cycles
Writing
a box for a body
By Isobel Liand so the ideal takes form
shaped by what we think,
by the way we allow ourselves to think
All-American Adolescence
By Riley StraitTomorrow, 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 Hofor 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
A Second Home
By Arielle LiMy most vivid recollections of China are filled with fond memories and blissful experiences. The smell of smoke and frying foods wafts through the air, and at night the streets are a disorienting mess of flashing billboards and street lights.
A Wistful Storm
By Lillian FloodIn all her many years, the woman did not think she ever witnessed anything as ugly as rain. It wasn’t just the way it stuck to the ground, leaving muddy piles all over the city, littering the sidewalks with grime and built-up trash.
Black and White
By Farah FehmiI 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
bucketfuls of butterflies
By Grace Toscanoreal 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 VaughnToday 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.
Copy. Paste. Delete. Repeat.
By Ava Shropshireyou,
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.
Daisy Blumes
By Barbara MatijevicBittersweetness 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 VaughnEl 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.
From the Beginning
By Riley StraitPause, and capture me how I am now:
wrap me up in the minute we just lived:
make me your mosquito in amber –
ephemeral in life, eternal in death.
Freeze and pin me to your little brother’s trifold –
turn me into grade-school, spelling-test vocab:
heat stroke
By Anna Schmeerwet grass
we are living on borrowed time
the green of spring will soon fade to browns
struggling to breathe and blaming it on allergies
blood is pulsing through my veins and my fingertips
this isn’t my bathroom floor this is real life
there is no second chance
If We Should Need a God
By Sasha Watsonthe first thing is to wait for the rain
to soften
our skin so that
might easily peel the surface
away
and still the blood stays
clinging in our veins
like the fly to
a horse
pulsing and swaying
to stay the rippling body
veins
the blood inside preserved
IN TWENTY TWO BILLION YEARS THE UNIVERSE WILL END
By Caroline Stickneyand then maybe i can stop breathing in counts of fours,
as the matter in black holes is reduced to nothing but fragments of time, and
impossibly cold remnants of stellar light implode like spiders in the sky.
how is light reduced to remnants?
liberation
By Richard Georgespectra of light shine in and out of
view a rainbow of emotions envelope the
mind as the music pumps harder and louder and faster
computer static is in my ears like bugs
piercing my eardrum drums faster and harder and louder as tears
fall.
Life in the Shape of Loops
By Elise Gimpert—Begin again,
With an unconscious adoration
For perpetual repetition.
Life in the shape of loops;
Generation after regeneration.
Comfort in conclusion,
Because it is also conception.
Sacred symmetry, familiarity,
Time’s curated conventions.
Lilith’s Vengeance
By Grace ToscanoLilith used to bite her tongue when men talked to her, because her responses would end up hurting her more than the bit of blood.
Lilith wore layers of clothes as armor, wrapping yards of cloth around her body, but even the plainest garments wouldn’t stop the attention.
loop pedal
By Ava Shropshirereverbs of rhythm surround me, and
the aftermath of melodies float – circling my existence.
my thoughts are still, as my fingers
gently pluck the strings of my fender strat.
Love like stardust
By Erinn FentYou waltz by
Zipping through my stratosphere
Leaving almost tangible trails
Streams of fog and particles of water
Falling slowly down to my earth
You come in and out of orbit
Following a reckless collision course
Sometimes I could reach out and touch you
Mother and Daughter: A Collection of Phrases
By Christina BencinMother and Daughter: A Collection of Phrases
I hate you.
I’m so sorry, Mommy.
…
I love you.
Stop jumping all over me, baby! You’re like sticky rice.
No Longer Under Atmospheric Pressure
By Julia TruittLeaves look up to the rising sun
A bird sings its song, letting anyone hear
Dewy grass drips with sweet sugar water
My eyes gift me this
The clouds know I don’t deserve it
My body was put here and for what?