The Write Out! Blog

Poet of the Week

This week’s Featured Poet is Corrine Dragon! Corrine graduated from ConVal last year and has been a member of Writing Club for a long time! Today’s poem by Corinne was inspired by a prompt from tonight’s writing club meeting– “Write about something you know or something you don’t.”

Untitled
By Corrine Dragon

I don't know what I'm doing
I was trained for so many years to plan for the future
that the present no longer existed
It was always me and the unknown
I used to hate the unknown
But now I wear it as a shield
to protect the child born on the frontlines. 

Please come back every day this week to read more of Corrine’s poetry!

Upperclassmen Virtual Writing Club (May 19, 2020)

Tonight’s Writing club had a theme of The Great Outdoors as we were joined by Author and Naturalist Susie Spikol! Susie is the Community Programs Director and Naturalist at the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, NH. Susie helped run the first half of tonight’s meeting. She talked to us about her experiences as a writer, and gave us an insight to the world of a Naturalist. She also told us about some of her upcoming works! She provided us with our first prompt of the night as well, and read to us from some of the books and authors that have inspired her, such as Annie Dillard and Sy Montgomery.

For our first prompt we had a choice between “What animal essence is in you?”, “Imagine a conversation with an animal”, or “I dreamed I was an animal.” These prompts got our writers to look into their wild side, and bring out their inner animal. Tonight’s featured poem, titled “Scarabs”, followed the “What animal essence is in you? ” prompt and was written by Senior Theo Cross:

Scarabs
By Theo Cross

I take refuge in the ash, sand, and dust. 
The dark tombs in the desert, 
long forgotten by man.
I linger in utter black
with others like me
until we are disturbed
by a fire in the distance.
We scatter,
congregate another day
wait for when the man kneels,
then he shall pay.
At the hands of we the many,
who feed from dying light.
Brothers and sisters
Let us feast tonight!                                                                                                 

We then took a turn away from animals for our final prompt of the night “Write about something you do know or something you don’t.” In tonight’s feature you can read a poem inspired by this prompt!

I would like to give a special thanks to Susie Spikol for joining us tonight and for sharing with us her knowledge and experience! I would also like to give a shout out to all of the members of the Upperclassmen Writing Club for a great night of poetry!

A poem to start your week!


the waves crash on the rocky shore, imitating a rolling drumbeat.
the seagulls above call to their flock, their glottal sounds like tuning instruments.
eyes closed, ears open.

a conch shell held to one’s ear presents a voice clear and warm,
an opera singer held captive by the earth.

the sand between my toes fills me with disgust –
hatred not for the beach but for the anxiety it gives me.

a deep breath in… and out.
the beach has disappeared, and I’m left with an orchestra –
an orchestra playing the earth’s infinite symphony.

~ Abby Theberge
Avenue A High School Writing Club Member

Poems of the Week!

Fresh from our high school writing club…

Inspired by the song “I Don’t Know You” by The Marías

There’s a weight in my bed
where your ghost lies.
They keep me cold
on winter nights.

They keep me wondering
who’s bed you’re in.
They keep me hoping.

There’s a book on my shelf
full of untold truths.
Too honest to say,
you love in clues.

It keeps me thinking,
retracing your words.
It keeps me reading.
~S.K.E

All Puns Intended

I walked into a furniture store, and I saw my friend Mike getting arrested.
He said he lost a bedt to his friends. They told him to couch around the store.
The police said he was charged with public misconduct. Sofa he’s being detained.
But I couldn’t nightstand what I was seeing.
We had been long time friends, so I really chaired about him.
A few days later he was on the news; he had a whole cabinet of lawyers, but the judicial shelf wasn’t believing him.
I window how he’s feeling. I feel like he drawer a short straw, because he ended up with five years in prison!
I saw a picture of him a few years later. It looked like he’d futon some weight.
Once he got out, he said he was desk-erate for some real food. The closet restaurant was 20 miles away.
When Mike got home he said he was glad to have some living room.
He spent a short while readjusting to society. Soon he got a job as an interior designer.
He was always under a lot of dresser, so he went to work at a tiling company instead.
But it came with a hutch–a strict mattress code. A striped blue shirt, a white bow tie, and brown corduroy pants.
He worked there for quite a while, but it started causing a lot of armoire.
He decided to quit and work for a company that makes decks for peoples houses.
He has a ‘ottomen working for him now. I think he deserves a patio on the back.
~T.S.