Where I’m from is an old little house,Fraying at the seams with waterlogged edges,An enclosed porch with a screen door that falls off, A door that doesn’t lock or unlock, A yard once full of fun things,Now reduced to empty grass. No more rotting swingsets,Broken slides,Reclaimed sandboxes, Dead […]
Rambling oak branches that curiously reach this way and that, like energized neurons trapped in a cerebellum. Distant city lights, which sparkle like the white of an eye against the darkness of a deep, blue sapphire iris. The sound of the train in the early […]
Lord– Countless familial and novel names filled my childhood prayers. Words followed the same pattern, cadence, and tempo as I recited: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray […]
I listened to you sing like a golden canary in the branches of an ancient oak. I watched you dance just like a graceful ballerina who made time stand still. I watched you wither away as the sickness chewed and gnawed stripping away at your […]
I hold my younger self like a thrashing feral animal –In a tight and safe embrace.She’s fighting back hard,Baring her teeth;I’m sure to her,My arms feel like a cage.I’m sure to her,I’m the thing she hides from at night.But her teeth and nails are blunt,And […]
I remember The gull’s cry as he wheels above salty shore, A cloak of mist wrapped round sand and sea, The crunch of sand beneath boots and the clink of mail, driving rain, Long marches under heavy packs and long nights on the cold ground, […]
She wakes to the sun, before it can rise. Bones too tired to stretch, eyes drooping. Hushed kettle hums, dim glowing fire, Teary eyed, dreams still bright just. – For the world, lay at her back. A steady push and unrelenting track, From the mat […]
You remind me of the warm, cozy things in life, The big sweatshirts to sleep in, A cup of coffee with silky creamer, Car seat heaters on a frigid winter day, Sunlight softly kissing leaving mellowness, A warm hug to remind of enduring love. You […]
With steady hands and guarded eyes,She treads beneath the shifting skies.Through storm and sun, through drought and rain,She guards the forest’s breath and vein. For every seed, a promise planted,for every tree, a life she’s mounted.The guardian of the earth’s green flame,A forester, by heart and name.
Could you write me a poem? A short one, please. Of course! Here’s a short poem for you: The sky whispers low, As the soft winds blow, Time drifts like a dream, Through moments unseen. Why do you like to write about dreams so much? […]
Always running, always rushing Never enough, never enough Always one thing, always another Always a task, always a reason To be running, to be rushing Always a class, always an assignment Always studying, always working Always wanted, always needed But there’s never enough Never enough […]
mi cuerpo está contaminado como los ríos y los bosques como las guerras y el aire mi cuerpo está contaminado mis brazos están contaminados quiero bañarme hasta todo a que mi piel se enrojezca y tu contaminación no es como la de las serpientes quiero […]
Las fotografias…………………………………………The Photographs Se cuelgan……………………………………………….Hang En las paredes,………………………………………..On the walls, Espectadores……………………………………………Silent Silentes……………………………………………………..Spectators Del teatro…………………………………………………Of the theatre De la vida………………………………………………….Of life. Ellas recuerden………………………………………..They remember El pasado,…………………………………………………The past, Aún cuando……………………………………………..Even when Las personas…………………………………………….The people En las fotografías…………………………………….In the photographs Los han olvidado…………………………………….Have forgotten. Ellas son……………………………………………………They are Las […]
Sitting on the carpet, falling asleep on a cream painted windowsill. I was a velvety little girl, with sour candy veins It was naptime, but my eyes were winking, young Crept to the glass and looked at the children Searching for blue eggs, round heads […]
3AM and the rain was beating a soprano drum beat down on the roof outside my window. The thunder chimed in with the bass, and the lightning with that glitzy, snapping flute, and chaos never sounded so much like rich jazz. So it was the […]
About the piece: I wrote this piece for my Reading As Writers Across Media class with Professor Angie Johnson. We had to imitate works from three different poets: Michael Torres, Sandra Cisneros, and Brian Doyle. This particular piece is based off of “A Very Short […]
Mr. Richard Blanco is a former engineer turned poet and has found great success. He received both his undergraduate degree as well as his MFA in creative writing from Florida International University and has gone on to publish five successful collections of poetry including Looking […]
This is the time of year for reflection. The sun-soaked, breeze-cooled April evenings are punctured with carilloning birds and the scent of burgeoning lilacs. These expectant days, teetering on the verge of tulips and triumph, always seemed ideal for meditation on renewal and redemption. The […]
About the Piece: “Walls” was originally a poem called “A Hill in Vernon,” but I wanted to try and see if I could write it as prose, while still keeping the flow and lyricism. This piece is about my childhood home in Vernon Hills, a […]
Author commentary: I am a passionate devotee of poetry, but sometimes I feel as if words refuse my sainted efforts to wrest them into lines and meter. For this reason, the concept of a prose poem appealed to me as I attempted to express my […]
Between bites of very-late-night tepid ramen, in an attempt to escape my never-ending internal to-do list, I’ve been reading a lot of Mary Oliver’s poetry. Her work is a comfort object akin to warm milk, and I prefer my belly to be full of it. […]
Writer Commentary: In the spring semester of my sophomore year at Bethany, I was in a class called Reading As Writers Across Media, and in this class, we spent time reading various books, one of which was Mary Oliver’s American Primitive and that is where […]
Like many other young adults, I still hold on to a great many ideals when I think about the way the world should work, especially when it comes to my chosen field of English and literature. As a student, I am constantly becoming more and […]
On November 7-8, the Minnesota State University’s Good Thunder Reading Series hosted St. Paul-born poet Danez Smith. Smith’s most recent book Don’t Call us Dead earned the United Kingdom’s Forward Poetry Prize for Best Collection and also contended in the United States as a finalist […]
The Joy of Stealing Why the hatred of poetry, when its reading and making is like playing a black piano, stealing sugar from the castle, wearing the mask of God. An ancient oriental myth teaches loss of poetry is loss of paradise. Its reading and […]
Madelaine Cordes designed this poster in her Digital Painting class. She is a Graphic Design major and a Junior at Bethany Lutheran College. She has a penchant for fun words (i.e. exacerbate), old things (especially clothing), and books. She loves to read (shocker, she knows, what […]
Against Expectation When I think of a poet, I tend to think of a “hipster.” I think of someone who wears the latest trends of clothing for fashion’s sake. I think of someone who wears a snapback hat with shades and drives an older, beaten-up […]
“What if an entire generation were to reject their central story line?” asks Eula Biss in The Balloonists, a book that is part poetry, part creative essay. Biss draws heavily from her own life in creating this assembly of anecdotes of both her life and […]
Ariadne When you found me I was burdened and laden With secrets and responsibilities: There was a maze and labyrinth And a monster on my mind. You, a thinker, You dared to surmount this maze, This labyrinth that no man Dared attempt before With any […]
Morning is nearing! The sun peeking out over the corn fields light not yet blinding but a picturesque tangerine grapefruit juice spilling onto the dawn. The brisk breeze caressing, its touch brings goosebumps shivers of delight. Its freshness clears the spoiled air yesterday left […]