2017-2018 WITS Year-End Reading Chapbook

CALVONTRE WHITE

Leschi Elementary School, 5th Grade
WITS Writer, Jeanine Walker

Stand Up

America America a place that is unknown
like history there are secrets that
have never been told
Many have stood up for years, why don’t
we celebrate them, why don’t we give them
cheers
When we started Black Lives Matter
and people said they care, then tell us
why police brutality is still roaming in the
air
History starts now so why not
take a chance, because you can be
the person that finally took that STAND!

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AMIRA N. WILLUMSON

B.F. Day Elementary School, 4th Grade
WITS Writer, Ramon Isao

Super Kitty

{An Excerpt}

“Mom, can I go play with Falisity?” Conner Whiskers Kiwi
mumbled softly.

Her mom’s voice was soft and stern. “Yes honey, you may, but
be back by 5:00.”

“But mom, that’s only a half hour,” Kiwi boomed irritated.
As she stomped through the front door, her sneakers hitting the
wood floor was like an elephant’s foot. As she trotted down the
pavement she hummed a song that was stuck in her head.

Knock, knock, knock, Kiwi hit her fist against the hard wood
door.

“Hello, are you here for Falisity, Conner?” Mrs. Whiskers said
in her beautiful soft voice that reminded me of classical music.
“Kiwi?”

“Oh, sorry, I was day dreaming,” Kiwi stuttered. “Bye, Mrs.
Whiskers.”

“Bye, honey,” as Kiwi walked down the steps, she saw this
light.

She was concerned, so she jogged. As the light got brighter,
she started jogging at a faster speed. The light seemed to be
staring at her which made her more concerned than ever. As the
light got brighter, she jogged faster until she stopped.

“Huh...” All the sudden the light slowly faded away. Her
life had changed. All the sudden she wasn’t concerned. She
was FREAKING OUT!! Now the light was completely gone now
but where had it gone? She looked down in surprise to see the
light inside her, then to notice a shiny red suit that read: SUPER

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KITTY!!! And then looked behind her and saw a cape that read:
Kiwi Marle Purr (that was her full name).

Meanwhile, back at Mrs. Purr’s house, she was really worried.
She couldn’t lose her child only at age nine. “What should I do?”
she stuttered. All the sudden, she heard this scream.

“HI MOM! I’M UP HERE!”
“Holy mackerel, honey! I’m coming!” Mrs. Purr’s face was as
scared as an ant about to be stepped on.
“Mom, I’m having the time of my life.”
“Mrs. Purr are you okay?” the neighbor, Mr. Paw, asked out of
curiosity.
“Yeah I’m good, mind doing me a favor?”
“What kind of favor?” Mr. Paw questioned.
“Persuading my daughter to get down from the sky.”
As Mr. Paw and Mrs. Purr finally got Kiwi down, her mom
said, “Thank you, Mr. Paw.”
“My pleasure!” Mr. Paw slowly walked away, shook his head
out of disbelief that a ten-year-old was stuck in the clouds.
“Boy,” he said to himself, “Some weird neighbors I got!”
“Kiwi, how did you do that?” Mom asked, waiting for an
answer.
Kiwi explained the whole story. She was exited she could be
saving the world.

{To be continued…}

102

TÜTLALEE WINES

Blue Heron School, 5th Grade
WITS Writer, Rachel Kessler

Seashell Prison

Part 1: The Escape
There was a mass breakout at Sea Shell Prison! A sea slug,

named Slughorn, had broken out.
Slughorn shouted, “I’m free!!!” He used bits of the sheet on

his bed for a rope to get out the high window, but first he used a
bit of red sharp sea glass to bend the bars on his window.

He said, “These things are so cheap, they were probably one
sand dollar!” When he lowered himself out, he found a rock to
break the chains attached to him.

After that, he stole the keys to some of the other cells and
unlocked Mr. McCrab, a hermit crab, who said, “No stopping us!”
as well as Clammy Pammy, a clam, and Ella, an eel.

Part 2: The Theft
They were headed for the Sand Dollar Bank! They were

planning on stealing 1,000 Sand Dollars each and got in by
sending a little minnow to set off the security alarm to distract
everybody, and slipped right in.

They picked the lock on the safe with Ella’s tail and Mr.
McCrab’s claw. The FFBI, the Fish Federal Bureau of Investigation,
as well as the CCIA, Crab Central Intelligence Agency, were after
them.

The head of the FFBI said, “We will catch them if it’s the last
thing we do!”

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Part 3: The Reef
The four marine animals were headed for The Reef, a

restaurant. When they arrived, Ella got an imitation crab. (She
would have preferred real crab, but Mr. McCrab was with them.)

Mr. McCrab said, “Are you trying to torment me, Ella?!?”
He ordered a seaweed ale. Pammy ordered a Shorely Temple.
Slughorn ordered Mike’s Sealemonade.

They ended up playing pool with a pool shark, but luckily for
them, they won and got ten Sand Dollars each. The game ended
with the shark cursing loudly.
Part 4: The Capture

They hitched a ride on the back of a cruise ship, and Ella kept
guard for police underwater. However, Ella was spotted by the
FFBI, who shot a coral dart at her, and put her in a cage.

She tried to scream, but said, “Smghyhrn!” which of course,
nobody understood.

The shooter of the dart said, “Whatever, eel.” He hung her
off the bottom of his raft so she had water. Once he caught the
rest and loaded them onto his raft, he took them to Elcatraz, the
most heavily guarded prison in the sea.

104

JESUS ZARATE DUARTE

South Lake High School, 10th Grade
Daemond Arrindell

His Mother s Hope

He is the hands of his father
The tears of his mother
The change of his mother’s words
They see a bad influence with baggy pants
They judge him
They see him as a darkness
Walking through the light causing chaos
All because of his blue flannel
His shadowy combed hair

In truth he just wants others to understand him
He dresses his own way
He does his hair as he likes
But no one understands how he lived
They don’t understand his struggle

All he truly wants is to see his mother smile
He wants to see the sun
That use to be there
Til the dark marks were left on her
He wants to make her proud even
When others see him as chaos

His smile is as bright as his mother’s used to be
He wants her to have everything
He walked through the darkness alone
Came out with the light of hope

He will show the work of his mother
And the smile she use to have
With the success bright as the sun

105

ZIYADA

Leschi Elementary School, 5th Grade
WITS Writer, Jeanine Walker

My Sister

the sun roared it clapped and sung
I flew on a nice
green leaf

I dreamt I saw you
in your Ethiopia clothing
how beautiful you looked
just like our mom

you sang me a song
about a good friend
you know I envy you

I saw a cheetah and
other animals too
they were mostly pink but
also black too

I reached inside
of you and pulled
out your love
the one you share
with everyone
around

Sometimes when you
talk to me even when
I don’t understand

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the unique language
I wish I could
understand
I feel so sad
I am so proud
of you the
more I think
about it I realize
I envy you
those beautiful brown
eyes they twinkle like
the twilight

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Thank You

A very special thank you to our WITS interns this year: Siri
Gannholm, Lucas Wildner, BreAnna Girdy, & Caroline Craighead
who invested countless hours into the production of this
chapbook and the Year End Readings this year. Our sincerest
thanks to every member of our school and hospital administration
teams, our partner teachers and generous PTA members whose
hard work and dedication brought WITS to these students in the
2017-18 school year. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Special Thanks as well to Cupcake Royale for sweetening these
celebrations with their delicious Babycakes and to Molly Moon’s,
Elliott Bay Book Company, Paper Hammer, Packaging Specialties,
Amazon and Starbucks for their thoughtful contributions to the
gift bags. Thank you to Tessa Hulls, Cara Sutherland, and Tony
Ong for providing their marvelous artistic and design talents. We
are ever-grateful to the Seattle Public Library for their generous
donation of space, and to Libby Lewis for capturing it all so
beautifully in photographs.

Writers in the Schools (WITS)

A Program of Seattle Arts & Lectures

This chapbook showcases creative writing by elementary, middle,
and high school students from the 27 partner public schools and
Seattle Children’s that worked with the WITS program during the
2017-18 school year.

Mission
Writers in the Schools (WITS) inspires young people to discover
and develop their authentic writing and performance voices.

Philosophy
Through working with professional, published creative writers,
students are empowered to tell stories and share their
expeirences through the lens of poetry, prose and comics. WITS
residencies are woven into the school day, thus reaching students
who might never elect to attend an after-school program in
creative writing. Through WITS, students become authors of their
own lives.

Goals

Inspire students to engage in the writing process, build skills
and improve the quality of their writing, and increase their self-
confidence.

Invigorate the teaching of writing by providing teachers with
innovative lessons and literature, fresh techniques, and the time
and encouragement to join their students in writing.

Support and sustain a positive culture of reading and writing at
each school.

Provide connections and employment for local, professional
writers to the public schools.