The Albatross

“An Ode”

By: ____________________

O girl of the violet hour
Fed by the multifoliate rays,
Found in particular alleyways:
How can I offer my shy, creased arm
Frail under the weight of such solemn,
Folded letters of rustling autumn?
And how should I present this goblet,
Stained by the voices and lingering hue
Of all my numinous, impotent
Fathers, eclipsed by the moth-eaten,
Far-reaching lineage of Eden?

Here, the question arises: to where?
To distant reaches of rosy-fingered
Graves – away, to the obscure stairwell?
Fly then, with the fury of all petals
Fallen as the wand’ring wind settles.
Onward to white-washed ruins of old,
Where past slides into imprecision.
Let our words fall into vague disrepair,
Amid the roaring lions of saints and men,
And assail the echo of empty rooms.

Forgo your shadow and reflection,
Flout my tender, well-worn digression
Casting its contents into the void,
Into the crepsecular yawning
Of a stark, horizonless expanse.
There, the resound of “It is I”
In hollow thunder rings as absurd.
(Fear has swayed my tentative foray
From the torn curtain of a passageway.)

“Please, my dear”

By: Duke Alexander

She is not of this Earth, she is divine
Her radiant face enlightens my mind
God took his time to make such a design
It’s as if she has me in a spellbind.

In a dark cave, you bean an unique light
You give me life when I’m weary, near death
Oh how I wish you and I could unite
Just one look, and my soul catches its breath.

Oh mighty God, how I wish she was mine
My heart is on sale dearest love, please buy
Help me mighty Lord, make her my lifeline
If I can’t have her Lord, pluck out my eyes

Oh heavenly angel, take my love please
Be the relief to my horrid disease.

“The Mad Hatter”

By: Hunter Gillette

1 note

“The Army Lesson”

By: Richelle Jones

I never understood why my brother and I did not get along. Always fighting and bickering about silly, annoying things. “Oh you forgot about the toilet seat!” “Your makeup is everywhere!” “Your music is too loud!” You would have thought that living in this house were two, old, unloved grandparents fighting over some chowder soup. Trust me, our connection is that bad. Sure, we have our fights almost everyday, but yet we end up getting along in the end. But this time, oh this time, this fight I regret him ever getting into.

“You are the worst! By far the most horrible, indescribable, brother of them all!!” I yelled. “Hey, but you still love me,” he replied. “You know that you cannot live a day without me.” “Oh! I can live everyday without you!” I replied. “Oh how could you dare embarrass me like so? Don’t you feel the slightest sadness in that cold heart of yours?” “Oh Grace, you already know that he was not the one. He was into you for the wrong reasons. I was just trying to be a brother who” “A brother who is manipulating, cruel, and all sorts of rude!” I screamed.” You don’t care about anybody other than yourself. You are so self-centered! I bet that no country would ever need your help! The only thing you worry about is your gun collection. Plus your 18! Instead of being home all the time, go somewhere and be helpful! I wish you just leave!” And with that I stormed away, without even hearing his response.

Two weeks later, a letter was on my bed. The aroma from the letter was not a pleasant feeling. I was scared to read the letter, more afraid of the contents in it than spiders. So I did not open it. Three days later it’s Sunday. Now or never. I thought to myself. So I opened it, and my eyes grew bigger than a shark when it finds its food. It said,
“I am sorry for being the worst. I took your words to heart and now I am putting my talents to use. I love you.” –Army Base Fort Hamilton, Sergeant Grayson James.

The army? The army? I could not believe it! He did not tell me or anything! I was so mad tears were falling. How could he? How could he? Days turned to weeks, and weeks into months. The only thing that kept this brother-to-sister relationship were the letters that were received.
On April 23, 2009, a surprise walked through my door. I stayed in my room, thinking that it was the Edible Arrangements Bouquet my mother recently brought for a secret occasion. “Grace! Grace!” my mother yelled. “I am coming!” Walking down the stairs, my heart stopped beating when my eyes looked up. Neither words nor smiles were exchanged. Only the sadness and loneness in our hearts were showing their true colors. “Grayson!” “Grace!” I was so happy to see my big brother. Filled with the most joy and happiness any 14 year old could ever receive. “Don’t you ever leave again! I missed so much!” I said. “Well Grace, you wanted me to leave so I left.” He replied. “Well I am just so happy that you are back! I love you!”

I learned a very important lesson from my brother’s absence.
“Be careful what you wish for, because in the end, it might just come true.”

“Midnight Sonnet #1”

By: Ramon G.V.

I hadn’t thought about it in that way.
Although I tend to see the swift passing
Of all meanings floating with a vague sway,
My words are born from simple guessing.

I see the river of black ink and lean,
Tell a story and take my words out.
Usually begging that they come clean,
The words will probably at my face flout

A sheet of paper overwhelming seems
When your eyelids your dear sight block.
In that case, you can just follow the streams
Or wake up with some tiresome punk rock

Yet, were dreams really meant to be portrayed?
Honestly, this night has with much ink played.

3 notes

“The Day She Left”

By: Duke Alexander

“Stay babe,” I told her, I still look back on that cold, heartbreaking day.
She said, “I can’t take this anymore,” as she ran, screaming and crying towards the door.
Apology after apology, I kept telling her if she stayed I would do more.
She said, “I’m tired of living poor!”
“Baby please don’t leave” I said with my knees in begging position on the floor.
She quickly made a mad dash towards the door, but I grabbed her arm hastily and said, “Hell no!.”
I remembered her screaming, so I screamed louder.
As we both yelled, we just became madder.
Just as our hostile volcano was about to erupt, I see our son crawling near the door.
I froze as his angelic face struck me at the core.
So she left with my son right out the front door.
Now I’m just sitting, crying as I slowly die on the kitchen floor.

“Mental Monsters”

By: Caitlyn Hanafin

Empty rooms and dusty shelves
prove Monsters live inside ourselves.
We let them roar, we let them shout,
and let them tear us inside out.
We chain them down
and we lock them up:
we are prisoners of our own minds,
prisoners of the Beasts that we dream up.

“The Cool Secret”

By: Bianca Robinson

In my ear, the wind whispers
as it blows a secret across the town.
Chilling the waters, and disturbing the flowers.
It prods the birds south, and pushes insects into hiding. Into hibernation, the woodland creatures go. They all know.
No green in sight, anywhere. It’s all faded. Dreary colors all around, even the colors know.
While the sun tries to figure out why its powers are depleting, the rest of us try to deal with the fact that it’s winter.

2 notes

“A Nostalgic Feeling”

By: Duke Alexander

When did this nostalgic feeling begin to fill the air.
Was it when my best friend died and my eyes became wet with tears?
Or was it when my hair turned gray.
Perhaps it was when I stopped looking forward to my birthday.
I just don’t know what has happened to me.
Now the best part of my day is going to the kitchen and drinking tea.
God, what happened to the youthful man I knew long ago?
I guess he’s now a bitter old man, unwillingly to change and slow
So now, I guess I sit in my armchair and slowly cry.
As I count down the days until I die.