relationships

Writing

Magician

By Ziyi Yan

Mmm, you are a distracted assent, you coat like cold sweat,
glisten
like contented sleep.

And then you are songless– muh like mundane, buzzing of the lampshade fibers,
quivering
from the lamplight flicker.


on being called a gaslighter

By Stephania Kontopanos

PART I: AI is created
I think God made you and me out of binary code You call me an enigma,
But I do not speak your language. You would be the 1’s.
Standing tall
Always at the top
Perfect Aryan halo on your head I would be the 0’s.
Zero.


a story in the perspective of the love interest

By Julie Pham

A STORY IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE LOVE INTEREST

the director says ​start​, and you come to life like an automaton. a blink, and


cheat codes

By Sofia Calavitta

she could’ve found
anyone, I know, the boys
who promised her better in the
beginning would be
baffled if they
knew because she
didn’t choose
anyone (she chose me)


Supine

By Sofia Calavitta

Too long we have forgotten
The story of breath in our lungs

Depending on who you ask
We started from clay, dust,
Half of a ribcage, the salt of the
Earth, the water of the sea;
The old gods.


Mayland

By Isabelle Shachtman

You ask me If I know the way back home from here. I sing the words, “yes, dear” back to you like I’m someone else. You say “alright” because you’ve got nothing else to say right now; I respect that. I keep my eyes on the road. I’m not quite sure where you’re looking at this point


Five Fingers To Count a Hand

By Callan Latham

I wake before you and in the darkness,
I don’t recognize you right away.
Your lashes bring their own light,
full like fields of crows,
a murder of crows. The birds nested
on the hill I’m sure I’ve told you about
in front of the tomb, white stones holding


Treading Water

By Katherine D. Westbrook

This is the pretend-dream,
where I am teaching you to swim,
and your body and my body
remember their names in the water.

We pull them from the lake
where they’ve been drowning,
covered in salt, covered in
sweat and horsetails.


Stage 4 Homesickness

By Caden Pearson

There’s a question in her blue, misty eyes.

His don’t answer.


One

By Lauren Engelken

All I’ve ever wanted is independence from everyone and to live my own life. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve never had that before living with a large family and controlling parents but it’s something I always long for.


Bored Salacious

By Zoë Christianson

Though you’d never admit me to be justified
in saying “no,”
I think you know why I’m doing this.

Too often
I catch you staring at me, wanting me,
but never know how to say
what I have to say.


Scared Loveless

By Zoë Christianson

I wish that I could speak my mind more easily.
I wish I didn’t fall in love so easily
and that it weren’t so obvious.


Nausea Way Beyond Maalox

By Becky Peda

Your hopeless little tragedies
Spill so hopelessly on the floor.
The ones that take over all the attention,
The ones so goddamn impossible to ignore.
The not so gentle news
Is burning away, all this trust once built
Built for no reason at all,


Bloom

By Grace Martin

Different: not the same as another.
My “friends” and I, we’re different from each other.
They are cool; I am not.
I am lame; they are hot.
Even when they’re wrong, people think they’re right.
They like the day; I like the night.


Stairwell

By Emmy Hartman

Alone,
I wait for
you.

I sit quietly
and picture
you,
wondering if
you will still
come.


You and Me

By Robert Williams

Was’ up with you and me
can you tell me that
I think the way you have been treating me
is flat out whack
I’ve been putting myself out there
as the months have gone by
But no matter how far we get
you continue to pull back


What the Fck You, excerpt

By David Marrero

Every time that you
promise It puts me in this
constant positive mood then
you let me down

why don’t you just stop it?

Getting my hopes up so high
why would you even bother?
This relationship slightly
reminding me of my father


Angel

By Chris Padgett

Speak in your whispers, yet love me the same,
Wrap me in wings of comfort that tears can't absolve,
See through the struggles were new paths evolve,
your silence lies down beside me with only repetitive breath,
bask in the gentle touch of my fingers caress,


Necromancer: Confession

By Connor Rice

Rain danced gleefully across the tombstones as if mocking the dead. The now wet moss on older parts of the graveyard made the ground slick. It grew where other forms of life refused for reasons of their own, yet sparingly did the moss do so as if even it respected burial grounds.


Thoughts on High School

By Julia Marquez

What is the point of pep rallies? Is anyone actually, genuinely enthusiastic? I find it much easier to believe that, seeing as we’re teenagers, we’re all just faking it, in an ironic sort of way.

***


First Step into High School

By Abbey Mock

Walking down
The hall of my high school,
The stares,
Judging,
The whispers,
Telling lies of the truth,
Tears cause by,
Always and forever,
Gone,
Hurt by you,
Love turning to hate,
The drama,
Coming alive,


Wicked Discretion

By Hannah Jenkins

It’s not about what you told me,
but what I chose to believe.
Nothing feels worse than living
an imaginary dream.
And they occur so often and freely
whenever Satan creeps in.
By the time I breathe, and count to ten
it’s over and I have to start again.


No Hero

By JDC Resident

I always feel like I’m doing my best
but being put to the test.
People come and go;
No one ever seems to know.
They come in and
Leave so fast,
There’s so many
I can’t remember who was last.
I need someone to stick around.


U, I, and Growing Up

By Eric Gunnarson

i, the definitive
the only you in the world
i am and you are individual
we are separate
we are absolute masters
of our individual perceived universes.