BETTER

Letter to my junior self, We’re so close to leaving So close to no longer dealing With the gruesome hours of work, it’s cruel e powerful exhaustion caused by high school Driving cars, and crashing them And a homecoming party I was not invited to I went quiet, almost silent Spent days half awake and unaware of the powerful e ects that come with unpopularity

I loved this year, and hated too But I found out high school is so much less cruel en I originally thought Work became easy, I slept more, I ate more And realized AP classes Are advanced placement for a reason learned that being happy doesn’t come with another person And yet again, I lived. It got better, I promise.

Letter to my fellow soon-to-be seniors, ank you for these years, you have taught me so much ese four years of life that we have come to see as something hard, something beautiful, something wholesome and painful Something necessary to move on from the past to the future Leaving home and traveling far away

Yet during these years you were all so worried about being seen with me Because of the non-stop laughing e “wereyouhangingoutwithher?” it’s not like it mattered much to me

I’m not popular

I’m not well known But it mattered to you

I am glad to never be here again Your words didn’t hurt me, they were a re ection of you

Your faces are ones I cannot wait to forget e good memories, however, will never leave my mind And that’s okay

I’ll be moving on from your opinions of me and becoming myself And nally, truly living Free from you

I’m better, I promise.

untitled // nathanael adegoke

untitled // ben corley

is is a poem about gratitude. My sister sometimes has lots of attitude. But I don’t mind I still love her because she is kind. Sometimes we argue and heart is hard to nd. But she is my sister and that will always be de ned. My sister is leaving for college soon and that’s ok. I will just have to see her again another day.