Fitting poem on this rainy dreary day by poet Angelina Dehn. Her and artist Kimika Blakes are our feature of the week on the Creative Corner with their dark and dreary words and visuals.
Be sure to check out Kenwood’s past creative writings and art published in our annual literary magazine The Bluebird Voice . This is the fifth year of the return of the Bluebird Voice here at Kenwood High. Interested student writers and artists can learn more about publication opportunities with the newspaper, yearbook, and literary magazine here at Kenwood by seeing Ms. Glenn or Ms. Cooper in the English wing.
Condemned
Part 1
Shhhh
Rain patters outside.
The cool wind hits my face.
It wakes me up.
My eyes flutter open.
Darkness creeps around.
Thoughts whirling around my head.
Someone moves across from me.
A groan as they awake.
Footsteps follow.
Quicker and louder.
A creak and a clank.
Wood creaks as metal clanks.
A small glow at the end.
Bigger it gets and brighter as it falls.
A figure approaches, more shadow than person.
Fear grows like fire in a forest.
The other’s eyes grow wide as it approaches.
A whimper and a yelp.
Both, muffled.
They look up as the glow of the bar rises.
Light, just enough to see the placement.
The place most weak.
The eyeball.
A sizzle and a scream.
Red glows and spills.
Melting away like hot iron on foam.
Deeper and deep.
I want to run but I can’t move.
I can’t make a sound.
Frozen in place.
Waiting my turn.
The shadow pulls away.
Only black and red in a hollow place.
Charred and cracked.
Cries and groans.
It repeats again for the other one.
A sizzle and a scream.
Agony on their face.
The heat, seeping into their skin.
Scorching everything it touches.
The open hole left.
Empty, yet somehow endless.
The shadow turned to me and whispered “I’ll be back.”
Part 2
Ice in my veins
Still frozen in my own shadow.
The figure walks away.
Fear strikes again.
Like lighting in a storm.
I stumbled till the chair broke.
Hitting my head as the world spun.
The ropes loosen.
I get to my feet.
Soft cries from the corner.
I feel weak.
I try to run but trip.
It echoes down the hall.
I hear footsteps.
I see a door.
Going as fast as I can.
Stumbling on the way.
I bust through the door.
The rain, trying to hold me back.
Pushing through the wall of water.
I clutch at anything.
Hope and safety.
Anything to help me.
The rain is too loud.
The ground, too soft.
Cold against my feet.
I slip just as my face slams into the mud.
Despair seeps into my mind.
A slight touch turns violent.
A splash as I can’t see.
I wake up in a chair and a dark room.
Footsteps running closer.
Hope shatters as the glowing red approaches.
Small and thin.
It rises.
Lines up.
A soft crunch.
Pressure on my eye.
Pain.
Sizzling.
A groan rises into a scream.
It hurts my ears.
The world spins.
I feel nauseous.
The heat turns cold.
Numbing till I can’t feel.
It pulls away.
Staring at me in the only one left.
Inching closer, wanting me to watch.
It forces me to open my eye.
A sizzle as my ears ring.
Everything black.
Pain everywhere.
A far laugh and an echo of small footsteps.
