The Bluestone Review 2025

Children’s Section

Dirt and Sweat Melanie Gravley

The smell of dirt and sweat on my raggedy cloth The endless days of work, work, work Sunup to sun down Work, work, work The finger aches and foot blister Bruises and scars But yet there is no time to stop and check Days of this happening and killing us little by little Soon enough the days of worked turned into Weeks days, months and eventually to years Years of work, work, work Year upon years Of the smell of sweat and dirt on my ragged cloth.

Walls of Separation Luke Monahan

Separation is something you always remember. Something that never leaves your mind. Separation can be good but it can be painful at the same time.

Lonely and afraid like a lost child or a widow These walls are built by a society with lost ideals. Walls that they form to weaken our hope, To shatter our dreams, To dehumanize us to make them feel Superior They build these walls to contain our freedom. Why can’t we just break these walls And destroy these chains they hold us with? They limit us with discriminatory laws Do they fear being equal?

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