box my fingers running across the velvet lining, I placed it on my pinky and began to laugh. That thimble which my cousins felt had no value was an inside between my grandma and I. While the thimble could fit on everyone of her long slender fingers it could only fit on my pinky finger even at the age of five. Even though that day I left with expensive gold necklaces and rings all cared about was that 15 cent thimble. The thimble, now losing its shine, sits on my bookshelf. When I look at it , it helps me remember all the good times and it makes me laugh. Not just because of my insanely large fingers, but because I don't think grandma sewed one day in her life.

Untitled, John Zurz

Tuesday, February 15th, a day that will live in infamy. It was on this day that one of the most ghastly crimes ever committed took place. It occurred in the classroom of one Ms. Johnson, a math teacher at James Garfield High School in Queens, New York. It was in this room that the school was forever changed. Ms. Johnson was away from her desk at the time, she wasn't even in the room, another class was in there and she was taking a well deserved break from yelling at and berating her math classes. It was during her break that it occurred, a troll doll was viciously attacked.
Being that she was not in the room at the time no one took notice of it, no one noticed what had happened. Another teacher, the police refuse to name her due to the ongoing investigation, was in the room at the time, yelling at and berating her class. When the class was over Ms. Johnson returned to her classroom and talked for a few minutes with the other teacher, when her class started filtering in she went to her desk to get her seating chart, so she could call them by their names as she embarrassed them in front of their peers. It was then that she discovered what had occurred. The troll doll was lying there on the desk, unmoving. When she went over to pick it up she discovered the new mustache and beard, both drawn in marker.
She immediately called an ambulance, but it was too late, the marker had set in and could not be removed. The troll doll was stuck with the beard and mustache. One of the first responders, an EMT, had this to say, "I've seen some pretty bad stuff, I saw people killed by stiletto heels, others cut their own throats, but this takes the cake. What kind of sicko would do this to a defenceless troll doll?" After the EMT's had found what had happened they called the police, specifically SVU (Special Victims Unit) who were trained to handle crime scenes other officers couldn't. Even they were shocked. A few of the officers threw up upon arriving to the scene; the smell of marker was still strong.
The detectives on the scene immediately found the marker used in the attack, a Stanford brand permanent marker, a Sharpie as it is called on the street. The attacker had left it on the desk not three feet from the troll doll, preliminary reports state that no fingerprints were found on it. The police were able to rule out Ms. Johnson as a suspect, but every other student who was in the room that day is still under suspicion.
Reports state that the troll doll is in stable condition at Long Island Jewish Hospital, doctors said that it was touch and go for a while but the doll will make it. Though they say the marker will never come off. Ms. Johnson has declined comment at this time and is current;y at the troll doll's side.

R-igin-L, Will P.

Were all copy cat clones
of zeroxed drones
Dislexic in a fun house
these mirriors are my home
Pale blank faces
with their cold blank stares
their his and goodbye's
show that the world really cares
Run to your 9 to 5
and rely on your news
But when will you realize
a tie is just a noose

The Writing Center, John Zurz

In the writing center, well, we write words. These words become sentences or stanzas. They are then made into stories, poems, or even plays. Naturally we take it all very seriously. Ok, you got me, we are all insane. Some of us more than others. You would be hard pressed to find a relatively normal person, but who is normal anyway?
The heart and soul of the writing center is writing. Though it has been known to shift to other places, like Math or gossiping. But mostly writing. When writing, there is usually a prompt involved. The prompts could be normal, awkward, funny, or at times cause tears. We learned that one the hard way, no more hysterical crying for us. Though, we could have done without the awkward prompt phase as well.
After writing there is usually sharing, or in the case of others (MAYA!!) not sharing. We have been trying to ween people off the little disclaimers that they tend to give. It isn't working, though we haven't tried electro-shock therapy yet.
In addition to this, people are encouraged to bring in pieces of writing for revision. It could range from something creative to one of those essay's that your scotch drinking, chain-smoking English teacher assigns. No one does, ever. This is why most of the math and gossiping takes place. But if anyone ever did bring anything in our criticism would leave you with a warm feeling inside. That feeling would be internal bleeding.
Our lawyer, Mr. Kavorkian, is currently trying to inform me that this is probably not the best way to draw attention to ourselves. Also we probably shouldn't have hid that body in the closet. Anyway, we hope to see you at the writing center soon. Hopefully to write and not to serve us a summons.