What a pleasure meeting and working with the middle school students at P.S. 34 on the L.E.S. again this semester. Really miss you, Juliet, Kaythyn, Alexis, Jonathan R., Alexis, Giovanny, Jeyda, Brandon, ybott, Hector E. and of course to all the people and names I just forgot, not to mention messed up—thank you. To Mr. Matthew Rudansky, the teacher, mentor, art and writing contributor and pillar of support a special thanks . It's been fun taking the writer's club on the road. Looking forward to seeing you all soon and here's a taste of several topics we covered big and small.

Dream School

On the stage

every light
a different color.

Picking up food
at my school, like a Sizzler’s

Having

the freedom
to talk to others

A big beautiful garden
with no rats to bug us

Classes start at 4PM,
end at dinner at 6PM.

We decide
what goes on.
Get things fixed
even if,
we get it wrong.
(collective)

Sometimes I feel

sometimes I feel
down as a broken
glass —Juliet
 

sometimes I feel bored
like a kid trying to learn math —ybott

Happy--Sometimes I feel as happy as a smile on a face
Wind -- Sometimes I feel like the wind, filling in every crack until that crack turns into a canyon
Sheep -- Sometimes I feel like a sheep, just waiting to be sheared.
Car -- Sometimes I feel like a car, always being driven around.
Corn -- Sometimes I feel like a corn, just knowing someday I’ll gt popped.
Paper – Sometimes I feel like paper, knowing somebodies going to write on me.
—Jonathan R

My young dog chip
fight, also they bite
each others faces.
They bite each other
and sit on each other. —Alexis

 

The Drunk Life

I’m falling on my side
Eyes dilated
I’m hungry I should eat this pizza off the floor
I should shove that slice down my mouth
and eat it like a dog
I sit on the cold cement floor
I smell dodo
I look at my pants. I pooped myself.
Nothing seems clear to me.
How did I get here?
(collective)

Sounds of the Night

loud neighborhood
When I go to sleep
All I hear is fighting
Music, people screaming honking and all the other stuff in between
—Giovanny

Car zooming
My sister booming
Oh no a fight
That's not alright
Oh someone has a gun
They all run, there goes
the gun.
The trigger went off

I lay my head,
Down on the bed
Till the morning light.
Go to school
Looking all cool,
Act like that night never happened.
The night of the fight,
the fight of the night
That day is now a farytale. —Juliet

Sound of Night

The wisp of river wind
takes me to a silent place.
But the ambulance scream shatters me
I hear people in a room
And my sister talking loud on the phone
I hear my mom and step dad talking
Each minute it gets louder and louder
I hear glass shatter and the door slam
Someone has a gun
They all run
Boom, the trigger off
I hear cars honking
Tires screeching
I hear people fighting, yelling he has a gun
Summer nights
I lay in my room and I’m moving around
I’m under the covers
I want to sleep
(collective)

I hear my upstairs neighbors playing the drums
I hear cars honking, tires screeching
I hear people screaming.
A fight at night right before I go to bed —Alexis

I need my sleep, the neighbors, stillness,
a wisp of the river wind lulls me to a quiet place
the ambulance sirens screech and shatters the silence
leaving me restless.

MONSTERS

A scary character is Freddy Krueger. He’s scary because he goes in your dreams and tortures you. He has knives and he kills a ton of people.
Also Jeepers Creepers, he hunts people down to get souls and kills them anyway he can and you have to kill him so he can really die. You have to keep stabbing him until he goes in his cocoon. —Alexis

Great, huge, yellow scary teeth – Long orange shaggy hair with a green face, as green as the healthiest leaf on earth, and black eyes like looking into a dark forest, with claws as sharp as knives to cut people and eat them. He lives in your nightmares. He hunts and kills for fun.
The one and only things that scares him is dreams. That’s why he makes nightmares to kill and take away the dreams. Dreams are scary to him because his family had believed that happiness was evil. —Jeyda

Bobby: a human sized doll who comes to life at night and whoever’s door he sees first he goes in there with an axe and kills everyone. When somebody comes, he drops on the floor. He wears a tuxedo.
When Bobby sees bright colors, he has to go in the dark because he could go blind. Children laughing or playing freaks him out. Church music kills him. –Brandon

When my step dad gets drunk I stay far away from him because I’m scared he might hurt me. If he is sound asleep I stay up and play the (computer) games . When his door opens, my heart stops. I turn off the game, the t.v. and run to my room and hide so he won’t find me, so he won’t mess with me.

BIG FOOT

Imagine a kid, a superhero, – a guy with a foot so big, so powerful he could use it as a weapon to stamp out crime. He became popular in some ways and a great crime fighter – but one day a doctor finally offered him the chance to have an operation and get a normal foot. What would you do?

Big Foot
Normal wouldn’t be that different. No crazy stares, no more “Big Foot” jokes. Girls may actually notice my friendly smile, instead of gawking at my city bus of a foot. Yeah that would be sweet, a girl smiling at me. Saving the world, stomping bad guys, I would trade all that for the warm and affectionate embrace of a kind and loving girl friend.

I would keep the gigantic foot because I would be one of a kind and unique because I have super powers but at the same time it would be difficult to live but normal is boring so I don’t know if I would change or keep it.
--- Kaythyn

I don’t know what I should do. I’m a superhero! But my foot is mad big and it’s still growing. Now if I get a fake foot I’ll be normal, not special or find no girl likes me because of my crusty, dusty foot. I made up my mind I’m going to…..
a) Cut off my foot and get a fake one.
b) Keep the crusty, dusty foot
c) Jump in the East River
---- Juliet

 

Dream School 2

Picking out food at my school like it’s a sizzlers buffet, chillen out in the yard waiting for Pizza Hut all day. But the hours are from 4-6, in that time we dance, we play, but not pick up sticks!
Garden so nice, it’s free of rats. Walk into a class where we can keep on our hats (and hoods).
Chowin down on this food -- so good. – Hector E

Not trying to be politically correct but Happy Holidays including Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Feliz Navidad and all the rest of the seasonal religious and social salutations to everybody, everywhere and everyone.