By Harold Goldberg
Part of our New York Videogame Critics Circle Level Up Now scholarship program includes poetry written by high school students who have the world’s biggest entertainment medium in mind – along with salient social justice issues. (We will post the winners of the scholarship contest next week.)
People of color haven’t had the same writing opportunities as whites have; that’s something that has to change. In fact, the history of Black American poets goes back at least to the words of Phillis Wheatley (pictured above). She was kidnapped in Senegal at the age of seven in the late 1700s and brought sick and weak to the United States to be a slave. But as I read these Bronx teens’ poems, I was also reminded of these words of today that span history. It’s from Amanda Gorman’s Biden/Harris inauguration poem, The Hill We Climb:
“We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another.“
Enjoy these works!
RESTART
By Sandra Hernandez
I’m like a video game character but different
Who spawns with one life instead of multiple but before that begins
The controller turns on, the start button begins to flash
The flash continues unless I press START
Then my quest begins in the world filled with unknown things yet to be discovered
Before discovering the unknown I must prepare
Unlike any game having a weapon or power skill with you
I spawn in with NOTHING
Spawning in with nothing is a shame but I have a special weapon
This special weapon is a my mind
My mind is like a sword to me
Instead of slicing mongols like Jin Sakai
It slices down which quests or achievements I unlocked
But does not slice the ones I failed
I restart them to learn from what I got wrong
Before I was like sonic who at first rushes through these quests to reach the end
Always wanting to finish it fast to get the highest score in the game
Although this leads me to end up being trap
A repeated cycle not knowing how to figure it out
I refuse to hit the restart or then it will make my perfect score look bad
It felt as if I was surrounded by a bunch of bedrock blocks with a pickaxes
Wondering Why wont my pickaxe break through
Then I realized My special weapon will help me find my way
My mind is the powerup for me just like when Mario eats a mushroom to get bigger
I will think my way out and tell myself it’s okay to restart as many times I want
Restarting won’t affect me it will help me grow more powerful
It will make my mind become more stronger to use against challenges
It will make me stronger just like the mushroom does to Mario
I now know what I must do
I must hit RESTART
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Video Games
By Omar Ahmed
Video games bring out the best of all of us, and the worst.
Some might suggest the brain is turned into mush by video games,
However, evidence suggests that computer games in the real world are actually benefiting people.
Oh, how I love video games that make me see things that can’t happen outside,
And although movie versions of games are not so good,
Normally, I’m never disappointed with sequels.
More than just fun times, video games generate more,
They have also helped build my personality.
So thank you for making me through video games who I am.
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Detroit Become Human
By Eugene Gyasi
Humans vs Android
Are we the same?
Are we capable of loving each other?
We are who we are
Being a human or an android,
Does not stop us from having the same mindset
To protect our own to live
Does not stop us from having different opinions
In order to bring our people together
We may look different
We may dress differently, We may eat different foods
We may use different resources in order to keep us alive
Our looks do not portray who we are
But we are one
Humans or Androids
We have the potential to work together to bring peace
The potential to reason and solve problems
The potential to punish or forgive
The potential to look out for one another
Humans or Androids
We decide what’s best for our people
What we can do to strengthen our people
What we can do to nourish our nation
What we can do to provide for each and every one
No more war
No more inequality
We are one
We should think alike to bring,
Peace and Prosperity to our country
And to improve and build up our nation
Humans and Androids
We are one people
We are the next generation
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Journey
By Starjuachia Williams
I had a journey to the forbidden past or the forbidden west
I was the huntress that i could never become
Over and over the buttons switched
X was Triangle and square was circle
My jump became my running and ducking became my block
I was on an endless storymode of where my mother was the enemy and my brain was the trap
The coldwar was the start of the streets and the war between myself
360 no-scope
I played smashed bros however i was only smashing the button while my bros beat me over and over
Characters like steve from minecraft and peach the princess that always got captured
Mario time
But those times was the best
Me and my older brother planning to jump our younger brother
Momma yelling at us “BE QUIET”
But i’m just throwing these pokeballs and sending out pokemons
GO SPAKLES!!
I need money to take care of my family
So let’s start a heist
I’m rocking an rolling on these streets with a Forza horizon chasing me.
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Mask
By Jeison Liranzo
Laughter fills the room
As well as the void in my Hearth
I play overwatch with my Friends
having fun as us kids are Supposed to
Then it rang, the doorbell was as loud as D.vas bomb
suddenly my entire body started shaking
as if I were my controller when I play call of duty
I felt like Opening the door was my duty
but my emotions kept Hitting me like bullets
The door became so far
I felt like Mario when he has to open
Bowser’s door, my heart wondered if I
Would have to face a boss fight in real life
I open the door and I came in contact with
The boss I wonder if I would have to defeat him or be defeated
He spoke an I took a step back, he asks where my mom
Was? but I didn’t even know where I was.
He repeated himself, “where is your mom she owes me the money”
I said I didn’t know, he screamed at me and left.
I went back to play games with my friends
Tears fell from my eyes yet I stood silence
I wish the phantom thieves of hearts would make me have a change of heart
So I could be able to open up to my friends
Instead, I put on a mask and acted like I was okay
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Cold
By Ashly Perez
How could this happen?
How could I let this happen?
How could I only stand by and watch
Watch him show his mercy to a soul filled with desire and hatred
Watch him get killed by an unknowing being in the blink of an eye
Watch him turn to dust…
Watch his ruby red scarf fall to the ground…
How could this not be my fault?
How could trust I’ve had for so long shatter in an instant
How could they leave his dust in my hands?
His scarf around my neck
What a coward I was
Cold
Was the forever falling crystalline that filled the skies
Cold
Were my feet every step I took, filling my fuzzy pink sandals
Cold
Is what I would be if I cared about the weather
Frozen
Were the lakes and ponds
Frozen
Forever the beating of his heart
Frozen
Were the Icicles hanging from the trees
Frozen
Was I, when his neck sliced in half
Frozen
Was I, when he turned to dust before my eyes
Frozen
Was I…when his scarf fell to the ground
Based on Undertale
By Ashly Perez
Sans lost his bro, couldn’t do anything bout it
Grandmother’s Passing
I lost my grandmother, couldn’t do anything about it
(Maybe);
Ever knew what it was like
Fell in my arms
Never saw it coming
Wish death hadn’t come so early
Believe I could’ve
It’s all my fault
All I had left
Why didn’t I
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Mine and Craft
By Ashlyn Perez
My favorite game is Minecraft.
It allows me to create, to strategize
To build, to organize
It shows me survival skills as I wander through the waterfalls and hills
An endless world of mobs and kills
Freedom. Imagination. It’s worth the frustration.
Creepers creeping around’ the corners from nowhere,
Zombies arms out, eat my brain like its trout
Skeletons shooting, players come, I start looting,
Like the hunger games, survival is a race
Running from the ender dragon be a full-on goose chase
Doing things the cave-man way, I’ll make a sword as soon as I find a cave
Hopin’ not to die in all that la-va, here we go again with those stupid llamas!
Can’t go out at night, dangerous mobs looking for a fight
Build a fort, or stay inside! Otherwise, you’ll be on one ‘hell’ of a ride
Grab your weapons, anything would work, just have damage attack, and we can make the teamwork
