Issue Eight - February 2005

Good Verse Survival

By Alaya Battalia

People bustle through crowded streets
Noise erupts from the center of chaos
Venders shout their worth
In a language known to all
The language of profit
Passed down through generations
Survival of the loudest
Mixed inbetween
Breeds the opposite
Those who depend on stealth
These shadows sweep between
Magicians of the street
Quick to practice a trick of the hand
The swift snatch wins them their fortune
Vacationers a prime target for the hands survival
The heart of a poor peoples prosper

Alaya Battalia wrote Songs of the World and Good Verse Survival when she was 16 years old. She was born in a little shack on Lopez and therefore describes herself as “an Island girl for life.” Alaya says she “loves life, all aspects of it, even the parts that are supposed to ‘make you stronger.’” She considers traveling a necessity in her life, and she travels whenever possible.

All work by Alaya Battalia

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SHARK REEF

A publication of the Lopez Writers Guild

Issue Eight - February 2005

Good Verse Survival

By Alaya Battalia

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