Badgerblog

Today, I took my sidewalk chalk
my sidewalk chalk of assorted colors.
I went outside
out on my street
and started to rub my chalk on the sidewalk
the old concrete sidewalk.
I had time
maybe a little too much.
I had spent all day there
in the hot, hot sun
just rubbing, rubbing down my sidewalk chalk.
And when I finished,
I swelled with pride
at that masterpiece
I created.
Then, it started to rain.

Eliana, middle school, downtown summer camp

There is a wilderness that
no one can access, except for
a select few, and even then
they cannot imagine how far
and wide it stretches or how
different it is from their own world.
They assume what the rest of
the wilderness is based on
is what little they’ve seen,
but they have no idea.
With snakes ready to poison,
vultures waiting for death,
and lizards hiding in the sand.
No one understands this place.
Not even those who live in it.
This wilderness is my mind.

Stewart, middle school, downtown summer camp