April 24

“Their Blood, My Blood” by Adam Bourke – Winner of Junior category

Stones mark Irish which lowly lay, 

away from the fields and streets 

where blood is shed on rebellion day 

rest now quietly, never knowing 

defeats. 

 

 I pass stones in Boneyard roadside, 

my heart flows their blood, my own! 

To them debt owed, deed swelled pride. 

My family name, carved upon stone. 

 

For freedom, for liberty, no cost too high, 

wide fields and streets red with desire, 

rage of all Ireland once trembled the sky 

to control our own destiny, all we require! 

 

I am an Irishman, able to make choices, 

no distant entity to make life hateful. 

Forever and all time, I will hear Irish voices,  

the sacrifice immortal, green coloured grateful.

 

April 20

“BLACKS AND WHYS” – By Sinethemba Masina (Written for Performance)

Looking for what it means to be alive,

is a search that must start early, right?

On the search in this world of blacks and whys,

shining light, we use these flashless lights.

 

*expressions like you can’t find the fitting word*

Well,

not really light but these things that light our world up

make colors bloom like neon lights.

*relief, you found the word*

Glowsticks! exactly, right…

they’re fun in the black and somewhat bright,

till you realize you need to use them to search for that answer about life.

 

On the ground barely seeing,

you could only find

from the way you see people live their lives,

what they do,

how they’re getting by,

You conclude:

It’s happiness

*with a joyous smile*

That we should all be on a quest to find

what makes us glad and merry,

feeling happy inside.

 

In those little things that the glowstick is able to shine its light

along with the multitude of people who carry the same things to find

keep searching your life to light it up.

 

*leave the stage and act like it’s over*

*whisper audibly*

NO

*then come back*

 

Something is still missing inside,

see,

I have all the happiness and all those merry feelings inside,

but it doesn’t scrape the surface of the kind of answer I’m looking for,

So, I dropped it

& grew to love what I found to be around me,

Darkness,

But still,

I sought that little light

So I could find this answer,

I’m dying to know

 

So I picked up a telescope & gazed at the stars

The glitter that never falls off the surface of the sky,

(Or so I thought)

& the one who smiles, who is the smallest among them,

But looks big to me

shone a little light on some faces including mine,

Knocked off my socks & out of my mind.

Shocker that I never got cold feet

When I knew this was of the nature of darkness

Blacks and whys

So I concluded:

 

That life means to know yourself

& follow what you discover you are for yourself

And stand by it

Follow your heart

Shun anyone who stands in the way & be proud

 

*then walk off the stage frowning*

*stop*

*then shake your head & come back*

 

You knew I’d be back right,

Because

although it seems that the answer was received,

Can’t shake the gut that tells me that I’m being deceived.

By the world and how I feel.

Surely

I’m not the only?

Elon Musk,

The richest rich can be,

With everything he wants at the flex of an apple,

Asks the same question.

 

How dare I be satisfied?

When I know I’m missing something deep inside?

Or how can I be, how will I be,

No longer asking how I could be,

But deep down,

Seeing from the way I still breathe,

You know for sure

I’m still searching.

 

Although I see faces,

Something I was born having.

And some of what they say is true about me.

I wonder,

Is that what I’m really meant to be?

Self-centered, self-seeking, evil.

Then cover it up with the good things I do so I won’t have to suffer the screams of my conscience to be free from me.

Although I try, she keeps …

Her voice

It’s not silent,

But you and I can’t hear

So it’s not a sound

It’s screaming, but it’s not my mind

It’s in anguish

But it’s not my heart,

Have you heard it?

That same concerning person

is the one who keeps asking all the time,

“WHAT IS MISSING?”

 

It’s like at the dinner table,

Everything is set,

Everyone there,

But someone missing.

Who’s name, you don’t know.

The most important member at the table.

Although I’m present,

It seems that maybe it’s me.

 

 

Or the best version of myself!

But I’ve been there,

Or where the world things that to be:

Gorgeous, adored, beloved, on it, that thang 💅👁👄👁

You know,

It all seems good.

But that voice knows that,

That’s not me

and it never lies.

Many times I seek ways to deny

But I can’t bare the pain to run and hide

Who am I?

Why is life?

Blacks and whys?

 

*open a window or switch on the light*

 

Light!

Wow!

I remembered the only other that never lies,

Indeed, I’ve always been afraid to be exposed.

All along the best light was there,

I just wanted to create my own way to be alright.

That light always called my name,

But in my pride, I looked away.

Because it was the kind of light that would reveal all that I intend to hide

 

Sick of all my efforts to try and find the answers and invent them for me.

 

Have you ever heard the phrases:

Make your own truth & follow your heart.

 

Anything you’d have to make up is a lie.

 

More good feelings were not what I was missing in life.

I’ve known what I thought to be everything about me and all those who surrounded me,

But man that’s foolish.

Who looks into the mirror for assurance under the light of the distant stars

And believes all they see is all there is to know?

Wow!

Light!

I was missing Jesus.

December 1

“The Lady of the Lake” by Noah Murtagh (2nd Year) – Horror Short Story

“‘Lady of the lake’ was an old wives tale, a story to scare the children into behaving. Legend has it the vengeful spirit of La Loroma, Mexican widowed noble-woman, would return from her shallow grave, which overtime was eventually enveloped in the water of Larson lake, every Halloween, steal the face of a woman’s husband and pose as him for as long as she felt, then she would enamor the wife, forcefully leading her down to join la’Loroma in her watery grave. But of course, it’s just a myth, a mere story“.

Brooke hovered her hand indecisively over the keyboard before rubbing her eyes and slamming the laptop shut. It was this book that would make her financially stable again, it had to be. She got up and tiredly stumbled to the kitchen, oh boy she could just chug a coffee right now, the caffeine rush could get her writing double time. Brooke put the kettle on and sat up onto the counter, she took out her hearing aid and felt the delicious comfort of total silence. No ringing in her ears, no half hearing what people say, the scary solitude of total silence.

The kettle clicked and she walked over to it, hugging herself from the cold. She dropped a teaspoon of coffee into the hot water and let it brew. Then the voice in the back of her head piped up, “pour the coffee on your arm hunny, just feel the bliss of pain for a minute”. Brooke’s hand trembled on the cup, she put it down, reached shakily up to her cabinet and swallowed a few pills. The voice faded.

And then, breathing on the back of her neck. She swung round, connecting her elbow to something squishy, her husband clenched his stomach and presumably gasped. She grabbed her hearing aid, and sound rushed back into her reality, “hey ba..be” her husband Xavier said. Brooke crouched down to soothe him, “was on my lunch break and said I’d stop in” he groaned. They embraced and Brooke went back to her coffee business as Xavier heaved himself on to the couch. “You’re strong as hell,” he laughed. “Nope your just dramatic,” she responded. Brooke went over to get her coffee, as she picked it up she felt a voice creep into her head, “I’m the only thing you’ll ever hear clearly,” it said. “So just succumb to me”.

Brooke clutched at her head, and shrunk down to the floor, rocking, crying. “Get out of me,” she muttered. Xavier went to help but got a right hook to the jaw for his efforts. A familiar woman slowly began to form in front of her, the one from her usual hallucinations, everything was still. Xavier, unmoving in mid-air. Time was still. Brooke scrambled for the medicine cabinet. She pulled at it but it wouldn’t budge, she felt a blow to the back of her knee and she buckled, she turned her head to see a familiar woman, dawning a white nightgown. “Brooke darling, why won’t you take my hand, succumb to me. I can cure you, make you whole. Don’t you feel empty Brooke?” Brooke tried to stand but her legs didn’t cooperate.

“Walk with me Brooke, see what I have to show you”. Suddenly Brooke could stand again, she followed the woman to the broken splintered front door of her suddenly dilapidated house. Outside was a winding twisting forest, different to the usual urban street she lived on.

Brooke followed the woman down the path, with each step was a different emotion that overcame her. Then, they reached a pool of water, a sort of oasis. Within were about ten drowning women, Brooke fought the urge to join them. The lake dissipated and they continued to walk, no matter how much she tried she couldn’t stop following.

Next, they arrived at a door, within was a woman giving birth. Brooke’s mom. Brooke felt tears brimming in her eyes as she watched herself take her first breath, as her mother took her last. “You were easy,” the woman said “tragedy was destined for you, paved into your life, and I needed somebody to keep me on this ethereal plane, a vessel to stop me from passing through the veil. So I chose you, the girl with so many problems that nobody would believe if she said la loroma was inside her”. Brooke closed her eyes, “you’re not real,” she said. “Oh baby I’m way too real” the woman replied.

They continued to Walk and suddenly Brooke could see every tragedy from her life, every feeling, every emotion, the house fire, the car crash, the murder, the genocide. Brooke froze and la loroma smiled, “I think I broke you enough,” she smiled. “Make it stop,” Brooke moaned. “I can, just take my hand… succumb,” la loroma replied. Brooke looked down at her trembling hands, she’d never felt

anything like this before, never heard somebody so clear. So she held out her hand and became one with la loroma.

Suddenly everything was back, her house was normal, she was on her bed, she could hear Xavier in the living room. Except, Brooke was just the voice in la loromas head, la loroma had succeeded, she’d returned. “Xavierrr,” she called. “I have a killer surprise for you”.