“In Doubt” by Brooke Hebert / “A Gloomy Day” by Amina Malik

“A Gloomy Day”

Amina Malik

“In Doubt”

Brooke Hebert

the water looks cold              like ice       the combustion from it

like straight out of a freezer       and

i want to jump in            but i cant and i want to dive in but i 

i wont         afraid that my fingers will crumble like snow if i do     

so i 

stay       my feet dangling from the pier so close to the numb water

is what i want to say but all i could manage is 

the water looks             cold 

like snow and its almost frozen over maybe we shouldnt jump in 

maybe we shouldnt dive in

And my friend walks back to the opposite end of the pier 

mumbling about my uncertainty           why so indecisive?

why so uncertain mumbling through             i even ask myself

why i am so uncertain             why im so indecisive

“A Distant Utopia” by Rui Zheng

“A Distant Utopia”

Rui Zheng

Long walks down the Drum Tower,

Past the iridescent vendors.

It’s another day,

At that familiar place,

On the other side of Earth.

“Stage Fright” by Lucy Beyer / “Float” by Ansley Teal

float / ansley teal

STAGE FRIGHT

lucy beyer

I could hear laughing like being held underwater by playful waves crashing down on my head laughing laughing laughing me under.

It’s like being wrapped tightly in a blanket composed of your own thoughts. Except the blanket gets too tight and starts to suffocate you.

 Like an anaconda and it’s prey,

my thoughts and me.

I’ve fallen prey to my own thoughts and it’s slowly killing me. No matter how hard I try, the screams of self-doubt and anxiety run wild through my brain. No matter how hard I try, they’re too fast for logical thinking to catch up. No matter how hard I try to remain still and calm, the real me fades away as I’m left in the dust, and soon there is nothing but fast heart beats, and sweaty shaking hands.

No matter how hard I try to take deep breaths, 

no matter how hard I try to lower my ever increasing heart rate,

 no matter how hard I try to focus on a single person in the crowd,

 no matter how hard I try to steady my hands,

my thoughts are too fast for me to catch up.

I stare at the audience. They stare back. I feel frozen in time.

I could hear laughing like being held underwater by playful waves crashing down on my head laughing laughing laughing me under.

*Italicized text from Jason Reynolds’ Long Way Down

Selene by Shay Mahoney / Untitled by Juha Lee (April)

untitled / juha lee

Selene 

Shay Mahoney

They say the moon is beautiful.

It is, you suppose. There’s a beauty to a tiger’s jagged stripes, the fluidity of a striking viper. There’s beauty in danger- or the idea of it.

The Moon is beautiful- in the way bloody, brutal things are.

But bloody, brutal things are cruel. They do not think or feel in the way their prey does. They love, but their love is simple survival- a cunning dance that ensures more carnage. They do not get lonely. They do not know lonely.

The Moon is lonely.

You know. You have always known. You’ve seen her, slipping through trees, silver skin kissing the ground soft as anything, and you can forget, almost. You can forget.

But the Moon will not.

The Moon has lived here, in the tides that crushed bone, in the wolves that ate of her light. The Moon will always live here, always remember.

And she will outlive us all.

12:13 A.M. by Alyssa Turcotte / Untitled by Della Wirfel (April)

untitled / della wirfel

12:13 A.M.

Alyssa Turcotte

I settle into bed, but I can tell
from the thunder booming outside
that I won’t soon sleep.

A warm yellow glow
filters through my window,
the bright midnight light
creating slats on the floor that illuminate
the papers strewn across my desk.

I’m in the eye of the hurricane,
enjoying the moment of calm before the storm.

In the distance, I can make out
the rumble of trucks
thundering down the street,
endlessly sweeping its predecessor’s mess.
I hear it shudder and crawl
closer until its growl is almost unbearable,
the storm just outside my window.

Suddenly,
the harsh metallic clang of lightning
striking the ground pierces the night,
ripping away the peace I had known
just a moment ago.

But then I hear it fade. I’m left with only
my yellow sky,
always one moment away
from another wave of the storm.