WritingFix is currently seeking additional student samples from this writing assignment that can be featured in this space. Submitted student work must show evidence of revision, editing, and the final draft must be typed and sent through e-mail. Teachers: if you can help us obtain one, two or three student samples, along with a digital photo of the student(s) and a signed permission slips, we will send you either a complimentary copy of one of the Northern Nevada Writing Project's print publications.

Write to us at publish@writingfix.com and write "Inaudible Melodies" in your e-mail's subject line, if you have a student sample to share with us.

Welcome to High School
by Kelly, eleventh grade poet

I walk down the hustling halls daily
I haven’t talked to anyone in weeks
Voices fill the air
Conversation radiates from the crowds
Lonely conversations only in my mind
People and peers surround me with loud voices
I am all alone with 1800 people
Lonely in silence, surrounded by people
Time stands still as the day speeds by.

 

Dishonesty is Truthful
by Bryce, eleventh grade poet

Everyone in life is dishonest.
Their dishonesty reveals who a person truly is.
People attempt to be truthful,
but when they fail, their personalities are revealed.
People don’t lie to make others feel bad.
Instead, they lie to protect others from pain.
The truth hurts.
However, it does show how humans think of others and
themselves.
Especially when they don’t tell the truth.
Dishonesty is truthful.

 

Silent Din
by Chelsea, eleventh grade poet

Screaming and yelling orders I couldn’t hear
The constant nagging was silence in my ears.
All of these arguments raging with sound
I looked away thinking I was the only one around.
The time you spent pounding a silent din
I didn’t even know you were there
The loudness of anger that I couldn’t hear.
When you were booming at the top of your lungs
I could barely make out a whisper let alone the whole sound.
But the time that you didn’t say anything
That was the loudest of all.

 

(Click here to view/print Kelly, Bryce, Chelsea and two of their classmates'
paradox poems for your students to discuss)