PACS Student’s Poem Asks “How can someone just hang up my feelings like that?"

"Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire." — William Butler Yeats

Poetry has existed for nearly 5,000 years. Long before writing was implemented as a tool, poetry served an oral tradition used to aid memory for transmitting history, rituals and myths. Today, the principles of poetry are woven into music lyrics, dance, film and even visual arts like painting. And poetry can be found across other mediums, including popular social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

Earlier this week, Passport Academy held a poetry workshop for students as a way to recognize National Poetry Month. Students experimented with blackout poetry and chose printed images as inspiration for their work. The goal of this workshop was to build excitement and encourage student attendance at Passport Academy's upcoming Open House on April 17th from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm. This open house will, in part, discuss how Passport Academy supports literacy and reading. In addition, families will have the opportunity to meet our staff and community partners, ask questions about enrollment, and learn about senior projects.

Passport Academy teachers like Cayla Sebastian have the honor of helping students hone their poetry talents, and there’s no better time to honor and recognize those talents than National Poetry Month. To celebrate, we’re proud to share a poem from Nyae (Sunny) Brock, a student of Ms. Sebastian’s.

Dylan Thomas once said, “Poetry is what in a poem makes you laugh, cry, prickle, be silent, makes your toenails twinkle.” We think Nyae’s poem accomplishes all of this.

Drowning in Color

~By Nyae (Sunny) Brock

An amazing artist is like god to humans

All the beautiful artwork selling well

Customers coming in left to right

Admiring such creative pieces,

That makes people display a wide smile

across their cheeks

Each piece showing emotion and depth

Leaving some pondering

On why the paintings are so virtuous

None realizing, the emotional art coming

from internal pain

Masked in gloomy…I meant bright colors

Covering the blanked mind…I mean canvas

Layered with anger, sadness, depression,

and anxiety…

I meant pink, yellow, blue, and orange

Painting over it again and again each coat

lathered with stress

Sorry…I mean love

Brushes dipped in water for a clean slate

Then submerged with the same sulky colors

But I mean, who cares right?

This painting would look so good on my

living room wall

No this painting is perfect on the shelf in

my bedroom

How can someone just hang up my

feelings like that?

Plastered onto those stupid white

popcorn walls for decoration

Stress, anxiety, anger, depression shown

as yellow, blue, pink, and orange

All in my thoughts as I say aloud “I hope

you like it!” That would be 39.99.