We are so thrilled at all the amazing work these middle schoolers have submitted! This year’s The Arrow is going to be soooo good!
And now, more writing from Hackley’s Middle School students:
A Fish Lived in a Tree
by: Beckett J. ’24
A fish lived in a tree
Everyone called him Pea
When others saw his tail up high
They wondered how he did not die
But Pea flew away with the bees
What a Day
by: Vincent C. ’24
What a day
What a night
the food is great
and delicious
Grayscale
by: Afsana ‘D. 23
Complicated
That’s how you describe things
Complicated
With all your colors
Mixing together
Screaming at each other
It’s confusing
It’s all confusing
Loud, bright colors
Each telling me to change
Each telling me to be something I’m not.
It’s loud
It’s too much
It needs to stop
Stop Stop Stop
It hurts
Hurts my head
My head
My head throbs
Why can’t you just simplify things?
Black and white?
Right and wrong?
I peer out at you
Ruining the pristine world
From my black and white mask.
To me
You are just
The gray area
In between;
Confused
Unable to make up your mind.
Black and white
White and black
Black or white?
I lost track.
Peanut Butter and Jelly: A Haibun
by: Tommy T. ’24
Today is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. I like Peanut Butter and Jelly. I might have one today.
The blue sea looks nice
I want to be there right now
I want to live there.
Seen
by: Suka N. ’25
Monkey see, monkey do
You don’t see me, I see you
I scream, you watch, never hearing a sound
You laugh in your phone, my sanity crumbles as I fall to the floor
You love yourself, I destroy myself
You stare at my glass, a barrier between and my existence and your sanity
Your makeup is your shield, you perfect you shield through me
My tears are as constant as your life, moving, feeling, betraying
I tear my hair out, you curl it to supremacy
Alone, my walls are like reflections
Reminders of the life I am restricted to
The cycle of my stability breaking
Me, Me, tears, screams, shards in a never ending cycle
Then it stops, I see the broken pieces, scattered on the stone cold wood
A shard is what I become, what I’ve been confined to
From now, to eternity
Monkey see, monkey do
Monkey screams his lungs out too
I am cursed, broken down
Forever alone, no life to live
I sink forever in my prison
No more strength to be given
But yet again, the cycle starts
And with it goes, a piece of my heart
Under Our Dark Watchful Eye
Abigail N. ’26
Under our dark watchful eye
Trays of steamin’ smoky ribs
Mac n’ cheese, fresh cornbread
Shiver gleefully as they’re
Snatched up greedily
We wait…
and wait…
and wait…
And with a brisk click! and
pop!
We flicker into being.
Night and Day
by: Sophia K. ’24
“The stars still shone and the day had drawn only a pale wash of light in the lower sky to the east,” — John Steinbeck
The sun rises and shadows fall
Birds chirp their songs and call their cry
The stars flee from the light
A day is born after the night
A new era of possibility arises
And all the animals come to play
All of the children love to play
The night gets longer in the fall
And as the time to work arises
The mother hears her baby’s cry
They had a long and restful night
Reluctantly, they greet the light
However, cats enjoy the light
They stretch their legs and start to play
Nobody watched them through the night
And though they jump, they never fall
They yowl, and mice flee from their cry
The need to feed and hunt arises
The dogs lick their owner as he arises
The window lets in beams of light
Again, the baby starts to cry
The dogs all urge their owner to play
The owner walks down the stairs, only to fall.
What a short night
Only owls and parents greet the night
Parents finally rest as the moon arises
So grateful for the lengthened nights that happen in the fall
The sky turns black without the light
Games stop as children cease to play
Now silent is the baby’s cry
Parents don’t miss the baby’s cry
They love the silence of the night
Only owls are awake to play
And with the owls, the raccoon arises
They love the night and scorn the light
They love the chilly wind of fall
As they play, they stop their cry
They wonder at the fall of night
Once more, the sun arises, bringing light.