Bryant Park’s Reading Room provides the free use of books, newspapers, and magazines in the park during warm weather months as well as a robust schedule of literary events.
Alex (l, above), a rising senior at The Young Womens Leadership School in Queens, and Aniya (r, above), a recent graduate of The Young Womens Leadership School in Brooklyn and who will attend NYU in the fall, read from their original poetry for park goers gathered at the Reading Room.
Alex and Anya previously participated in CWP’s Storytelling for Film and Television program which included a visit just a stones throw away from Bryant at 30 Rock and NBCUniversal studios. NBCUniversal funds this young adult mentorship program.
Aniya read two poems to the audience at the Reading Room, An Artist’s Struggle and A Natural Connection, which is dedicated to their best friend Omi, “she’s my ray of sunshine—without her I wouldn’t grow into who I am at the moment.”
An Artist’s Struggle
A blank canvas, a blank page,
A wrinkled sheet of paper, plain,
Lies before me in its silent stage.
Ideas dance within my brain,
Yet all remains an empty space,
Like lyrics lost or memories erased.
I gaze upon this 8×10
A void that holds no shape or end,
Struggling to find the words to show
The depths of thoughts I long to know.
My mind, a canvas wide and bare,
Frustrated, confused, I sit and stare.
Nothing is there
Tears fall down in silent streams,
My creativity hidden in unreachable dreams,
Unspoken thoughts left unseen,
Invisible truths in ink so keen.
Yet nothing is there
What seems empty speaks so loud—
A hidden story, an inner shroud.
To you, it may appear as naught,
But to me, a reflection caught.
I see the person I could be,
In this blank canvas, I find me.
The beauty of what art can be
It starts with a page, a canvas so bare,
Given with a chance to shape, to build, to care.
I am my own creation’s start,
Crafting the beauty of my art.
From blank to bright, from none to all,
I am the canvas, and I stand tall.
A Natural Connection
In the world of plants, we flourish and grow,
Best suited where the right conditions may flow.
Our nurturing sunbeams, all that we need,
You are my sun, my heart’s quiet creed.
May I repeat?
you are the warmth that I seek,
Basking under your light, I always feel complete.
I, a plant, a thriving green tree,
In the perfect environment, I grow freely.
The right surroundings, so kind and true,
In your radiant glow, I flourish anew.
Together we bloom in a harmonious space,
In this nurturing embrace, we find our place.
Then Alex shared their poems…Growth, Forgiveness, Admiration, and Forgetfulness.
Growth
Beneath the soil, a whisper grows,
In obscure depths where no light shows,
A seedling dreams of azure skies,
In silence waits its grand arise.
The earth, its cradle, dark and deep,
Embraces life in slumbered sleep,
Yet up above true hardship creeps
It’s careful hunt like wolves to sheep
A tender sprout, so small and bright
Tries reaching out to see the light
Yet rain and snow do show their might
And push the sprout back down in fright
A tender sprout, so small and dim
Unlike a tree, it’s stem, now slim
It’s newer leaves, the pain had trim
Assumptions lost, the world was grim
It learned growth’s more than just ascent,
It’s bowing limbs, with patience spent
Its raging fire, it’s smoky scent
No easy exit, no open vent
The fire leaves the seeding charred
The roots have bent and coating scarred
Yet tries again, though hurt and marred
Now numb to ache, it’s resilience hard
Desensitization, they say it can’t feel
It tried to bloom soft, that wasn’t ideal
Gained a rough surface, it made spring a deal
The tulips bud never breaks, if it’s reinforced with steel
Forgiveness
Compassion moves like rivers wide,
With depths that flow and currents guide,
For in each act of letting go,
We find the way to heal and grow.
A pain that seems to stay in place
Each time you talk or see their face
The lies you heard and once believed
A naiveness you must now grieve
In every scar, a story told,
That marks your heart and forms your mold
Each act of mercy, like a star,
That guides us back to who we are
Through tear-streaked skies, a rainbow’s hue,
A promise made, a world anew,
For in each wound, a lesson lies,
A path to peace beneath the skies.
It will take time, to make a mark
To really find, that long lost spark
To look the culprit in the eye
To wipe your tears and let them dry
The act ‘s not swift, nor is it weak,
It’s strength in kindness, courage meek,
It’s letting go of bitter chains,
And finding grace in what remains.
Admiration
A mountain’s peak, a starlit night,
The tender touch of morning light,
Each wonder, grand or small, resounds,
Yet you are simply more profound.
A soul inspired by deeds so rare,
A courage shown, a love laid bare,
Inside your strength, I find my own,
Your light, a beacon brightly shone.
The flames of passion in my heart
The match your soul had used to start
Those stepping stones you left behind
My watchful feet will always find
I’ll follow you but from afar
A telescope’s not near the star
Yet stares all night and hates the day
Cuz that’s when stars will go away
Your influence is lost in mine
An overlap, they intertwine
The person that I want to be
To become you, get rid of me
A gaze that lingers, heartbeats pause,
In reverence without a cause.
You move through life, so unaware,
Of how your light shines everywhere.
Unspoken words, a secret gaze,
In shadows cast, your spirit stays,
You touch my world, yet never see,
The quiet awe you bring to me.
Forgetfulness
Moments lost in time’s embrace,
The details fade without a trace,
Yet in the void, they cannot breathe,
They lose their place, importance grieved.
The foggy haze where memories drift,
they do not warn, a subtle rift,
That mist that steals the days gone by,
A fading whisper, a silent cry.
Forgotten words and names that slip,
Like sand through fingers, losing grip,
A bitter mercy, forced to let go
Of cherished past, of love’s soft glow.
In silence of a mind grown dim,
A distant echo, life’s quiet hymn,
A haunting sense of what was there
Now shadows thin, a vacant stare.
Moments lost in time’s embrace,
The details vanish, leave no trace,
In the void, a hollow ache,
Of lost connections, hearts that break
Taking the blame, one not your own
For things the mind’s no longer shown
A failed excuse, groups disbelief
A birthday fled, now causing grief
An explanation is for naught
A feel of guilt, as if your caught
The thoughts they come, the thoughts they go
Where do they land? You’ll never know
