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Pandemic Poetry: Listen To BRHS Students Read Their Work During National Poetry Month

Patrick Williams

April is National Poetry Month. To celebrate, KYUK is airing original poems by Bethel Regional High School students. The students wrote and recorded the poems as part of a poetry class this semester. Many of the pieces reflect the students’ experiences navigating the coronavirus pandemic.

TUNDRA  
by Eli Mortensen
My white blanket, a shimmering spectacle
In the light that cuts through gaps
In the long spindly spruce fingers stretching over me.
The bleak arctic air seeps through my skin
Of moss and lichen
Crisp and clear, the sky hanging vast above me
Alone, I am the wild.

ISOLATION
by Kyle Valade
In Isolation
Three weeks feel like three years
It was exciting at first
No more classes, feet up, all the free time
But now
While we sit in our homes, there continues
A rising line
A chart that has the world on lockdown
With no alarm clock
We can’t wake up and press snooze
This isn’t a dream
this is history
And so we wait
In isolation

STRIDE
by Joshua Putikka

I
Worms
are not the only creepy-crawly
creatures in the park.
One lucky snail
has found a wild strawberry plant.
The slimy gastropod is breathless
like novice ghost hunters.
Sedulous
Relentless

II
Unforgiving for the hills I’ve conquered.
This park is full of trees,
now they are bushes.
Three Z’s of relaxation,
leaf’s gliding. Follow the leader.
Nature is loud out here,
the birds, the wind, the water.
The five-stage video game.

NIGHTFALL
by Rio Dela Cruz
Later, in the twilight of the night
Bats leave their roots under bridges and street lights
Like an eel creeping out of their watery burrow
In the darkness of obscurity
A man standing in the alley
Slow cars with tinted windows
A heartless scream is heard
In the lightlessness of silence

MOSQUITOES
by Racquel Slim
Buzzing mosquitoes are plentiful.
           They
come and go
                                  as they please.
Feeding on prey
until satisfied and
           full.
The only way to protect yourself
is to step up
like a fierce bee.

NATURE POEM
by Kaden King
Bethel is a small bit of land
In the northwestern United States.
Rising out of the hoarfrost are
Antlers of a powerful bull.
As the morning fog glistened over the Alaskan fireweed
Light water droplets gently landed on forget me nots.
Soaring Willow Ptarmigan come in to land softly on the uneven tundra
As the Alaskan summer sun ties to set.

TUNDRA SAGUARO
by Alexis Kinegak
The saguaro is more like a crowded village than a plant.
Many areas forever connected,
never apart
from left to right
up
and down
Who knows where the lines in the snow will go
and
the trails keep on growing
My home my land.

student_poetry_compilation_2.mp3
BRHS Student Poems - Part 2

HUNGER by Lindsey Beans Polk

This fur is my coat
Fierce and fearless.
My throne.
The fear you fight to hide
beneath your frozen face.
Your eyes meet my fiery golden eyes.
My power.
The dusted black blanket in the sky
Is my comfort.
And you are in my silver kingdom.
Your feet stand grounded to this mountainside
Clenched snouts scowl.
We hear the cowering heart pounding.
Paws pounce
Forming a cloud of flour
Among this shimmering foiled lake.
Airbound.
Cutting through the wisps
Of frosted drops
You are mine

DIFFERENT BUILDINGS
by Adriana Chimiugak
The buildings of the city stretched skyward
Reaching up towards the clouds.
Building takes time and energy.
Every building in the city is manmade.
During this process
There are times where you have to make difficult sacrifices.
When constructed, it’s all planned out
And it’s not done without a blueprint.
There’s a story behind everything that was built.
Each building is unique
With their different shape and color choices.
Some are trying to reach the sunlight,
But don’t succeed because they didn’t believe they could.

DARKNESS TO LIGHT
by Hayden Lieb                                                      
As the blistering cold spears everything in sight
Beware of what’s lurking in the lonely and quiet wild
Cabins in the gloomiest of black shrouded from my vision
Dazed wolves scream and speak to each other throughout the desolate wilderness
A single movement can change the outcome of you escaping the shadow
For the long skinny fingers that hover above everything that roams in the dark
Gripping white powder that covers the earth changing with the coming of light
Happiness grows in the turning of a new day
Light awakes from the other side of the face

CORONA VIRUS AKA COVID-19
by Canaar Charlie
Chasing away dreams, plans, and everyday lives
Obsessing over the attack of innocent bodies
Robbing the freedom of exploration.
Oh, the thought of when it’ll end.
Negatively affecting the minds of humans
And causing fear

FIRST THOUGHTS
by Tatyana Avugiak
March begins
with sunny skies.
Schools are closed
as sickness rolls.
Living through this history
all these people
sanitizing and cleaning
thoughts running in my head
especially for these elders
and also for the infants
death rate rising
as I’m hoping all of this stops
bringing May with some joy!

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
by Kyle Valadez
From all over the desert, animals and birds walk,
crawl and fly to the Saguaro.
It brings wealth and prosperity to life.
A waterfall without a roar in a bowl of dust.
A parcel of land in an unforgiving sea.
But soon, the animation of the Saguaro will be drained
No longer able to nurture
From all over the desert, animals and birds walk,
Crawl and fly to the Saguaro

Gabby Hiestand Salgado is the Multimedia Director for KYUK