Hallowed words echo from memories on dusted wood Peaceful lives pass quickly, faster than the building stood An empty hall by human eyes Burdens on the staff baptized Members buried in graves By white wooden staves
Memories warm in now cold halls The pastor, wrinkled and gray, prays away the fall Sisyphean by men’s hearts His wife keeps praying for her part As her husband devotes To keep Theseus’ boat afloat
New ears come to hear New eyes to baptized Light that shines from stained glass Light that always lasts
But the pastor is buried in the same land He placed his members by hand
Death came for him one day seeking to carry him away but when Death looked inside of his house the man scurried away like a mouse
He ran then swiftly and Death walked on stiffly all his life Death was kept at bay and he was happy for decades until one day
Another person he met while outside needed help to keep up their stride he felt bad for them, and lifted ’em onto his back but that was when Death came to attack
Death kicked in the door and ran in, all black and the man couldn’t flee due to weight on his back “It’s not fair,” he frowned. “They’re weighing me down!”
Death laughed, “My friend, they’re always behind you. Age will grab on even if I can’t find you.”
I figured a good way to kick of October is with another nice spooky poem…
a dance in bushes beside the stream petals and leaves and smears of green bring dashes across the skin and clothes red blood, bruised knees, crying of stubbed toes
is it the mark of adults to wear marks of childhood pasts out there? who else has bruised an arm or leg when peaceful times and problems beg?
my daughter returned from in the trees red blood poured out from wounded knee she didn’t notice much of that because she smiled wide beneath her hat.
Following my middle school list, I want to jump right into keeping and adding stories for my ideal high school literature curriculum. I see no reason why literature should stick to realism well into adulthood, and this kind of curriculum should balance out both literary fiction and speculative fiction.
I’ve included links to my reviews, where I’ve reviewed the work, if you want some more detail on the stories included. I hope you like this list!
(Where quotations are used, the story is a short or novella length)
Stories Kept in the High School Curriculum:
The Odyssey by Homer (700-750 BC) – The Iliad is the war story predecessor of this one, but is a harder read, in my opinion. I remember loving this story as a teenager, and I think many other students would love it as well. Maybe not in the classical Greek, but a modern retelling might work.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1603-1623) – I would also have accepted MacBeth in this list. The story of drama, murder, royalty, and a battle for the throne is fantastic and interesting even today. The language is dated, but that’s part of its charm. Teenagers could like this one, but I feel like it appeals to the more artsy types. However, they are still teenagers!
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818) – Considered by many to be the first science fiction novel, I have some issues with that assertion. Technically, it features science, but so did other stories. In fact, the genre appears to be gothic horror instead. Either way, it’s a good book and even as a teenager I liked it.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville (1851) – Many people consider this one of the best books ever written. I think it’s certainly up there. An adventurous sea tale of whalers and an obsessed captain, it’s certainly unique. Despite the dated language, I think the story is interesting enough with a climax that will bring any teenager’s attention to it. It’s worth a read.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1861) – It sounds weird but when I first read this book I thought of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Basically, Pip goes through his childhood and it skips ahead to his adulthood as a clerk. I thought it was brilliant, if not a bit slow at times, but the stuff with Estelle and Miss Havisham was some of the weirdest things I’ve read in a book at that time. It was originally serialized, so you can see how the story hits huge notes and revelations every few chapters. The result is a story that holds your attention despite being a bit of a time capsule.
“Anthem” by Ayn Rand (1938) – I hated this novella when I read it in high school, but after years of considering it I think it was entertaining enough despite the ideas being weirdly out of place. How could a society completely remove the concept of the individual? It made no sense and still doesn’t. It’s a book worth reading, though.
Mythology by Edith Hamilton (1942) – This one is unusual, but I saw it referenced constantly on lists teachers prepared online. That said, it was also the mythology book I used in college, if that gives you any idea the respect it garners. This is a solid book and has some interesting stories from Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology. They’re short enough also to get a teenager’s attention focused.
1984 by George Orwell (1949) – This is a very important story. I included Animal Farm on the middle school curriculum since it was a far easier way to understand the Soviet union under Stalin, yet 1984 is a cautionary tale that ought to be read. High school students should be able to understand it.
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (1951) – I love this book with a passion. To me, the way Salinger writes is like a real teenager. He obviously poured a lot of himself into it and although many students find it boring I would have to say it’s still interesting to me today. It was also serialized initially, so it’s easily broken up into parts for simple reading.
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (1954) – What can I say about this that hasn’t already been said? It’s one of the, if not the, greatest fantasy book(s) of all time. Poetic, creative, and full of incredible prose it’s magnificent. Tolkien has been criticized online as if he overly complicates his prose over minute details. This couldn’t be further than the truth, and is often written by people who dislike Tolkien for various reasons. The man is a legend specifically because of how amazing this story is.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985) – This is honestly one of the best science fiction stories out there. It’s till required reading at many schools and I think it’s warranted. However, there’s a lot of violence, so putting this on the teenaged reading level is fair, I think. The story centers around Ender, the third child in a world where you’re only supposed to have two kids. He tests highly and they ship him off to learn to fight in space. The titular game is a series of exercises to teach students to fight in zero gravity, which Ender begins to innovate on and take command of his team. The story is great with some interesting side characters and tons of worldbuilding.
Stories Added to the High School Curriculum:
King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard (1885) – This is a Victorian era adventure story about the exploration of Africa and the search for a missing person. I was tempted to put it on the middle school list, but some of the language is difficult. I think it ought to be a good way to contextualize the age in which it was written.
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1914) – Where A Princess of Mars is John Carter in space fighting aliens and winning the girl, Tarzan is a more grounded tale of adventure in the jungle. Tarzan is raised by apes and fights both ferocious animals and Western society when they arrive. It’s fascinating and interesting to the point that teenagers would love it if they read it.
“The Call of Cthulhu” by H. P. Lovecraft (1928) – This one is rarely included in curriculums anymore. Lovecraft can be a difficult writer to approach, and so his work I’d usually skew towards college level, but this seems to be some of the more approachable work for younger readers, and so I think it’s worth including. It’s cosmic horror with grotesque ancient aliens and a spreading madness. It’s a good read.
“Shambleau” by C. L. Moore (1933) – The first Northwest Smith story, he was the prototype for Han Solo and became somewhat popular with female readers. This story features Northwest saving an alien woman from being killed by a crowd, however something is odd about her. This story is a good one for the imagination since it’s interesting with some space opera elements. It’s also short so teenagers would be able to read it in one go without issue.
The Man of Bronze (Doc Savage #1) by Kenneth Robeson (1933) – This was actually written by Lester Dent, but the publisher used a house name to release the stories. This story is awesome. Doc assembles an adventuring team after the death of his father, but they seek the reason his father was killed. It has something to do with the Mayan people and an ancient tribe with red fingers. Any high school ought to love adventure and a protagonist that’s the epitome of what man could become.
“Black God’s Kiss” by C. L. Moore (1934) – This is the first of the Jirel of Joiry short stories, featuring a fiery redhead French noble named Jirel leading her people against an evil army. She is captured and escapes to find herself in an odd, eerie fantasy world with a large black statue of a god. This one is weird, in the weird tales sense, and a great story in general.
I had to include the art on this edition of The Broken Sword.
The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson (1954) – This is a more tragic tale than some of Anderson’s other offerings, though if I had to pick a story to add for high schoolers, The Broken Sword is probably it. I added Three Hearts and Three Lions to the middle school version, but this one is a bit more… grown up. In it we find an epic tale of war between elves and men with intrigue and dark pledges to the Norse gods. It’s a fantastic story.
“Black Amazon of Mars” by Leigh Brackett (1951) – This is an amazing story featuring a sword-wielding knight on Mars who must be defeated. It’s a story from Moore about Eric John Stark, who was more-or-less an Edgar Rice Burroughs homage. It’s got adventure and a ton of heart. Definitely a short story worth including for teenagers.
The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance (1963) – This story is about a distant planet where humans and an alien race have crashed. Over generations, the humans have turned the lizard-like aliens into mounts they ride into battle. This is an adventurous story with action, intrigue, and elements of parallelism throughout.
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (1990) – This might be a controversial inclusion, but Jurassic Park is a masterwork of a sci-fi thriller. It wasn’t just influential in the 90’s due to the movies, but it was hugely important to books in general, inspiring an entire genre to attempt to chase its fame. This is the story of a theme park designed around dinosaurs resurrected by science and the Frankenstein’s monster that results.
And there’s my high school list! Not a lot, but I hope it helps you if you’re an educator. Please check out the other list for middle school and let me know what you think. Thank you!
I was gifted a lamp on a holiday It shone through the glass in a funny way It danced as it flickered and puffed as it stopped but the warmth I considered as a spark came to hop
The flame kissed the paper and glowed with a vapor the gift I so loved burned my desk the candle inside daliesque I feared the new fire and I felt it was dire
the billowing smoke caused me to choke yet despite the dangerous shift I thought I should save my new gift when lifted it up wax dripped from the base pouring on the fire and saving my place
The sun slaps my head through the blinds and yet it hurts in just the same way I wonder to myself if the sugar was guilty or if the alcohol was to blame?
The sunrise mocks me with a wink the bed a comfortable trap is anyone happy while too hot or too cold? I wonder when I’ll fix the sleep gap
The night sky comforts me with whispers of quiet time to recover concealing the demons in my mind who come out to see me suffer
The sunset says its goodbyes offers me words of gentle kindness and I go off to dreamland in my boat sleep hiding me from my blindness
This was inspired by the last two weeks, where I have had basically four hours of sleep every night. It’s to the point where I’m finding it very hard to function. Hopefully you picked up on the reversal of the sun positions, the way the first and second verses of each stanza inform the fourth. The “demons in my mind” line was particularly important since my lack of sleep is causing a sort of logic loop where I’m seeing things in my room at night. It has been inspirational, though: I’m considering writing a short horror YouTube series for a channel of mine and working on that as a nice little project. If you’d be interested, let me know.
I liked to play with the form on this one, but mostly… it was a nice way to relax and hopefully get some sleep.
Constant change and constant tests, the world demands you stop and rest.
Work all day until you tire! These dizzy thoughts dance until they end with closed eyes. Dreams keep my heart on fire while lone laughter is my only friend.
Don’t contribute anything! “Only consume and nothing more” and other lies. Corpses line the street of nothing dead with nothing left to show for.
Just take a break and don’t try! You feel the work in your bones from all the tries. But practice makes it perfect and planes need to work to make them fly.
Even when too tired to move, continue to improve.
“Kaizen” is a Japanese word used in business as “constant improvement”. I wrote this poem inspired by the fact that I feel incredibly lazy all the time while also feeling the push to better myself.
Frank Ormond 