Portrait/Self Portrait Workshop Poems
Michelle Holland & Alex Traube
Jessica’s Dime
 A young girl who is funny,
though shy, her silence is really
a cage to hide her real soul.
She’s so full of vigor, it practically
gives off like hyper vibes!
Her smile…
it shows her soul has a soft side –
with understanding
understanding of many things,
like the world begin made up of
fantastic ingredients –
each with their own flavor.
She’s brave!
Seemingly very able to get back
up whenever she falls!
…
unless – it’s a turn.
But, due to her courageous demeanor,
she’ll kick the curb’s ass!
And show…
that she rules.
She’s a dreamer, one-of-a-kind,
and she’ll prove it.
She’ll show by not only
her style and spirit,
but with that fashion!
Didn’t I mention?
Tons of gloves for any occasion!
So, when you ask,
“Who’s that girl in the corner,
so quiet and so?”
Well, hell…
that’s Jessica, you know!
Hard to anger, unless you’re
a meanie yourself.
She’s sweeter than you’d think –
go on and find out!
And what’s cool, that THIS
lamo thought most?
She digs some groovy books,
which are misunderstood …
well, by her generation, anyway,
but not by a kid.
And that’s giga cool,
that she’ll show.
She’s smarter than most –
she’s funny and proud!
A warrior if only,
and a lot to be found.
She still has innocence,
and won’t shun anyone.
And, hey –
take it from this stray cat –
Jessica is one kick ass
person, it any at that!
…
No lie, that’s for sure.
She’s respectful of you.
She’s respectful of me.
In any case, a true person, indeed,
and that’s something you’ll see –
if you meet the soul
that brims within Jessica’s beat.
Steven Fisher
Santa Fe High School
Portrait of Jessica Chavez, McCurdy High School
Steven
 A world lighted by
rumors, politics
and judgmental people
has a way to take hold
and drive you to a place between
freedom and solitude
desperate for a chance
to change the world
through my eyes
never seem to be enough
as I watch those around
they seem to have a glare
that says, “You’re not worth this
unless you’re blond.”
time trips forward
as I find myself
in the mist
of Van Halen, sword fights and a search
for God in my family church
in hopes to find the world a better place
rather than heartbreaks and tragedy
tied to the strings of emotions
as Ariel follows her heart
to the surface to become human
but we as humans
seem to have
a misunderstanding
with the word “heart”
as though life meant
nothing more, more
than life and death.
what is the substitution for these words?
simple
these lines of poetry
what I hold in my heart
Jessica Chavez
McCurdy School
Portrait of Steven Fisher, Santa Fe High School
Loretta
 Dogs and family and places
seems like it’s all in abundance
and that things get lost
or moved
or just change a lot
that Brownie could only be there for awhile
but was soon replaced
and that while homes and schools are lost
cats are found in tree tops
and abundance creates comfort somehow
that seven schools has made
life adventurous
that if there are seven
there may be eight
or that
it’s easier to lose a dog when you
never run out of pets,
or family.
Uncle with twenty guests and Mickey Mouse suits.
Rode tower of terror until her stomach flew out.
And when all together it was like
Brownie and back
again and it didn’t matter
what school or what place she was living.
And the way each house smelled and each school floor
seemed to all fit together
in that
one place
on each ride.
And each place she had had
seemed to fall into place
and everything she once had
to give up or move away from
did not matter.
Lia Woertendyke
Santa Fe Arts Institute
Portrait of Loretta Sisneros, Alameda Middle School
What Lia Said
 Lia said that she had a friend
and they were good friends
and they went to school
she had a friend that stayed
the night at a friends
and she was going to stay there for awhile
for her birthday because
she never had a big birthday before
and then she got kicked out
and she had another friend
they were best friends
they would go to the library together
and her friend gave her her number
and she lost it
and she said she was kind of fucked up
and Lia felt guilty about it
and in the beginning she
said that a boy at the school
they went to sang
and they were too quiet to sing
and they cried
and that’s it
Loretta Sisneros
Alameda Middle School
Portrait of Lia Woertendyke, Santa Fe Arts Institute
Jessica
 Jessica,
born in Ireland
and lived with her
hippie parents gone Republican
who gave her the nickname
Sunshine!
which, of course, she “loves”
has seven sisters
whom she wrote a beautiful poem about
and three close friends
Carmelita, Steven, and Ivan
whom she claims
are GREAT!
She’s traveled the world,
Rome,
Germany,
and Hawaii –
Hawaii, where she got her
turtle backpack!
Loves to write poetry,
but escapes to theater
in her dreams.
Red Rose Connerty
McCurdy School
Portrait of Jessica Roberts, Santa Fe High School
Red Rose
 With the name Red Rose, you can hear
the screams of parental hippies.
Red is her name, and green is her favorite color.
Together forming the perfect Rose.
But what is a Rose without a few thorns?
Friends that have been there forever.
They will continue to protect her throughout life.
When she sees something plain, like a jacket.
She takes it and makes it better.
Along with jewelry for her wrists,
and her infatuation with rings even the ones
she doesn’t like will have a place on her fingers.
Born in Clovis, moving to Santa Fe, will she ever
get to leave and be free? Maybe.
After graduation, she’s going to Paris
with her adoptive and loving mother and godmother.
Maybe there she can spread her wings
and take flight.
She has her own thoughts, such as, “You idiots,
learn the difference between cornrows and braids.”
She likes poetry and Van’s
which are to the point of destruction
from too much love.
But isn’t that how the world should be?
Jessica Roberts
Santa Fe High School
Portrait of Red Rose, McCurdy High School
Terra
 Terra likes the prospect
of looking out the window.
She really wants to see the world.
Her mother is the one that wanted her to find someone.
Her mother told her to go on the internet
and post something.
Now someone answered to her ad,
and he wanted what she had.
They have the same quality
of looking out the window.
She’s a nurse who loves her job.
She wants shoes that have wheels.
She watched a play that her step-son did.
And she’s happy to be getting married.
Her favorite colors are green and red.
That’s what she said.
Karla Tenorio
Alameda Middle School
Portrait of Terra Louise Ussery, Poet
Karla
 Lilacs fill the house with her perfume
velvet purple pillows, royal curtains
the TV left on in the living room
isn’t what she hears
it’s the dance rustling up
from a time before words
purple
The color of her eyeshadow
as the girls speak
the dance flows from her pen
the songs of her life
24 stanzas
24 words
24
her small room filled with the number 24
the number I dreamt of
when I was young
Terra Louise Ussery
Poet
Karla Tenorio, Alameda Middle School
Amberly
 My father has two dogs, one is
Chica... the other who’s name I forget,
not because she’s unimportant but
because … oh, wait I remember, her name
is Perra, which means dog. No wonder
I forgot!
There’s just too much mind muddle
clogging the sucli of my brain’s
gray and white matter.
Seven brothers is quite a lot
to look after, but there is
still some time. A moment
to smile
to breathe
to feel alive
and to listen to
music.
Maybe even record some tunes,
rhythms, beats that echo
in eternity.
I am a star in a universe
of bright lights.
But I still feel the darkness
press in, around, against me,
sometimes.
With such a large family
and so many stubborn emotions
it’s difficult to retain
a unique personality,
which plays into the story of
the revulsion
of opera.
Everything else is fine.
I love the melodies of methodical
lyricists just hoping
that one person might
be inspired by their music.
My mother, sometimes I called out,
my mom, mama, mother,
has too many indecisions about
the man she shares her life with.
My father has two dogs, and
I have an infinity of
silent stories.
Carmelita Jaramillo
Santa Fe High School
Portrait of Amberly Parson, Alameda Middle School
Carmelita
 She likes poetry a lot cuz
it feels like people are listening.
She spends 99% of her time on school,
the rest on poetry and friends.
She has a brother,
one year younger than she is.
She moved to New Mexico when she was young.
She is inspired by Danny Solis.
One day he came to her school and
that’s who inspired her to write poetry.
She seems to be a happy person.
She seems to have a great life.
I was really shocked by what she told me.
Amberly Parson
Alameda Middle School
Portrait of Carmelita Jaramillo, Santa Fe High School
Ivan
 When he finds her
they will assemble European trains
flick the switch and chug
them through the battered fields turned green again
- a farmer’s grandson watches -
When he finds her
they will kneel at soccer fields
- Academy and Spain -
blades of transplant grass resist
the pull of children’s fingers
When he finds her
they’ll lift his single bed
unthumbtack the posters
carton up the cereal
slide the van door shut
- the city cedes to the highway -
When he finds her
they will open up this journal
inhale –
fresh ink makes his memories
fresh ink marks the world
Seth Biderman
Teacher, Monte Del Sol
Portrait of Ivan Kenarov, Santa Fe High School
Seth
 waking from sleep
beginning to fulfill dreams
writing ‘round the world
stories of fiction with
truth in the diction
teaching intuition to children
to cure the illness of ignorance
slow down the vehicle
build up your patience
make it right
not a junkyard poltergeist
just a righteous knight
clap twice to hear
the crushing demise
the sound of twisted metal lies
confined at a police checkpoint
so passage to the afterlife
you gotta get it…
write this rhyme one more line
fables five months in time
label the kind, show them we are wise
check the iris of my eyes
is it wide or constricted by light
the sun shines bright
but it isn’t clear
what’s next to write
Ivan Kenarov
Santa Fe High School
Portrait of Seth Biderman, Teacher, Monte Del Sol
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