By Haiku Peters, features editor

“I feel that I have always had a knack for writing,” seventh grade poet Rosalynd Philips said. “I enjoy doing it. Writing poetry is my favorite because there are no rules.”

Although Philips is only in seventh grade, she has already written much for her age. She takes inspiration from writing that interests her and shared that she read quite a bit of Shel Silverstein growing up.

Some of Philips’ completed poems include “Under The Bed,” “Wonderful Days,” and “Ready For The Project.” These she says were inspired by the emotions evoked through childhood memories.

“I have been writing things for a variety of audiences,” Philips said. “Because of this, I plan to publish children’s books/poems under a pen name, and more mature writing under my real name.”

At the moment, Philips is directing her focus towards two projects entitled “100 Objects” and “The Children and the Dead (Vision).” Her intention is for “100 Objects” to be a children’s poetry book discussing the central character’s thoughts and memories involving the objects mentioned. “The Children and the Dead (Vision)” describes a world in which children can talk to ghosts. In the book, two siblings use this ability to help their detective father solve crimes.

Philips has been posting her stories and poems to Storybird. You can find her works under her first name: Rosalynd.

Bellow is a sampling of works that can be found on Philips’s Storybird:

Man, I sure miss those days
Those wonderful ol’ days
Where we were no younger than five
And we’d sing our ABC’s
And learn our 123’s
And play and jump and jive.

Where the teacher would ask us
“What’s two plus one?”
And I’d raise my hand and I’d say,
“Teacher, it’s three!”
Those times were easy.
I sure miss those wonderful days.

Man, I sure miss those days
Those wonderful ol’ days
Where we were only in third grade
And we’d have class parties
And eat cookies and Smarties
And show off the crafts that we made.

Where we’d watch a movie
And have lots of fun
Dancing the school day away,
We’d listen to songs
And joke all day long.
I sure miss those wonderful days.

Man, I sure miss those days
Those wonderful ol’ days
Where we would do nothing but play,
And smile and laugh,
I wish I could go back
And stay in those wonderful days.

No, Timmy, there’s no monster under your bed.
All I see there is your stuffed bear named Fred,
A half-eaten bag of Cool Ranch Doritos,
Some pennies, a nickel, and two stale Cheetos,
That baseball mitt that you lost three years ago,
And seven dead rats, all lined up in a row,
Six months’ worth of homework that you didn’t do,
Our old vacuum cleaner, your mother’s old shoe,
Our cat named Mittens and our dog named Beck,
And your Uncle Jim, too! Timmy, what the heck?
Three cows and two pigs from your grandpa’s farm,
All feasting on that old box of Lucky Charms,
A huge cinder block and a flat-screen TV,
And the old sofa, too— but that’s not all I see!
I also see Neighbor Dan’s whole dang house,
Along with Dan himself, his kids, and his spouse!
A sports car, a dishwasher, and what is this?
A big ol’ T-Rex— wait, those still exist?
I also see… hey, hold on a sec, what was that?
I just heard something move. Was it just our cat?
No wait, it wasn’t the cat. It wasn’t him.
Do you know what that noise— Hey! Look, Tim!
There was a monster indeed! Yes, there was!
He just ran away and left behind a big clump of fuzz.
He must have gotten scared away by that mess.
So now we have nothing to worry about, I guess…
Wait, what did you just say? Repeat that, please.
You say there’s a monster in your closet? Oh, geez…

I’ve got the scissors, I’ve got the glue,
I’ve got the colorful paper, too,
I’ve got the hammer, the nails, the screws,
And all of the paint that we will use.
I’ve got the calculator, the chalk,
The telephone so we can talk,
I’ve got the sugar, I’ve got the honey,
I’ve got all of my pocket money,
The mop so we can do our chores,
And an Xbox so we don’t get bored.
I’ve got the batteries, the books,
I’ve got some food for us to cook,
I’ve got the bucket, I’ve got the tools,
And, of course, the inflatable pool.
Binoculars to look at the sky,
A baby walrus (I don’t know why),
And all of the shiny, colorful pens—
Wait, what were we supposed to do again?