Home Grown: Poetry By Students at JCM-Early College High
PHOTOS BY ANNALISE BENNETT
Featured in Vol 8, Issue 1: Jackson Grown
Our Homeland
Addison Brown
Growing up anywhere has its ups and downs.
Its hills and valleys, valleys and hills.
the grass that rises on the hillsides of Jackson
On the valleys of our land.
The grass that tries to grow in places it shouldn’t;
In our ditches we dig to let water flow
In the plots of land to make our community grow.
The clouds in the sky full of rain,
Full of sun
Full of love
Full of snow
The smallest cities
The biggest crowds
The unperfect farms
The imperfect people
The people from everywhere
The people from nowhere
Inside of the state
The land of the volunteers
The land in which we’ve all shed tears
The land that keeps our holds in place
The land
Our land.
Hey Neighbor!
Amani Alshaef
Hey Neighbor!
Hey Aunty!
Hey Neighbor!
Hey Cousin!
All gone.
Jackson, Jackson is my home now
Everything so new
People I do not know
Kids stuck on screens
The childhood I had filled with love
Gone. Gone. Gone.
No friends
No family
Just me, my sister, mom, and dad
The childhood where I was with cousins 24/7
Gone.
The neighborhood where it was filled with family
Gone.
The nights with family
Gone.
The sleepovers with all my cousins
Gone.
The corner store
Gone.
The feel of protection
Gone.
The food
The air
The people
All different
It was so warm there
Family always together
But it is so cold here
So many problems
Do not get me wrong
Jackson has its positives
As you live here
You get fond of it
The school is amazing
Neighbors are decent
Land is beyond compared to where I am from
But Detroit is my home.
But Detroit is my home
The place I yearn
Where my heart belongs
The place I feel safest.
Hey neighbor!
Hey stranger!
Sounds odd on my tongue
But here is where I stay.
Lasting Times
Bethany Knott
The days are slow
but the years are fast
to be known and loved
from here and above
is it enough to make things last?
It feels like my childhood is over
I grew up too fast
sleep through the days, through the nights I ponder
of memories which I grow fonder
is it enough to make things last?
Ignorant and blissful
matured too fast
no more playing pretend
is this the end or
is it enough to make things last?
As I get a paycheck, a boyfriend, a car
time flies by too fast
the yarn of my life unravels
as I think back to that day in the gravel
am I enough to make things last?
The answer is not in myself
nor in others, I've found past my sorrow
don't sit by the side, dormant
spend your life in the moment
and remind yourself
there is a better tomorrow
Watch the sunrise
eat that cake
in a million ways
give yourself a reason to wake
We persevere
together our skin thick
rise as a community
past our insecurities
we are Jackson grown.
Changing and Gaining
Damona Posey
Since I was little
this town has never stopped
growing. It lives on thriving
never shedding a feather.
I would often say
will this place ever stop growing?
Day by day improved.
Shiny and new,
open minded, full of positive attitude
The weather’s always sunny
and cloudy. Growing up here
is the best I have been.
A town that gets better with
every fix. With me I will admit.
The town seems smaller
but is growing right before our eyes.
And the best of it all is
I get to be a witness to it.
Amani Alshaef is a senior at Jackson Central-Merry Early College High School. She was raised in Detroit, Michigan but later moved to Jackson, Tennessee when she was nine years old. She enjoys spending time painting and participating in events with family and friends. She hopes to open several businesses with her mother while earning her bachelor’s degree.
Beanie Knott is a freshman at Jackson Central-Merry Early College High School and is a survivor of their middle school emo phase. After moving in a giant circle across the U.S. three times, and even across the Atlantic, in the span of eleven years, they finally settled in Jackson for good. They enjoy terrible jokes, the color red, pretending to be an old lady, and survive solely on the broke college student diet.
Damona Posey is a junior at Jackson Central-Merry Early College High School. She has always loved writing poems and writing has been one of her favorite hobbies growing up. She would always have a journal with her just in case she had an idea that came to mind for her next story. In her head, she imagines that she is a famous writer and that everything she has written has come out great.
Addison Brown is a ninth grader at Jackson Central-Merry Early College High and is officially classified as an emo kid. She’s ambitious and passionate about everything she does. Throughout her life Addison has been involved in scholarly life everywhere she lived, including the poor mental health, diet, and sleep schedule.
Annalise Bennett was born and raised in Jackson TN. She graduated high school this spring and is enrolled at the University of Chattanooga where she plans on majoring in Graphic Design or Marketing. She is passionate about anything having to do with art and never leaves the house without her film camera.