V i s i o n s

2019

Front Cover Vincent Chiusano Middletown HS South

Grade 9

The Literary & Visual Arts Magazine of

Arts High School & Arts Middle School Volume 15, 2019

Visions 2019

Presents

Art Work Vincent Chiusano Front Cover Yeongju Won 1 Jennifer Walthers 1 3D Visual Arts 1 Valerie Kersting 3

Allison Zhou 6 Mandee Dong 9 Ekaterina Kraus 10 Sanika Godbole Wilson 11 Kevin Yu 11 Gwyneth Gherzan 12 Pranavi Pothuganti 12 Pooja Menon 17 Vincent Chiusano 19 Clarise Bishop 22 Laci Griffin 19 Brandon Martin 22 Jordan Dotoli 25 Mahmoud Elzayat 25

Photography

Charli Tucker 4 Rida Karim 5 Jenna Gervase 11 Isha Shrivastava 12 Molly Logan 13 Janiz Parra 14 Nicole Papay 16 & 20 Talula Dechev 21 Katherine Rodriguez 22

Creative Writing

Vishwa Bhatt 2 Lilah Moore 4 Christopher Caccavano 5 Elizabeth Sargeant 6 Enweani Okaro 7- 8 Sara Baheti 9 Joseph Chaves 9 Antonio Somma 14 Juliet Felice 15 Maxine Zahler 17 Adriana Ayvaz 18 Celeste McKenzie 23-24 Kavya Venkatesan 24

1

Yeongju Won JP Stevens HS

Grade 12

Middlesex County Arts MS 3D Visual Arts Class

Jennifer Walthers Howell Twp HS

Grade 12

2

Vishwa Bhatt Monroe Township H.S

Grade 10

GLASS BODY I am tired of wearing a dress made of glass And being called fragile for it. Tell me: Who else could endure the sun on her back for half a year And frost on her face for the second half? I lay down the world for you to see and you do not bother to look I hold for you every miracle ever known but you do not notice I give you sun, earth, sea, sky and every curious thing in between. Human hearts shatter far more easily than mine. Why do you call me delicate for every time my body breaks? Child, I carry the soul of Mother Earth in my gaze.

3

Valerie Kersting Hoover MS

Grade 8

4

INK

Behold the ink of the motherless story

Watch the flow of the words as they wake

Admire the adventures unfolding below you

As you write the feet of tales untold

You’ll let the ink dance from one page to the next

Until the thrill comes to an end and you lay down your pen

All you had was ink in your sanity

And now you have a new history

Lilah Moore Neptune MS

Grade 8

Charli Tucker Sandburg MS

Grade 8

5

Humanity’s Fate

A future of war is set before my eyes, And the world is stricken with famine in fighting.

Airships fly overhead and drop bombs from the skies. Countries are at war and guns are igniting.

The people are locked in their homes in despair,

As disease spreads and relentlessly batters them. Depression has taken hold with the world in warfare, And the internet is but a place where hate can stem.

The world is in ruins and so is humanity. Humans have caused this because of their greed,

And now all have been stripped off their sanity. Our species dying like a withering weed.

There are many paths which the future can take, And it's up to us to choose the one that we make

Christopher Caccavano Edgar MS Grade 7

Rida Karim North Brunswick Twp HS

Grade 9

6

Allison Zhou Wilson MS

Grade 8

Elizabeth Sargeant

Central School Grade 8

What is humility

That moment of retractability

A moment of shame

When you get the blame

That is humility

What is humility

A lack of gracility

You feel demeaned

Reduced self-esteem

That is humility

What is humility

Loss of respectability

The laughs of the crowd

Insults said out loud

That is humility

HUMILITY

7

1 Because I can still remember the track meets, Where our greatest fears only consisted of running close to our p.r.’s and hoping that we don't get shin splints the night before We gave each other piggy-back rides and raced our teammates. I'm glad I was one of the lighter ones. He was always my partner I'm taller than him but since then I've never been able to get the taste of clouds out of my mouth.

2 Because I remember our 8th grade formal, We were all dancing like idiots, drunk on cheap soda and not so cheap ice cream He decided to reveal his true identity. Maybe it was the cheap soda or maybe it was the lack of air conditioning But he ripped open his overpriced dress shirt and underneath lay his emblem on a blue shirt. That's when the real party started.

3 Because he might be the only person, I can sit and talk to for hours on end about how amazing Thor is and how underrated the scarlet witch is. I don’t think he realizes how heated he gets. He’s a geek, but I think it’s cool.

WHY I CAN’T HAVE SUPERMAN

8

4 Because I analyzed the exact shade his eyes are They’re this pale crystal blue. They have lines going through them like cracks. Eyes are supposed to show what's on the inside, so I asked him who broke them. He wouldn’t tell me. I hope he does eventually.

5 Because he’s so nice.. I hate using that adjective But I don’t know how else to describe him. I was trying to find a flaw, so I could finally get over it. It was harder than I thought, but I found it

6 Because he’s totally clueless. I dropped hints for months on end. He didn't notice. Just my luck, I find someone as oblivious as I am. All those people dropping me hints Shooting their shots I didn’t notice, he didn't notice Karma’s bitch.

7 He’s straight.

Enweani Okaro Sayreville WMHS

Grade 11

9

UNTITLED HAIKU

My childhood’s days passed Faster than a speeding car Degenerating

Joseph Chaves Hoover MS

Grade 7

Mandee Dong Carteret MS

Grade 7

10

Ekaterina Kraus Sayreville MS

Grade 7

11

Kevin Yu Wilson MS

Grade 8

Sanika Godbole Wilson MS

Grade 8

Jenna Gervase Old Bridge HS

Grade 12

12

Gwyneth Gherzan Highland Park MS

Grade 8

Pranavi Pothuganti Wilson MS

Grade 8

Isha Shrivastava Linwood MS

Grade 8

13

Molly Logan Sayreville MS

Grade 6

14

Janiz Parra North Brunswick Twp HS

Grade 11

Antonio Somma Sandburg MS

Grade 8

Hearts begin to race

As our feet commence a shake

Emotion kept in

Maybe letting out a sigh

With only our reasons why

FEELINGS OF ANXIOUSNESS

15

Pride.

You see the flags,

You know the stories.

Pride.

I’ve seen the flags,

I know the stories.

Pride is love.

Pride is life.

Pride is embracing hate, fear, and danger

And letting it be.

It’s expressing yourself.

Wear it on your bracelets,

In your hair,

On your clothes.

It is in God’s great plan,

It’s woven in the sky.

Pride is love,

Pride is beauty.

Pride is truth.

Pride is embracing all of who you are,

Spreading your broken wings,

And soaring off into the glassy, rainbow-tinted sky.

PRIDE

Juliet Felice Wall IS Grade 6

16

Nicole Papay Neptune HS

Grade 10

17

Maxine Zahler Avon ES Grade 6

The secret inside the crate may shout, But its cries aren’t heard, I made them mute, I may be tempted to let them out, But the consequences aren’t worth the brute.

Although the darkness swallows me whole, And for months and months I’ve given up fighting, My emotions and feelings and what it stole, All inspired me to draft this writing.

So if there were to be a lesion, I apprise you not to repeat my mistake, The secret made my dignity lessen, Since all I am is just a fake.

THE SECRET Pooja Menon Monroe Twp HS

Grade 9

18

I try to look past the stardust in your eyes,

and the longing in your heart; wishing for me to

stay, wanting me to never leave,

but I end up here again,

the crossroads.

And I don't know where to go.

Right is freedom,

but left is love.

Fake, but still, love.

And it's everything I've wanted since I was little,

and my bags just seem to fit in this house,

with you.

So, I lean for the left road.

I take a step,

but I see the fog covering the path.

The branches, and roots,

growing out from the ground.

Then suddenly I'm running.

Away from the left road.

Away from the fake love.

Away from you.

The beams at the end of the right path

blind me.

They're pulling me in.

So, I take it.

I don't regret it

Adriana Ayvaz Salk MS Grade 8

DIVERSION

19

Vincent Chiusano Middletown HS South

Grade 9

Laci Griffin Freehold IS

Grade 8

20

Nicole Papay Neptune HS

Grade 10

21

Talula Dechev Neptune HS

Grade 12

22

Katherine Rodriguez Maxson MS

Grade 8 Clarise Bishop Middletown HS North

Grade 10

Brandon Martin Edison HS Grade 10

23

My bare back touches the grass, it's needle-like

touch leave scratches on my skin

But I am too focused on the clouds to care

Too focused on the girl who stares back at me and

she looks nothing like me

But somehow I know that we are one and the same

A warm feeling envelops me

Wraps its arms around my fragile body

Like a blanket on a cold winter day

I am satisfied

I don't need to be told I'm worthy

For I already know

And it whispers absolutely nothing

But it tells me the world

I'm not sure of many things, but I know that

the cloud hasn’t moved in hours and it blinks

And I think it's a real girl now I think all these

things and I am not sure

All I am sure of is this moment and how I feel

For that is the one thing that is truth, that no

one can steal as their own

I run free and dance

All while trapped in a cage of tears

And though my mind may wage war on me

It fights on my behalf as well

It owes me its life so I owe it nothing

My failure was in being born

And yet it caresses me and holds me, letting

my tears spill

BLISS

24

Celeste McKenzie Linwood MS

Grade 8

Scratching its sharp claws down my neck, and I

don't know if this is a total pain or absolute love

My eyes flutter shut

I don't want to open them again because I know if

I do she will be gone

Never to have existed

I know what this is

It is bliss a stupid comforting an untrustworthy

bliss

Spite of rain or shine

Plant is still anchored to ground

Slowly flourishing

STRONG NO MATTER WHAT

Kavya Venkatesan Sandburg MS

Grade 7

25

Jordan Dotoli Ocean Twp HS

Grade 10

Mahmoud Elzayat North Brunswick Twp HS

Grade 11

Dedication

This anthology is dedicated to all the Arts High School and Arts Middle School students

and to the teaching artists whose talents, inspiration, and dedication

make these programs possible.

26

154 Main Street Suite 102 Matawan, NJ 07747 Phone: (732) 566-2787 Fax: (732) 566-2005 Email: info@ArtsAndEdCenter.org

Web Site: www.ArtsHigh.net

This program has been made possible in part by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.