The following award-winning poem is by a former Fairfield student who writes anonymously. Examine the use of metaphors, similes, imagery, and personification. It is somewhat depressing, but students Tuesday praised it for the writer's skill and its accessibility. 

Something’s Happened …

By A.M.B.

Something’s happened.

Whispers, like the crackling of a flame as

tongues catch on fire and the

blaze of gossip spreads.

Weak minds make good firewood.

Nothing can douse it after it’s been started,

no matter how it came about.

Whispers behind hands and hastily written notes,

wide eyes and cruel snickers.

Everyone knows

someone’s going to get hurt.

Does anybody care?

A girl loved yesterday is now

target practice for sharp words thrown carelessly

in her direction.

Some miss,

but others hit her

and she is left bleeding

because no one wants to help.

School, a breeding ground for all things nasty,

has turned into a

torture session for this subject of mockery.

Keeping her head down in the hallways,

scurrying to class,

and hiding in the bathroom, drowning in a flood of both

unjustified shame and a flow of fallen tears.

Until …

Something’s happened.

(To someone else.)

No one remembers her

anymore,

and she can finally breathe again.