Went to a Straight, White Church
I went to a straight, white church.And I prayed and I prayed, and I prayedPrayed for normalcyPrayed for straightnessPrayed to be right.And nothing happened.No divine intervention like IsaiahNo curation of my curiosity like the camps they shut downNo straightness cleansing…
Student Spotlight: A Lonely Walk
I was walking back to my dorm on a dark and snowy night. It would usually be a 15-minute trip that I often made to see a close friend of mine. This time about halfway through, I stopped. There was…
Student Spotlight: The Gravetender
You said we wouldn’t last past June Or late July I can’t remember As the words have blurred from the tears I shed when you left And never came back Like family Who came and went as they pleased Pushing the…
Student Spotlight: That’s How it Gets You
Don’t walk under street lamps alone, especially if they’re blinking. Don’t look down hallways past midnight, even if you hear someone talking. Don’t look out windows when everyone else is asleep. Because that’s how it gets you. “Mr. Amsworth, what…
Student Spotlight: You Wouldn’t Believe Me
The thing living in my basement is not my daughter. “So sorry, really I am.”The thing living in my basement is not a person. “How are you holding up?” The thing living in my basement was not there a week ago. “Take…
Watermelon Trees and an Autumn Breeze
A picture-perfect sunset kisses the dying leaves on the trees for weeks, And weeks. Slowly saying goodbye to the once blooming cornucopiaUntil the crisp, cold air cracks open the lonely watermelon tree. Seedless and bountiful, his beauty will not last much…
Student Spotlight: Chatter
I didn’t mean to kill him. Do you think I’m a murderer? I’m not. But Jesus, he just wouldn’t shut up. “So I say to her that it isn’t my cup. How could it be my cup? I never drank…
Student Spotlight: ‘Tumor’
Malevolent mastermind Makes morals a malignancy. Someone so charming and benign At first changed his consistency. Damaged deceiver dependent On getting what he wants: Cajoling and coaxing independent Individuals and with their hearts he taunts. Calling, crying, characterizing These women…
All in Yellow, All in Black
My Grandmother didn’t know she was dead. “Ellie, Ellie! Out here, by the window.” My dads made me wear all black to the funeral, which I hated, but they said it wasn’t about me. Closed casket. The priest talked for…
A Million And One
Nobody important saw what was behind the sky, but those of us that did could not understand why. I cannot describe it, for certain I can’t. Something behind the stars, a thousand bloated, blinking bugs, or the moon, which stared…
