Power n' Poverty Poems by Raphael House Year 12 Students

by Lucia Sobiecki

A child walks alone. Adults don't see him.
He's a ghost, an image of destruction.
Broken, blood spattered hands, a charred black limb.
Tears drowning in the annihilation.
Adults run past, guns forever in hand.
Bombs explode, bullets scream non stop at night,
Hard metal hitting every inch of land.
Smoke rising from battle graves at first light.
A child walks alone. Black with ash and earth,
Sticking to the bare bones and bloodied skin,
That have trailed his lonely life since birth.
We don't behold him, lost dead in the win.
A war no better then a pointless whim.
His life is wars most innocent victim.

Disaster Strikes View article
by Elli Yates

He lay in the wreckage of his home,
Shaking with the fear and weariness of disaster.
Small, he shivered and whimpered in the stillness, the aftermath.
I picked my way through the rubble, like a magpie searching for living treasure, wonering:
How many more like this lost little boy?
How many more like this, lost?
How many more like this?
How many more?
How many?
How?

Solomon Islands View article
by Freya Wall

20,000 have fled, thousands still remain,
Five long years passed, before intervention came.
The civil way brought the poverty stricken county to its knees,
This place was too dangerous everybody agrees.
Pease is being restored, life is coming back,
Hopefully with help, it will all stay on track.

Kenya View article
by Robert Pattchett

The lakes of Kenya, barren and dry,
Containing nourishment for nothing living
And the world watches on, little giving.
No sign of rain in the clear blue sky.
Five year long drought means livestock die,
All they have is the air they're breathing,
If water doesn't come soon many more will be grieving.

Through the rescuers eyes View article
by Rosie Herdman

Smoke curls lazily up to the desolate sky
A city, reduced to rubble.
My heartbeat pounds in my ears, a deafening tattoo
But the screams are louder.
I strain, like a horse tense before a race, desperate to help
Stay back they said.
"Go" .
Even before I hear the word, I'm gone.
Adrenaline pumps through my veins, I was born for this.
You see this on your television screen. Tired of violence and trauma, you simply change the channel.
But I cannot change the channel.
This is life.

It Has Been Three Years View article
by Ryan Baker

It has been three years since our once loved bones smashed against each other.
The dead cold iced blood still runs through my veins, the bad, the good, the anger, the destruction, the memories, and the nightmares. The things I did haunt me to this day.
I was so relieved when I heard it was done, to know that the biggest military operation in the south pacific since world war two was over.

Tsunami View article
by Tetsuya Aoyama

The tunami
The black wall
Big and strong
Forcing, damaging, everything
There was only pain
There is only sorrow
The black wall

A Child lay in the Rubble View article
by Cien Howell-Kress
The child lay in the rubble,
Was it once his home?
No one can tell.
Does he have siblings,
Mother, father, a family?
We must get to him
And so many more like him.
But no.
Wait.
Are there others more in need?
How do I find them, feed them?
Have patience
Wait to hear
We will be told where we are most needed.