Poetry Commons^™

Commonthought (2017), Commonthought Staff

Commonthought

This issue features works created by Lesley University students and covers a broad range of topics. The work itself crosses many disciplines from creative writing to visual arts.

Late, Chad Dickinson

Bryant Literary Review

You were late.
The strong Hawaiian sun peers through
The window on that December Sunday morning

Terminal Velocity, Charles Harper Webb

Bryant Literary Review

--the highest velocity attainable by an object as it falls through air

The male Mandarin, world's most gorgeous

duck--scarlet bill; purple breast; white

Lost At Sea, Mitch Lescarbeau

Bryant Literary Review

The mass for the missing is over:
it's too cold, the wind off the Atlantic
wheedling everybody back toward their cars.

Goodbye, Apostrophe, Peter Schmitt

Bryant Literary Review

Goodbye, apostrophe--
you were barely hanging on

The Barber's Chair, Kevin Power

Bryant Literary Review

The shallow mockery goes back and forth
like a hollow ping pong ball of conversation

Out Of The Limelight, David James

Bryant Literary Review

Maybe it's my dislike for coconut,
my aversion to horror movies.

Game 5 Of The 2015 World Series (Pitcher Perfect Through 8 Innings), Frank De Canio

Bryant Literary Review

"Call no man happy till after his death,"
Montaigne wrote. If, Harvey had died before

Strolling In Guangzhou, Stephen C. Behrendt

Bryant Literary Review

It's afternoon in Guangzhou
and I'm out with Maia,

The Moon's Old Glory, David Dragone

Bryant Literary Review

Overrated, exaggerated
The crescent hangs, worn-out

Sister Wigberta, Thomas Dorsett

Bryant Literary Review

Dad hanging onto the pier
after his ship has sailed on

The Fall, Peter Schmitt

Bryant Literary Review

I could forget, in time, how a half-minute
sooner and I might be running in the rain
across the parking lot, catching his shoulders;

Confession, Brian Daldorph

Bryant Literary Review

I don't have much to confess, actually.
I only sinned a few times, didn't like it--

Oui, Dennis Trudell

Bryant Literary Review

It is raining in Paris,
and a thin woman takes off her clothes

It's For Sale, But I'M Keeping It, Sean Loughran

Bryant Literary Review

This car is a money pit. I can't stand it. I keep
spending thousands of dollars of hard earned
cash to keep it running but all I'm getting out

Why Should We?, Don Kunz

Bryant Literary Review

Death addresses its invitation
In bold black block letters,
And will honor no regrets.

Let Wind, Timothy Clutter

Bryant Literary Review

Let wind be the day-old toy
of a thoughtless god who can't
recall where he left it.

Sunny Side Up, Byron Case

Bryant Literary Review

It is ovoid simplicity incarnate,
perfectly palm-sized,
and crackable.

Pigeons, Bibhu Padhi

Bryant Literary Review

They embody a consciousness
that shines among light-grey rocks.

The Ice Man, Mitch Lescarbeau

Bryant Literary Review

Bolzano, Italy

We jostle and joke in the waiting line's dark,
snaking toward the cold cube of light in the wall.

Junkyard, Susan Boehm

Bryant Literary Review

In a junkyard
piled with the rusting machinery

And Another Thing, Ruth Holzer

Bryant Literary Review

she used to bark
was that I looked

The Lion At Franklin Park, Kathleen Aponick

Bryant Literary Review

We observe you in sunlight, golden offering
on a sculptured mound, blinking, throwing back your head

6802 Bayfield Ave. Arverne, New York, Brennan D'Elena

Bryant Literary Review

He lights a cigarette and keeps
his hand steady on the wheel.

Candle In The Wind, Sheryl L. Nelms

Bryant Literary Review

black
back lit
by the sprinkle of stars

Water Stone, Matthew J. Spireng

Bryant Literary Review

A small translucent stone with water a million years old
trapped inside like a bubble, a liquid core purer, we think,

Iron Box, Emily Sheehan

Bryant Literary Review

Was the sun shining when you stepped out into the world today?

Satori 2017, Winona State University, Sajda Omar, Elyse Hoffmann, Colin Kohrs, Rachel Willilams Belter, Audrianna Wichman, Ben Mccrary, Megan Wefel, Lisa Daraskevich, Nicole Johnson, Zachary Vix, Kaitlin Mccoy, Annette Deyo, Ben Teurman, Melody Vang, Zach Spanton, Alexis Prowizor, Charlie Utzman, Rich Herrmann, Ali Johnston, Danielle Eberhard

Satori Literary Magazine

The Satori is a student literary publication that expresses the artistic spirit of the students of Winona State University. Student poetry, prose, and graphic art are published in the Satori every spring since 1970.

The Satori 2017 editors are:

• Editor-in-Chief: Sajda Omar
• Poetry Editor: Karl Hanson
• Art/Design Editor: Danielle Eberhard
• Prose Editor: Cassie Douglas
• Poetry Committee: Kelly Johnson and Lydia Papenfuss
• Art/Design Committee: Aurie Brighton and Xinyue Wang
• Prose Committee: Katie McCoy, Madison Wilke, Megan Back, Alayna Godfrey, Madelyn Hall, and Sam Stormoen
• Faculty Advisor: Dr. Gary Eddy, Professor of English

When We Found Us, Christopher Ratcliff

Honors Projects

A collection of pieces which represent a use of magic or mythic themes as applied to real-world experiences through both poetry and fiction work. An examination of the progress of the author through these themes and subjects curated in more-or-less chronological order by time of conception. The brutal mundanity of the rural Midwestern experience mingled alongside the magic-realism and mythic archetypes which span throughout history.

Casual Myths, David Grandouiller

Creative Writing Minor Portfolios

This portfolio is a multi-genre collection of the best or most representative writing during my three years in the Creative Writing minor at Cedarville University. It includes seven pieces of nonfiction, one short story, and five poems. The most consistent link between these pieces across the genres is an imagist aesthetic, an attempt to live up to W. C. Williams’ adage, “No ideas but in things.” Primary themes the collection explores are my relationship with family, with place, and with God.