Poem

Writing

infection of idolatry

By Francesca Arnold

Studying my nose in the mirror
I recall roaming for comfort
My fingers are my ailment- dismay
That you will one day let go of my hand,
Not necessarily for another, (though it has been so)
But from a gradual loosening
My knot of insecurity,
A continual,


Reese

By Haley Kleinman

Her hands were golden, as if baked under runny sun,
Yolk dripping into the palms,
Painting her in ancient warmth
As her fingers held the cigarette to her lips, allowing the aged paper to crack her mouth open
Autumn afternoon senior year ‘08


The Next April

By Elena Zhang

Once again,
my eyes have failed
to cradle the sorrow
of her last morning’s cascade.

Once–
my back bathed
under the lazy midday sun,
lightly awakened
by her calloused touch.


her sunshine girls

By T.J. Penman

i was raised in the house that neither of my parents built
although my mother was the one that raised me
she took a home not built yet and filled it with daughters
and when her husband left
he took his paintings of french women
garbed in robes with eyes grinning into the sun


Like the Ballads

By Que Tran Tran

In his head, he is
beneath the stars,
that are shimmering
but silently so,
quiet in their
overwhelming beauty.
They reach out to him
despite being held
captive
in the sky’s embrace.


String Theory

By Haley Kleinman

there is a gentle pulse on the other side of forever
when Mother Nature’s whisper grows hoarse
and our two hands hang limply in the space between us
leaden feathers dragging on the corners of fickle consciousness,
the laughter drying,
morphine for the pre-dead


Requiem for Banana Bread

By Haley Kleinman

The paper is old and wrinkled
Tapered along the edges like a fairy’s carpet
Billowing outward, flowering, creases unfolding in waves.
Rising off the words is the scent of brown sugar, old parchment dancing on the kitchen island.


Counting the Seconds Till Departure, Trying to Find Reasons Not to Go

By Haley Kleinman

cradled in the peak of an eclipse my breath capsizes into
the fray
a shuddering recognition of lost time

we sit back on the river rock letting the waves trickle between our toes
wrinkling our fresh skin into prunes

how did we get here?


Everyday I Bleed On Paper

By Ana Alonso

Everyday I bleed on paper,
(It looks prettier that way.)

Here I present to you my blood,
Crimson seeping through sheets,
Spelling out words that stitch themselves into sentences,
That become paragraphs and poems.


Letter to Hades

By Amelia Frank

Demeter’s calloused hands inch towards mine
I taste each fingertip in the golden dust that sprinkles my scythe
Her pitying reflection in each bead of sweat that rolls down my earth
Wetting its molten core.
You are a shadow oil that spills and spreads


Asian Silence

By Katelin Chan

Morsel of fire-kissed stir-fried greens
Tossed, unmissed through clouds of steam
Hissed as they dished in the wok, has been
A familiar sight preceding my teens


Scott City

By Lydian Cochran

Does it scare you?
Does it remind you of when you were young?
A thin dirt road unpaved and unexplored like your heart.

You were born at the bottom of an infinite whisky glass
Your dad isn’t ever gonna reach you.


Untitled #18

By Lydian Cochran

i crave what i can’t reach.
burn me into an iris
i want the sun to love me

what is a god anyway?
these cicadas are singing all wrong

boil my bones
i’ll hold this family together


Reshape

By Grace-May Hansen

My temper is a candle, with it’s wick burning low
An impermanent cloud where I come and go
My mind is a cavern, where I bury things deep
So mostly I smile, but sometimes I weep
My body is a temple, at which I throw stones
The collisions break away soul, leaving only some bones


Addicting

By Bella Meili

They do not tell you how it happens.
Ignoring the signs does not make them disappear.
The sadness has a voice now,
it speaks in moans and incoherent cries.


voidmice

By Nelle Rain

part 1: carmine
you want to see my heart?
go on then
haha
not what you expected?
here’s a secret: it never is.
oh, look at that— it’s still trying to beat
but the mice are already gnawing.
was that a grimace? how rude.


Untitled #17

By Lydian Cochran

Tomorrow my heart will thunder.
rain will pour like a thousand tiny words

summer can swallow me whole.
I’m ready for an ending

the sunlight can eat me alive.
lay me down in the backyard.
I’ll fall right through the grass


a box for a body

By Isobel Li

and so the ideal takes form
shaped by what we think,
by the way we allow ourselves to think


All-American Adolescence

By Riley Strait

Tomorrow, I will worry about the future.
But today, I wallow in the past.

Tomorrow, I will be 16 and trying to remember
if the derivative of arcsin is one over
square-root-of-one-minus-u-squared
or square-root-of-u-squared-minus-one.


an uncomfortable comfort

By Leandra Ho

for so long, i’ve crossed the same streets
i’ve smiled and waved to the same people in the hallways
i’ve thought the same thoughts
i’ve loved the same love
but i’ve outgrown my attachment to comfort and my warmth for the familiar sidewalks


Betrayal

By Barbara Matijevic

At first, time flies.
Every moment is enshrined
          Ignorant of its fate –
Unaware that one day,
Its presence will be felt.
Time and time again.
            Overanalyzed –
The past to which the future


Black and White

By Farah Fehmi

I had a dream last night . . .
I had a dream last night . . .
You died!

I studied it for myself
Looked it up even
But couldn’t wrap my head around it
Couldn’t wrap my mind –

No worries 
Just
Meet me in my eyes
What beautiful eyes
Black and white


Blackout

By Supriya Bolla

It always starts as a clear spring day.
Serene curtains, murmuring crowds, warbling musicians.
“House closes in five.”
Here, time gets to stand still.


bucketfuls of butterflies

By Grace Toscano

real art is dipping myself in paint and throwing myself against the pavement
wow look at that stain
paint
    paint
        paint
all the feelings away
until you darken the page and there’s nothing left to say.


Closet Doors

By Hannah Wyatt Vaughn

Today I am taking down my closet doors.
With my Dad’s old screwdriver, a little elbow grease,
And the sweat that will drip from my pores,
I will welcome the old me to the new one.


Cold

By Barbara Matijevic

The air is heavy, dreary, and bleak.
When burdens overwhelm blessings
The exit beckons to me
But I am bound to stay.

Let me take a pill
Obliterate my past.
For a peaceful departure
From this world, I don’t belong
My time is up, I want to go.


Copy. Paste. Delete. Repeat.

By Ava Shropshire

you,
taught me how to hide my curls
in a cloak of shame.
told me I should cry every time my eyes
landed on the details carved into my brown face.
constantly reminded me I wasn’t in close enough proximity.


Ctrl

By Riley Strait

My favorite button
on the keyboard
is Ctrl.


Daisy Blumes

By Barbara Matijevic

Bittersweetness prevails
As you set off your sails
Where a tumulus sea
once prevailed

Yet, here we are
With merely a scar.

Your breath is lighter
The world – brighter –
Days fly by . . .
You no longer wish to cry.


El Niño & La Niña

By Wyatt Vaughn

El Niño

Indescribable, Unfathomable

Warmth.

Simple and mindless.

Basking in the leisure of

relief.

Carried, effortlessly, by the 
breezing winds

You exist

only in

My absence.