Now I lay me down to rest, I pray I pass tomorrow’s test. If I should die before I wake, That’s one less test I’ll have to take. – Anonymous Poetry Editor’s Note: We offer this classic student perspective in honor of back-to-school month.

Watching snails copulate on the sandy bluff beside the bay Bubbles form tween their horns shells sealed as one motion imperceptible A pet cemetery a trail buffered twixt rock and field New growth and old, ossified turds nestle-in, ice plants, pink, yellow We come not to bury Fluffy nor eulogize Spot We nod to...

All I can say to young people is, place your courage before courtesy and question everything they, the unkind, tell you. Ask yourself, Am I a lemming? Do I bundle myself in the jail bars of fascism? BE KIND BE KIND BE KIND Kate L. Hitt, Blue Lake

Your step measures the corridor, In a moment your voice dries the air; A Minnesota clearing Opens in the redwood mist. Eyes trained on lakes and auroras Perceive without fuss. If you said, “I notice an alien spacecraft Down in the parking lot…” I’d reach for my instamatic Before I looked around. Bill Lemley ,...

I have a date with Death, It cannot be postponed, He’s walking up my steps, He’s come to take me home. I have a date with Death, It cannot be ignored, He’s calling out my name, He’s knocking on my door. I have a date with Death, I try to hide my fear, I smile as I let him in, I know the time is near. I have a...

Our fava and tart endiven Fallowed be thy bane Thy kingdom’s sun makes roots grow long In earth as it does in raised beds Give us this day our daily veggies And forgive us our pests as we forgive our weevils Lead us not to temptation but deliver us from Walmart For thine is the kingdom, the kale and garbanzos...

Once upon a time I heard our movies mirror life — not too absurd. But maybe it’s the other way; does life reflect our movies, as they say? Whichever tale is true, our lives are shaped by what we read and view. There really are no random thoughts and nothing’s new that’s to be sought. We build the stories of o...

Petite hummer, may you stay out of harm’s way. May you soar like a winged wish over the Gulf of Mexico on your thousand-mile flight. And in all your goings, may you remember to return, a ruby-throated flash, shimmering wings a blur, to hover amid purple salvia blossoms outside our bedroom window and bless my ...

At the risk of causing a bit of depression I need to make a little confession Four days before I become six decades, I now will admit my memory fades, I’ve gained and lost a lot of my kin, I worry no one will call me cute again I am no longer considered a young girl, and my straight shiny hair is a dried up c...