Hard work is so much more than one hour, one day or one week. If it wasn’t for hard work I would not be in the place I am today. I started hockey as a 6th grader, behind everyone else. Kids have been skating and playing for years longer than me. I had to put in hard work if I wanted to make a club team and take that next step. I put on my pads for the first time ever. As a 12 year old 6th grader, very small and new to hockey. I was nervous and my legs were shaking as I waited for the ice to be done when I stepped on to play hockey for the first time. Some of my friends like Sam Griwold or Harry Lavoie were there with me but these guys have been playing most of their lives. I was awful, falling almost every second and coming in last in the skating drills. As I got off the ice that day I wanted to quit, I was the worst out there and I didn’t feel good about myself. The next day I went back on the ice. Harry taught me a few things and I could already feel myself getting better. Every day for that 6th grade winter JV season I kept trying and slightly improving. By the end of that season I was loving the ice time with my friends and I was rarely falling, that season was when I fell in love with the sport.
Powder
Ice
And lots of it
Falling
Trying to get up
Failing, trying. It’s hard
Never giving up
Feeling bad for my self
But that does nothing for me
Try to go from toe edge to Heel edge.
Fall on my butt
Hurts a lot
I feel like I should never do this again.
“It is too hard” I yell
Never Give Up!
Just Move on!
Traffic, traffic, traffic
I hate traffic
Do you hate traffic?
Because traffic is… traffic!!!!!!
In traffic
you sit
in your seat
for hours
Days, months, year’s, and even decades
traffic can be caused by random things
like old people!
and ducks
who in their right mind likes ducks?
there just chickens that swim
Do you still like traffic?
Oh I see how it is buddy
Let me tell you more
Traffic can be caused by a car crash
sure you have to see if there ok
but that does not mean you should be messing with your driving time
it’s unacceptable
Oh and your ears die
Honk, Honk, Honk!
Man
I love trips
but I also hate them
The trip itself is fine
but the car ride
brutal
“It’s going to an hour Bode”
But no! traffic sets us back 2 hours
2 hours down the drain
2 whole hours—
that’s outrageous
So that’s why I hate traffic
The clouds scream as the plane runs through the sky
The engine roars
The propeller cuts the air
The air runs, trying to get of the way
The stick faints and falls
The plane rolls
Machine Guns roar
The engine gets mad
The propeller gets tired and stops running
The gages turn red
Enemy guns roar
The enemy plane falls.
Oh, my cool lovely shoes
I love wearing you
You help me run so fast
I don’t know how i live
Oh, my cool lovely shoes
You are the coolest shoes i know
You are amazing so much
I like you for everything
Oh, my cool lovely shoes
I can take you anyway
In the woods
in the mountains too
Oh, my cool lovely shoes
I just bought
I just bought
A new mirror
A new mirror
My beautiful face
My beautiful face
Is reflecting back at me—
CRACK!
My mirror broke
No mirror to see
Myself reflecting back at me
Passion isn’t made, it’s discovered. The deep gash from life will beat you down. But under the cuts and bruises lies someone who is passionate; one so passionate they were willing to take shots blow by blow and get back up again, not because they are invincible, but because of their love. Passion drives us; passion is what makes me wake up on a Monday morning off and get in the car only to drive an hour and a half just to play a beautiful game. That game is soccer!
“You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”
~Walt Disney
Overcoming adversity is not a skill everyone possesses. Adversity didn’t effect my life until one day I broke my arm in a simple football game. I was so devastated by the injury, but when I needed to find the will to overcome this setback, I somehow found the power inside me.
“Read me a poem, X? I want to remember your voice when I think about tonight”
~Elizabeth Acevedo, Poet X
In the novel The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, Xiomara’s relationship with Aman is important, because Aman gives Xiomara confidence in herself that no one else gives her. As Xiomara and Aman’s relationship starts to grow, they start going to the smoke park everyday after school and listen to music together. Today however Aman says “No music today, X. Instead I want to hear you. Read me something” (111). This meeting in the smoke park, is the first time in the Xiomara and Aman’s relationship that Aman shows interest in Xiomara’s poetry and into her as a person. Xiomara expects Aman’s request to listen to her poems and shares to him her work, even though she feels a little scared to do so. Aman tells her that the poems are superb and that he would like to listen to them again, this gives Xiomara confidence in her poetry. At Reuben’s house party Xiomara and Aman start to dance, and in the middle of a song Xiomara says she needs some air and she steps outside. Aman follows her and sits down next to her, when Xiomara and Aman are sitting alone together on Reuben’s stoop, Aman says to Xiomara, “Read me a poem, X? I want to remember your voice when I think about tonight” (169). Xiomara constantly faces issues with confidence in herself and in what she can do, throughout the text. However, with Aman showing interest in not only her poems but also her as a person, Xiomara is growing confident in herself. She is opening up and becoming more vulnerable with Aman, which shows growth in Xiomara and in her relationship with Aman. Throughout the text we see that Xiomara does not have a lot of confidence in herself and her abilities, however when she is with Aman she is filled with confidence in herself. Aman is an important character in Xiomara’s life, because he gives her something that no one else can, confidence.
