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Malia Jan 2020
Remember when the sun shines bright
It is at it’s full potential height.
But when it’s light can reach us here,
It takes thousands of days, months, years.
Looking down at our puny planet,
Fill our seas with your life essence.
Must you take so long?
Malia Apr 2020
Only so much to save
Before it all goes away
But even then it’s so hard
To save all those we love.
So why do we think
That we can do all those
Superhuman things
When we all feel so helpless
Who’s gonna save us?
Malia Apr 2020
The sun
Peeks up
To say
Hello.

The salty water
Laps at
Your feet
Beckoning you
To submerge yourself
In it.

You jump in
The cold water
Your siren
Unforgiving.

The waves
Push you down
The light of dawn
Floating farther away.

You drift up to meet it
Brisk air
Gushing into
Your lungs.

Freedom
Never felt
So good.
Malia Nov 2019
I’m swimming with sharks
Leaving me in the dark
They try and limit
My limitless art
Don’t even start
Because these blood-red words
Come from swimming with sharks.
Malia Jan 27
i race across the boardwalk and
i taste the waves,
throw my phone into the ocean and
find some form of freedom—
whatever’s left will do! I’d do
anything to find out who i’m supposed
to be, i guess that should be me,
but i’ve never met that girl
(𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦?)
so instead i keep running and
you might ask from what but
only the Lord knows that and maybe
my tide-worn mother too but once
she tried to tame the frizz out
of my hair but it didn’t work because
she never expected to have a firecracker
for a daughter, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳
𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, but i left that all behind so i could
race across the boardwalk
and taste the waves, but now
i am here and somehow the salt
tastes bitter.
Malia Mar 2020
I know
You think I
Look weird.
I know
I’m staring.
But talking
Never works.
No one cares
To understand
Me.
So I have
Resorted
To telepathy.
Maybe if
I look at you
Enough,
You’ll see
The pain
In my eyes.
Malia Mar 2020
Tell me when to sit
Stop
Learn
Speak.

No
Don’t tell me what to do
Only I tell myself what to do.

Yet you scream
Within the large depth of my ear canal
“LISTEN TO ME”
“YOU ARE WRONG”

But no.
I am right.
Don’t tell me what to do.
You can shout my eardrums ******,
But your foul filth
Will never make it to my mind.
Malia Dec 2019
Tell me to stay
And I’ll run away
I cannot do
What you ask of me, dear.

Tell me not to cry
Yet tears leak out of my swollen eyes
Why are you crying?
You ask.
“Stop it.”
I can’t.

Stress is getting the best of me
Overwhelmed so much I can’t see
Mostly
Because my eyes are blurred by tears.
Malia Jan 2020
Sun tell me why
I can’t see the light
In all you illuminate
The darkness shining through.

Moon tell me why
I can’t find the peace
That you glow with every night
Cutting a hole in the blackness.

Stars tell me why
I haven’t found my lucky one yet
Tell me why
Your sparkle seems to evade my eyes
Your glimmer shining dull
Next to the missing piece of me.
Malia Mar 2020
Feelings are temporary
You should never act on feelings.
But is this correct?
I am unsure.
I think I would rather have a flawed world
With love
Than a boring one
Without it.
Malia Mar 4
This is the law that supersedes all
Other laws:
Thou shalt not complain.

Thou shalt have a successful career
𝘢𝘯𝘥
Shalt be a perfect mother.

Thou shalt be innocent and experienced,
Rebellious—
But not too much.

Thou shalt never need help.

Thou shalt never age
Yet maintain a veneer
Of self-acceptance.

Thou shalt not be overly
Emotional
But thou art not permitted to be
Robotic.

Thou shalt be assertive
But lo upon the woman
Who dares express anger.

Thou shalt have infinite patience.

Thou shalt be progressive without
Challenging the status quo.

Thou shalt carry thy burdens with
Immeasurable strength and without
Disintegration or failure.

And ye shalt do these things, that
Ye might become the 21st Century
Woman.
Malia Jan 2024
Bathed in the amber light
I watch these fields in slumber
Resting beneath scattered snow
As the music crescendos.

The mountains gleam in the distance
But every crevice and branch
Is coated in gold
Like a remnant of Midas’ touch.

Peace washes over me
A purifying, gentle force.
The sky’s tender blue
Kisses the horizon.
Malia Jun 28
Eleven-years-old should be bold and boyful
Joyful, jelly beans and snow on Christmas
Robert Frost’s birches, swinging on branches
Latching to hopes that have yet to become.

Seventeen should be dreaming, dress-up as grown-up
Growing and grinning and racing the time—
Sprint to the finish, and then look behind
Hours to minutes and seconds to breaths.

But his face had roundness that gave way to edges,
Glittering, forged from the weight of the press
How much can you take away from the boy?
You take and you take until there’s nothing left.

He howled at night, at the stars and the sky
He’d have pulled down the moon, if only he could
And he should, he ought to have clawed down the heavens
For the hole gaping wide, for a god who deserts.

And still, though he trembled, sweat slicking his skin
When he saw you watching, he gave you a grin.
It was tender, titanium, tenacious and thin
And tremulous, breaking apart in the wind.

His fingers pressed into the dirt and the dice
Then he gazed at you, O Fate, like a vise
His heart made of gold but his eyes made of ice
And he told you, O Fate:
“𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏.”
Malia Nov 2019
Thanks for an answer
That’s all I can ask for
When “knowledgeable” people
Don’t tell me anything
Thank you for answers
Thank you for hearing me
Thank you for listening
And not talking as much.
Malia Mar 2020
Problems cannot be cured
If the blind is those who assure.

If ignorance prevails
Humanity will undoubtedly fail.

But who will save us now
When nobody on Earth knows how?

How will we save humanity
When nobody can see?

Who will teach the youth how to live
When you don’t even know how to thrive?
Malia Aug 2023
Terribly
Terribly hot
“…No way…”
“…today was really…”
“..every day…”
“…she’s been acting so…”
The conversations
Blend and babble
Around me like
A brook and the bird-calls
In the mountain green
The leather seat
Sticks to my skin like glue
I bobble and bounce and I
ACK! Gosh **** turns!
on the school bus rn
Malia Dec 2023
Not worth the climb
Unless you’re scared of the fall.
Not worth the love
If you can lose it.
It doesn’t matter one bit
Because if you care at all
Deep down,
You must always choose it.

If you won’t miss
The one you adore
It’s limerence,
Infatuation,
Lust, not love.
If you can let it all slide
Between your fingers like sand
If there’s no ache when you say goodbye:

What’s it worth?
It’s not worth a dime, no time.
What’s it worth?
Nothing at all.
If it’s worth
Even a bit of your heart
Then it must leave a hole when it’s gone.
Inspired by the story of Alex Honnold
Malia Mar 2020
Scars are hidden behind this smile
Evil is hidden behind the good
But I shall not be vanquished
By my own darkness.
I shall not let it take over.
It shall not take over,
Yet I steadfastly believe
That the light should not mingle
With the likes of me.
Yet I steadfastly believe
That I do not deserve the light.
What a conundrum
I have found myself in.
Malia Mar 2020
Do you know
Where the wishes go
When the wishes are wished away?

Do you know
Where the hope goes
When sadness and pain
Drives it away?

Do you know
Where the knowledge goes
When people don’t want to hear it?

They go to the minds of the poets
So we might return it back
To the very people
Who banished it to the dark waters
Of hurt.
Malia Mar 2020
If enough people yell
And scream and they shout
They get what they want
And acceptance does sprout.

If enough people
Tell a single lie
It will be believed
And the truth will die.

If enough people
Hate a good person
Everyone will
They don’t need a reason.
Malia Mar 2024
𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘶𝘴.
It always works,
Doesn’t it?

But beware
When you cross that line
And nobody knows
What is true anymore.

The bandwagon
Sure is prone
To crashing.
Malia Mar 2020
People
Have a confounding ability
To hide our feelings
So much
That we no longer
Feel them.
Malia Oct 2019
Pharaoh told us to leave.
As we hurried gathering
What little possessions we had,
Unleavened bread baking in the oven
The smell of bread floating under our noses.

Pharaoh changed his mind
Sent his armies after us,
I can’t believe
We ever thought we were free.

I beg of Moses
DO SOMETHING
But he can’t
All we can do is wait for a miracle.

As the armies marched toward us
I could feel the vibrations of their feet
Then suddenly
Moses parted the seas!

Oh the joy that rushed through me!
We were saved-
Saved by God!
I thanked the Lord for his grace,
For we are saved!
My social studies project. Can you guys give me some feedback?
Malia Nov 2023
I can’t breathe,
Pressed down by the weight
Of meticulously staying
The same.

It’s a hammer
Coming down on me
It never stops.
A cycle, it never stops.

How can you stand it?
The mindless mundanity
Dragging us down in
A haze, eyes wide open.
I did a challenge to write a poem spontaneously, no cheating or planning!
Malia Jan 2024
Poetry
Is our humble attempt
To describe
The indescribable.
Malia Jul 2023
I don’t believe in the 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺
Of love, of teenage love.

But you do.

When I’m around you,
When I’m 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 to you,
All the doubts disappear.

But when it’s just me
I worry, 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚
That I’ll 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 you,
I’ll 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 you,
Because you thought
That we were made of steel.

You don’t 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 that our chances are 𝘭𝘰𝘸
Of being high-school sweethearts
That make it to the other side.

You don’t 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 that when I think of our 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦,
We part ways and come back again.
You don’t 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 that I think steel melts
And then can be reforged.

I don’t 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 if I want you to.

I feel so 𝘯𝘢𝘪𝘷𝘦 sometimes,
But I swear you’re even more 𝘯𝘢𝘪𝘷𝘦
Than me.

I want to protect you.

But I don’t believe in the 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺
Of love, of teenage love.

I don’t believe in 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺.

But I believe in 𝒖𝒔.
Hmm anxiety sure makes for good poetry
Malia Mar 2020
The light
In our eyes
Is what’s keeping us alive.
Forget air, I don’t care,
Oxygen’s just keeping us from dying.
Do you know the difference?
Between alive and undead?
One’s worth living and one is not
The difference between the human and the bot.
The light I speak of now
Is not in your house, anyhow,
It’s found beneath the skin,
Beneath the ribs
Beneath your flesh.
The light inside is found worldwide
Forms of hope to help us cope
With the stress of imperfection
Where kindness is our own protection.
Malia Sep 2019
The magical moment
When you wake up
But you’re still slightly sleeping.

The beautiful moment
When you are not worried
You are honest
You are content
Anger fear and hate
Seem to have never
Manifested in your mind.

You are a tree
You are a blade of grass
Blowing in the wind
You are the wind blowing.

You are...
serenity
Inspired by Jerry Spinelli’s book Stargirl. We are reading it in ELA class. It’s a really good book.
Malia Mar 2020
I’ll meet you in the meadow
Where the sun never sets
And everyone can forgive the mess
We made where
No one judges
Meet me there
I wanna see you there
I want you to come with me
Where we can finally
Be happy.

Together.
Malia Feb 2020
The moon tells me secrets
The sun whispers my lies
The stars speak all my wishes
The Earth hears all my cries.
Malia Apr 2020
The most bitter things
Can be sweet

Sickly sweet lies
And bittersweet goodbyes

Sweet, sweet love
Turned bitter by time

The most bitter things
Can be sweet
And so can I.
Malia Jan 2024
We are
Different fingers
Of the very same hand.
We are
Born pure,
Then forgotten.
I am the flowers
And the river.
Mother Nature—
What can I give her?
She is all I cannot be.
She is all I once was.
The children of men
Have twisted her personage
Until her portrait no longer
Is recognizable.
The children of men
Have twisted themselves—
Trains, cars, factories!
Nothing but awful galleries
Of memories, a eulogy
For the truth, the natural way.
And yet, it all runs through us.
Like our blood, and the breeze
And the sunlight’s dappled stream,
Like a rope, but not a chain,
Sustenance, our meat and grain.
It is One, and we are It.
We are One, and separate.
Whenever given the option, I always choose doing poetry for school projects :p
Malia Jul 2019
Here’s our breaking news:
A church shooting
Bullet holes in pews.

Here it is; news of the day
Down in Texas
A hurricane.

The more I watch
The more my hopes
Unravel
Like weathered ropes.
Malia Nov 2019
I look in the mirror
And I don’t recognize
The pitiful little girl
Gazing back.

There is so much sadness
In her eyes
In these moments
When it’s just me and her
No one else there
No one I have to be happy for.
Malia Feb 2020
I cling to the future
To deal with the now,
But I have to be here,
But it hurts to be here.

I find that the only way to survive
Is to tell myself and others
What we want to hear.
I don’t know if it’s driving
Me insane or sane.
Malia Dec 2019
Expectations leads to disappointment
You said, “You could’ve done better.”
I know.
But you must know:
I can’t be everything you want.
I make mistakes too.
I hate how your expectations change
From person to person.
I just plain hate your expectations.
YOU NEVER GIVE ME A BREAK.
You give the breaks to my sister.
Why can’t I,
Just for once,
Be the one whose mistakes
Are okay.
The one
Who is proficient
Enough for you.
But you dwell on my errors.
YOU START YELLING.
You say I’m not trying hard enough.
Why should I?
I’LL NEVER MAKE YOU HAPPY ANYWAY.
Welp
Malia Dec 2019
So I had a WellCheck today
I had a paper I had to fill out
One of the questions was
“How do you feel most of the time?”
The choices were:
Sad, angry, happy, and worried
I circled happy
The real answer was worried
Malia Feb 2020
The little girl and her Mama are sitting on their sofa by the fire.
As her Ma closes their storybook, the little girl Amara asks her Mama,
“What is a reason?”
The story they were reading was about a boy
That boy was always searching for a reason to live.
A reason is your purpose, what keeps you alive.
The little boy lost his.
He spent his entire life looking for his reason.
One day, he ran into another boy.
This other boy was also looking for his reason.
They played and talked and laughed together.
They grew up together.
The little boy thought the other boy was his reason.
That is, until a small child was delivered at their doorstep.
The little child became their reason.
Soon the child grew up, and had kids of their own.
A little granddaughter was born, and she became the boys’ reason.
The boys grew old, loving and holding and caring for all
Their reasons.
They died, in each other’s arms, thankful for their reasons.

In reply to the little girl’s query, her Mama spoke,
“A reason to live is your reason to love.”
The little girl was content with this answer, and smiled back, sweet as a spoonful of sugar, saying, “Then you’re my reason.”
Her Mama held her little girl close, and said, “You’re my reason too.”
Sorry that it was so long! I just had this idea and it was just too sweet to let go of.
Malia Nov 2019
You set me free
Inspire me
Inspire epiphanies
Inspire word and deed.

You never fail to make me cry
Though I could never say goodbye
To you as you also give me highs
Make me feel like I floated up into the sky.

I will never let you go
You will never be my foe
Oh, how I love you so!
For you never give me true woe.

Bet you didn’t know
I was talking ‘bout books, yo!
Malia Apr 2024
People. Feel. Life. Time. Love. Hate. Day. Cold. Find. Lost. Good. Bad. Wrong. Write. Light. Dark. Heart. Mind. Eyes. Hear. Pain. Hope. Sun. Stars. Better. Afraid. Real. Thought. Help. Cry. Happy. Sad. Fire. Grow.

Perfect.

𝑯𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏.

The light
And the dark
Right next to each other.

Human
and God
Right next to each other.

These are my words:
Contradiction after contradiction.

This is who I am:
Everything, nothing, everywhere, nowhere
All.
At.
Once.
I decided to look at the little words tab in here, and there were all these words that seemed so contradictory, right next to each other, but i suppose that’s what happens when you try to write on what it’s like to be human.
Malia Oct 2019
Something inside of me shifts
And everything seems ok again.
Is it real or is it an imaginary appeal?
Malia Jun 2023
it’s just them
in the square
and they’re alone
amongst a thousand people.

if a droplet
can stand out in a sea
that’s what they are
but if droplets can be crying.

i think that sometimes
people’s stories are so strong
that the universe
makes them the main character
for a moment.
what do you call a flightless bird with a trophy? a peng-won.
Malia Aug 2019
The spirit of freedom
Is in all of our souls
Even when
We feel trapped.

The spirit of freedom
Like a heart beating
On the iron bars of your ribs,
Fights to keep its liberty.
Fights to keep it humility
Fights to keep its humanity
Fights to be free.
Malia Jun 2019
I look up
At the sky.
The stars
Wink at me.

It grows darker
And more stars appear
Until
The blackness
Blanketing the Earth
Is covered in shining dots.

I wonder
How long it took
For the starlight
To get here?
In my collection The Night. I love the stars. I like to believe that the stars are little windows of light coming from our loved ones in heaven beaming down on us to tell us they’re happy.
Malia Feb 2020
Hello, guys.
I got a question for you:
What do I sound like?
To you, of course.
I mean, you’ve never heard me.
But when I read ANYTHING
I read it in a voice
Because I am picturing their voice.
I want to know what I sound like.
To you.
I want to know if you’re correct.
I want to know if you hear me.
This...is...the..Voice! (Voice, voice...) Not actually though. If you hear a voice, or even an inkling of an assumption of what I sound like, I want to know. Actually.     You can tell me. I mean, we have messages and comments. Cuz I want to know.
Malia Apr 2020
Riding the wave
Is all fun and games
Until the wave knocks you down
And under the water you drown.
Going with the flow be like...
Malia Oct 2019
The wind blows through me
As easily as it blows through the trees.

Maybe
I am exactly how I feel
Full of holes.
Malia Feb 2020
The dumb fool says,
“Forget and forgive!”
“Move on!”
“Get over it!”

The wise man says,
“Forgive but do not forget.”
“Move forward.”
And
Holds you while you cry a river.
Malia Apr 2020
Who is wiser?
The one who sees the strengths
Or scans for weaknesses?
Malia Feb 2020
I can’t give you the world.
Can’t conjure it up for you.
But I already
Got the world right in front of me.

But I’ll write you the sea
I’ll write you a town,
I’ll write you the trees.
I’ll type up the moon
And the stars in the sky
But not once will you see me writing you a goodbye
Not once will you see me writing you a goodbye.
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