Category: 2021-22 Submissions

Since the beginning,
We’ve set out to explore
Curiosity drives us
To achieve so much more

We’ve traversed the Earth
Conquered the globe
No longer pursuing four corners
Instead, voyaging with space probes

Fought with Nature
Pushed Her back
Built up defenses
Lit up the night black

We’ve invented and tinkered
The wheel and cars, oh wow!
And, there’s genetic coding!
But minds are stuck in iPhones, somehow

Despite these accomplishments
We are always and still striving
Moving and craving for more, more, more
As soon as we’re arriving
We decide:
There’s always more to look for.

Nighthawks soar in the gloom of the night, gazing intently at the nearby fauna of savannas
Amaryllis flowers possess the utmost beauty everyone desires
Trees wilt from the gust and breeze, which lurks about at a tip-toeing pace in the air
Ulysses butterflies hover in the lush and scintillating light fluttering from flower to flower
Ribbiting frogs inhabit the undergrowth of the rainforest, whipping their tongue out at nearby nutriment
Everything is a crafted and evolved creation, but not anything is perfect

There are fairies beneath the moss who
Come out from
Their homes to water their roof of green
When the sun is big and gold

Come out from
The closet
When the sun is big and gold,
My love

The closet:
It is safe and dark,
My love,
So stay if you want, if you need

It is safe and dark
Beneath the blood or the blue
So stay if you want. If you need
To, come back to me

Beneath the blood or the blue
The fairies hold each step
To come back to me
In the growing green carpets

The fairies hold each step,
Each burden you leave
In the growing green carpets
Painted over crumbling earth

Each burden you leave
Becomes sunlight
Painted over crumbling earth
You hide within

Becomes sunlight,
Sweet honey dripping from your teeth while
You hide within
The dusty dawn

The air is heavy
Sticking to my skin
Falling over everything
Making each exhale
Drop like rain
And each inhale
Stink like fish and foul breath

It’s quiet
And empty
Not a ghost town
For cars line the street and
A shop’s door is propped open with a fan,
And not silent
For the insects buzz
A bird chirps
And somewhere you can hear a low hum.

“Look here”
A concrete building
One wall
Once bright orange
Is peeling and faded
Mold and mildew makes a canvas of a wall across the alley
And if you know where to look
You’ll see train tracks once ran straight through it
“We used to go here to see play’s
They moved to the old movie theater after a flood
The building hasn’t been used in years”

Down the street
We walk
Stepping over reflective puddles of rainwater
Filling in dips in the sidewalk
Like the glass dome of the sky shattered
And the shimmering blue-gray slices fell to Earth

“Here,
This is the Heritage House
The roof was damaged in the last hurricane
See
There
The tarps are everywhere now
You never know if it’s money
Or waitlists for roofers”

And the town opens its wounds again
Blowing blue tarps in the wind
The ocean swallows the land.

I’m in a winter daze.
There are only three days till Christmas.
The snow is pure
I am sure
You’re in a winter daze
There are only two days till Christmas
The fire is bright
And if I’m right
You’re in a winter daze
There is only one day till Christmas
Let’s not throw a fit
Because Old Saint Nick
Is in a winter daze.

And while your smile
Still reminds me that I am
Capable of inflicting pain
At such a distance

It comes together into a
Tear tracing down my cheek
Into our hearts beating (sos)
And my fist clutching the hem of your shirt

What more could I have crooned to you?
Your cool hand to my cheek
The flutter of our white curtains
A shared song under our breath
What else?

And while there is no boundary between
How you love and how you are loved
Is there no way to become myself again?

Once you are so dear in another’s heart,
Is there no escape?
I have found no such thing as escape.

(And since what) love you have
Shown (came from) your own fear (because)
My own fear (swallowed you whole)
(I cannot know) if you found it either.

And since I have no (right to your)
Response (how do I discover) my own
(or another’s)

¿Hola, como estas?
knees on the couch
on a sunday afternoon

watch your sister bo, nine now
cross the cobbled street
glare glinting off the window

your mother, reading beside you
always a little surprised
by your excitement.

bo and elise, nearly adults
allowed to walk on their own
to the bakery after a spanish lesson.

what you would do to be like them.
later, you beg your mother
for the same lessons.

they bring you a pastry
In a small paper bag
With a pink face and hooves,

and a small curly tail.
the taste of marzipan
is the taste of childhood.

My hearing muffled,
My vision blurred,
I shut out the world,
As if I’m in a new universe.
I let the water carry my weightless body,
And I could care less where I go.
I’ve escaped,
I feel like a different person.

As I enjoy my few seconds of absolute peace,
A small ache buried underneath my ribs starts to grow.
It’s battling inside of me,
Hitting my lungs,
Getting stronger with every punch.
Growing, It consumes me,
Reminding me I can’t stay here forever.

I’ve come to my senses;
This haven can kill me.
Why can’t I stay?
I start to move arms and legs quickly,
Trying to reach the surface.
As it starts to feel like my body is about to give in,
I break through.
I gasp for air
The pain is gone.
The noises of the outdoors fill my ears.
I’m back to reality.
I’m back.

I stand in front of the apartment after a long airplane fight
I have waited so long to be here again
With the cute kitchen and the bedrooms with tiny beds

But most of all the living room,
I love the smell of the paintings,
And how her collection of sorts sits on the coffee table
With a flower patterned sofa right next to it
The curtains block the window

She stands right next to it everyday
Looking through the window
Watching all the cars and bikes go by

She seems so tall compared to the sofa
I can barely even look out the window
But soon I’ll be taller than her
Next time I visit, I’ll be so tall she won’t even recognize me

Who knew I would have to wait so long
I still wait to this day
The place I look forward to visiting is empty
The place looks the same, but she’s not there
Not right by the window, watching the cars go by
She’s not standing right next to the couch
Or walking by her coffee table

Who knew a pandemic would come
Who knew it would keep us apart
Apart until it was too late
To say good bye.

A baby in a crib
With only one dirty bib

Living with his mother
And with his grandmother

They’re moving around sluggish
The room feeling muggish

Hungry baby in a crib
Only getting a bite or a nibble

A baby crying
The mother hitting

Alone in the apartment
Food not in the compartment

Mother taking drugs
Shes feeling smug

Gone again and left alone
Another of the baby’s groan

Taken by the government to be protected
A Baby finally being respected

Taken in by a family that is the best
I am no guest

Finally happy at last
All of that is in the past