All I Know is the Smell of Smoke
All I know is the smell of smoke,
drifting across a hundred blocks.
Burning buildings engrained into the screen;
missing persons posters on every corner.
Drifting across a hundred blocks,
the fear for our nation and loved ones.
Missing persons posters on every corner,
the Pledge of Allegiance taught to first graders.
The fear for our nation and loved ones
etched into our country’s honor.
The Pledge of Allegiance taught to first graders
asking innocent questions of a guilty time.
Etched into our country’s honor,
the safety of a nation shattered.
Asking innocent questions of a guilty time:
Why do bad things happen?
The safety of a nation shattered.
Burning buildings engrained into the screen.
Why do bad things happen?
All I know is the smell of smoke.
Take me to Hullabaloo
Take me
to abracadabra
and hullaballoo.
Show me the way
to hide and seek,
and ring around the rosie.
Take me back
to dewy eyes
coated in wonder, and
fudge sticky fingers
licked one at a time.
Take me
to stuffed animal dreams
and mermaid souls.
To make-believe mornings
and naptime noons.
Bring me back
to macaroni frames
and princess pretending.
To when an hour
was a year.
Show me
where we stored
our hopes and desires.
In our
cardboard crayon
boxes? Or
our plastic
play dough cans?
Teach me
how to be
the silly sound
of giggles, and
the sweet taste
of June.
Take me
to abracadabra
and hullaballoo.
Lauren Feiner
Age 16, Grade 11
Bronx High School of Science
Gold Key