Untitled Poem Zoe Johnson Here we are. Me and you, flipping through the old pages of a book we cherish. The moon is so big, this moment so small. But don’t telescopes make things look bigger? I ask you questions of the things you weren’t trained to know. But you know them because they are important to me. When the trees get in the way, and I feel disappointed You push them down. They will not ruin our moment. Nothing will. “Untitled,” Zoe Johnson
Lara DiPietro “Solstice,” Lara DiPietro
Collection of Poems Zoe Conti If I Were To Introduce Myself In An Extremely Artistic Way Two rivers surround my home They twist around my life and I sail down them as I go through the chapters of my story I am a patriot of creativity fighting a great war against conformity Just like everyone else I enjoy my privacy in the dark of night writing, listening, watching, looking out the window onto the street at those who have more exciting lives than mine Promise me and I’ll promise you If I crash and burn Would you soften the blow And put out the fire
Collection of Poems Kidd O’Hara ‘queer’ A cento We shall never know who forged the word until a dream takes root thorns raking bare feet except for those fragile instruments, the eyes. Art is the failure And to think that she wouldn’t exist The writer remembers A cloud seeded with a green sun, to split apart, to go on. Or does it explode? I love you. Anticipate a message, lukewarm water, mistake. dark and deep, No blood is flowing. sleep, sleep. I’m glad I exist. The woods are lovely, Sources: Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Joshua Edwards, Jorge Luis Borges, Nikki Wallschlaeger, Wendy Cope, Gwendolyn Brooks, Miroslav Holub, Simone Muench Music The music bumbles, Thundering and rumbling, Dancing to a beat, That only it can hear
“queer,” Kidd O’Hara
The Physicality and Intellectuality of Loss Murray Brauner Invisible loss is only being happy on the sunny days And feeling empty when it rains Invisible loss is a single teardrop On a masterpiece That bleeds out the pigments to nothing Invisible loss is tethering yourself to books and shows Because everything else feels intangible Invisible loss is losing your appetite On thanksgiving Invisible loss is the first time you see the ocean waves frozen over Invisible loss is forgetting what your favorite color is Invisible loss is constantly calming yourself with the phrase ‘It will end soon’. Invisible loss is dreading the after party Before the celebration even starts Invisible loss is hating people For loving you Invisible loss is the first year you don’t celebrate Halloween Invisible loss is an empty promise To a little kid Invisible loss is an empty notification box On your birthday Invisible loss is hating an A For not being an A+ Invisible loss is listening to your favorite song And hating the lyrics Invisible loss is hating something because it’s out of your control Invisible loss is the first year Christmas isn’t special anymore Visible loss is the first walk you take Without a dog leash Visible loss is watching a star that you observed from a telescope Finally burn out Visible loss is feeding the pigeon with the blue stripe every day Only one day It stops showing up
Visible loss is texting someone Forgetting that the person on the other end Is gone Visible loss is moving out of the neighborhood Where you learned to ride your bike Visible loss is having an empty table on grandparents day Visible loss is watching the imprint on a dog bed Slowly disappear Invisible loss is watching someone cry For the first time Visible loss is watching someone cry For the last time
Untitled Centos Elle Albert Untitled One We who love precise language Their defenseless foreheads, the wet paving. Each cuts their eyes at the adult who kneels, who stares through a black birdhouse their blood, fell into the dense growth through flesh into green waves Children trace their liquid bowl the paint had not yet dried With flowers in their lapels, nine Their jaws open–coral Untitled Two a cloud seeded with a green sun, the peach glows reddish under the sun’s semaphore in the upper leaves; the silence Beyond my anxiety, beyond my mouth & its words, & all that we touch phosphoresces
Madelyne Hatfield “Underground,” Madelyne Hatfield
Elena Sofia Arbelaez “Marsh,” Elena Sofia Arbelaez
“Marsh,” Elena Sofia Arbelaez
“Digestion of A Bomb” Elena Sofia Arbelaez
Apollo Maya Pendleton No one was cheered and nothing was discussed, Column by column, in a cloud of dust, They marched away, enduring a belief Whose logic brought them, somewhere else, to grief ― The Shield of Achilles, W.H. Auden The boys raved the neighbor fields, Picking the whiter flowers to save from the sun The fear of Inferno, heavy in the sand The silence of the Horse and screaming red feathers On the sandy beach that fell into his sandals With a stripped bare land that lacks its worth His arms, opened with a flow of great trust Off he went to leave the other barren But when the armor was stripped to please that still bust No one was cheered and nothing was discussed Horses parted through the water, Golden apples in his throat From the tumult the sands shook The golden hands had taken the wheel Their ship veered greatly off its course From the sky, a bout of disgust The hero was silent, the rallies were scarce Failing alone as one, In a veil of vast robust, Column by column, in a cloud of dust The great sun loomed, Hanging over the beach his sandals had threaded, His mother cradled her son Shamed the sky that shined so bright And stilled his body, smooth like stone His head, arrayed with a crown of foreign leaf Under the armor with a fringe of bright red,
He lied on the marble and cursed at the sun And when his troops turned away from their chief, They marched away, enduring a belief Reminding his waters of the fire he created, He stormed the land again with a new white mask He raved and made his own, But he was not him, and The ones who knew, their words were stolen, Led astray by erroneous belief From their own personal Chimera, They lost their tongues Their minds bound in a twine-tied sheaf, Whose logic brought them, somewhere else, to grief
I am sorry Earth, for I am an overwhelmed child Sophia Houpt Suffocate me So my tears can be rain I will water the ground where I stand So the flowers can grow back again - Aurora Though I hate crying in front of others I would gladly showcase my pain For the fire of suffering Continues to spread its embers Darkening the green of the world This flame is no longer a friend And sometimes I feel as though I have failed the earth Our mother would be disappointed in my faith (or lack thereof) Praying this fire will meet the end So the flowers can grow back again Demeter I hold a candle to you Lighting a hastily constructed altar Whispering words I do not understand A routine each night A new god a new lack of light My chanting the music of a band Performing for the favor of a story Knowing this will become one Oh goddess of harvest, protect this land I will water the ground where I stand The beauty of earth surpasses that of Psyche Once again catching the attention of Aphrodite Release the earth from its challenging quest For my misery is given by Oizys My love given by Eros A goddess of deceit helping me feign My innocence, my uninvolvement
I do not have the morals of Aletheia Let me take the blame So my tears can be rain Gaia does not need the protection of lesser gods A mortal child lighting black candles Intent set on protection Wearing amethyst around my neck These are rituals and beliefs easily crushed By only our inability to see A fire stoked by our own A harvest divided unequally Oh dear mighty world do you hear my plea Suffocate me
“I am sorry Earth, for I am an overwhelmed child,” Sophia Houpt
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