"Untitled" by Reyna Flores


Snow Storm by J.M.W. Turner
As I looked up at the sky, it turned black and angry.
The wind howled like a mean dog.  As a matter of fact,
it was a dog!  I stared in surprise as cat after cat and
dog after dog fell from the lightning-lit sky.
Other people didn't take notice, but since I was in
a foreign country, I noticed it.  Everyone kept walking,
or driving, or window-shopping.
"Um.  Excuse me," I stuttered to an oncoming
woman.  "What is happening?"
She replied, "It is simply raining cats and
dogs."
I looked at her as if to say, "Are
you crazy?" But I didn't say it.  And she just
walked away.

"When Our Town Was Invaded" by Reyna Daniela Flores

A UFO flew above the town and everyone looked up at it.  Most certainly it was not a plane or bird, it was a UFO.  Just then it landed in the street and a trap door opened from the top.  A staircase emerged and twenty or more green figures with some sort of guns ran from within the blue object.  Everyone ran in different directions and the town turned to chaos.  The green figures took the blasters and pulled the triggers again and again.  People fell to the ground all around me.  I decided to hide in the trash can on the street.  I opened the lid but the reeking smell turned me away.  I jumped into a recycling bin next to it, instead, and hid for dear life.  That is why I am still alive this morning.

"Volcano Explosion" by Katie Huested

Artist: Mark Rothko
When I woke up this morning, it was hard to believe what had happened to me and everyone else yesterday.  I went outside to see the final reults of that big hot river of death, and the sky a dusty mess.  We all lost something and someone that day, but we keep going.  It's hard to see all of my friend's, family's and neighbors' houses spread around like stalks of wood, all burnt up, but the fantastic thing is that we have this land to ourselves.  All of the mean people and people I didn't like are gone and out of the picture.  Now it's time for me to shine, to...take...over the world!

"Untitled" by Katie Huested

Perro Semihundido by Francisco Goya
It was a hot summer night
me and Emily were sitting outside
on a log talking about life and
the boys we like but they are
so confusing we talked about dogs
instead, "Do you have a dog," I asked.
"No, but we used to.  She got ran over,"
Emily said with a happy yet sad expression.
"Oh, I'm so sorry.  If it helps my
puppy got parvo but she survived," I said
with as much sympathy as I could,
to try and make her think happy
thoughts but instead we ended up
talking about sad dog stories all night
while inside we watched Jake
the dog walk around as happy as could
be.  So we went with a smile and a swing.

"Untitled" by Desiree Barnes


David Slaying Goliath by Peter Paul Rubens
I was sitting in the park writing an essay
when I heard someone shout.  "Somebody,"
help!"  My essay forgotten, I ran towards
the voice.  "Hey, leave her alone!" I
shouted.  I had just interrupted a bully
trying to beat up a kid.  "Fight someone
your own size," I added.  The bully
was a big kid.  I figured he was a
football player.  "Alright.  I'll fight
you if you think you're all that."  He
came at me but I dodged.  A police
cruiser came by and intervened.  I
walked back to my essay and then headed
home satisfied with what I had done.

~poem inspired by dialog~

"News Flash! Catastrophe is Coming!" by Desiree Barnes

"Mr. President!  Come quick!  Something just landed in the middle of the ocean late last night.  We have to go!  Now!"

I stood from my seat as my secretary burst into my office.
"What happened, Ms. Byant?" I demanded.

"I'm not sure.  But a major catastrophe happened!  Millions are dead or missing!  We must flee to the middle of the country!"

Just as we got to the plane, people began to drop dead around us.  "Lord, preserve us!"  I cried out before I, too, dropped dead.

"Laser Show" by Marie O'Grady

Last night was crazy!  I mean, there were laser light shows, explosions, screaming and panicking.  I couldn't believe it.  When the thing happened, everyone was in an uproar, running as fast as they could and screaming.  They never came up with a slogan for last night's disaster, but watching these weird creatures kill nearly everyone was amazing, both in an awesome and totally scary way.  My dad was out of town, so he's probably okay, but who knows?  Not me.  My mom tried taking my older brother away from one of the things, but they were both eaten.  It was grody, man!
At least I know that my little brother and I are okay.  We have to hide though.  Now some of these things are friends of mine.  They started to like us, me and my brother, and didn't think that we deserved to die.  That could be because I lead them to a group of the stupidest and moost annoying people I know, and they were willing to let me and my little brother survive because we supplied them with a big herd of moving food.  Like I said, it isn't all bad; it sucks that big brother and Mom are gone, though.  There's probably, maybe, one hundred thousand people left...but hey, whose counting.  Gotta go now.  Little brother is trying to get into the sleeping chambers of the things.  I don't want to lose him, too.  Until the next disaster, be careful out there folks...it's ugly.

"The Talking Critter" by Marie O'Grady

Musical Cricket by Henry Walter Bates
I'm sitting at my desk in my room.
I'm working on my latest project.
I'm hearing weird noises coming from outside.
I'm walking to the door.
I'm opening the door.
Once the door is open, I see my mother
crouched down talking.
"You're such a cute little fellow."
"Mom, who are you talking to?"
"Just a little cricket."
"Okay...why are you talking to a cricket?"
"Because it started talking to me."
"Hello."  I jump.  "Who said that?"
"It was me, a friendly little cricket."
"Crickets don't talk."
"Well, neither should birds, but they do."
"That's because they're parrots; they're smart birds."
"Well, then that makes me a smart cricket."
"Whatever; mom have fun talking with your little friend.  I'm going back inside."
I walk inside and work on my project pondering
on the talking cricket and my mother talking outside.
"Since when do crickets talk?" I ask myself as I write it
down for my next writing project.

~poem inspired by dialog~

"The Gimme Gimme Bird" by Haley Ryan

Blue Heron (plate 79) by Eleazar Albin
I was swinging in the park with my younger cousin, when
I looked over and saw she had a bag of
popcorn.  As I swung by I said, "gimme, gimme."  She
looked around and then went back to eating popcorn.  On my
next pass I said, "Gimme Gimme" again.  This time
my cousin looked at me and asked, "Did you hear that bird say 'gimme gimme'?"  I said, "No, I
was saying 'gimme gimme.'"  She
looked at me for a while and then said, "So
you're the gimme bird, would like some
popcorn?"

~poem inspired by dialog~

"The Apocalypse" by Haley Ryan

Melting Volcano by Georgia O'Keefe
No one thought it was more than a mountain, just a place for dare devils to climb to the highest point on earth.  On June 23, 2013, we all learned differently.  Some hikers had gone to climb the mountain.  My dad was one of them.  5 days later they reached the top.  What they saw was not the top of a mountain, it was a pit of boiling lava.  Today is the day after the explosion that destroyed over half of the earth's population.  This is my journal of life as one of the few people who survived.

Entry 1:

My family died in the explosion.  My dog is all I have left.  I cannot leave the house because the air is filled with ash.  Any hope I have of finding another survivor has been dashed.

[End of Entry 1]

"Untitled" by Reyna Flores

Artist: Vincent van Gogh

~
I remember the blue sky.
I remember the green hills and grey mountains.
I remember the trees and the grass.
I remember running and flying and jumping.
I remember the red sunset.
Most of all, I remember the blue sky.