2017 Inklings Book Contest finalist: Laasya Babbellapati

Today we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2017 finalist, Laasya Babbellapati! Laasya finished 7th grade this past school year. The poem she submitted is called “Dreams” We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did!
Leave a comment below on what you thought!

Dreams

by Laasya Babbellapati

We see them in the most unexpected places
In the middle of a party
During class, moments before you get called on by the teacher
Summer days where there is almost nothing to do.

Voices are screaming
stress is building
And among that you see me
Fleeing the treachery and torture
Otherwise known as reality.

Panting, I crash onto my bed 
pulling the covers over my face
Protecting myself so no one can get in the way.

Feet below me, amidst the dark, I hear whispers.
“She can’t do that”
“She’s always somewhere else”
“How does she think she can do it?”
I show a faint smile. 

No words can hurt me now
For I am lying among the clouds
The mattress that defends me
From all of negativity.

Still awake, pondering everything
From the deepest regrets to the funniest moments
As the entire day flashes before my eyes
Until they fall shut.

Her smile is the first thing I see
Along with her sparkling eyes
And her musical laugh
Almost like I could stay there with her, Forever
I reach for her but all I feel is dry air
Then a small voice tells me she's not actually there
The truth
We are miles and miles apart.

Nearly 
out of breath 
but I continue to sprint
Will they reach me?
I don't pay attention to my destination
Slipping over a rock
I realize I was headed
Straight toward a cliff.
I plummet 
into the dark abyss.

The funny thing about dreams
Is that you can’t control them
But they can be about anything
I take each one into value 
no matter how ridiculous.

Do dreams teach good things 
or bad things? 
Do they tell us the future 
or the past?
Should we think of them as symbolic or unimportant?

All dreams fade out of my memory
But on rare occasions
Some visions have stayed with me
Throughout my entire life.

My fantasies start to slip away
Once I hear the battle cry
I fall again
But this time
I fall back into reality.
It’s 6:10 AM and my alarm is ringing.

I step out of bed and start the day
I move on with life because deep down I know
No matter how hard things are
Dreams are always waiting for me
Waiting for me to make them come true.

We hope you enjoyed Laasya’s poem as much as we did, leave us a comment about it!