Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
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A Be a ch in Ca li fo r n ia
On
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Ho m
Porcelain
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Home
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i la Ass im
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Ma
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Dock
ONE
In the Tub
Erna Woyee
Inspired by In the Well by Andrew Hudgins My sister guarded the door, a sentinel at the exit and gave the okay to engage in battle. I could smell its fear. It smelt of mud, then soap, then lemons. I reached out and was clawed and before I could retreat another smell: blood, which filled my nostrils with copper. Step by step, my sister came to my side at no-mans-land. Water, then soap, then wet fur which stuck, plastered its body. I grasped. My sister poured more warm water. I cringed and lifted her dripping cat out of the tub. I held his body and wrapped him in warmth First in a towel. Then in arms. Then in sleep.
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three
five
Desert Flower
Berries
Selena Hamilton
Digital Photography
eight
Fingerprints on an Ashtray
Emily Boaz
I sit. I sat. I am sitting in the waterfall Coming from the shower Head pounding my scalp Trying without success to wash Your fingerprints From myself That smile That bright white Row in your perfect Mouth the one that spilled Lies, broken promises I should have listened To the voice in My heart That said In a boy Who smokes You should take No part But the smoke Left me in a haze My clothes were permeated I washed them Three times You were not Who you said you were And I will never Forgive you For sprinkling your ashes Onto our time I was not your ashtray You owed me A goodbye
nine
Wilting Reflection
8 Minutes
Jaehyeong Lee
This past summer, I lost What I had once called Home. It was Sad, ironic, cold, beautiful. The dew still clinging to the cacti as we walked with linked arms, Hands intertwined, Feet pacing awkwardly, I walked her Home. It wasnt Any surprise. The sun clung to the lip of the calm, expansive, pacific ocean, Rays ablaze And shoreline to define what was The boundary between Earth and Heaven. Time was moving not too slow, Nor fast. For once in my life, I could feel Happy, going Home. She rips away at the frayed ropes, with Gestures disturbed and rough, as if to hold back the angry torment boiling Inside And I begin to count to 10. 1; Whats the matter? 2; Nothing 3; You are never like this. What are you thinking? 4, 5, 6; Aboutyou know. 7, 8; Yes. You can say it. 9; How did you know? 10; Ive known since then. And I ask her for two favors; To let me carry her and to turn around and walk back the way she came until she returned home. We hug tightly. She abides by my rules. I do not. I lose composure. I run Home. Then I kiss my abode farewell. And the sun falls into its magenta slumber.
Home
De Amicitia
Ian Maynor
Handing me sweets which Burst onto my open palms, You smile, I didnt have a container. Your blunt apology infects me with a grin -Dont you know that the food is the packaging?
eleven
Iridescent Pavo
Jamie Dickson Digital Photography
twelve
Untitled
thirteen
fourteen
The windowpane I had been resting against vibrated sharply in sync with the purring of the storm. I lifted my head just enough to see over the windowsill. Lightning flashed across my eyes in an instant, and I figured that to anyone watching at that moment, it must have been beautiful: to see white streaks across a sea of deep brown. The thick glass fogged from the humidity, but I did my best to make my way through the thick droplets to watch that ongoing war called nature. The rain fell with tenacity, as if it intended to punch straight through the anthills below my window. The ground rose up with each drop, as small clumps of dirt exploded upward. To an ant, Im sure it must have been tremendous. To me, it meant a day inside. Funny how an apocalypse for one is a lazy day for another.
Holocaust
Zack Fowler
I did my best to calm the storm with my mind; to stop the apocalypse, but to no avail. The Earth would roar on without me. But, who am I to stop a storm? Then again, who am I to save an ant? I had no right to interfere. If the rain was so determined to destroy those hills, perhaps I should have let it. Perhaps, the ants were meant to die that day. They had never done anything for me. After all, it wasnt me that was dying; Im not an ant. I suppose I could have run outside and saved them. I could have sheltered them; been a pillar of love and support. I could have stepped in and been the calm in the storm that they had prayed for. But, Im feeling lazy. Funny how an apocalypse for one is a lazy day for another. sixteen
Virginity
Jennifer Kronmiller
Its all in the name. If we didnt have a word for it it would lose the weight that hangs heavy on each letter and all the gasps and whispers and rumors would fade into backdrop just another fact to be stocked away. Nameless, we would ignore it: theres no poetry written over your first cup of coffee or the first time you paint your toe nails blue or that one day in second grade when you used the left swing instead of the short one on the right and afterwards you never went back. Its all in the title. They call it losing your innocence, but Ive seen plenty of naive girls with wide eyes fall prey to the lures of their bodies, and Ive seen cynics turned rebels with vows of celibacy (not that theres anyone worth doing anyway, they say) since a definition doesnt create meaning it just explains it. We can find the difference between 4 letter words -love and lust and you know them, kids, the ones you cant speak and we can say you lose it, but honestly, one moment doesnt rewrite a history. I am whatever I want to be called.
Lego Love
nineteen
Assimilation
Tina Zheng
Words drop like Stones (stones) (stones) Through the weightless ether. A hush of the melody, jangling softly on Broken notes, fading imperceptibly in the distance A perpetually decreasing Shepard Tone. No meaning, and no end to the meaning. One thousand ways to survive, but Only one way to live. Blazing pulses of superficial delight Glaze over our eyes The light turned off just enough, indiscernibly, To startle when turned back on. We perceived a hopeful world, an eager road Disappearing in the near misty distance But that was only the light playing tricks On our eyes. Two chopsticks diverged in a yellow wood And II chose both because I could. Bent over, picking up splinter by splinter Off the brown and red and whitened road Where the sand lay in swirling eddies of dreary purpose I dusted off the pieces. Hazy patches of shade Reached into the road And shaded me from the glare. twenty
Magnolia Gods
Abigail Gruchacz
When I was young I was young, the magnolia trees were gods. Their branches spread wide, inviting my sister and I to play. We were heroes and adventurers. We were Tarzan and the branches were all the jungles in Africa. We didnt think of Gravity, only of the wind and the white flowers. I came back when I was older. The magnolia trees seemed less. Not smaller or thinner, but no longer gods, and not so different from a nearby fir. The branches look weak, and I dare not test their strength. I know better than to climb, lest Gravity remind me that I am hers, and not the winds. But, I can still remember the Magnolia Gods. Perhaps dreams of adventures in jungles arent lost.
twenty-one
Egress
Tyler Hayes Digital Photography
twenty-three
Porcelain
Erna Woyee
Tall and regal With a pompous air Long neck poised; roses in her hair Face to the sun; she smiles in the light Relatives gawk; shes my mothers delight But a gentle touch or a slight caress Sends her to the floorfate does the rest And then she weeps; broken; distressed Once, a work of art Now, a mess
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twenty-five
Horse
Nina Ondona
Digital Photography
twenty-six
Pavement
twenty-seven
Grave Freedom
Evan Scarborough
I have something for you my friend. Some people live their entire lives searching for it, But you, old pal, get the easy way. Just give me your all and we have a deal. Deal? If you are hesitant, look around, The rocks will tell you what theyve found, With my help. You see what I offer is something simple, But very hard to get. It is commonly called acceptance, And well, sweetie, I have plenty. For I do not judge the person I see, For the person before me is rotten. We maggots dont judge, We just eat And we are accepting of all fresh meat.
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