Poems & Pictures from the Book Launch of We Will Carry Ourselves As Long As We Gaze Into The Sun
October 18, 2007
Seattle Public Library

Copies of the anthology are $10. To order a copy, please email jaime@lectures.org. Thank you!

The Exact Curve of a Parabola - Jack Jennings
She eats Humbao - Jasmine Nguyen
Alexander the Not-So-Great - Cameron Alexander
Silver’s Sound - Kelsea Basye
Antonia the Angel - Antonia Sunderland
Dream of Mine - Danh Phung
Ode to My Pen - Michael Cromer
What Would a Heart Taste Like? - Angel Fong
Ode - Bryce Zane Ellis

The Exact Curve of a Parabola

The lines across your forehead
are deeper now than last weekend
when I laughed at your furrowed brow
and you turned crimson and
said something about physics class
and how you would never understand Euler.

You seemed so shamelessly beautiful,
wrapped up in your thoughts of literature and things,
and not the lovely lines across your forehead.

Jack Jennings
The Center School

She eats Humbao

She eats humbao.
She likes to draw.
She hates people who tease her.
She fears death.
Her dreams are gone.
She likes to sing.

Jasmine Nguyen
Showalter Middle School

Alexander the Not-So-Great

Alexander conquered Persia.
He was taught by Aristotle
and lost an eye during battle.
He was considered great.
So far, I control my bedroom
and arguably the basement.
Apparently,
I have a lot of catching up to do.

Cameron Alexander
Garfield High School

Silver’s Sound

wind chimes without the wind
chicken noodle soup when sick
sounds like the truth told by a liar
and acrobats doing tricks

like pictures of your best friend
and rain falls on the water
crying under goggles
like a girl without a father

Kelsea Basye
Meany Middle School

Antonia the Angel

Antonia the angel
Burns through the cafeteria.
She eats pizza sandwiches, meatball boulders, and electric eel soup!
She guards God!
At night she dreams she is eating the moon!

Antonia Sunderland
Maple Elementary

Dream of Mine

Once I had a dream
Where books were everywhere.
The books began to spin
Once every heartbeat.
They became heavier than stone.
Then they lost sight of each other
And became smaller than the earth,
But stronger than the wind.
They swam through the river of rainbows,
Then they vanished into nothingness.

Danh Phung
Aki Kurose Middle School Academy

Ode to My Pen

Oh, how you write
the sea of words that
fills my paper.
You make stories like
a fish swimming freely.
You write smoother
than a violin.
Your ink falls like
colorful rain.
Your texture is
smoother than silk.
You remind me of my
bike—fast but slow
king of the sidewalk.
I ask “what is your secret,”
only to be answered,
“not my secret
but yours.”

Michael Cromer
Denny Middle School

What Would a Heart Taste Like?

It would taste like 1,000 bees in your mouth, and birds flying up and down your spine.  It would feel like 2,000 lead pencils poking you, and being choked by a gorilla.  That’s what it would taste like if you ate a heart.

Angel Fong
Kimball Elementary

Ode

Mr. Salt Shaker
you sit in
my music
shaking away
you look oh
so shiny
the sound you
make turns
my world
upside down
you sit
at the grandest
spot in the house:
table top.
You came
to me
when I
had bleeding
wounds you
came to
me when
my potato
was dry
if you shake
above my
eye I’ll cry
tears of joy.
You were
made in
South Utah
with sturdy
human hands
but as far
as I can
tell you
came to earth
so as to
lay your dust
down and
pleasure taste
buds. I love
it when
you shake.

Bryce Zane Ellis
Ballard High School

Copies of the anthology are $10. To order a copy, please email jaime@lectures.org. Thank you!

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