Steiner’s 4th annual Poetry Café, co-sponsored by the staff of the Key (the high school literary journal) and our Community Ed Committee was a huge success! Over 90 people came together to enjoy the literary work from our students in grades 6 through 12, our faculty, alumni and parents. Alumna, Deborah Winer ’79, read excerpts from her book on cabaret and musical theatre, The Night and the Music. Our featured guest, Maissa Hamed, author, and mother of senior, Noor El Wakil, read from her new book of poetry, From One Lover’s Heart to Another: Forty Sufi Poems. If you missed this event, you can find both books on amazon, just click the title! Below please read two poems by High Schoolers Emma Watson and Isis Devroye!

The Wound Inflicted by Emma Watson (Grade 11)
The wound inflicted you will never see,
It lies within the recess of my mind,
Internal is the bleeding you can’t see,
You try, but peace of mind you cannot find.

Who is the person you wish to impress?
I want to know: does he approve my pain?
Are they congratulating my distress?
Is it their blessing you wish to attain?

I wonder how you can slumber yield
Does your heart not weigh heavy with your deed?
The things you’ve done and said are not concealed.
Surely your mind does not wish me to bleed.

The wound inflicted you will never see.
The only one who knows my pain is me.

Lines of Realization by Isis Devroye (Grade 12)
It was an innocent afternoon, joyful and free,
The leaves fell down like pouring rain,
One after another, never-ceasing decent,
Endless browns and oranges blurred out of sight.
The scent of the hotdog stand remained in the park,
Following us like a boundless breeze,
The sound of the football being bounced on the grass,
Waiting to be tossed in the leaves.
Walking up the warm hard pavement,
We had been waiting for this moment all day,
The first kiss behind the bush,
While the others would stay and play.
Near a dead tree I was embarked,
Though not with the person from the start,
I stood there in guilt forgetting myself,
Pushed to do something unnatural.
But there I was, with another boy,
Washing away my values of loyalty,
There it all blew away, the stainlessness,
Never to feel eternally pure again.
Innocent had I felt for so long,
That former feeling had now gone.
This day will always remain in my mind,
Reminding me to always be kind,
As fidelity, care and devotion
Is what now guides me in every action.

Both poems from “The Key 2018,” the student literary and arts magazine of Rudolf Steiner School.

Photos by Christopher Duggan