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 […]
I love my parents, I do—it’s true,But they taught me everything I shouldn’t do.I played Barbies alone, tucked away in my room,While they stared at their phones, lost in the gloom. They expected me to raise my little brother,But why couldn’t that be the job […]
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.
15,642 things sit in my camera roll. 2,673 videos, 7,365 photos, None of which include you. They go back many years ago to 2016. Two years before meeting you, Three until you died. Years ago there was one picture, A selfie during summer, smiling Watching […]
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 […]
I first heard of Meg Day in my Creative Writing class at Bethany. I was instantly hooked not just by her style, but when I heard she was a deaf poet. I am learning American Sign Language this semester at Bethany, and we’ve discussed Deaf […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
In our “Readers Wonder” series, Bethany students sit down with our Inkwell contributors to talk about the writing process and the pieces that appear in our issues. In this installment, Hannah and Tylan talk to Maren Thompson about her piece: “To a Constellation” which was published in […]
In our “Readers Wonder” series, Bethany students sit down with our Inkwell contributors to talk about the writing process and the pieces that appear in our issues. In this installment, Doris talks to Karee Henrich about her piece: “Remember,” which was published in our Spring 2019 issue. Remember After […]
In our “Readers Wonder” series, Bethany students sit down with our Inkwell contributors to talk about the writing process and the pieces that appear in our issues. In this installment, Karena talks to Amber Murry about her piece: “When a Mother Sings” which was published in our Spring 2019 issue. (Scroll to the bottom of this page to read Murry’s poem.) Hello, […]
In our “Readers Wonder” series, Bethany students sit down with our Inkwell contributors to talk about the writing process and the pieces that appear in our issues. In this installment, Brooke and Paige talk to Ezekiel Grabau about his piece: “Ars Poetica with Whiskey or […]
On the road leading back to my grandma’s house, the July sun beating down on our brows, my cousin and I make our way back from the library, this budding girl with the long, bony limbs and me with a year of college under my […]
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 […]
Have you created something special and want to share it with the world? Do you want to be a published artist or writer? Here are six great literary magazines for undergraduates to send in submissions, other than the campus Inkwell Magazine, of course. Submitting is […]
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 […]
Candace Black entered, relishing the opportunity to encourage others to write. She faced a room of eager students at Bethany Lutheran College on a Tuesday night. Wearing a sea blue shirt and dangling necklace, Candace discussed how her life experience has molded her most recent […]
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 […]