forward-facing, Malia Maxwell

Leland Quarterly | Summer 2020

forward-facing

Malia Maxwell

the views are better when you sit facing the direction of

the train passing through one delicious field of trees thick as marmalade

after another spread over sweet and sorrow but October’s fossil

infects forgotten fields untamed or made orange by sunflower blood

and because you shoot through the countryside forward-facing with the train

biting one stretch of track after another

it’s too late to brave your head backwards and

weep over Redwood’s whisper you instead devour

forward-facing | Malia Maxwell the majestic verdure that sprawls barmecidal: ahead of you

lies not a past coughing present but the future

Woman on bicycle carrying package, Florence Melina Walling

Leland Quarterly | Summer 2020

Contributing Artists & Writers

Darnell “DeeSoul” Carson (Poetry) is a queer writer, poet, and Spoken Word Performer from San Diego, CA, and a co-director of Stanford Spoken Word Collective, His work has been featured in the Anderson Collection at Stanford University, Write About Now Poetry, and soon on Button Poetry. He is a two-time CUPSI finalist (’18,’19) and has self-published two poetry collections, titled Work In Progress and Firebird, both of which are available for purchase online on Amazon.

Kaitlyn Choe (Art) is a sophomore majoring in Human Biology and minoring in Creative Writing. When she’s not in class, you can find her at the Asian American Activities Center, where she is the Grad Life Coordinator. Kaitlyn also works for the Interviewing Committee of Sierra Camp 2019-2020 as one of the Coordinators for Diversity and Inclusion and is co-president of aKDPhi, the only Asian-interest sorority on campus. In her free time, she loves to paint, write, and hang out with her friends outside!

Alexandra Crew’s (Poetry) love of poetry, embodied expression, and music brought her to work at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program in the Santa Cruz mountains in summer 2019. She studies Human Biology and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity with a concentration in Identity, Diversity, and Aesthetics. After growing up in the Pacific Northwest, she’s been pulled down the west coast by the creative community and beaches in LA, where she’s excited to live in 2020.

Karen Ge (Poetry) is studying Symbolic Systems at Stanford and loves playing with (and sometimes breaking) structures once she’s learned them. When she isn’t contemplating education and empathy, you can find her playing ultimate frisbee, passionately discussing musicals, and/or completely failing to dance properly.

Leland Quarterly | Summer 2020

Lauren Grove (Poetry) is a rising sophomore from San Diego, California. She is currently undeclared, but plans on minoring in creative writing. She’s a contributing writer at The Stanford Daily for The Grind section. Some of her favorite writers are Joan Didion, Stephen King, and Ocean Vuong.

Peyton Limoges (Prose) is a senior studying Film and Creative Writing. She is passionate about the intersection of writing and film, and believes that representation in the writer’s room will lead to more authentic and diverse stories on screen. She is originally from rural Wyoming.

Rellie Liu (Art) was born in Dalian, China and raised in Vancouver, Canada. She is currently a freshman at Stanford and intends to major in biology and minor in creative writing. She enjoys swimming, drawing, fried chicken, and dog memes.

Malia Maxwell (Poetry) is from Seattle, Washington. She is an undergraduate at Stanford University (class of 2023) and interested in studying English and Creative Writing.

Matt Mettias (Art) is a sophomore whose interests range from learning new languages and reading research articles about corporate marketing to cliff jumping into oceans and budget traveling – before the pandemic, that is. As of the current, he is studying psychology and education policy. Artistically, he enjoys creating digital art pieces.

Elena Miller (Art) is an artist from Seattle. Her hobbies include drawing, painting, sewing, dancing, cooking, and going to concerts when there’s no global pandemics. She is a sophomore planning to major in art practice and/or poly sci, lit and product design aka she has no idea.

Helena Silva-Nichols (Poetry) is a contributor to the Leland Quarterly.

Leland Quarterly | Summer 2020

Anastasia Sotiropoulos (Poetry) is a rising sophomore from Dallas, TX, and a lover of filmmaking, humor, and stories that humanize. She can be found curating Spotify playlists (@sotiroa), playing Mario Kart, or majoring in people mispronouncing her name. She is passionate about prison reform and the intersection between art and social justice. Performing spoken word is new for her — she was inspired after bingeing too many hours of TED talks (watch Sarah Kay’s!) and Button Poetry on YouTube.

Scott Stevens (Poetry) (‘20, English) enjoys good books and bad 80s French pop. Apart from writing his own poetry, he translates from Japanese to English. This summer, he looks forward to seeing his soul reflected in the dry Californian hills, although he’s beginning to wonder if Jane Austen was right about the pathetic fallacy.

Melina Walling (Art) is an interdisciplinary English major with a concentration in photography. She is currently pursuing an M.A. in Environmental Communication. Outside the classroom, she has worked as a producer at the Stanford Storytelling Project and an editorial intern at Stanford Magazine. She enjoys yoga, hiking, swimming, and consuming all forms of media (ask her for book, TV, or podcast recommendations).

Cover Art

Ocean Cosmos By Melina Walling

leland quarterly

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