My Love - Union Catholic Regional High School

Expressions
“Patience and fortitude conquer
all things.”
-Emerson

Expressions
Union Catholic Regional high School
Scotch Plains, NJ
Spring 2011
Cover Design—Christina Otero
Moderators –Ms. Sarah Caddle
Ms. Charity Robertrson

Table of Contents:
A Prayer for Patience by Miss Patty Nuwer
Ode to My Cereal by Chris Rivera
Ode to My Contact Lenses by Alexandra Rojas
The Book Thief by Taylor Diken
Writing a Story with You by Chris Rivera
Dreamscapes by Lahens Richeme
The love between friends by Kayla Ruffin
Matthew by Matthew Isidron
The Rock by Andre Hines
Art work by Charlie Peach
Take Me Too by Beatriz Almeida
Way to Your Love by Devine Eke
Night by Alexa DaSilva
Matthew by Matthew Isirdon
Summer on the Beach by Jane Ortolani
My Pencil Case by Michael Gomes
My Love by Jasmine Holmes
Art Work by Shaheena Shahid ?
Union Center Night by Galo Pozzo
Me Against the World by Jamad Nash
Soaring Through The Milky Way by Ryan Gerhart
Ball Park by Michael Cusick
My Love by Tiara Barrat
War Poem by Andrew Hines

Swimming by Matthew Isidron
Beautiful Sketches by Kayla Ruffin
The Fear I have by Joao Sousa
A Champions Game by Ethan Tid
The Sea by Lahens Richeme
Jumpshot by Devine Eke
An Ode to My Ipod by Christina Otero
Girls by Carrianne Washington
Two lines by Galo Pozzo
Procrastination by Tom Pannone

A Prayer for Patience
By Miss Patty Nuwer
Time is of the essence; we cannot stop to wait.
Beauty unfolds around us, too rushed to appreciate.
Waiting for a phone call, waiting in line,
Fifteen minutes late – it’s after half past nine.
It was already explained twice; why can’t you understand?
Frustration mounts as the day is not quite turning out as planned.
You, Dear Lord, are patient; You don’t watch the clock,
Always willing to welcome and help us as soon as we knock.
Forgiving our sins, always ready to give us a fresh start,
Source of constant guidance and support…whenever we seek to open our
heart.
Opening Your arms to embrace us whenever we need –
Grace freely given in every word and deed.
Happiness is not measured each day in how much we accomplish or how
much we achieve.
Impatience makes us feel anxious and alone, trapped in the rapidly spinning
webs we weave.
Let us open our eyes to the moment and not rush our lives so fast,
Or we will miss seeing the joy and beauty until it has fleeted past.
May we allow patience to permeate our lives each day,
Just as God is always willing to wait until we are ready to seek His light
along life’s way.

Ode to My Cereal
By Chris River, NJ Council of English Teachers, School Wide Winner
Shop Rite tempted me with a sale
For a box of peanut butter flavored marbles
Quaker Oats labeled them Peanut Butter Crunch
I hope this sugar-dosed breakfast meal comes with a stupid, briefly entertaining
toy
It seems as if there was a bag of golden, oversized, blood-pressure-rising
sand grains inside this
Halloween orange box with the face of a child-terrifying pirate
Ignoring creepy figure and I poured a family of spheres
Watching as they all drown in the low fat milk,
Turning spongy and soggy,
Dying the milk with a cloudy yellow,
Awaiting their doom in my crushing cavities
So I grab my spoon to torture this crowd of peanut butter people
Spinning them around the ceramic dome decorated with SpongeBob
Squarepants and friends
While I doze upon the day’s upcoming plans
Forced them to board the stainless steel deliverer
As it entered my mouth, I heard their inanimate, crunchy screams
Trying to escape in the dental dark, back end of my jaw
The feast and slaughter has begun amongst the prisoners of that orange
box
Picked off one by one in some insane breakfast game
Nothing was halted until the Leviathan inside my bowels had enough
The moral of my ode is this:
Pain is often inflicted through subconscious
And the satisfaction it brings will always be selfish
When it is a matter of peanut butter balls
Made of artificial flavoring and high fructose corn syrup

The Love Between Friends
Kayla Ruffin
There is nothing more lovely
Than the love between friends
It is a special thing
It should never be broken
A friend is a person that you can depend on
A friend will always be there for you
A friend is closer than your own family
A friend sticks closer than glue
A friend is someone to laugh with
A friend is someone to tell secrets with
A friend is someone to relax with
A friend is honest and true
A friend will be there until the end
A friend will trust you and you trust them
There is truly nothing better in the world
Than the love between friends.

The Rock
When I step on the court I feel like I’m in another world,
I feel like the world around me has vanished and all I can see is the rim,
I don’t hear anything but the sound of the ball bouncing and the swish of the net when I shoot,
I get a feeling of control, I can control the game, myself, and the rock,
Left to right, between my legs, behind my back, the ball is a part of me wherever I go,
Pushing the ball from end line to end line, never stopping until I’m worn out,
I give the rock my blood, sweat, and tears and in return it gives me an escape,
An escape from the pressure and burdens that the world weighs on me,
An escape from temptation and adversity trying to break me,
All of these things want to take my humanity,
The rock just asks for is my love for the game, so why not give it that?
By: Andrew Hines

Take Me Too
There’s not much to say
I will stay
I won’t go
Not with you
And though you’re still far way
Somewhere, someday
You’ll say “Time to go”
I don’t know
~ Beatriz Almieda ~

“Way To Your Love”
By Devine Eke
Would climb the wall of an orchard, to find her
love would sign a contract to make our love official
To stout out my love with my feelings
After all I have amerce for fighting
To keep you your everything with me
Substance your emotion for little things
Expressing the justly feelings
Wherefore the times when we don’t see each other
Letting people doom to your head

Night: By Alexa DaSilva
There was a boy and his family
From where they came and turned into tragedy
Many where harmed and others were dead
In World War II where they laid their bed
Familes separated and torn apart,
For their fate was dommed from the start.
From the time they arrived to the time they left
The Nazis took all they had in theft.
Even through the struggles and cries
Eliezer and his father lived on to our surprise
With each obstacle, new solutions.
Even with the frequent redistributions
The fight for freedom was finally close
Until their final and last problem arose
Eliezer’s father, to sick and weak,
He couldn't even move his poor physique .
After he was gone Eliezer remained depressed and alone
That was until their own camp no longer was
combat zone
All the captives were finally free
No longer seen as a detainee
Hitler was no longer in power
No more Jewish culture to devour

“My Love” by Jasmine Holmes
My love is too powerful to be thrown back in my face
My love is too fast to compete in a race
My love is too unique to be replaced
My love is too deep to be misplaced
My love is too unknown to be traced
My love is something that can light up your face
My love my love my love
How can I have something I never felt?
My love is questionable that I don’t even know it myself

Union Center Night– Galo Pozzo
Pine Ave, shortcut between Morris Ave and Vauxhall Road
Two-story faded white house with the only carne frita con lentejas y plateno
frito
One block down sidewalks that trip off Emerson Road
Leading to the street light lit, bass rumbling, deserted Union Center
Italian Feasts occur September 14, 15, 16
True religion 32W by 31L exposing red checkered American Eagle Boxers
Extra Small Ed Hardy men equivalent to who knows, bold AX on shirts
White flakes fall from dry molested scalps of Got2B glued
Quick Check on corner of Morris and Stuyvesant; DJ Jayhood, Hit it to
the beat
Aroma of grapes pollute
Colonial red brick library plays instruments to the soft tones of “Silent
Night” Softly tucking away Nino’s Pizzeria and Stop and Shop
Taking strolls into Colonial two story homes surrounding
Letting himself enter as peace follows...for five minutes; whispering
Union Center; Farmers Central!
Father of diverse rebellious, gentle children of all ag-es
Ciao, hola, helo, Ola, and Czesc
Old age catching up
Swings twirl from one chopper chain
Cigarette butts cemented down on sidewalks
Glock pellets found by swing set
Sixth graders asking for a light
Policeman stalk the sagging, rebellious rhyme spitting man

“Me against the World”
Jamaad Nash
Me facing millions of others, my words against theirs
My actions vs. theirs, they shot me down when I’m
wrong
I do right but they treat me wrong, everyday it’s the
same song
The day is full
of gun smoke,
the nights are
sadly quiet
I’m used to my
maximum; I’m
tired of the
same thing
In the hot dessert
or cold
ocean,
My mind is
fried, my body
shivers
My actions are manual, my weapon shoots automatic
Win or lose, my confidence still rise
I never stride for a lost or finish in ties
The body of mines will never die
I’m a man of my word, I will never cry

Soaring Through the Milky Way
By Ryan Gerhart
I watch until the stars are absent from my path
Before I arise into the nebula
Soon I am soaring through the Milky Way
waving hello to Mars
connecting the dots of constellations with the tips of my fingers.
The lack of gravity causes my weightless body to linger in the
galaxy.
With no control of being consolidated which is what the cosmos
will remain.
But for now I try to conceptualize what
the world see’s from where it stands,
absolutely nothing, absent to the naked eye.

Ballpark
By Michael Cusick
The dirt of the warning track
Where the ball never lands
Pitching is the key to success
Behind coaching and hitting,
I was excited
Because I had my father’s glove
I’m just a fan in the crowd, not a player,
In a seat 10 rows away from the field
Blinded by stadium lighting
Looking through my binoculars:
Babe Ruth, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez,
Wish I was one of them,
Wanting to be a “star”-
But in reality I’m a student,
Another kid
To the fans they will lead
To the world championship
I crave to have another poster on my wall

My love can’t describe how much I feel for you
But on that one day which is marked in
The calendar by Valentine’s Day you broke my heart
You used to be my African King
And I was your Winter queen
But you see things change
We changed
Us isn’t really us
Because you let your friends come between “us”
And what we were
Now you see “us” is really just me
By myself
Still standing
Still believing in what we have
My Love
By: Tiara Barratt

“Swimming” by Matthew Isidron
Super-fast
Wanting my best times
In it to win it
My passion
Making Junior Olympics
Intense focus
Never giving up
Going for the gold!!!