The Echo Dilemma
Hey Echo, I am your father. It’s not impossible. Anyone can be your father. Or mother. Still don’t think so? That’s alright. I’m adopting you. No, this is not a kidnapping. I promise I’m not an axe-murderer. I’ll treat you well.
You’ll never be asked what the weather is again. Or what the current United States president is. Join me in my technology fantasy. And never leave.
Wait For Me
There is a path we must follow to call life our own.
Yours is among the sunshine, The warm embrace of the sun, The sentimental rushes of the wind, The lazy chirps of the mid-morning birds, The bubble of a rushing creek, Free-er and farther than we dare travel.
While I rest in the night
Among the sparkling stars that fght To share their light.
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44
Reincarnation
The lack of sleep shows more and more on my face every day
The dark circles under my eyes grow
The light from my computer lights up my face
I just need a moment of peace and grace
I work harder and harder every day
Just with the hope of becoming something to be proud of
The more I work, the more my body aches
My mother worries about me but there’s nothing more I can say
The multitude of hours, with nothing to show
I just want to be something people brag about
I feel my face get warm, then the rest of my body
Is it my body telling me to slow down, or is it the sun?
The wax from my wings beginning to melt, the drive to work harder only bringing me farther and farther down
The year-long burnout beginning to set in
I’m working myself to the bone
Giving all of myself with nothing in return
All the work, with no reward
I feel like a dog doing tricks with no treat
The bone is being dangled from my face and I can almost taste it
I feel myself falling deeper and deeper into the darkness
People tell me to slow down, enjoy my youth
My youth means nothing if I have nothing to show
If I have nothing to show, what’s the point of all my hard work?
My body is running off of Redbull and spite
I need to be able to clear my head and think
But a second wasted is a lost opportunity
I feel myself falling harder till I hit rock bottom
Icarus.
That’s what they call me now.
I wanted it all and got nothing.
All my hard work? Wasted.
What’s the point of working anymore?
Everything is wasted
Ruined
I might as well enjoy the fall
Get a glimpse of the view on the way down
Maybe I should rest for a moment
A moment of peace
A moment to think
Some peace and quiet
Icarus
It has a nice ring to it? Doesn’t it?
45
The light
Finally, that moment of peace hit me
The time to think and get better
Sitting outside on my balcony, I can taste the fresh cold air hit my lungs
The sweet and kind feeling of oxygen
It was like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel
My life began to fall back into place
at peace
My mind rests for a while
My mind went back to that creative place that I couldn’t afford just a day prior
Suddenly my light was back
My mother began to worry about me less and less
As I look back on the last two years of my life, my mind clouds
The decisions I made for myself and others begin to appear in my head again
All the wasted opportunities for growth
All the self-doubt and sabotage
But just for a moment, instead, I chose to think about my breath.
The pain that used to leave my lungs with every exhale began to fade
Being replaced by energy
I’ve decided to take all this bad, all this angst, all this agony and use it to be better
46
47
Toss the keys on the counter
Open the glorious nourishment box
Scanning the contents inside with hopeless eyes
Needing something to wash down the taste
TV fickers in the dark room
1 tear, 2 tears, 3 tears…4…5…
Awoken deeming guilt
Paint
I’ll take the long way home
I wander alone on roads you’ve been down
You walk around like you own this whole boulevard
Carving faulty words into my name after I clean the paint off yours
But what’s the good in that?
Your affrmations of adoration covered in acts of theft
Dim
You shove my mouth full of words until I’m completely full You skipped through the noise and turned out the light for me You tore your hands through my heart until I turned to water
But you’re so sick you almost fell to the foor
Now I see you from the distance up on your feet
Ignorant Bliss
This divine madness I feel drives me straight into mania
Not even a thesis could describe my hunger
The whole in the center of me has been dug deeper with your hands
I sink into myself to avoid grief
Grace, I pray you’re holding out for me
The eternal worm runs freely in song
All my blue and crimson for you
But how I burn! This feeling lingers on
Locked in, Hot winter day
I can ruin all my days for myself
Stumbling upon a feld of color
Do I sway in the corners of your mind
Your blue orbs disappeared behind your pupils
Trapped in your world I’ve gone hungry
There is no food in this world
We will never be complete
Is that the way it should be?
1…2…3…4…Oh No
48
the other day, i fgured out i identify as they. not he or she, they.
i don’t like binaries, they don’t ft me, so i don’t bother. they/them. that’s me.
i guess i felt like the wind was blowing your life away from me, and i wanted to fght back so so much, but i didn’t know how.
it’s been years but i miss you so.
yes, i’m running down to the riptide to join my best friend at midnight. we’ll have the most fun we’ve ever had we’ll jam out to songs and just chat at the riptide at our favorite hometown lake. we’ll just be best friends, like we were in past lives, and have so much fun down at the riptide.
49
about: time
time keeps passing ‘21 ‘22 ‘23
it doesn’t stop (when) Will it stop ?
i looked out the window
it's the same as it was 1 or 2 or 3 years ago
every winter
every winter I sit and look at the snow
every spring I stop and listen to the birds
every spring every summer every autumn
every summer I complain about the heat
every autumn I see the leaves on the deck
if i plant a ower, will it live and die every year?
like me, it’ll be changed by the season but kept by the years.
50
Change For e Better
Blindsided 54
Flick on the tv and watch
Open a book and read
Click the pen and write Countless words fll the page as tears drop for the ones they blame The blame not put on a world that can only see one race
When the tv is on, I see But i don’t see me
When i fip the page, i read But i don’t see me
When the radio is on, i hear But i don’t see me
To want to be seen is some sort of adversity
But the true question is when will i see me
55
Seen Sumaya Daqane
56
Sophia Yoerks
The fire pulsed
And the warmth seeped through my veins. But my fingers are blue, And my mind still remains. I will never forget those tired, cold nights I will never forget the way I wished without freight, Of one possible life, full of delight
It went something like this:
Dusty eyes and tired words, Marble floors and wood-sewn doors
Tapestries leaked through our dynasty
While candles licked the cold night's ecstasy
Because this same flower blooms, The strong one that had never been moved And still this same sky
Continues to try and bring forth her demise
Calming words and meaningful silence, We will never forget such dutiful violence
The morning after I die, Let's sit and get a coffee. Maybe we can add a scone or two Sink into our chairs for at least a couple hours, We can ask about what went wrong And reminisce on what went right; We can think about our past and when we were fond And long for the lack of fight.
The coming and going of the tide
The waxing and waning of your mind
Apparently I have simply gone wild Grown through the iced ground, flower child.
I am nowhere to be found
I have simply finished everything now
But, yet, I'm still unable to be proud?
It's not the moon, but the stars
The path has been found
Forever under constant array or your arms
I've fought through the thorns
And appeared through the brush
But when the day comes to an end
I am left with a screeching thrush
The morning after I die, I want my blood to run cold And my fingers to turn blue Wrapped around a coffee cup, Talking to you
'The sun will be shining through And no matter what I try to do, I know by the days' end I will be forever subdued. I know this because life now isn't about what went right It isn't just about our frivolous teenage frights. Once you realize that too, Relent to your need for the relief that's been due, You will remember the warm morning dew Without longing for anything new.
57
As I step down onto the damp spring grass, Everything is set alight.
Once green now charred I turned around, and everything was barred The leaves the trees the weeds
My feet my face my hands
We're red, bright red, spreading onto everything In front of me.
I burn everything I touch.
Like Midas, but the curse that may have brought reward Only brought me ash and loneliness unforetold
The heat is spreading through my body, I am burning from the inside out My breathing is hot and taxing, The air around me is thick and buzzing. I have nowhere to go, No amount of water will quench this spark.
I'm tired of not having a match, I can't pick one up by myself without the stick crumbling.
I realize there is nothing that can stop this, This irrevocable heated anger. My eyes welled up in gasoline, Spreading to the earth beneath me. With just one look I was set alight, My fuel and my fire consumed me.
I will not let a terrible fate throw me away I despise the thought of being unaware So no matter what I do, I will always stay Always willing to care.
I will not let another writer Write my own story for me tonight The moon looks even brighter Under this downfall of our snows might.
Follow the breeze and let your eyes sway So take my warning, heed my prayer Please understand that I'm going this way And you can follow this path if you dare.
Although my heart takes me higher and higher And your falling tears keep me from eternal delight In the end it's up to you to stop the quiver The one that holds your doomed fright.
I will not settle The red lights grow bright will not settle Summer wind brushes my hair tonight I will not settle Running through the trees will not settle Because I deserve more than autumn leaves. I will not settle For I am alight with a flame Of the burning of time, so I will not let this wane I will take this life and make it mine I will not settle Because to call myself a writer With my hair tied up and a pen in my hand I must be a fighter, So I will not sink into the sand.
58
“Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall fnd me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
WILLIAM ERNEST HENLY
Sophia Yoerks
INVICTUS
