Table of Contents Lin Ragan Stephanie Kline Kyle Walsh Stephanie Morgan C. Krull Jakeb Reynolds Julie Varwig Marty Lavelle All Above
Absolutely Perfect I Hate Redbird Cooking, Cooking Bella Space Poem Sixsixtysix Your Call Has Been Dropped Favorite The Writing on the Wall 1x5 + 2^ = 9 Fluidity Flowers from Mom Fall Light of my life Lavender Somebody Else and Us, A Collective Poem
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9-10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
This book was compiled and published as a group project for English 207-01 in December of 2014. This work is protected by a Creative Commons License.
1
Lin Ragan Absolutely Perfect Lying in a lovely bottle behind a hushed door, she cried a string of pearls. The girl, an unfathomable delight, muttered to me, I am scared, but she didn’t say another word. Laughing with little irregularity, that voice, broken. She held her tongue with her fingers around her neck, and came out with an absolutely perfect reputation.
2
I Hate Redbird
I won a contest For Cardinals baseball tickets. It was the only thing I ever won. I wrote some stuff about, “if you smoke cigarettes, you won’t be able to cheer very loud at baseball games,” While other kids just wrote about dying. I met Redbird and thought he was scary, Staring me down with his lifeless crooked eyes and obnoxious yellow beak, But I gave a toothless smile when handed my tickets, Because I thought my smile was ugly with my gapped teeth. I remember Mom and Dad were so proud, so proud, so proud… But I didn’t like baseball and I hated Redbird.
3
Stephanie Kline Cooking Cooking Spices laid out on the counter, Ice and blood in the sink Soap lathered knife in the dishwasher. Dinner in the oven, Feelings on display. Tears landing in the skillet, Where the hash-browns simmer. Blood dripping on the floor, Drip. Drip. Drip. Take the food and serve it, Sit down with another knife. Bandage the wound, Dry the tears, Smile, And listen to everyone comment, On how delicious the hash browns are.
4
Bella The girl giggled, Running in the grass, With her cute Black Lab. The girl giggled, Running in the grass. The girl laughed, Laying in the grass, Petting her cute Black Lab. The girl laughed, Laying in the grass. People would look at her and smile, The girl would turn to her puppy. "They think we're cute Bella!" People would look at her and smile, The girl would turn. The girl would climb to bed, Getting comfy under the sheets, With Bella curled at her feet. The girl would climb to bed, Getting comfy under the sheets. Her mother would look over, concerned. Bella would turn to the girl and say, "They can't see me, baby."
5
Kyle Walsh Space Poem I traced your freckles like stars in space, Trying to make sense of every shape I made I felt the warmth of your skin melt through my fingers While reading you Sylvia Plath Until I stumbled out of my body and I dreamt about The smile on your face after you wake up, How the drifting light fell across the covers creating the moon And they draped over our bodies like ghosts leaving us for dead
6
sixsixtysix She’s stuck reliving time, never stopping He sees all unless he doesn’t Heart in head, unfiltered in hand Whiskey in coffee, dreaded still silence She cries before bed, wanting more He cries before bed, wanting less
7
Stephanie Morgan Your Call Has Been Dropped I was hoping all 1547 miles Would form a telephone line to you Ring ring ring Baby I miss you Can you hear me over the static You say We're breaking up And it's not the connection this time But this disconnection between You and I
8
Favorite You have become My favorite Story You keep me on My toes Please never go I have become Your favorite Bruise The one you admire As you tell me It will never happen again You have become My favorite Masterpiece Gently I stroked each line Till Mona Lisa Smiles I have become Your favorite Toy Rip me, hit me, destroy me I deserve the pain Deep down inside You have become My favorite Wreck That I love Through The damage I have become Your favorite Mistake
9
The things You could have been If we never happened You have become My favorite Lie The makeup hides The scars You left me I have become Your favorite Target Those drunken swings Get better With practice You have become My favorite Bully Taking me down a peg Because I'll never Be enough for you
10
Connie Krull The Writing on the Wall
The writing on the wall there for all to see It can't be undone once it has been read What it says and what it does From hateful people who may not have a conscience to be their guide
11
1x5 + 2^ = 9 I'd like to be a cat they know they have time. My life would be full and long using each one sparingly. As a toddler who may not know better or a teenager pushing the limits taking the wrong path in life then correcting it. Saving a couple for other people to use, that I may not see coming still gives me time to enjoy as much as long as I have them. Nature of course can throw a nasty curve ball taking more than its fair share of my nine lives if I could be a cat.
12
Jakeb Reynolds Fluidity Put my gender in a wine glass Drink it all up, swish it’s full bouquet in your big mouth and seep it out through your teeth into a stein My gender will become whatever container I put it into, and rejet the form you’ve chosen Because you chose a single thing, and I have chosen all of them I will have my cake and eat it too I am water, I am steam, I glow brighter than plasma because this topic gets my blood so hot But I stay cool, never ice cold The accusations fly, holding me down with antiquated conventions “Sing” they tell me “Sing binary canary,” caged by the definitions of others They call me strange, but this life is so strange and diverse and wonderful They call me indecisive, but I've already decided I am the manliest man on the face of the planet I am the girliest girl that ever was, and everything inbetween At The Same Time
13
Julie Varwig Flowers From Mom She sighs, leaning sideways on the couch, her cheeks pink, roses paint her nightgown, listening to my life - friends fading as summer laughter, heart shattering like dropped glass, school staring me down the long nose of assignments, my steps nearing the brink of adulthood Far behind hers - parents turned into babies with canes, medical bills beckon her back to teach, a child grown too tall to take advice, a husband still unsure how to love her like she dreams, the pain in her hips greying the white walls of her new house Yet she smiles, leaning sideways on the couch, her cheeks pink, roses paint her nightgown, listening to my life -
14
Fall Friends are summer: happy, hot on the cheeks, refreshing like a swimming pool, giving your heart shade like aviators, jabbering with you like the flip-flop flip-flop of your sandals. But few remain when your leaves begin to turn brown. Few fall deep enough in friend love that they stay knowing you’re not okay, that you need the light of summer to get through your fall. Flip-flop flip-flop they walk away.
15
Marty Lavelle
Light of my life The sun warms me when I am cold. No matter how mean or mad I get on my cloudy days, You’re rays always shine through, Even when i try not to want them to. The sun makes me laugh until I cry, At some goofy joke that only I catch. The sun warm my cold bones, When the light covers my body, I am mesmerized by that gorgeous light. She is so high in the sky, But acts so down to earth. The sun is the most beautiful I can imagine, I am so lucky to have her, She is the only one for me, I will always love my star in the sky.
16
Lavender A box, A Lavender box with blue on the outside, Turquoise blue wraps around the lavender box. In a dark cavern, Dust envelopes in the dark moist air. As the loud sounds ring through the air, Nails being driven into the concrete, Wooden post, Drywall. To form this box, Foe must become friends. Naturally, As the creation is constructed. What was once an empty space, turned into a friendship, A lavender box.
17
Somebody Else and Us Dozens of useless bottles Of pills stand and My mom reaches for the soap I’m trying to find a cure for love There’s no help for a fractured heart, A name in bold print. I see years of war there, My hands chase the pills; You see a definition of me.
18