Welcome to the Young Poet’s Corner!
Here, we share poems from students at Leaside High School, either members of the school’s Young Writers Club or students in the school’s Writers Craft classes. These poems offer insights into some of the issues that occupy young people and showcase their evolving creativity.
We thank Lauren Elizabeth Simmons, Assistant Curriculum Leader for Anti-Oppressive Education, Student Voice, Leadership and Engagement at Leaside High, for inspiring and helping to showcase young talent.
“a side by side”
You grew up with sunshines and rainbows.
You grew up going to school on your own,
the sidewalk has overgrown grass and dandelions.
You grew up having time to sit on the grass
with your friends during lunch hour.
You grew up somewhere cold but never felt cold.
You ate apples and bananas despite
it never being their season.
You slept with a bedtime story, knowing tomorrow
will be better than today.
I grew up with sunshine but I had a second sun
that was much closer.
I grew up going to school with my dad,
the sidewalk covered in bullets.
I grew up with snow no one could bear,
so we all stayed inside hiding from the cold,
but damn I knew it would sneak inside
through the thin walls.
I never ate apples or bananas
while it wasn’t their season,
and when the trees bloomed once,
my mother would shove it down my throat
telling it would be gone all too soon.
I slept with my grandmother’s soft humming,
knowing tomorrow might be my last.
— Zeina Nofal
Zeina Nofal is a Grade 12 student at Leaside High School.