JAH Scholarship for Art

For my submission, I chose to submit a poem about a time that impacted my life. He cannot shake this deadly disease Will someone set him free please? For the tinkle of hope is far away He may not last another day For this disease is holding him down From wearing that jewel forsaken crown. He may lose the kingdom thats dear But is it the disease that he fears? For the palace is crumbling From the cannons that go rumbling As he lifts up his mighty sword And stumbles as he prays to the Lord. Boom! Boom! The cannons fire Towards the ill king who is called a liar For its not the disease that he fears It’s the loss of his kingdom he holds dear The gracious tinkle of hope is gone And the kings time is almost done. But alas! He wont give up so easy As he stands against the wind so breezy His sword is raised as he yells ‘Charge!’ Towards the enemy who is at large The soldiers freeze in the winter snow But the king tells them to go! Go! GO! The soldiers are too weak to fight this disease And within minutes the king would seize That glimmer of hope from above Flying above him as a dove. The kingdom mourns for the king The Queen forever wears her wedding ring He couldn't shake that deadly disease And alas, the king fell to his knees. - End of poem - This poem is about someone that I looked up to who, unfortunately, passed away in June 2022 due to cancer. This has led me to support and raise more awareness for cancer by donating and wearing pink ribbons. This month is breast cancer awareness month, and I have been supporting as much as I am able to. This poem that I wrote was also published into the American Library of Poetry but still holds the same value when it comes to raising awareness for cancer. When I am older I plan to donate even more to the Levine Childrens Hospital and to the American Cancer Society.

Upon a stage lies the galaxy's worth of stars, Those who are in their very youth, Who's stage prowess to others may seem uncouth. Those in their prime, Who shine effortlessly and divine. As I look upon this very same stage, I see a moment, my chance, to make a beautiful change. To see the galaxy rearrange, Creating new constellations, To be bold, Cunning, and quick to the beat, To seize my moment no matter how far. Beholding my space in all of it's awe, I know I can, Through will and might, I know that I too can shine, If not even more bright. While an essay is the student's expression, A test their bane, I find peace in my middle lane, Between form and expression, my thoughts will go, As I allow my mind to take form to and fro. O' beauty to be found in the sky above, I am not a stranger, Nor a stargazer, I am Nigel Omar Laugand, A star who's sure to shine.

Grief Monologue I lost my mom recently and when you go through something like that people start to tell you what they know about grief… Well, what they feel like they know anyway. The real lesson comes when you find yourself in the middle of it. Then you learn that no one truly knows how to resolve deep, eat at your soul, skip showers for days, never able to clean your room or get out of bed, grief. No one really understands it. They’ll say things like: “It gets better, she’s always around you so you never have to miss her.” “I’m here for you.” “She’s watching you.” None of that matters to me. None of their pity or “love” concerns me because all I ask, every day and for the rest of my life, is that she comes back. My comfort has been imprisoned in the shackles of death, inevitable but permanent. Never to be released until the same happens to me, not saying that I want it to. But the frog in my throat grows larger, trying to find an escape through the cries I feel welling up in my chest;(pause) the cries from the night she left. Parents are supposed to die before their child but not like this, not this early. My heart is forever at a distance, moving around me but never physically tangible to me because that’s what she was to me. But, you know, you start to feel better (pause) eventually. You realize that all the condolences and voices are right. Life gets better. You relearn how to get out of bed, how to wash and feed yourself. Your soul rehabilitates itself but never fully. It’s missing a piece and she’s the missing piece. You learn to live with your heart at a distance, and you learn to live with your comfort shackled in the basement of the Grim Reaper. Through that, though… you realize how strong you are to endure a cycle that never ends but just gets lighter and lighter as life goes on. Lighter in load, lighter in emotional burden. You don’t feel like crying every time you hear her name. You don’t feel like hiding and locking yourself away. You don’t feel terrible for living your life without her. And then one day…you discover a new comfort… a gift from Death himself that one day reunification is inevitable and permanent.