Creative Writing Commons^™

Letter From The Editors, Diamond Line Editors

Diamond Line Undergraduate Literary Magazine

No abstract provided.

Diamond Line - Spring 2022, Diamond Line Editors

Diamond Line Undergraduate Literary Magazine

No abstract provided.

A Reflection On Time, Samuel Christopher Boggs

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

The Dissection Of Twins, Amber Zipfel

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The Dissection of Twins

Amber Zipfel

Professor Colin Rafferty

ENGL 470C_01: Creative Writing Seminar: Non-Fiction

This body of work is composed of ten short pieces that dissect several aspects of twins in approximately 7,000 words. The structure of the work, which involves every piece mirroring another one with the same or similar title, is meant to resemble the relationship of twins: two labeled with the same title but possess different content within their bodies. Overall, there are personal stories and informative breakdowns of twin stereotypes utilized to convey this popular subject. Each piece helps strengthen the primary goals of this …

Inferno Of The Mind, Amber M. Harvey

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This chapbook is a series of poems that explore what it is like living with mental illness. It is a collection of ten poems, inspired by the nine circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno. The reader is led on a journey through the mind of the author, each poem providing a modern interpretation of each circle: Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery. This journey into a “hell of the mind’s making” explores the themes of identity, reality, societal expectations and pressures, and self-doubt through the use of form, structure, and image. The collection ends with a …

Fifteen Poems, Caleb Petersen

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

FIFTEEN POEMS is a thesis consisting of a critical introduction on the development of my understanding of craft, the poetic influences which have shaped my poetry, as well as a collection of poems. The essay addresses both the form and content of the collection, as well as my history with poetry. It provides details about the process of creating this collection, and it portrays some of the vision that motivates it. The poetry which follows is a reflection on myself, my body, and my landscape, as I ask the question, who am I in this place? Situated in Lincoln, Nebraska, …

Coming To The End Of His Triumph, Amy Lawless

Bryant Literary Review

I’ve watched the YouTube video Primož Roglič Bad Accident many times. This event led to his switch from ski jumping to cycling. Ski jumping, to a wimp like me, is the essence of dare devilry.

Poof!, Kathie Giorgio

Bryant Literary Review

When I was nine years old, a boy socked me on the arm at recess. He hit hard, enough to cause me to cry out, to bring tears to my eyes, though I wouldn’t let them escape.

Bad Accident, Amy Lawless

Bryant Literary Review

I lose touch with reality. I reach my arm out to my future, to the myself who knows there’s no trace of cancer, the benefits of preventative care, the past is in the past, the complete competence of his medical team, but I don’t reach back.

Come, Gentle Night., Michael Washburn

Bryant Literary Review

Arthur took one look at the forlorn stranger standing by the stone wall at the base of the hill in the cool evening and thought: Gordon Comstock.

Dear Breast Cancer,, Clara Burghelea

Bryant Literary Review

You smell of clean skin, cent-free armpits, choked-up, hard to swallow nausea, bubble gum flavor in the hair from the 11-year-old in the car. You see we drove 200 miles, woke up at wee hours to ditch traffic, had breakfast in the car, cold waffles, gulped on bad coffee, rode the highway on TikTok noise, before I knew it, I had arms around my shoulders, chewing gum love next to my right ear.

Thank You Terror, 2, Mathias Svalina

Bryant Literary Review

If one is lucky

one will find

Thank You Terror, 3, Mathias Svalina

Bryant Literary Review

No abstract provided.

Loving Algorithms, P.J. Powell

Bryant Literary Review

My husband and I were watching TV with my mom late one night when my phone rang. It was her doctor calling to tell me we needed to take her to the hospital—now.

The Unvanquished, Marlene Olin

Bryant Literary Review

“Retirement is overrated,” said Morris.

My Father's Last Disappointment, Ellie Anderson

Bryant Literary Review

He had a name like cashmere, Kazimierz,

but changed it to Charles (and went by Charlie)

Grand Union, Ellie Anderson

Bryant Literary Review

I have a photo of Daddy

in front of the Grand Union Hotel.

Not Easy, Ellie Anderson

Bryant Literary Review

I was talking to my father,

“Don’t call me ‘the kid’ anymore.

Beyond Poland, Rosalind Goldsmith

Bryant Literary Review

Her body can’t escape the cold but her mind can. It casts up through the night, scattering itself into the sky over the Atlantic Ocean.

Watching My Daughter’S Tap Recital, David O'Connel

Bryant Literary Review

I think of Mrs. B, my typing teacher

that summer before high school

Nightly Feats Of Survival, Jonathan Greenhause

Bryant Literary Review

The infinite sky’s shrunk into a rectangle of wan light, the earth

cradling the captive like a clam clasps its pearl,

In The Night, A Song, Tyrel Kessinger

Bryant Literary Review

I wish I had the kind of shadow

that would carry my darkness

instead of only being its shape.

Adelaster, Deborah S. Prespare

Bryant Literary Review

To prevent herself from slipping into another chaotic downward cycle of panicked anxiety, she squashes the rising tide, drops in the toilet her pill-shaped companions, and sizing up her failing reflection, chooses the last-ditch, arduous path left to an imprisoned soul.

Absence Doesn't Soften The Grass, Yvonne Higgins Leach

Bryant Literary Review

Seeing that my dog is old and dying, my neighbor said:

That’s why I never got one. Truth is, they always die before you do.

The Family Bends, Jason Talbot

Bryant Literary Review

Evenings, sitting quietly

with grandpa

his hands, too much

for mice and rabbits.

The Family Bends Ii, Jason Talbot

Bryant Literary Review

Hands

once swollen in prayer, and

arms

stiff like branches,

whipping papier-mâché

heads.

Night In The City Looks Pretty To Me, Roger Logan

Bryant Literary Review

Allison was trying to come up with a version of that old joke. A kangaroo or whatever walks into a bar and the bartender says, “Say, we don’t get many kangaroos in here.”

A Welling, Carol Ann Wilburn

Bryant Literary Review

I embrace the lightness

of this Kentucky March

wearing not the edges

of a dim January

but the fertile shoots of April.

Airborne, Carol Ann Wilburn

Bryant Literary Review

Every change below

tells me I’m farther away

from him.

Heirloom, Carol Ann Wilburn

Bryant Literary Review

She lets go

of her secret

long held prisoner by the mahogany

four-poster