The river meanders endlessly and rises and falls with the moon
It was peaceful at 10am on Sunday morning but not 12
We waved at the homeless man who lived on the floating plastic house
Until we reached the furthest downstream paddling was easy
Caressing the water with the curve of my paddle only to plunge it down into the water
At the lock Peter drove us strait into to the crashing water and despite my fear I had to keep on
paddling to not crash
The upstream journey on the way back was a fight
My arms were tight and aching but I didn’t want to be at the back; I was better than that
The old Queen Thames boat chugged past which gave a short burst of speed
That old gray dock bounced with the wake of our slender racing boats
I almost hit a few bikers while carrying my long boat through the path into the hut
They hated us
Libby Walter // MY RIVER
Mimansa B // THE BULLY
Every day go to school
Recess
Your least favorite time of the day
Go outside
No one around to play with
Look there’s that little boy
He seems cool
Go talk to him
Make friends
It’s not as hard as it seems
At least that’s what they say
But the truth is
Your heart tries to stop you
From making new friends
Because every time you let someone in
You find out what they’re all about
Yet you risk it
Slowly approaching him
Head down
One foot in front of another
Slowly
He smiles
You’re still afraid to lift your head
He offers his friendship
You take it
Then he takes you
To use
Said it was a game
But what game demands
Only your nose to bleed
Only your heart to pump
Only your chest to scream
Said you were ready for a fight
But the moment he comes in
Your hands play hide and seek
Disappearing behind you
Nowhere to be found
Let the fist meet your face
Do it because you endure the pain
Every time he curses your name
He wants the satisfaction
And you want him to suffer
There is no excuse for what he did
But he has felt inferior since he was a kid
Mother?
He does not know what that means Father?
He’s been drowning in bottles
Whose best friend is pain
And him?
You might think his best friend
Is the popular kid on the basketball
team Who wears shades
And shades everyone behind their
back
Right?
Wrong.
His best friend has been his tears
That put him to sleep every night
Instead of lullabies
His fear is not losing a game
But the belt that is held in his father’s hand
He still has proof in the form of scars
Which he gives you to vent out his frustration
To make you feel his insignificance
In this large world.
Jonathan Z. // A SINCERE CONFESSION
I’m sorry.
I’m truly sorry.
I know I break your heart
By cheating on you in the dark.
I didn’t mean to pat her head
Instead of yours.
Stop staring at me
And bark.
Afterall
You are my puppy,
And I love you so much.
Galen Roy // HER FACE
She wakes every morning,
puts on her face;
and her armor.
Refuses her breakfast
for it’s too early to eat,
and she isn’t hungry
It’s cold outside; too cold for comfort.
But she’s never comfortable,
something is always not quite right.
One piece in her puzzle never fits.
Hunched over her bright world
she gazes blankly.
Watches it as god watches us
scrolling and scrolling
through life after life.
She’s a beauty queen,
mistreated and hurt.
With no one to blame
she turns inward
to herself.
She fears there is nothing in this world
that will ever make her world
whole, again.
She walks through this hall,
with a hidden frown.
There is too much bad and not enough good yet the good
still hides the bad.
Some people hold an undeniable presence,
their spirits are solid rock.
Others, like her, I think
my hand could pass right through
as if tracing air.
The day ends,
she can’t call her friends,
what if they don’t want her around.
So she walks home,
alone. Per usual.
After removing her face,
and throwing it out,
She reveals herself, scars,
bruises, burns, and breaks.
It’s not long before she falls asleep.
For tomorrow she will create a brand new one,
to mask the same old pain.
Sterne // TRIGONOMETRY
What used to be a
Time table stuck to my desk
Stained with glitter from
The last art project
Is now replaced with
With complicated relationships
Between the opposite and
The adjacent
The progression, to me,
Seemed so significant
My mind
Now able to grasp complex
Ideas that once resembled
abstract art
But,
when you tell me
That degrees are considered
Amataur and inferior
To the more esteemed
radian notation
And I will seldom
Use it beyond
The perfectly curated curriculum
That is my high school
Math class
The worksheets,
That once validated
My change over time
Suddenly are what
Make me small
But, your words
Left your lips without
A second thought
As any one
With a PhD from MIT
Knows that
There is always someone
Smarter,
more efficient
More willing, and
More accomplished
And no one has
Any sympathy
For your shortcomings
As they belong
Only to your failure.
Daniel Ong // THE HISTORY OF THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CELLULAR BIOLOGY
So long ago, well, cells were still happy
And lived in a body, t’was strong and not shabby
But somewhere in there
Did not so well fare
Were some cells who had their lives hard and quite scrappy
And so many proteins, all throughout the cells
Wanted to just break out, right out of their shells
They wanted more space,
A roomier place,
They turned to neighboring lands looking to dwell
Now there was one cell they called Austro-Hungary,
And there were some parts in him he found quite scary
A lysosome came,
Of Serbian name,
Who took out some organelles deemed necessary
The Austro-Hungarian cell gets quite upset
And then they give the Serbian lysosome threats
They had someone’s trust
Germanovirus
And declare war when all their demands ain’t met
But France and the Russians are friends with the lys
And they think the Serbs are really quite nice
And through membrane proteins
Entered the two pro teams
And brought with them a new cell fighting device
Now this cellular war was a war of great mass
And soon the parties brought H2 O2 gas
They killed off each cell,
Made everything hell,
While endocytosis just crushed cells like glass
New weapons and immune systems kept on raging
While stalemates ‘tween viruses and cells kept waging
But then at long last
The fight came to pass
When Germanovirus had a forced disengaging
But trouble for Germanovirus came soon
As lack of glucose and ATP ensued
With no jobs around
No energy found
The Germans had nothing to eat; had no food
Germanovirus, he hated this fate
He rallied the proteins to restore the state
His support soon milled
His opponents killed
As he told all proteins that he’d make them great.
He riled the cell up with anger in store
Coaxed them into fighting, keep fighting some more
And… well you can guess
Just what happened next
As soon came the fight for the Second Cell War
Ben Epstein // BOLD
When I was young,
I was told
I should always
Appear bold
They told me to
Show my stance
And to always
Take the chance
Then I followed
Their guidelines
It put me on
The sidelines
So I have learned
A lesson
That silence is
A blessin’
Once I learned to
The improvement
Was profound
Benjamin Tibbetts // REMEMBER
Remember.
Remember the verdant needles
Of the proud pines, standing tall
Remember the warm air
Whispering through their full branches
Remember the cloudless azure sky
The sun illuminating the glittering water
That trickles merrily over smooth pebbles
To disappear beyond a tall, mossy rock
Remember.
Now the chill wind shivers through the
Bare bonelike branches
That point like accusing fingers towards a
Sullen sky gray with clouds
The stream is frozen,
a crude and stagnant
Mimicry of its former life
I shuffle through dead, decaying leaves
Blissfully ignorant of the bitter, biting wind
Remembering.
Henry Xu // SEESAW
Life is like a seesaw,
Our journey is just like walking on the seesaw
From the bottom to the top side,
You begin with your first step on the seesaw.
Every step that you took,
It became more threatening,
The higher you grasp
The more intricate it is for balancing.
When you think yourself is progressing towards the top,
You realize you are falling,
Like a rollercoaster speeding down the tracks,
Towards the unknown.
Then you find out,
You cannot always reach the point that you want to reach,
Struggling back and forth numerous times,
You perceived the intricacy and started to screech.
However, you afterward become discerned,
That you realize standing at that peak,
Is the balance point of human life,
However, how would you streak?
There might be another method,
Where somebody is holding up the seesaw for you,
It might be your family or the people you love,
Or the enemies that you had successfully couped.
Kaitlyn Driscoll // I DON’T KNOW
I don’t know what will happen tomorrow.
And that can be terrifying.
I don’t know exactly what I want to be
Where I want to go
Or when the time to leave is perfectly right.
I don’t know what would have happened if
I approached more decisions with the courage they needed
Or if I chose a more beneficial path
Or if I fought harder for something that means everything to me.
I don’t know how to grow up all of a sudden
And satisfy someone completely
Or live up to expectations I have for myself.
But what I do know
Is that I can’t live in the past
And I’m in charge of my future
My journey