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Tree Identity, Maddie Miller

The Peregrine Review

Photo depicting a tree made of books pages with flowers for leaves.

-Wombs- Wounds, Laney Kuczmynda

The Peregrine Review

Wombs Wounds

i can see myself, one day soon –

not yet, or not now at least –

seeing myself in a dark, one-man submarine.

i can’t sit with grief;

i slash and scrub and scald it away.

Grace, Nakiah Baker

The Peregrine Review

Looking down I see

a penny on the ground, head side down.

Bad luck.

Harrisburg Is Green, Ruth Galyen

The Peregrine Review

coals drip and layer

brick and mortar

ash lines the windows to murmur

this is alive

to anyone asking

breath oxidizes until even

stone steps are

worn and green

2022 Full Text Issue, Molly Mckim

The Peregrine Review

The Peregrine Review, Messiah University’s literary journal accepts poetry (50 lines or fewer), prose (10 pages, double-spaced, or fewer), and art/photography. We welcome submissions from all Messiah students, faculty, and staff.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• About Page | 1
• Review Staff | 2
• Letter From Editor | 3
• Editor Submissions | 7-16
• Cover Art: “Carnation Prism” by Jarek Nalewak

PHOTOGRAPHY

• Beyond the Shadows & A Silent Walk in the Woods | Elaine Brandenburg 26 & 68
• God’s Candy, Paula’s Yard & Wildwood | Jarek Nalewak 20, 72 & 84
• West of Cleveland County, The Blue House & Desk Not …

Beyond The Shadows, Elaine Brandenburg

The Peregrine Review

Photo of a small river during winter right after sunset, with snow on the banks and colors painting the sky and a dark silhouette of the trees.

Letter From The Editor, Molly Mckim

The Peregrine Review

Remarks from Editor Molly McKim:

"Initially, I intended to start this introduction by saying, 'Now more than ever, we need art,' but I realized something: Works of art have always been constants in our lives. As much as the world may make us feel bombarded, overwhelmed or small, it has forced us to adapt, overcome, and appreciate what we have in our lives..."

God's Candy, Jarek Nalewak

The Peregrine Review

Photograph of a blue and pink sky

Carnation Prism (Cover Art), Jarek Nalewak

The Peregrine Review

Photograph of a yellow flower

About The Peregrine Review

The Peregrine Review

About the Peregrine Review.

The Peregrine Review is Messiah University’s literary magazine, designed, edited, and written by undergraduate students. The magazine consisting of works of art from prose and poetry to art and photography. Dedicated to showcasing the voices of our community, The Peregrine Review is open to all students, faculty, and staff for submission.

Peregrine Review Staff

The Peregrine Review

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

• Molly McKim

MANAGING CO-EDITORS

• Mackenzie Christie
• Cam Wimberly

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

• Ravi Ahuja
• Nate Castellitto
• Hye Lim Jung
• Courtney Kehler

FACULTY ADVISOR

• Samuel Smith

Nap Time, Jennifer Staszak

The Peregrine Review

Calico cat sleeping in the grass

Whatever May Be, Plant A Tree With Me, Nate Castellitto

The Peregrine Review

Latent destination,

spectacular space––

the soil is rich, and clay is prepared.

Pass me the spade. We will start here.

Gold-Washed Sky, Abby Smoker

The Peregrine Review

tell me how it is that the ugliest days can be redeemed
by a single sunset: gold and shimmering blush
washed across the sky– Winner of the 2022 Carrie A. Guhl Poetry Prize! Abby’s winning poem, “gold-washed sky,” will appear on the Academy of American Poets website. Alexis V. Jackson, author of My Sisters’ Country described Abby’s poem as an invitation “to wonder at the mundane thing that is a sunset in a successful attempt at theodicy. With smoldering syntax and hypophora, the speaker…reminds us there’s a ‘who’ somewhere in all of this.”

Blueberry Pancakes, Jordan Marcroft

The Peregrine Review

The train is 1000 feet

away, but I hear it run

through my ears and tear through my bedsheets. I plead with it, “Take

me with you.’

Origin Story, Rosemary Jones

The Peregrine Review

I imagine a dark and stormy night,

fat drops of rain sliding down window panels

like spilled ink across a canvas.

She must have been crying—my mother.

In the movies, they’re always crying.

She must have been alone, left behind

by some mysterious lover with dark eyes

too poor to buy a loaf of bread,

much less feed her only daughter.

She was likely wrapped in a thread-barren cloak,

soaked to the bone from the rain and from her tears.

The Church, Jordan Marcroft

The Peregrine Review

They call me naive

because I say

the city streets are as pure

as the waters we baptize with.

And the mother who sees

more night than day—

she is my Saint.

Culture Shock, Abby Smoker

The Peregrine Review

friend, your AC gives me nosebleeds.

you and your house, both

windows-closed types

who can’t sleep well at night

if your habitat isn’t cold and dry.

5 Questions, Samantha Guess

The Peregrine Review

I know it before I even open my eyes, something is wrong. The air is cool and fresh, it feels like the calm before the storm. What happened to me? The last thing I remember is seeing the headlights of that truck coming at me, and...I bolt upright and wince with pain. My head is pounding, and my body is aching all over. That truck, I realize once the pain dies down, it wasn’t just coming at me: it hit me head-on. Then I notice I’m not in my car, nor am I in a hospital. I’m in a white …

Alert, Jennifer Staszak

The Peregrine Review

Photo in black and white depicting a crow on a fence in mid-caw.

The Blue House, Andrew Overman

The Peregrine Review

Photo depicting a blue house and green lawn popping out between two grayscale houses.

Garden Of Joy, Rosemary Jones

The Peregrine Review

A Syntax Virus of “Anatomy of Failure” in Halflife by Meghan O’Rourke

Sunbeams shine over the daisies—
bathing them, coloring, blossoming;
even the leaves are green as ripe bell peppers...

Paula's Yard, Jarek Nalewak

The Peregrine Review

Photograph of pink blooms

Absence, Madison Casey

The Peregrine Review

Love is felt in many different ways. From the love of a mother, to the love of a brother, to the love of a lover, to the love of a friend. It’s all love. Love is like water, it takes the shape of whatever container it’s poured into.

Raunchy Man, Christian Maloney

The Peregrine Review

The man was here!

The man was there!

The man was everywhere–

The beggars,

the ailn,

the crapulous,

in all, they are The Raunchy Man–

Desk Not Included, Andrew Overman

The Peregrine Review

Photo of an old, messy, abandoned room. The room is slighty flooded, with a desk chair in the background, but no desk.

My Prayer Leaves, Kevin Villegas

The Peregrine Review

The large, glass jars of tea leaves

each contains untold secrets.

Shelf above shelf above shelf of secrets

rest on the sunlit wall before me

waiting to be steeped and sipped.

A Silent Walk In The Woods, Elaine Brandenburg

The Peregrine Review

A photograph of leaves, a bench, and a trail

Just Visiting, Molly Mckim

The Peregrine Review

you and me against the world

we took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of heart

we are. we are. we are

the words in our veins,

and the ache to make sense of them.

Twenty-One, Cam Wimberly

The Peregrine Review

my mother bought a house for her parents when she was twenty two years old,

fresh out of nursing school and working night shifts in a hospital.

she met my father a year later and the year after that, they were married.