Ode to MJ by Garrett B

Jordan flew high and proud

Up he went he was untouchable

The Bulls kept on winning, four straight

He could not bear the death of his dad

But then his team gave him a helping hand.

His mom, his fans, his teammates, pushed him

To get that fourth trophy they couldn’t be touched

Then his age got to him and he had to stop

In 2000 he came back but he was no good for the wizards

He finally was gone but still remembered

Hall of fame, first year he was voted

Not two thoughts about it

He was the best ever seen in the game

Don’t forget, Air Jordan in his memory.

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Florida by Ryan L.

The sun shines on the white sand below

The smell of the ocean soothing

I slowly walk and then think

This is the life for me

Gently, the waves crash

I sit on the

Warm white sand

Relaxed

calm

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Hand and Hand By Jessica M

Life with you is a journey I will take

Through good and bad I will always hold your hand

A love that no one can harm or can break

A love that only a few can understand

Our bodies are close as if we are one

You are the piece of the puzzle I miss

In the game of love I feel I have won

And our perfect day is sealed with a kiss

Without you I feel like I am nothing

Nothing bigger than a grain of white sand

Our love is complete with the perfect ring

My love and loyalty come hand and hand

When the sun grazes your beautiful face

I will be with you in your arms embrace

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By the Sea by Brianna T.

The sun starts to sink below the ocean

As we hold each other close, hand in hand

Time feels like its going in slow motion

As we walk along in the white, beach sand.

The cool waves gently crash against our feet

As you look at me with those deep blue eyes

And I could swear my heart skipped a beat

When you turned and kissed me to my surprise.

Never thought I could feel the way I do

Being with you here, I am lost for words

How lucky I am to find something new,

I feel as though I’m flying among birds.

I knew you were the only one for me

On that precious night down by the sea.

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The Big Red Button by Jaysen O.

People don’t listen to what I say

I said “Don’t push the dang button”

They don’t want to ever listen

It’s there for a reason

A strange one at that

Loud beeping sounds

Until they

All hear

Boom.

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Lil Wayne by Brian R.

Dwayne Carter grew up on the streets

He got his break when Cash Money heard his beats

Better known as Weezy or Lil Wayne

His flow tends to stay insane.

Eating rappers like rare cooked meat

He's so hot on the charts, ice can't cool his heat

When a new song hits, other rappers feel the pain

He's like a male lion, extremely hard to tame.

Wayne named his first album "The Block Is Hot"

He didn't expect for millions to be bought

Dropping out of school at the mere age of fourteen

He never thought that he would fulfill his dream.

It was an easy battle to the top, but still Weezy fought

And at the top of all, he kept planning his plot

Wayne knew where to find the green

He's done what needed to be done, seen what needed to be seen.

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Dark Eyes By Casey O

Laying in her bed is all she does now

For without him there is

No reason for her to wake up and face the day.

Mascara smeared eyes

Makes her look like she has died

But still she crys

For better days and for his return,

Into her arms once again.

But this will never happen

For heaven is sure hard to reach from Earth

Without leaving it in a hurse.

So for now she waits for the day

Where she can be reunited again.

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The Beach By Matt C

The waves are crashing

Sand burning hot from the sun

Clouds slowly roll by

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Ode To Snow Boarding by Derek H

On your way to the mountain,

Waxing your new board,

You watch the snow fall,

And hope for that perfect powder.

When you finally get there,

After what seemed like

The longest ride of your life,

You throw on your gloves and boots,

Then run for the ski lift.

At the peak of the mountain,

You tighten your bindings,

Stare down the trail for a few seconds,

And begin to accelerate,

Then carve back and forth

Through the powder.

You reach the bottom,

And can’t wait for the next run!

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Babe Ruth Sonnet by Connor F.

Standing at the plate he called the hit.

The crowd roared as he stepped up to the plate.

Looking down to the ground he proudly spit,

For in this hit their breath he would take.

Standing strong he raised his hand,

The crowd was silent, not even a stir.

All the crowd was at a stand,

For now, history was about to occur.

The pitch came, and it came hard,

He launched his hands through the ball.

Just from the crack you could tell it went far,

While running, he knew this was over the wall.

From this at bat a legend, a hero was made,

To some he was the Great Bambino, but to most, the babe.

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The Lecturer by Sarah S

There he stood on the podium,

Telling us of all the good things in life,

Making all the references,

That keeps all wondering,

It’s all in our references.

Looking up to that someone, that tells all in a nutshell.

Despite his autism,

It is only too well,

There is so much inspiration,

Only you can tell.

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Orb of Mystery by Lindsey H.

That day the wood was a seeming fright

Its sky was dressed in a cold, cold, white;

The trees stood barren on the leaf strewn floor

And the wind howled its dull roar

A mysterious orb formed in the tree’s path

Looking human-like in the sunlight’s bath;

She seemed to be wearing a magenta smock

Her parasol in one hand and in the other a clock

It was time to leave the wood in a haunt was sensed

In their pockets they had their cellphones clenched;

Was it the sun’s beams playing tricks with their minds

Or was it really a woman well past her time

Out of the wood they quickly fled

And couldn’t help wondering “Was she dead?”

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The Ocean by John B.

Ocean’s waves crash on shore everyday

Everyone goes to the ocean

Brown sand sparkles in the sun

Tiny seashells hiding

Seaweed floating by

Don’t want to leave

The water

Can be

Blue

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Summer storm by Danny F.

At the end of a long, hard day.

I go my way.

Long leash in hand.

Feet in dark sand.

The wind picks up, dark clouds come in.

Far rains begin.

Distant thunder;

Lightning stalker.

This way the harsh kayos approaches.

Water blazes.

Never concede,

Go on? Agreed

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Decisions by Morgan P

Confusion invades life itself

clouding the shelf,

first hard to find,

in my young mind.

Sadness drowns out all hope – all is lost,

too high a cost

is living life

where risks are rife.

It’s just not worth it, is it? You

have to fight to

maybe survive –

Barely alive.

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Things Aren’t What They Appear to Be by Kaitlyn B

I hide many things under my smile,

Sometimes as an act of guile.

Discontentment covered by glee.

Things aren’t what they appear to be.

I feel my heart is torn,

And all I want to do is mourn.

Inside, my emotions drive me crazy.

Things aren’t what they appear to be.

These days, there’s less truth than aberration.

Take all of this into consideration.

Emotions can be covered easily.

Things aren’t what they appear to be.

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The Snakes Eye by Anna K

The eye that does haunt me throughout the night,

The crushing feeling of something so deep.

It’s the eye that gives and takes away sight,

Through every crack within the wall it seep.

The dark eye making contact with your soul,

You are enveloped, and longer calm.

Time has come when you need to pay the toll,

Your life disappears and leaves through your palm.

The green surrounding enhances the feel,

Of overwhelming emotion and pain.

From your skin every part begins to peel,

The truth is revealed and you are then sane.

The serpent slithers out of sight,

Hoping for one more victims the next day.

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By Morgan P.

In the novella, The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago, a perseverant old man, had to overcome many obstacles. Some of these included his hand cramping up, fatigue, and battling sharks. Each of these obstacles demonstrated Santiago’s strength and courage, that isn’t commonly found in men his age.

When Santiago had first caught the marlin, he began to think that everything was going to be just fine. Then, his left hand cramped up. This angered Santiago a good deal. “’What kind of hand is that,’ he said. ‘Cramp then if you want. Make yourself into a claw. It will do you no good’” (58). Santiago catches a fish one handed, and eats as an attempt to relax his muscle. He continues to massage his left hand with his right one. When he feels the line rising with his right hand, he manages to maintain control of the line and the marlin. He does not release his magnificent catch because of something as insignificant, but yet useful, as his left hand cramping up.

Being out at sea for three days, by himself in a skiff, with hardly any food or water, Santiago found himself extremely worn out. The huge marlin was pulling the skiff out to sea at an alarmingly quick pace, and Santiago was doing all he could to keep control over the fish. When Santiago felt the fish begin to slow, he sympathized with the marlin. “[Santiago] held steady, and settled back against the strain of the line. ‘You’re feeling it now, fish,’ he said. ‘And God knows, so am I’” (56 ). Santiago openly admits that he is fatigued. When a man as determined as Santiago admits to being tired, you know that he is exhausted. But he fights through this exhaustion, and is still able to catch the marlin.

When Santiago finally caught the marlin, he faced something that, considering the circumstances, almost nobody else could’ve come out alive. If having a catch of an eighteen foot marlin, being out to sea for four days, and having almost no food, water, or sleep weren’t enough, why not just add in a couple sharks? “He hit [the shark] with his blood mushed hands driving a harpoon in with all his strength. He hit it without hope, but with resolution and complete malignancy” (102). Santiago battled his first shark that day. There would be many more to come. And he would battle all of them, striving to protect his catch.

Throughout Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea Santiago faces many obstacles. Obstacles, that probably took just about a miracle to overcome. However, miracle or no miracle, Santiago did overcome all of them. He may have returned home with just the skeleton of what had been a great fish, but he returned home safely. Some may say that he ‘lost’. But in my eyes, Santiago is, and always will be, a winner. He overcame the many obstacles that this portion of his life threw at him. Even in his old age, he survived. Even in his old age, he never gave up.

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By Matt C.

The Old Man and the Sea is a great novel and like all good books the main character faces obstacles that he has to overcome. That trend is not changed as Santiago faces many obstacles on his way to catching the giant marlin. It is amazing that he has the strength to continue through every challenge that the great ocean throws at him. These obstacles do not only challenge him physically but also mentally.

While fighting the monster marlin Santiago has to continue although he is 84 years old. This makes him extremely tired. It takes Santiago four days to catch the fish and get back home. This is an enormous obstacle because any regular man his age would collapse of exhaustion after putting out that much effort for that long. "I'll try it again, the old man promised, although his hands were mushy now and he could only see well in flashes." Santiago overcomes this obstacle with his determination and great strength. A regular person of any age would have given up after less than a day of struggle but Santiago fought a legendary fish for three whole days. Most people of his age can hardly do any daily activity but is out and using all his effort for a straight 72 hours.

Another one of Santiago's obstacles is the creatures of the ocean. The strength of the marlin is enormous and it takes all of the old mans effort to catch him. Even worse than the marlin are the sharks that attack the dead body of the marlin. They are an obstacle because they prevent him from reaching home with the whole fish. They also test Santiago's mental toughness because once the fish that he worked so hard to get is gone there isn't a lot of motivation to go home. When Santiago went home it proved that he wanted to catch the fish just to beat him and it wasn't about the money that he would have gotten from catching him. He also knew that it was about not giving up no matter what the obstacle was. "What will you do now if they come in the night? What can you do?' Fight them,' he said. 'I'll fight them till I die." Santiago worked hard and got through this tough obstacle. He didn't make it home with the fish but he had not given up and had fought them as hard as he could.

Santiago's other great obstacle is the fact that he is extremely poor and has very simple fishing supplies. He has strings attached to sticks for his fishing poles and because of that he is forced to pull the line in while the great fish uses all of his might to swim away. Pulling on the very skinny line against the fish causes his hands to become much less powerful because they have deep gashes running through them. Also because of his inadequate supplies he is forced to fend off the sharks with his knife tied to his oar. " But there was nothing to be done now. ‘Yes there is,’ he said aloud. ‘I can lash my knife to the butt of one of the oars.’" Had he been able to buy a gaff or other simple hook he would have had a better chance of fending off the sharks and saving his fish.

Throughout the book there are many obstacles that Santiago must fight through and he always makes it although giving up would be much easier. He strives to defeat all obstacles that he is faced with on a day to day basis. Santiago is able to break through and continue because of his great determination and persistence. Santiago is a strong man in both his body and his mind.

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By Lindsey H.

In The Old Man and the Sea, the main character, Santiago, faced many different obstacles on his treacherous fishing trip. Santiago faced fatigue, loneliness, and vicious sharks while on his trip. These obstacles aren't ones that people usually have to face on a daily basis unless you're a fisherman like Santiago, of course.

It took Santiago about three days to catch the marlin, and those three days wore him out excessively. Santiago didn't have much time to eat or sleep, so he was very tired and hungry which caused him to be fatigued. "'But you have not slept yet, old man,' he said aloud. 'It is half a day and a night and now another day and you have not slept. You must devise a way so that you sleep a little if he is quiet and steady. If you do not sleep you might become unclear in the head'" (77). This quote from the old man shows how he has had no sleep in days and is very fatigued. If he loses any more sleep he will begin to hallucinate which will not be good while he is alone at see.
Santiago was very lonely during his fishing trip which was another obstacle. The only company that he had was his mind, the birds, and the fish while he was at sea. Manolin, the young boy who usually fished with Santiago, was no longer allowed to go fishing with him because of his parents, and that left Santiago with no one to help him out at sea. "Yes. If the boy were here. If the boy were here" (83) shows that the old man needed the boy in more ways than one while out on the sea. The old man needed him to help him fish, but he also needed him to keep him company. When Santiago says, "If the others heard me talking out loud they would think that I am crazy" (39), you can tell that he is lonely because he was talking out loud, but he doesn't care what people think about him because he needs himself to keep his head clear.

After Santiago caught the marlin, vicious sharks began to attack it. He had to protect the fish from the sharks, and he also had to protect himself. "But the shark came up fast with his head out and the old man hit him squarely in the center of his flat-topped head as his nose came out of the water and lay against the fish" (109). Hemmingway used a great amount of detail in this portion of the book such as this quote shows to explain what Santiago needed to do in order to protect the marlin. The sharks were one of the greatest obstacles in Santiago's way because he had already caught the fish, and all he had to do was get the marlin safely back to shore. His goal, however, was not achieved when the sharks began to devour it. He ended up only bringing back a skeleton as proof of his epic fishing trip.

In conclusion, Santiago faced many different obstacles in the novella The Old Man and the Sea. He faced fatigue, loneliness, and vicious sharks throughout the story. Sometimes, obstacles can cause people to become stronger people. Even though Santiago was physically weak by the end of the story he was more emotionally and mentally stronger.

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