XPI Student Showcase
Welcome to Xpress Plugged In, our new online gallery of student expressions. Please follow the submission instructions CAREFULLY. New work will be posted every Monday.
-- Nancy Green, editor of XPI
Selections for the Week of 7/05/2010
Silhouette, digital photograph
Erin Winick, 10th grade, Freedom High School, Tampa
St. Paul's School, Clearwater
It's All about Me
The pilgrim of pencil
The purveyor of prose
The polygamist of phrase
The phenom of postscript
The peddler of punctuation
The plagiarist of phonics
The perfume of perception
The patter of pause
Of Poet
CORDER
Corder McMurtrey, seventh grade
Florida
Florida is going to the pool and watching the little kids with bubbly inflatable arm floaters and feeling like a toddler again.
Florida is wearing shorts and a t-shirt on Christmas.
Florida is living five minutes away from a beach, but only going when you have company in town.
Florida is when you are furious at the tourists who let their little sunburnt children feed the seagulls.
Florida is about wearing your favorite college team's sweatshirt out in public and getting all types of remarks.
Florida is about dreading sports practice in the heat, but plunging into the pool right after.
Florida is having hurricane days, not snow days.
Florida is when its 70 degrees and you pull out your Uggs.
Florida is dreading love bug season.
Florida is where the Florida/Florida State game is bigger than the Super Bowl.
Florida is officially being sick of Disney.
Florida is my home.
Macayla Chianco, eighth grade
Untitled
I sit by the lake on this wondrous day
watching the reflection of flowering trees
rippling past appreciative eyes.
Breathing in the smell of glorious summer
as chattering frogs and birds sing;
Their way of celebrating the new season.
The lush green forest surrounds and protects me,
Soft fluffy white clouds in the blue sky above
playing hide-and-go-seek with the bright yellow sun.
I feel a peaceful feeling overtaking me
and my spirits seem to soar from within,
just like the eagle circling, floating above.
The wind softly whispers through the trees
as I rest on the soft green bed beneath me,
drinking it all in; glad to be one with the lake.
Andrew Kenny, seventh grade
Royal Palm
Standing tall amidst the common growth,
Its magnificent crown rises supremely above all the rest.
The thick trees surrounding the regal palm
provide protection.
They are the walls of its kingdom.
Its palace looms in the background.
It truly is a
Royal Palm!
David Suellau, eighth grade
The Ocean
When I'm in the ocean...
I feel like I can breathe
Well, not literally...
But you know what I mean
It's such a great feeling
It makes me feel free
From the weights and chains
Of reality
When I'm in the ocean...
The world is a better place
Swimming at my own pace
Life is not a race...
But something we should all learn to embrace
Maggie Chapman, seventh grade
Being a Kid
Being a Kid
Is
About ...
Jumping on trampolines
Making forts out of blankets on a rainy day
Spying on neighbors
Swinging and sliding
Learning to cope with a lost cat
Looking at your mom like she's superwoman
Thinking boys have cooties
Showing off the nails you painted yourself, even though they are smeared
Smelling Play Doh when you walk into school
Putting a rock up your nose
Getting along with mostly everyone you know
Picking up a flower, like it was a diamond
Thinking you know everything, and could do anything
Chanting:
"You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!" when teachers pass out Popsicles
Ripping off Band-Aids
Drawing pictures of everything you see
Fighting over bracelets and necklaces
Getting candy for every occasion
Thinking you're a big girl, who doesn't need Mommy
Reading stories before bed
Having a million stuffed animals
Losing teeth
Hiding in bushes with friends
Learning about stranger danger
Having collections of trash
Singing along to anything you've heard, over and over again
Feeling small when you sit in a big chair, or stand by the ocean
Loving school and seeing your friends
Doing arts and crafts in class
Using little scissors
Having a million questions, like: "Why is the sun so big?"
Spelling your name wrong
Laughing so hard at the silliest joke
Dancing around the house
Eating chicken nuggets with ketchup
Thinking God is a guy who lives in the sky and controls the world
Asking every morning, "Is it the weekend yet?"
Learning to tie your shoes
Getting excited about eating a cookie
Making faces in the mirror when you brush your teeth
Wanting frilly socks
And having fun in everything you do.
Morgan Phillips, eighth grade
Waiting
Cold nights
Freezing rain and snow pouring down
Upon me
Icy winds
This is not what makes a winter harsh
Loneliness
I want to have my doors opened
Oil in my hinges
So that they do not creek when the winds
Blow up against them
I want my color to be restored
Over this
Chipping layer of paint
I want to be cared for
I want the trees
The twigs with limbs
To become green as I remember them
I want them to shade all the life
The life that lives inside of me
Sheltered in my warmth
I want to be useful
I am in a barren land
A barren land that used to be green
And bright
I used to be filled with the living
Now I am empty
But I am filled with hope
Knowing
That this green land
Will come again
In the spring
Gary Scott Glencross, eighth grade
Snow Day
In North Carolina, Lucy saw snow
For the first time
At first she fell in and was very confused
But after a few tumbles
And trips she got the hang of it
The next day she was prancing and
Jumping through the snow
She never wanted to go inside
Lucy had fallen in love with the snow
But after the sixth day of fun
She finally got tired of the snow and didn't like the cold;
Lucy had no problem going back to Florida to bask in the sun.
Kyle Oliver, eighth grade
A Way, To Get Away
There are places
Far away
Or rather near
Where a person can find peace
These can be places
Things to do
People to meet
Or places to go
That can make a person find
His or her form of what peace is
For me,
I ride my bike
There is no permanent destination
No fixed departure time
It's just when I feel I need to ride
I ride
As the days go by
And I grow old
My bike will be a symbol of peace to me
Something that helped me forget about the day's troubles
And enjoy life.
Tain Lucas, eighth grade
Turtles Resting on a Log, digital photograph
Tristan Goodrich, first grade, Deer Park Elementary School, Tampa