Poetry Exhibit

Check out the awesome poems we have received so far! To submit your own poem, email it to poetry@durhamlibrary.org!

Nightly by Jenna Ulizio , Age 15

Verse swells in a desolate city.
The sun lays it’s final hues askew.
A silence hums.
There is nothing.
When I’m stretched,
I’ll build a ladder to the Sun,
and escape the atmosphere.
The night swells as
we get in character.
Dreams imploding on paper.
We all carry the death of stars in our bodies.
Fill my eyes with pools of oily constellations,
a map of dead dancers
performing for fans they’ll never meet.
The sickly sweet cycle reciprocates,
dragging me through the day.
Lay me out,
molecule by molecule.
Lose my name in a nebula of time.
This is life.
That’s all I have to say tonight.

VIRUS OF 2020 by Sophie Cassarino, Age 17

Sifting through seasons the summers and springs
Wring out the weeks and months of cold and chilly breeze.
Sneeze and god-bless-you, sneeze and oh-dear,
Fear of the cold and the flu coming near.
But here is a demon far worse than before
Short was its warning and swift was its course.
Forced sneezing brings staring,
Involuntary fear.
Here one goes down, 
Now the whole town
Drowns in disarray.
Away with spring and the happy thoughts it brings.
Now sing seclusion and suspicious cancellations,
Elations of staying home for the day.
Disarray leaning forward
Toward families and unity
Eventually it gets to me and burrows in my heart.
Apart from mind it attacks me in the heart.
Apart from mind it attacks me in my heart.
I start to say “it’s okay,
Today I have nothing to fear.”
But here is a demon far worse than before.
Short was its warning and swift was its course.
I force myself to lie awake,
Forsaking waking dreams of the summers and springs.
Here sings the song of an old god of fear.
Here is a paean of the new god of fear.    

Shades of Gray by A.L. Liss, Age 13

Black or White?
Good or Evil?
Questions always asked
But no one thinks to look between
The place where all truth lies
Where neither is neither
But instead
The world comes in shades of gray

Some say I’m one way
Some say another
But I say this and only this
What are we but gray?

Some people taste the Goodness
Of a sob
And some taste the Evil
From a laugh
But I taste only Gray
There are others who see only black
Yet others who see just the white
But I see only Gray

At a crossroads we shall meet
When birth is in a sky as pink as cherry blossoms
And where the clouds continue crying
And which path shall you take I will ask
And no matter what you say
You are human are you not?
So you shall take
The path of gray

Black by Daphne Liss, Age 9

Black is a pit that never ends
Black is ink you use with a pen
Black is a shadow that follows you around
Black is just a tiny sound
Black is smoke coming out of a stack
Black is a burnt little snack
Black is a light flickering in a room
Black is a tire going zoom zoom zoom
Black is the night sky shimmering with stars
Black is a spaceship going to Mars