Category: change and transformation

Jack Man // PERFECT DOESN’T ALWAYS WORK

This is the tragic story of finding the right person at the wrong time.
Like any young love, their love was strong
and like any young love, their timing was wrong.
They weren’t ready.
And love,
love decided that they didn’t belong.
They were too scared of letting go.
Too scared to admit they wasted their time.
Hoping nostalgia would bring them back,
reminiscing only made their dreams turn black.
When they tried moving forward
with their heads turned back
this twisted logic hurt them.
It hurt them so bad.
While time walked ahead,
they stayed behind to watch whatever was left.
Watching it crackle, burn out,
and turn to smoke.

Both of them were too scarred to shine for a second time
for this is the story of finding the right person at the wrong time.

Bryant Xia // SNKRS

The swoosh glistens under the sun, The shoe tongue sticks out proudly. The outsole pushes against the rubber,
As the boy soars sky high.
Yet before he knows it, Debris creep into crevices and meshes As they traverse the parquet and concrete.

They now rest in a dusty corner, Uncertain of their fate,
Feeling lost and forgotten.
Occasionally they glance over, to the new pair that occupies their old spot
On what is now A spot-less shelf

So the boy wets a soft bristles, Gently brushing away the dirt and smudges,
Restoring the shine he once saw When he first laid eyes on the shelf.

Perhaps they’ll end up in a landfill. Their meshes and fabrics Torn apart, burned,
Buried and finally neglected.

Yet as he matures and grows, The sneakers begin to age, The cherished pair becomes outdated and unfit.

But that’s okay, They have served their purpose. Memories of the summers they spent
together, Forever lives on in the boy’s mind.

JC // HOME

Land of the free
They say
But people are more chained
Home of the brave
They say
But people are still afraid
This paradoxical paradigm
Compels me
To escape
So I board
The aircraft

“Welcome to Korea”

The root of my kinfolk
Significance of origin
Weight of my history
They flood
the inner workings
Of my soul.
An experience
not welcomed
back home
An invitation
Granted
Mere steps down

The diamonds of heritage
Embezzled in
the very land
Of which you feel
With the soles of your feet.
Eat
of the food.
Speak
with your people.
And remember,
Your identity.

Conner Lofstrom // MOUNTAIN HOME

He stood atop the white, vast mountain.
His home.
Covered in darkness
The wind chilled across the layers of life
the pitch black ripples in parts of Bear Lake.
His friends swaying loosely in the wind
Giving off pleasant drafts of sweet caramel and soothing vanilla
Nothing but silence as the falling of snow began to bow at his friendly feet
Every step causing the snow to hug to his boot one by one.
Walking towards a bright blue ball of light and warmth that rose in the midst of the white spects

Melting the hearts of living things around.
He no longer saw the dark ripples but saw them begin to
Transform to a teal and light blue body that freely flowed, elegantly making way for all in its path.

All except the friendly moose
gracefully eating the lush green
Wet silky moss hidden beneath the sheets of the ice.
As he stood up pridefully with his rack of enormous horns.
Light glimmered across the glassy lake
reflecting light onto the darkened trees
On the animals in the sky and on the ground.
An unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

If only he could be there to experience it once again.

Chloe Hofland // FINGERTIPS

The world sitting comfortably at my fingertips
Full control
Power slips out of my lips
No cares, no worries, emptied my soul
They did not stay home long
They slipped away
My world no longer a sweet song,
Rather a word no one wanted to say

I held on tight
Strings accentuated by frey
I couldn’t win the fight
I had to accept this was ok.

It did not come easy,
But with time I learned to adapt
At points without my power, I felt uneasy
I felt so vulnerable, a present that had been unwrapped
Change was necessary,
To become a better me,
It may have been scary,
I was closed off for so long, I finally found the key.

Elizabeth Enright // MOBIUS GREEN

The leper, deep in sorrow.
At moon rise, in the barley field,
He devours a child.
—Jeong-Ju Seo, trans. Heejung Sim

I am the slow-steady flow
Of water draining
Around you. Pooling
Around ankles
Listless
When stopped.

My fishbowl lenses
Curve the world,
Suspend my eyes in
Clear light so
You can’t see me.

I pour my tea
Amber down my throat
As though the solute-world
Would crystallize.

I have a terrifying character
It slips from my ears
Or drips from my lips.
I will not repent.

I spin in off-kilter worlds.
Retrograde rotation
Of me around the sun.
Pinpricks in shoulders,
Dull unease.
I drown in air.

In mobius-strip dreams
I punch patterns in
Bound brown rice paper
Stretched in looping reams.

I know green emotion
Moss haze in swimming pool,
Tendril swamp.

I know the death drive
And the leper too:

I have silos inside
I store sorghum dusk-crimson,
I need to survive. Even if
I need to eat the child,
I will not repent.

Keegan Thourani // IMAGINATION

The time has come.
A year in waiting.
I walk into heaven.

Black smoke flies.
Burnt chocolate flew.
A volcano filled of Hershey’s milk chocolate
Spurted out of the chimney.

Oh no! It’s snowing ice cream!
The chocolate drizzled to make a sundae.
I bolted back to my house
Opened the refrigerator door
Grabbed a perfectly pudgy plump cherry

I raced back outside
Chucked the cherry on top a mound of a
Perfectly scoop of strawberry ice cream.
I could feel my stomach growing in size
As I continued to devour several pounds of ice cream.

But, Halloween was just as expected.
Little kids bolting house to house
Getting chased by their parents.
The annoying rings of doorbells.
Jolly ranchers. Candy corn.

Alyssa Zhang // IN EVERY LIFE, A CANDLE BURNS

A dutiful match begins its ritual. Draws a flame with a scratch,
And a spark tags the wick. Shedding rings of light, the candle Consumes itself inside out, Leaving only a lucid puddle, a pool of smoke, slathered in waves.

You peer over. For a moment, you see your foggy reflection
Before its waxen memory solidifies, With your image locked inside. Even in darkness, it has known your face, Even extinguished, it remembers.

Garen Sahakian // ETERNAL CYCLE

The night is bitter and static,
The calm and crisp chirping of crickets breaks the silence,
My cold breath hides in the darkness,
Surrounded by the sharp crackling of branches.

I slip through the night,
Sensing multiple eyes on me,
I quickly move along,
Only looking straight,
I do not know what will come,
Because night is full of intense shocks.

The sun destroys the night,
And the night destroys the day,
A never-ending cycle,
Both with their own surprises.

I see a shadow darker than the night,
Remaining still in the silence,
I return home full of fear,
Knowing that I’m safe.

The next morning the birds sang in the gleaming sunshine,
Each with their own harmonious melody,
All together creating an elegant song like a symphony,
One just as important as the other.

Together they create,
Alone they destroy.
The night and day cannot coincide,
The day creates the night,
And the night destroys the day,
Each necessary for their own existence.

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.