pens & pencils 2016

When I was 8 years old, my family went on a summer vacation to a small town about an hour north of New York City called Central Valley.

One night we went downtown for ice cream at the drugstore and were surprised to find the streets empty. When we walked to the firehouse, we saw the dispatcher sitting outside on a chair that was leaning against the building.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

“Over at the Joneses,” he replied, indicating a house with a tilt of his head. “They just got one of them new television sets. Whole town’s watching Milton Berle.”

The idea of an empty town sparked my imagination, so I wrote an article about it and submitted it to the community newspaper.

How thrilled I was when I saw the story appeared on the front page!

Imagine, then, how thrilled I am years later to be able to make it possible for other students to be published. I hope you enjoy seeing your words (and art) in print as much as I did. And still do.

— LEAH S. DUNAIEF

A message from the publisher

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A. Craig Purcell ~ Anthony W. Mercep ~ Timothy B. GlynnJacqueline A. Fink ~ Scott MacLagan ~ Martin F. Simon, of Counsel

“Congratulations On Your Creativity”North Country Road, Post Office Box 712, Stony Brook, New York 11790 • 631.751.5757

Glynn Mercep and Purcell, LLP

Lawyers

By MELoDy WANgW.S. MoUNt ELEMENtAry ScHooL

grADE 5

Special 2016 pullout section

LighthousesBy JAck ZAZZENA

NASSAkEAg ELEMENtAry ScHooLgrADE 4

If you’re not from New York, you don’t know the lighthouse

The tall massive building towering above you 180 steps to the top.

Seeing out to sea from the very top.

Wind blowing in your face.

If you’re not from New York, you don’t know the lighthouse.

Summer is hereBy DANIELLE PoLLINA


Warm summer days and the hot burning sunSoft cozy sand always tickling my feetThrowing a ball then catching another

Dashing into the refreshing pool to cool offRiding my bike in the neighborhood

Breathing in the fresh breezy airTaking another bite of my ice cream

Wishing I could have summer all year

By EMMA MANNINoWArD MELvILLE HIgH ScHooL

grADE 11

By cHrIStIAN o’BrIENWArD MELvILLE HIgH ScHooL

grADE 11

By kELLy ScALogNAW.S. MoUNt ELEMENtAry ScHooL

grADE 5

By cAtHErINE BEtZWArD MELvILLE HIgH ScHooL

grADE 10

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Lawyers

By BELLA AyErWArD MELvILLE HIgH ScHooL

grADE 11

Am I Rama?By rAMA LAPIDUS

P.J. gELINAS Jr. HIgH ScHooLgrADE 8

My name is RamaBut I do not always feel as though

I am Rama

Rama means mighty Rama means of high authority

Rama is strong

If I was a boy I would have been RamBut I don’t like that because it

seems like the animal

RamMaybe Rama is like a ram

As strong as one

I am the strength of soilSturdy at first lookBut secretly fragile

I am the teeth of a roaring lionRestless and untamed

Am I strong? Am I worthy of my own name?

I think my parents named me with expectationsAnd now, those unspoken dreams,

they follow me around

My mother told me that she remembers when

I was littleThe way I looked at my newborn sister

With bright, loving eyes

Maybe at timesRama is gentle

Delicate and lovingIs that me?

It’s strange to look inside yourselfTo wonder how the world sees you

How can one truly analyze their own values and flaws?

I am the curtain of held back wordsHidden secrets

Is my voice of any worth?

Emotion Rainbow By MEgHAN MILLEr


Most people think of red as an angry colorI think of embarrassment

The rosy red your face turns when you feel uneasy

Orange is two facedIt could be soft like a sunset

Or bold like a neon glow stickYellow is a mellow color

Like the sun when it awakens from its past sleep

Green is softLike the grass of a freshly mowed lawn on

a Summer dayBlue is sad

Like tears illuminated by dim lightIndigo like lilacs in a fieldSwaying in a light breeze

Violet like grapesAt a summer picnicOh you never know

What color you Will be tomorrow

in a nameBy MADELINE IMMErMAN

P.J. gELINAS Jr. HIgH ScHooLgrADE 8

who?and what? is to be magnificent?

they say i am powerful, and they say i am enlightened

what a wise little girl they say

mary magdalene, cleaned and purebut mary, mary, how contrary you are

for from the elevated towers, where my “wis-dom” has been confined

i have waited

waiting until someone may realizethat magical magnificence

is unreal

madeline’s mandalasmandalas drawn out on the floor

in a room where walls and ceilingsare inspired by only the night sky

mandals constructed of pebbles andsatin scraps

my pebbles, my stones may seem to be nothingagainst their bigger, stronger boulders.

but they’re wrong

my pebbles are powerfuljust like the me i am supposed to be

By MADDIE MAStrIANoWArD MELvILLE HIgH ScHooL

grADE 10

By SyDNEy gErLEW.S. MoUNt ELEMENtAry ScHooL

grADE 3

Where I’m From By JUStIN MArtELL


I’m from thecutting board of mygrandma’s kitchen

I’m from thefreshly cut grass

of a damp lacrosse fieldI’m from a

neighborhood of darksilent streets at night

I’m from the majestic artwork

hanging on the wallI’m from the

squeaky glass floor of abasketball court

I’m from Long IslandNew York

AirBy SHANE FUcHS


The moist airAfter the summer

RainFlowers and grass

Are bloomingFeel the wet grasson your bare feet

Sliding around on the grassA rainbow shining in the sky

A happy day has comeAfter all

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Lawyers

By LILA DABroWSkIW.S. MoUNt ELEMENtAry ScHooL

grADE 5

Night By EMILy grEEk


Cool airSky black like slick oil

But stars light up like howflashlights lead your way

So many things you can do at night Like

SwimmingManhunt with your friends

Camping under the glistening starsFireflies come out to dance while

They light up the nightThe moon comes out

BrightBig

WhiteGuides the stars

And if you’re lucky you canSee a meteor shower

And watch them fly throughThe oily sky

All until it’s...Bright

WHAT TO LIVE FORBy FErNANDA ArévALo

WArD MELvILLE HIgH ScHooLgrADE 11

We have only one life But at times we become lost.

We get lured into living- not for ourselves But for those around us.

Though we may ask what life is,It’s a question that cannot be answered.

Life is what you say it is—It is not perfect.

It is not glorious.We do not know how much time we will get,

And we do not know what will come our way.What we do know is that we are here.

Because we live not for the futureBut for this moment in time.Tomorrow is not guaranteed

So live today: For beauty. For love. For life.

AWAYBy ANDI SAUEr

WArD MELvILLE HIgH ScHooLgrADE 10

Heavy shoes treadLeaves don’t

crinkle and pop

Mind ambles hopelesslyto realms that life

forgot.Shoved in shadows, cobweb

blankets cover ever-bleaker grin under dust on wooden shelves

where life tossed her only one.In empty air,

in empty spacefantasy

seems gruesomeKissing days, andlaughing nights

Spaghetti mouth, andbutterfly eyes

in the warm hug of a fire, ‘tilthe ashes turned to dust

and blewaway.

Soccer Goal By PAUL toMMoLINo


I place the ball on the hillI back up

ReadyI lift my arm

the goalie’s eyesburn holes in my head

I’m ready;I jog

SlowlyWalk

Now Run Shot

I rocketThe ball

To the top postCurve

Just under the crossbarGOAL

By JoSEPH SPAccArELLIWArD MELvILLE HIgH ScHooL

grADE 10

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Lawyers

I AM NOT MY iPHONE

By ALLISoN DANAWArD MELvILLE HIgH ScHooL

grADE 11

I am not my iPhone.People of older times seem to fear that

since I use technology,I will become technology-

faceless, steely,limited only in areas of feeling, caring.I am in each careful message of com-

fortor derision

typed deftly on fingers thatfly against their home.

I sympathize with characters that Iwatch on a tiny screenthat mimics my world,

but greater.I improve my knowledge,

researching facts so unnecessary thatI wouldn’t be bothered to learn them

unless theinformation was right there to be found

just beyond a few taps with relaxed thumbs.

Did you know thatthe Pacific is 35,797 feet deep?

I couldn’t exactly have gone andfound that out for myself

(I don’t have that many feet — do you?)but I could find it

in my phone that extends the nature I can’t find outside

to wherever I need it to be. There are fears that are spewed out like

insults,of a time led by technology instead of

experience.I ask the fearful to remember that

I am not my iPhoneand that even if I was,

why would that be so bad?

By StEvEN ZHAoWArD MELvILLE HIgH ScHooL

grADE 12

SUMMER LIGHT SHINES ANEW

By yoAv JAcoBWArD MELvILLE HIgH ScHooL

grADE 12

Memories of sun and moon in my mindAll across the land we trekked and sang.Now each moment of time is so unkind,

We wait to return like a boomerang

How thee danced and ran free from thyselfGrowth of spirit and of soul and of love.Secrets of life now kept within myselfForever remembered in heavens above

The cold approaches and days shrink to noneOnly thoughts keep the warmth of summer

daysHow hard it is to resist the sun

I am left lost deep within my mental haze

Look now, a light, it fills my horizonPerhaps this life has only yet begun.

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Lawyers

Lego FriendsBy trINIty vEgA

W.S. MoUNt ELEMENtAry ScHooLgrADE 2

On a warm sunny day in Stony Brook, Trinity was at the barn.

They were getting ready for a horse competition.All of Trinity’s friends came to visit her

at the barn.Trinity was feeling sick and had a fever.

She knew she was not feeling good enough to enter the competition.

A person came along and asked if they could enter the competition for Trinity.

Trinity said sure.She knew this person had horses.

She was happy someone cared about her and wanted to help her.

The competition went on.The person won a trophy for Trinity.

It was a good day at the barn.

Didn’t see your submission?

If your submission did not appear in Pens and Pencils, look for it in the Kids’ Times corner in an upcoming edition of the Arts and Lifestyles section of The Village Times Herald.

By WILLIAM yAoW.S. MoUNt ELEMENtAry ScHooL

grADE 5

By JULIA coLEttI

WArD MELvILLE HIgH ScHooL

grADE 11

pens & pencils 2016

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