The Amherst Student × The Lilac

This edition of The Lilac x The Student, brought to you by The Poetry Club and the Arts & Living section, features “Rainforest Gothic,” a poem by Willow Delp ’26.

“These findings bring insights in understanding the mechanisms that facilitate some species adapting to new environments, and why some species thrive or decline,” said Dr. Pizza Ka Yee Chow, psychology lecturer at the University of Chester and the University of London, and the study’s corresponding author.

So, have gray squirrels conquered many countries because of their natural problem-solving abilities, or is it their invasive nature that makes them so smart? The verdict: it’s mostly due to innate characteristics, but perhaps their squirrel smarts are heightened a touch when acclimating to new environments.

you’re lost in a tangle of greenery, nature gone wild. sunlight seeps through the leaves, bleeding your retinas while you listen to the scream of howler monkeys, primal and macabre. the flowers are all too bright — colors you’ve only read about in books, with lurid names like: “viridine,” “heliotrope,” “citreous.” the jungle does not know you, and it certainly does not like you. the trees are inching towards each other and if you’re not careful, the last thing you’ll see is the forest floor.