Submissions

P u r p o s e

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Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes.While on the road, you’ll find if there’s anything to lose.One man’s trash is another man’s treasure;One man’s sin is another man’s pleasure.Which is which? Well you decide.Why should one by models forever abide?Have no fear, let your voice be heard.Your words will not be…
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Swan Song

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The birds sing louder…Not because of joy or pain,Or sadness or fear.They sing louder because,The cars howl under their homes. Yannick Wallace2012
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Colorblind

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I don’t see color.Not in the waves of my long hair,Or the twinkle in my eyes.Not In the curves of my legs,Or the wrinkles in my hands.Not in the freckles on my cheeks,Nor the toes on my feet.I don’t see color.Not even when I look away, and search another person head to toe.I won’t see…
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Daria

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So mysterious, so dark, so understated,So young, so smart, so devastated,So charismatic, sarcastic, and underratedOh DariaOh DariaA reflection in a mirror,A parallel universe,So alike but neither can converseOh DariaOh DariaEloquent in speaking,Yet so plain in dress,You’re me, I’m you, but I’m in the fleshOh DariaOh DariaBoth so intimidating with the gift of a pen,Yet so…
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C o n f e s s i o n

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Nola Kane, ‘19 I wanted to give money to the homeless man in the cityGrandma always said noThey’ll go buy drugsNow I know you need more than justA dollar for drugsThey just want some food or some coffeeto get through the dayTo feed their hopeAll around were homelessEvery street doubled with themSad and scrawnyWearing coats…
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Anhedonia

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Sensation gripped the fingers. I am anemia. Secluded; holding tighter to thechair.Bound and gagged, your hips moved closer to the floor as I took over. I fillyour lungs with this last breath as my gift.I won’t ever let go; to the paper wrapped around your fingertips.Burning it down to the filter. Arms shaking in celebration…
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N y c t o a g o r a p h o b i a

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Sadie Saget, ‘19 Being sucked up into the atmosphere is what I fear most. On a quiet winter night in my neighborhood, I wanderpast the abandoned buildings and onto the bridge overlooking the creek. When I look up at the night sky, I swearit’s looking back. The short buildings and lack of streetlights make it…
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I Come From

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I come from faithThe faith deeply felt by Michael and Margaret Fitzpatrick as they traveled to the unknownEllis Island, leaving family, security, countryI come from hopeThe hope deeply felt by Michael and Margaret Fitzpatrick as they provided for a family ofeight during the Great DepressionI come from loveThe love deeply felt by Michael and Margaret…
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Calliope

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Calliope,She spoke to me,Unchained my mind and set me free,Unleashed a world of imagery,I now know what it is to be,A man of possibility,Brimming with sagacity,Speaking with voracity,Writing with audacity,Skill at full capacity,But…I didn’t have a pen. Gabriel Henninger2015
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Masks

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Throughout my whole life I was always shy;Hiding behind a mask of my own design;Never did set free or fly way too high;But that mask has decided to resign.I will start to reveal what is below;All the cracks and scars that were never shownWill cry to the world “I will say hello!”I’ll be the girl…
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55

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Conversations like heart monitor beepsTheir shapes form the shapeOf highs and lowsOh highs and lows Jill McFarland2015
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Father and Daughter

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December 1994Anthony is sunken into the queen-sized mattress pulling his knees up to his chin. He clutches at his ankles withblistered hands. Hands that had built some of the structures that surround the city, but he would never notice.His palms are thick and brawny. Big blue veins emphasizethe muscles that gloat over his metacarpals. His…
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Introspective Eyes

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I wish I had introspective eyes.Analyze anything and everything.But I am a phony of sorts.I am as hollow as the trunk of a fallen tree.I am a tree with no Roots; a lie with no truths.I am a sheep in disguise drifting with a populous flock.I’d be the wolf but God knows my teeth arerotten…
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N e w O r l e a n s

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Brigid MacArthur-Thompson, ‘17 Plastic beads swinglike rosaries through the leavesAnd the sidewalks have scarsFrom the rising water.The roots grow big enoughThat as you walk,You could be upended at any second.And the ocean waits, ready to rush inAnd fade us into oblivion.The trees must be as oldAs my soul,Because the closest I’ve come to findingGodIs on…
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Be Poetic

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you need something poeticfor your songlike seafoam green wallsbare and picture-lessa sun-soaked skyabove a crashing waterfallor a hat blown off in the winda crazy mind that can interpret numbersa child deep within the coves of slumberyou need a rhyme to make a dimesome guitar stringsand a little timesomething to sing aboutand a steady beatlike footsteps…
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LAMENT

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By Lynn Kim, M.S. `24 Fogelsville, WednesdayI walk on dappled sunspotsunder arched maplesand cloudless domewatch leaves fallto woodland floorhear drops,feel their spatteron my shoulderscarry on and knowthe tall timberin its leaved gloryrustling in the windweeps for me,rain I hold locked in.
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Dreaming Of Tokyo

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When the night falls…I lie down to rest…When day breaks, I remember dreaming of the best…The thought is so strong that it puts aches in mychest…… but yet…I have no regrets…of…Dreaming of Tokyo…Long days of study and work all pay off when I comeback home…… no I’m not alone…… with my drink and my phone………
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A Lesson Of Life

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With apologies to Mary OliverFeeling her kicking, the waves of her motionKnowing my life was changing, I held my bellyAnd hoped, and I felt reassuredA higher power, I should think,Observing my willingness to take on a challengeHad presented me thisHad taught me to live and learnNot caring of the length of this lessonLooking to the…
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Puzzle

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Jonathan Grimm always loved solving puzzles. He knew all aboutthem. Jonathan knew the history of puzzles. He was an 80-year old widower.His children and grandchildren all lived in different states. Jonathan didn’tcare. Now that he was all alone he had all the time in the world to puttogether more puzzle pieces.Sometimes his eldest son would…
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Dreams

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When I was a child,I dreamt of what I could do.I’d stand outsideOn a clear spring afternoon,Waiting to catch a butterfly on mytongue.I always wanted to catch a rainbow.I’d sit on the floor,Talking to inanimate objects,Hoping they were actually listening.I always wanted to advise a balloon.I’d sit in front of the fireplace,Consuming the warmth.And be…
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Séance Manor

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I’ve always wanted to be scared to death. That’s why I lovehaunted houses so much. I’ve been to most of the good ones. I’vebeen to every haunted house, from the big theme parks to Vegas tothe home of witches in Salem. I love haunted houses just like I loveHalloween. I love to be scared. Many…
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Poor Wanderer

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“Poor wanderer,” said the leaden sky,“How you go on, by and by.For you do not know which way to go.My, how you travel on so.”For I replied to the leaden sky,“You are correct, I cannot lie.I do not know which way to goIf I go the wrong way, please tell me so.”“My child, lie down…
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The Darkness Whispers

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the darkness whispersand just as the light, it won’t allow sleepa mind full of messy, sleepless thingssmirks devilishly at its part in the deviant planshadows emerge upon the projection of lightthat sneaks under the door from the halland the air screams wildly at the top of its lungseyelids refuse to dropthoughts refuse to stopthey race…
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The Rhyme Scheme

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Everything in my life needs to be a certain specific way.Everywhere I go, whether I’m at work or at home, anything andeverything needs to be molded and crafted to meet my set of veryspecific standards and practices. For instance, at home I have a vastcollection of books and CD’s and I can’t just put them…
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A Liar’s Fire

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Walk with me, this guided curveSwaying, while you swiftly swerveTaste the breeze, in the airCry out to the voices, in utter despairFollow now, this burning coalInevitably, it will swallow you wholeSuch a terrifying assumptionThese threats of consumptionJust wait for the eruptionIt will cause such suctionBend what is realSo you may concealBend it in twoTo hide…
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AFTERLIFE

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Laura Kuhn, M.F.A., English Department Adjunct My mother holds forth at the table,tracing dirty plates with a moistened finger —licking the crumbs she swipes from one plate, then another.Savoring it all;nobody’s watching.My father, in the next room, watches a game.He takes no part in the conversation, but interjectscorrections to let her know he’s there.The mighty…
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TOPaz

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They just gave me a new placement. It was a shock, becauseI thought things were fine where I was. But you never know aboutplacements; the general wisdom is there is no way to understand them.So I am upset about the move, even though it looks good so far—theyput me in a room of my own,…
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Ignorance is Bliss

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Head bent against Winter,I walk among the city FacesStaring coldly in my direction,Whispering silent judgmentsWhile their skin reddens from the frostAnd their breath gusts before them like amockery of fire.What do you think offends them so?Increasing my pace,The Wind whips my ears rawUntil I remember I’ve forgotten my hat,And putting it on,I find I care…
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A Love Affair

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I’m having a love affair with my pillow.No matter how many times it doubles in size—soaked with the weight of my problems—or I smear all my makeup from another long day,or I scrunch and I squish it this way and that,it loves me back.Every night, it cradles my face,and for hours while I dream—helpless and…
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Pomatomus Saltatrix

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Pomatomus saltatrix, you showed me how to loveIn lapping of the waves against the gallows’ posts aboveThe gentle bay, forever clear, where barnacles sing ofA heaven freed of ugliness and brutal death thereofThe fisher boy had broken yet like tawny August dawnA tiny speck of cold and sweat dripped slowly down uponA bare yet gilded…
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Game Of Diversion

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The ball rollsAnd bounces, tooCarried by the windAs it descends to the groundIt sits idle as gravity has placed itDiversion is the way of the ballIt dares to deflect worry and distress by Alexandra Foerster, ’09
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Pillow Talk

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White sheets marred by ink black hair;My dreams bleed into my pillow–The forgotten and the memorably truthful–And as we lay hereNow thoughts of you are added to the vault.How we talkedOf the taste of blackberries,Wearing sandals in the snow,Broken transmissions,Drowning spiders in the sink –All of it cosmically insignificantAnd yet so essentialBecause without itI would…
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Ode To That Box So Foul

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(My apologies to Shakespeare.) When the morning sun shines through the room, And Bob the trash man collects the cans, And Tom the janitor picks up the broom, And the only sound is the dorm room fans; When the covers are thrown, and you shoot a scowl, Then loudly sings that box so foul, Bo-beep,…
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How I Let My Rhythm Hit

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Let me think about where my journey began.Strange faces, new places, strum basses, sax cases, cool aces, oldvases, fun races, strong paces.I had to say bye to the known, face being on my own, feeling like I’m allalone, call mom and dad on the phone, feeling that pain… I just had tomoan.When I woke up,…
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