Writing
Lauren Maglalang
9/3/2020
“A Change of Heart” (inspired by Pride and Prejudice)
Proposing to Lizzy was a disaster.
Rejection and pain he did feel after.
In shock he listened to her accusations
despite all his feelings of great vexation.
Oh, the embarrassment and despair
that he had felt while standing there!
Pride and arrogance were his bane,
but from these he would later refrain.
At last, Darcy had a change of heart!
From her he did not want to be apart.
Far away went his air of vanity,
replaced by a sense of renewed humanity.
All of this since she had the tenacity
to call him out for his audacity.
By Lizzy, Darcy was forever changed,
and finally their marriage was arranged.
Lauren Maglalang
9/3/2020
A Day Reborn
The dazzling sun climbs the sky
early in the morn.
A new day is created;
a new day is reborn.
Skies are brightly illuminated
with brilliant, blazing hues
as people start to rise
from their well-rested snooze.
People go about
their busy, busy days.
The sun doesn’t go anywhere;
it is there to stay.
Does the sun ever tire
of emitting its incandescence?
Or of persistently glittering
its golden luminescence?
Sometimes strength
is what it needs to regain.
That’s when the sky darkens,
and the clouds make it rain.
As the sun sets,
the sky is painted with vivid light.
Pink, orange, red—
oh, what a sight!
As the sky darkens,
the sun says no goodbye,
for the next morning,
it is waiting to say, “hi.”
Humza Arfeen
8.17.2020
Kristine Sherman
8/17/2020
Midnight
shes there and im not. im not watching a fluorescent light flicker. not hearing its soft buzz. no cold empty corridors. no ceramic tiles clicking under shoes in the distance. no orangish bluish tint to everything around me. no silent tears and soft whimpering. no nurses rushing in and out of the one room that im supposed to be there for. im not listening to the useless ramble of sitcoms on a cheap tv. no subtitles hurrying to catch up. no lingering smell of coffee and sterilizer. no clean and isolated aura. no white walls floors and ceilings. im not smelling the sick in the air. no coughing. no sounds of a nurse hole punching a new chart together. no stained blue chairs that have no comfort. no cold draft and the hum of the air conditioner. no pitying stares. because im. not. there. why wasn't i there? was it denial? was it fear? why was everyone there? everyone except me. why wasn't i crying? i grew up there, yet im so afraid. what happened to my childhood? to holding my grandfather's hand as he completed his surgeon's rounds? to chocolate milk in the cafeteria and patients smiling when I came around? what happened? im so scared. the smells and sounds that once comforted me now loom over watching my every move. and im not there.
Kristine Sherman
8/17/2020
Survive
The brain
It’s an amazing thing
A tool of inspiration
Determination
An explanation
Of why
I try
So many times
To remind
Others that I cannot change who I am
I cannot change my mind so easily
But they don’t listen
Our central nervous system
Reacts the same towards pain
Our nerves acting as telephone wires
Delivering a message
That our safety is dire
Not to hurt ourselves and each other
But we still do
Some people have razors that
Cut the connections
Some people have words that
Makes us believe
We have to make corrections
We act like it’s human nature
Like we can’t stop it
But you can
You just choose to reject it
Everything I say
Everything I do
Will be held against me
In the court of social society
Anxiety
Does not define me
Because I have let go
Of all the things
People have thought of me
Have said to me
Because maybe
Telling people they have a choice
Of how they’re supposed to react to me
Wasn’t the wisest of decisions
Because all school has ever taught me
Was to survive the pain and the entirety
Of my class; my family
Never knew
They told me to ignore them
But that never worked
I’d have to beat them
Myself, alone
Scared, scarred
The two words, defined by one letter
Practically synonymous
Because when have you recalled a time
When you scared and it didn’t scar?
Because all those cuts people inflict upon themselves
Aren’t illnesses
They’re fear
Fear of what’s outside their mind
Fear of what’s inside their mind
Fear of what I now know is society
They preach
What I thought we were supposed to be
I thought we built each other up
But I was wrong
We were knocked down
Like toy blocks
Made of dreams and hopes and aspirations
Exasperation
The fact that I still remember what I thought
When I realized that this world
Isn’t one you are supposed to thrive in
It’s one you are supposed to survive in
And no matter how many speeches you give
Nothing will change the mind of the millennia
Their insults will evolve
Convolve
Revolve
Around you
But you can fight
And most definitely can survive
Because if I know anything about a fight
It’s that we will thrive