You Can't Have it All

But you can have the breeze gently strike your face, refreshing you after an intense practice. You can have the sweet sound of a flawless shot entering the hoop, touching nothing but net. You can have the sound of basketball shoes squeaking against the wooden floor. You can have an unconditional friend who understands you no matter how much you change; music. You can have your dog jumping on your lap, with its tongue out, begging to play with her. You can have the birds singing their sweet melody at 5:30 Am as you’re eating breakfast. You can have all your family squished into a three person couch frantically screaming at the TV screen as a boxer gets knocked out. You can chat with friends for hours which seem like minutes. You can have fresh lemons in your garden to make the most refreshing, thirst quenching lemonade. You can head bang to a guitar riff and air drum to a drum solo. You can have a long bus ride providing you with just enough time to finish homework you forgot to do. You can see people’s perplexed faces as you say you have 8 siblings. You can answer “work” when people ask what you did in class, and get a kick out of it every time. You can get mistaken for a classmate all the time. You can lie in a hammock and drift off into sleep, leaving behind all your worries. You can chase the paletero all the way to the other neighborhood just for an Eskimo pie. You can scream “Not in my house!” as you block the shot of an opponent. You can dream of being a cowboy astronaut football player. You can have a personal handshake with every friend. You can watch the underdog, surface with renewed hope to beat the best team. You can watch your 78 year old grandpa going up to the 20 year old cashier ladies and flirting with them, reciting them poems, and singing songs to them. You can have a grandpa that prefers walking a mile to the store than being taken by car. You can see Kobe Bryant making a buzzer beater leading Lakers to a win. You can get an A on a dreaded test, without the need of studying. You can’t be the best from the start, but you can strive for it, practice every day leaving sweat and hope in the field, so one day, just maybe you can be the star.

Poetry Notebook

War may be thought of as an uncivilized way of solving issues. But when there are no options left, it has to be done. There is always a positive side about everything though, war evokes feelings, and those feelings are made into poems, some of the best poems.


Memorial Day for the War Dead by Yehuda Amichai

The War Works Hard by Dunya Mikhail


Waiting for the Barbarians by C.P


The Fall of Rome by W.H. Auden


For the Union Dead by Robert Lowell

The Diameter of the Bomb by Yehuda Amichai

Fugue of Death by Paul Celan

Eighth Air Force by Randall Jarrell

Colonial Cream-Benjamin Moore OC-77

Rich, old men and
Their wives living
The final stage of life
Nothing to live for anymore.

Like English Royalty,
In their castle.
Not being able to let loose,
Drinking tea, talking
About current events.

The neighborhood desolate,
Aside from the men with
Bald or grey hair,
Their skin saggy,
Like bread dipped in milk.

The clinking of the walkers
Is the only sound, no bikes,
No children screaming,
Only the sound of death.
Near.

All the houses the same
Monotonous color.
A cream which portrays
Dullness and sorrow.

The youth gone,
Nothing else remains.
Only wrinkles, and no control
Over their bladder.

It is now filled with
Youth and happiness,
But I’m not there,
To claim my prize.

The Diary of a Young Girl

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank


Publisher: Pocket Books/Washington Square Press

Genre: Non fiction
Where I got it: From the middle school library, had heard a lot about this book before.

One sentence summary: This book shows the attempt of Jewish families to hide from the atrocities of the Nazi, unfortunately they are found and send to a concentration camp, Anne dies, and so does all the Frank family except the father who published the book.

First sentence of the book: On Friday, June 12th, I woke up at six o’clock and no wonder; it was my birthday.

First Chapter Review: Anne is telling how her life is, this is before the holocaust. She doesn’t really trust in anyone much, so she hopes that this diary she got for her 13th birthday will listen to her, this chapter only talks about her as a normal girl, not anything about Nazi’s.

Verdict: This was an interesting book, got boring at times since it wasn’t action packed, but enjoyable. Would I recommend it? Yes, but if you are a person who likes action don’t go for this book, you will abandon it halfway through.


Cover Comments: The cover only shows the face of Anne Frank, she seems to be sad, but the context of the picture’s setting or time is not clear.