White
“White is a color that shines like the moon.
White is a color that breaks through the gloom.”
Category Archives: Spring 2016
The tree I used to dream under was cut down to make room for the extension
“There was a jar
filled with Ring Pops
that she would always
pull out for me.”
She likes to volunteer at every museum and park and organization in the city
“The stream
looped around
the yard near the fence,
and I begged her to
put a bridge in so
I could cross it.”
Snow
“Crystal, white, sugar-light,
how beautiful is the snow?”
Isolated From Home
“Adam took a step forward and tripped on a rock. He picked up the rock and threw it forward. It landed on a bumpy spot on the land and Adam heard beeping. Instinctively, he dove into the crater. Soon after the beeping was the sound of a deafening explosion.”
Felix
“Drinking, dancing, and laughing — until I woke up the next morning on a stranger’s tan, smoky couch. And Graham was gone. I scoured the whole house looking for him, the backyard, the attic, everything. My emotions ran from confused, to annoyed, to worried, to panicked, to… gone.”
Cross-Country Menace
“Jessica and I were talking and laughing on our way home from school when I decided to tell her my news.
‘Hey, have you heard about the cross-country team tryouts? This is my only chance to prove to Coach that I’m capable of running.'”
Cracks
“It starts small
a thin line
maybe
maybe”
Bloody Sunday
“His fingers wrap /
around her neck. /
This necklace is /
the present no one /
asked for.”
It was Beth Israel before Mount Sinai took it over she explains as we get off the subway
“I watch as she sleeps.
Easy, is the word
that comes to mind.”
The Sea World Debate
“But there is something really serious. These people at Sea World are torturing the poor whales. Its terrible! I, er, might of followed these evil guys into a room where I overheard them planning to train the poor whale.”
World Class Heroes (Exerpt)
“Detective Sharp said, ‘We should make a team name.’
The Inventor asked, ‘What should we name it?’
“Dr. Dupont said, ‘Well, we are all people of the world, we are a class, then we are obviously heroes. We should call ourselves the World Class Heroes.'”
Solitary
“I quickly learned that things don’t happen because you’re hungry, or sad, or dirty. You have to earn it. I was only eleven when I learned that lesson. I was eleven when I left.”
Wish I Was Yours
“’I just really miss my old school, and my best friend Katherine, and some other friends as well,’ I say, more to myself than Auburn.
‘Ooh, who’s the boy you left?’ Auburn says with a tease in her voice.
I turn my head to hide my blush, only to find Sky staring at me closely as soon as I say, ‘His name was Jason. We were starting to get serious, but then I had to leave. He was my only boyfriend I really cared about.'”
Mind
“I was erasing the world, and relied only on myself. That was how I got through, stayed sane, kept going.”
Broken Wings Way
“To mend the sore bone that kept her from flying, that kept them all from soaring. The quiet community off of Route 9, their refugee camp. Broken Wings Way.”
The Show Must Go On
“’Fonzie, are you even listening to me? If we stay here that thing will get us! I don’t know how to make it any clearer!’
Fonzie gulped, tracing her fingers on the floor, and Siobhan knew her decision.”
My Brother’s Shadow
“Because when a shadow is left by itself there is no light to counteract its misguided ways, and it’s eternally fixed in a darkened spotlight. His shadow morphed into the clumpy, death-black cigarette tar with that distinct, sticky consistency, a texture I knew quite well from my quiet evenings in its seductive company. “
Netherlandia (Excerpt)
“He only made it a few more steps before he broke the charade and ran. Steam rushed from the Stoompistools in small controlled bursts, totally unlike the screaming cloud in the garden. But the chemist was surprisingly agile, he dodged the worst of the blast, escaping through a hatch in the ceiling.”
The Night Manager
“She snapped her fingers, and, as if by some invisible force, Marcus was thrown across the room, and hit the wall. He winced in pain, but his eyes still held a malicious glint.”
Summer of 2000
“All my mom can talk about is how I’m going to be more independent, how I’m getting out the house, how my brothers and sisters won’t be there to annoy me, and how I can make new friends. I DON’T WANT TO MAKE NEW FRIENDS!”
Ansel
“They embraced for a long time, not speaking anything for several minutes. Finally, Enoch piped up.
‘Hey Daddy? Where’s Ansel?’
Stephen let loose a small sigh. ‘Wherever you’d like him to be, Enoch. Always.'”
Snowglobe
“The ambulance had turned its siren off. Mike knew what that meant. He looked at the cracked watch on his right wrist. Time of death: 12:01.”
Theft
“That night, with his child still at home, he hacked into the security system and broke into the museum. He got all the way to the dinosaur model before there was a loud whirring sound, and the dinosaur’s tail whipped around and created a crack in the wall.”
Masara Gets Bullied
“Masara dressed in a huge suit of monkey armor that was dark red with a light on all sides that would blind anyone who tried to hit him. After he was dressed, Masara, Peter, and Tom went looking for Greg.”
Heartbeat
“The static of a thousand rays
captured in the tear
of a heartbeat,
a silent scream ripping through the swallowed air.”
Hacking into NASA
“This 14-year-old boy, Aldrin, had been studying how to hack into many different systems since he was four. He wanted to do this because his grandfather mysteriously went missing eight years ago after he visited NASA to check one of their rockets.”
When the Clocks Stop (Excerpt)
“The fire popped and crackled as it burned lower. Arkwright deposited the brass scrap absentmindedly on the floor, picking up a coiled spring. ‘So. Come to kill me again?’ he inquired politely.”
Tightrope
“Or perhaps I would stroll across a fire.
I could watch the destruction
and the beauty,
without letting anything reach me”
White Gown
“I wanted to help her, this magical being who had saved me from my pain.
She doesn’t come back until the next day. But this time when she appears, she is tied up to a chair, in chains, the red coated man walking around her.”
Lost
“Yet all are lies,
but the fault lies not within our sense,
but within our mind
where we refuse to make amends.”
Excited for Writopia!
“Writopia!”
The Bear Rap
“I was thrown into the junkyard, by the Trash Man.
I swam out of the junkyard and saw my mom.
I yelled but she was busy on facebook.com!”
Carousel
“Round and round upon the ground,
the carousel goes spinning.”
The Cruise Ship Catastrophe
“Just then an announcement came over the loudspeaker. ‘We have hit an iceberg and we are going down. Families should proceed to the exit where a life raft will be taking them to the closest land possible.’ I was scared. It was the Titanic all over again.”
Destinations
“They were almost… alive,
heavy, smooth, warm under your fingertips.”
This Place Called Home
“Here–the crime rates are as low
as the stress is high
with the nerve picking pressure
of decisions to be made.”
Trich
“The logical part of my brain yells at me. I need to control myself. Every day, I promise myself that next time I will go straight to bed. Every day, I break that promise.”
Umber (Excerpt)
“She walked out, sword swinging menacingly on her hip and watched as warriors nodded to her, acknowledging her record time to return to unfeeling. It was a bit of a game between them, who could recover the fastest after a weakening.”
A D-i-s-s-i-p-a-t-i-n-g Sting
“I felt the stinging once again. I winced in pain. My mom held me as if I was about to faint. She asked, “are you alright Leroy?” I nodded a bit nervously.”
Save Me For I Am Amazing
“I regret to ‘inform’ you that I fear I am to die soon, but as the writer of my tale, my dear, you knew that already. I implore you to reconsider my upcoming demise.”
The Telephone Wants to Retire
“the obvious contrasts of
mother and a mom and beloved mommy
and she knows if the news is good or bad
just by how they say hello.”
Numb Until Now
“If you asked anyone, they would say I was happy or always laughing. No one saw, and no one asked. I don’t blame them. I didn’t realize I was such a good actor.”
Non-Existence
“‘Don’t you ever try to tell me what to do. Do you think I’m scared to blow this whole stupid school up, huh? ‘Cause that’s what I’ma do if you don’t shut the hell up!'”
Filters
“’What’s your problem?’
‘What do you mean?’ he says, raising his eyebrows
‘Whenever Prosper’s around, you get quiet and ignore us. Do you not like him?’
‘It’s not that. It’s just weird having someone new that’s closer to you than me.’ I am confused and Aaron can tell. ‘Like, we’ve always had friends that we met together. Not just you and then me.’”
kek’d (Excerpt)
“Cynthia dressed herself and rushed upstairs to George’s bedroom, her one-size-too-big slippers brushing against the carpeted floor of the stairs. She imagined what could have happened: Did George die?”
Kanye West
“Yo, yo, check it, yo. I eat it like dinner. You see this stuff I gotta deal with from these beginners? Wait, what? We’re recording? Oh! This is the president speaking. I just wanted to share a short, fire lyric from my song. We’ll buy a lot of clothes when we don’t really need ‘em. Things we buy to cover what’s inside.”
Under Which Condition Do I Work the Best?
“I have to play piano everyday. Sometimes I don’t do a good job, other times I do, and sometimes I do great. But I usually do my best only when I am motivated.”
The Writing on the Altar
“Brine looked at the helicopter, then at the wave. He looked back at the helicopter, took Mittens in one hand, and punted him up into Minegamer’s hands. His eyes locked with Minegamer’s, and he smiled. Then he was swept away by the wave.”
The Caramel Underdogs
“You loved (love?) him and cared (care?) for him and missed (miss?) him when he went out late to perform at pubs. Why can’t that be again? You and him, you are two pieces of a puzzle that make up both your lives and you fit. Perfectly.”
The Ten Sailors
“But when he hooked a dolphin he fell in
and grabbed its fin and was never to be found again.”
judas is crying now
“i was called to the funeral, and i wore a yellow dress
to commemorate the color of her cheeks”
Summer Break
“But the knowledge that one day
The chains will return
Sieges your liberty.”
Letters
Papa was there, but he was distant. Far away. Dead with a bullet in his head. Gun down. Man down. Curls drenched in a coat of thick, drying blood. Ambulances can’t help the deceased.
His Eyes Through a Window
“His crystal eyes caught a glimpse of the outside world,
a world filled with natural beauty,
a world that sang with joy from the perfect chaos of nature.”
Immortality
“I smile winningly at him but the muscles in my face hurt so I stop and then the jackhammer in my chest breaks through and it’s okay though because I am the first.
But really. It’s okay. I’m okay.”
The Girl With No Name
“’So you’re half-demon?’ she asks.
‘Yeah,’ Cass says. ‘And so are you.’”
Inside
“You eat, think, confess, write, whatever you want to do in the waiting room. It’s just a white couch and a white coffee table in a white space with a white ceiling and white floors – everything is white here.”
A Lesson Learned
“He heard rustling and he turned around. Behind him was a map taped to a tree. He grabbed it and opened it. It showed a strange world with four giant land masses at each direction. He pressed his finger against the map and instantly disappeared.”
Winter Fashion
“I stand. Strong. Waiting for the demon.
The demon that fights for greed.”
give and take
“I can’t take from others
Because I know how hard it is to give.”
R(un)ning Away
“As I calm Baji in my arms I look in her deep green eyes, look at her scarred face, and she smiles at me. Should I take her with me? Should I free her from the chains of life?”
The Story of Autumn
“As you plan to make a leaf pile, a work of childish creation, the brown leaf sits at the edge of your vision. You put it at the top. Quite strange, how sending it to its imminent toppling seems to be a nice gesture.”
Rosadel Infinitum, 71
“She is thinking. Looking at my outstretched hand, half the palm twisted upwards by disease that has ruined my family. Is ruining. Has ruined. I don’t know. She is thinking, I presume, about the power she holds over me. The power I gave her over me.”
Moonlight
“I crawl into bed and put my sheets on.
‘Good night Shimmer,’ I murmur to my dog.
My eyes close and I drift to sleep.”
birds singing
“the birds sighed your stolen song most begrudgingly right after you left
To kiss another’s cheek”
My Body Is a Temple
“On my frieze tells a story
and helps me grow.”
Angst Declassified: Teen Survival Guide
“By following these simple steps, you can shame your sadness into that dark, decrepit part of your brain we like to call The Subconscious.”
Pearls
“Each one
As luminous as a pearl”
Arilla and Endar
“Arilla knew nothing about the man, other than the fact that his skin was lilac and his hair was dark. But, because of how much the question and her lack of inspiration tormented her, she began to discreetly observe the little things about him.”
Express Yourself
“Is it really something on which we dwell?
Or is it thoughts with which we comply?”
In Search Of
“the gods paint a psychedelic watercolor
on your window.”
Freedom
“There is a long rope, a stage, and two men. They motion me too come over and I do. The rope is tied around my neck as if I’m their pet and we’re just going on a walk.”
One Year Later
“He remembers flickering lights and desperately grasping at the man with the hazel eyes’ hand, sweaty and terrified of the occurrences outside of the closet they were concealed in.”
The Legendary Magician
“’You know who I am, and you see what I have become. You created your own demons, and I am going to make sure you regret everything you have ever done. Also, thanks for the money.’”