Category: 2023-2024 Submissions

Everything about driving through tiny Texas towns,
with the protestant guilt rushing out of every gutter grate.
It’s noon in October,
and the moon is sitting lazy in the sky;
like a schoolchild
refusing to get out of bed.

And those juvenile clouds,
Midland evenings are awfully dull,
but so very bright.
These nights, they bore and scare me all at once,
like the dead deer lining up in rows under sulking grey trees.
I’ve seen a million before,
they don’t bother me anymore.

Some uncanny trail,
it follows you out here,
like a string on a sweater dragging behind.
Something sinister is surely hiding
under all this roadkill and cacti.

There’s a certain sadness that comes with the heat,
When even a breeze flushes your skin
And dampens your brow.

But there’s a bitterness in the cold,
When the sleet stings your scalp,
And your fingers go brittle with the ice.

So when the earth turns to mud,
Rich with sweet September rain;
When the lakes turn shiny and amber,

I can finally revel in all these seasonal amenities,
In my annual holiday of sleep and hugs
And spice and musk.

How there’s some sort of horoscopy falling from the sky
And the leaves,
Precious little snowflakes, you are mystery, augury.

Try to ignore how I’ll soon have to wake
To the impending perineal ennui,
That chews away at my temper every other time of year.

Ever since I was young,
I craved to be old.
I thought, when I was young,
that my life hadn’t even started to unfold.

I thought life was like a flower.
When it blooms, it’s at its best.
But now I see, you will miss all the parts in between.
So it might not be its best,
it might just be a few steps closer to your last breath.

Many people had told me that they wish they’d be young again.
This is one thing that took me a while to understand.

But then I realized I shouldn’t waste my time wanting to be older,
I should be spending my time living every moment of every day.

The flower may be wonderful
but you can’t have the flower without the bud coming before it.
And now everyday,
I see beauty in it.

I get jealous of the time,
How it ticks before my eyes.
I can see it change,
See the minutes peel away.
How it tallies
Rolls forward.
So linear,
Strolling in pace with the sun

I sleep between the clouds,
hang my clothes
on crescent moons.
I linger in the past
In the minutes that wont slough off,
Slipping into yesterday’s photographs,
Hanging every grievance to dry.
I’ll perch on the chem trails,
Re-reading faded notes,
Each kept crunchy letter.
Oh the ink-clad heartache,
So tender still,
I sleep with the memories
And bathe in the rust.

Feel the wind rushing in.
Now all the petals on the ground.
Feel the breeze through your hair, sunflowers everywhere.
Sunflowers above the grass like the sun above all.
At night foxes in the bay kissing their babies and hitting the hay.

I’m like the sun
I’m like the Moon

like the morning Breeze that welcomes you to the day
like the rain who keeps you inside

I’m like that River so calm and clear
I’m like that flood tears everything away

my Smiles could light up the world
and I’m a pot boiling over with anger

this is me and I’m proud of me
I’m like everything

The oldest TV you’ll ever see,
A old kaleidoscope that works just fine,
Two ancient shoes lost to time,
Ankle braces hidden away,
Knee Braces he’s probably looking for,
A wrapper or two from granola bars,
Sawdust under the carpet,
Pictures of Grandma he was able to keep,
Photos of Mom and her siblings,
Even though he lives here no more,
You can always find him,
On the wall,
On the floor,
Under the door,
Everywhere,

Football or Futbol, people always argue
The United States, or the EU.
One you throw to other people with a ball
The other you kick it and hope it doesn’t hit the wall
Both are played on different continents
Both sports started small like multiple tents.

Futbol is played world wide
But football is better, that’s no lie.
That may be because I am American,
But I have been around the world,
Seen a Toucan.
We all have favorite our favorite team
See them bigger and taller than the others like a big beam.

In the end it doesn’t matter which sport is better or right
Just make sure with the other sport to not fight.

The room was dark then BOOM!
The sound was a bomb,
It lit up my bedroom
The room was bright,
Then night,
I went under my bed,
but bumped my head.

Through the ages,
The storm rages,
I scare little kids,
With a,
BAM
BOOM
BAM.

You see the light,
Then comes a lot of fright,
It also scars dogs,
Sometimes hogs,
Destroys logs,
It follows with fog,
That’s what thunder is.

I am from the church I grew up in
I am from the old swingset that would go rickety rack
I am from the teenage mutant ninja turtle I would watch on sundays
I am from the the old xbox 360 I would play everyday
I am Josue Bautista San Agustin