Ms. DiNitto's English classes participated in the Peabody Institute Library's "The Crucible" Poetry Contest and students
placed first, second and third in two cateories, and picked up four Honorable Mentions !  Congratulations!

What is Fear?
by Jocelyn Trotta

What is Fear?
Fear is terror.
It is when you are unable to move,
Unable to speak,
Unable to breathe.
Fear is the absence of movement.
Whey you close your eyes, there is fear.
When you are short of breath, there is fear.
Fear us everywhere.
Your heart beats loudly.
You are hallucinating.
You are fear.
Eerie sounds surround you.
You are short of breath.
You are fear.
Is fear imaginable, or is it real?
Can fears be conquered or are they unbeatable?
Fears cannot be explained.
They are a form of mind trickery.
\What is fear?

Justice
by Katie Colbert

Justice is something good
Everyone pats the lawyer's back
Screams of joy and happiness
The clicking of handcuffs and the slamming of the jail cell door
Justice is when people's problems go away.
Justice is like tasting your favorite food, it is so satisfying
A clear fresh breath of air
Starting all over again
 

Nightmare
by Kerry Damiano

Pulsating heart smothering in anticipation
Eyes wide
Fingers Trembling
The silence is deafening.

My body is stff
Yet yearning to run
My feet are glue to the pavement
I hear the unknown enemies
of my thoughts.
 

The Roots of Fear
by Kyle Dancewicz

Pupils widen
With every heartbeat.
Heavily pounding through mind, body and soul.
Groping through the darkness for
A reassuring light.
The heart is stone.
Mental and physical paralysis sets in
Only eyes dart anxiously and fiercely
At any slight shadow flicker
That may be concealing a lurking threat
Or a misconception of the normal.

A cold smoke billows through the nostrils
And darkness follows close behind
A tightening grip on security - with what is known not to inflict pain.
Penetrated, torn open and exposed.
The spine chills - and inevitable doom is anticipated.

Quickening, solemn, heavy tone of the stone heartbeat shakes the body
A hollow cavity beneath the flesh.
With every creak, tap
Knock whisper
The stone ceases to drum.

Thoughts race
Incredulous peculiarities begin to make sense
Claustrophobia - trapped within perfect yet
Disturbed silence, frustrated attempts at rational thought,
Within whch only the twisted, interpretations of normalities occur.
Something out of place, something just beyond grasp -
Routine, regular life intruded upon
By a cold sweat trickling down the back of the neck
Deluging into a sea of trpidation.
Will these suspicions, fears, prevent horrible things from happening...
Or merely prepare one for them?

 The Way Things Should Be
by Max Karas

The bully falls and breaks his nose,
The fashion model rips her clothes
The landscaper trips on his garden hose,
The field goal kicker stubs his toes,
West Nile keeps on killing crows,
Justice
Mosquitoes dies from loss of blood
Sharks perish in a flood
Fireworks that are duds
Justice
Statue of Liberty standing tall,
Supreme Court in the hall,
Whatever you want is at the mall,
Justice
Terrorists hiding in the caves
While Old Glory proudly waves
Justice

Alone in the Darkness
by Ellie Campbell

Sitting in bed alone
Darkness
Eerie voices come from a distance
Slowly fading away.
Boom, Crash!
A flash of lightning
All is black like night, awkward stillness.
It's cold, yet I start to sweat
Chills, goosebumps run up my spine
From some unknown place
I sit and watch
Glance from corner to corner
Checking
Witches, trapped, inside my head
Wishing they would fly free
Leaving me be.

Nightmare
by Billy Meady

A chill runs down my spine
I hear every little noise
The darkness takes over
I can't move.

A loud shriek in the distance
A black cat runs out from under my legs
Afraid to look
But the sound gives every detail.

A gust of wind in the cold air
A voice behind me
I open my eyes
I turn around.

Nothing was there
Nothing at all
I was perfectly safe
It was my own mind that scared me
As if it had turned on me.

The Sense of All Senses
by Sean Mahoney

It is around,
To the right,
At the left,
Above or below,
It's FEAR!

The bugs on the ground,
The guns on cops,
The feel atop the Empire State Building,
Or just the look of a shark,
It's FEAR!

Someone behind you,
The little sounds at nighttime,
A water faucet dripping,
Or a lightning storm,
It's FEAR!

Body becomes rigid,
Clutching the sides of the bed,
That dream you had last night,
Or your heart racing,
It's FEAR!

You can't help it,
Like it or not,
It just happens,
It's FEAR!

What is Fear?
by Allison Foster

Shaking
Deafening, tense silence
Mind racing and breath speeding up
That...
Adrenaline rush
Heart beating a hole in your chest
Cautious and not wanting to close your eyes
That is...
Unable to move
Someone is watching
Eyes tearing, but not being able to find the strength to cry
That is Fear.

The Gavel
by Leah Navarro

Sharp and Merciless
It jabs me
As it cracks upon the table
A sound so quick it rings
The Omniscient Gavel
The judgment begins
And a sense of impending doom
Looms over me
Like an Angel of Death
It points to me.

Fear of Dying
by Alexys Hartwell

I often wonder how I'm going to die
And what death is
But every time I think of it
My mind goes black
Nothing, not even a thought
Scared
Because I don't know what's
On the other side.
Not knowing if I will still remember
What life was like
Sometimes I wonder
If I could look down on earth
And see the people I loved
And cared for
But I will never know
For every time I think
Of my body lying there in the ground
Under the dirt
Without a sound
Knowing I'm gone
And will never come back
Scared of leaving the earth
Without a trace
fear of dying

The Dark and Empty
by Michelle Monaco

An eerie feeling inside me
My stomach a bottomless pit
He's out to get me
He's coming
Like a volcano about to explode
Heart filled with fire
Soul possessed with anger
The footsteps, loud and deafening
He smells me, hears me
Tears have captured me
He's here
I can feel his stare
He raises the gun
A silent prayer
Horrow and disbelief
Everything goes black