Poetry Commons^™

Bernese Oberland, Jonathan Sladko

Floodwall Magazine

I love traveling, and I hope to make it an integral part of my life by getting a job as a commercial pilot in the future. I also love capturing the beauty of the world as I see it while traveling full of vibrant colors, awe-inspiring scenery, and diverse cultures. I hope my photography is able to capture the world as I see it, so that I may share it with you.

Love Medicine, Casey Fuller

Floodwall Magazine

I love words. Words are totally amazing. Words allude, cordon off, cordon in, exfoliate, and blossom. And words are just so strange. The meaning in words can change over, their footprints marking you with their history. And yet, one conclusion I’ve come to as an English PhD student at the University of North Dakota, as a person who lives and breathes and teaches words every day, is that words can’t express all of my feelings. It’s a sad notion for me—one that I’ve tried to deny. So, as an English PhD student who is far enough along in his studies …

Minima Moralia, Casey Fuller

Floodwall Magazine

I love words. Words are totally amazing. Words allude, cordon off, cordon in, exfoliate, and blossom. And words are just so strange. The meaning in words can change over, their footprints marking you with their history. And yet, one conclusion I’ve come to as an English PhD student at the University of North Dakota, as a person who lives and breathes and teaches words every day, is that words can’t express all of my feelings. It’s a sad notion for me—one that I’ve tried to deny. So, as an English PhD student who is far enough along in his studies …

Naked Lunch, Casey Fuller

Floodwall Magazine

I love words. Words are totally amazing. Words allude, cordon off, cordon in, exfoliate, and blossom. And words are just so strange. The meaning in words can change over, their footprints marking you with their history. And yet, one conclusion I’ve come to as an English PhD student at the University of North Dakota, as a person who lives and breathes and teaches words every day, is that words can’t express all of my feelings. It’s a sad notion for me—one that I’ve tried to deny. So, as an English PhD student who is far enough along in his studies …

Tree-Lined, Chad Erickstad

Floodwall Magazine

The world we experience is constantly evolving; yet many of our experiences are universal through time. I use photography to capture these universal moments as well as the ones unique to our moment in history. I find nature to be a fertile subject, often at its most brutal or its most serene. I am also interested in ways we have shaped nature and architecture to function for our modern needs and meet our current definition of “aesthetically pleasing.”

Summer School, Nicholas Baldwin

Floodwall Magazine

I question conventional boundaries through a series of action and reaction, a safari between permanence and transience, interrogating whether paper is shaped forever. Pulp painting promises a negotiation of form while carrying abstraction. My intention is to evoke that magic certitude borne of a dedicated approach. Having caught some idea, I broaden it with weird fibers, give the thing depth, complete a cycle of reasoning by returning to the starting point in a way a sculptor might imagine the pose of a figure hidden in a lump of stone. By marrying feeling and intellect, I find a facility of control. …

Marbled Frog Wood Cut, Nicholas Baldwin

Floodwall Magazine

I question conventional boundaries through a series of action and reaction, a safari between permanence and transience, interrogating whether paper is shaped forever. Pulp painting promises a negotiation of form while carrying abstraction. My intention is to evoke that magic certitude borne of a dedicated approach. Having caught some idea, I broaden it with weird fibers, give the thing depth, complete a cycle of reasoning by returning to the starting point in a way a sculptor might imagine the pose of a figure hidden in a lump of stone. By marrying feeling and intellect, I find a facility of control. …

Imitating, Nicholas Baldwin

Floodwall Magazine

I question conventional boundaries through a series of action and reaction, a safari between permanence and transience, interrogating whether paper is shaped forever. Pulp painting promises a negotiation of form while carrying abstraction. My intention is to evoke that magic certitude borne of a dedicated approach. Having caught some idea, I broaden it with weird fibers, give the thing depth, complete a cycle of reasoning by returning to the starting point in a way a sculptor might imagine the pose of a figure hidden in a lump of stone. By marrying feeling and intellect, I find a facility of control. …

Dominoes, Nicholas Baldwin

Floodwall Magazine

I question conventional boundaries through a series of action and reaction, a safari between permanence and transience, interrogating whether paper is shaped forever. Pulp painting promises a negotiation of form while carrying abstraction. My intention is to evoke that magic certitude borne of a dedicated approach. Having caught some idea, I broaden it with weird fibers, give the thing depth, complete a cycle of reasoning by returning to the starting point in a way a sculptor might imagine the pose of a figure hidden in a lump of stone. By marrying feeling and intellect, I find a facility of control. …

Sometimes I Worry, Sevi Sapunar-Lahr

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Shards Of Memories, Sevi Sapunar-Lahr

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Scrabble, Brenden Kimpe

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

An Upward Trend, Brenden Kimpe

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Land Of Improbable Dreams, Chris Erickstad

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Grandma Betty, Jameson Ko Buckau

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Abba, Jameson Kay-Olson Buckau

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Library Magic, Clara Anderson-Cameron

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Residual, Clara Anderson-Cameron

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Touch, Or, Beautiful People, Clara Anderson-Cameron

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Son Of Abraham, Jasmine Patera

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Aglaura & Cidippe Warn Their Captive Sister, Jasmine Patera

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Ego, Maren Schettler

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

You Must Whisper This Poem, Maren Schettler

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

7am Breakfast, Maren Schettler

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Solus, Chad Erickstad

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Those Who Fail To Learn, Jasmine Patera

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

Pura Vida: Reflections From Costa Rica, Lisette Gonzalez, Carolina Hernandez, Natalia Zevallos, Ailani Anglin, Isabela Jimenez, Melissa Johnson, Isabella Madrid, Xion Nelson, Alexia Pineda, Delaney Rendon, Chaylah Williams, Angel Vilchis

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

The First-Gen Voices Journal is proud to feature a special volume dedicated to the transformative experiences of first-generation college students on the recent Study Abroad Social Justice Immersion Trip to Costa Rica. Through this journey, participants gained a deeper grasp of activism and community building while engaging with social justice concerns on a worldwide scale. This volume will demonstrate the tenacity, enthusiasm, and vision of first-generation college students dedicated to societal change.

This issue features embedded film content. Experience the unique blend of text and film by clicking on the front cover image.

La Vida Rica, Angel Vilchis

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Through a first-person perspective, we travel along to Costa Rica with LMU’s First To Go students. Utilizing a long format, home video style, the goal is to communicate the authentic experiences that occurred during the trip. It’s one thing to be a young adult getting the chance to explore new parts of the world, but it’s a different privilege to get to do it with others that you can connect with. So much so that in the couple months preceding the trip, I found myself dealing with that post-trip depression. However, in that state, I found the beauty of being …

On My Heart, Chaylah Williams

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

I never thought that when I would start traveling internationally that it would be alone I always imagined it with my family, but never did I imagine traveling to really interact with the communities either I always thought of traveling as leisure. I guess I could say this impression was not implemented when OI started traveling as I started to notice how I didn’t want to do touristy things and I really just wanted to be. To be there to be present to be aware and I think that is what I enjoyed the most about my trip to Costa …

A Worthwhile Perspective, Delaney Rendon

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Opening your mind to a new wide perspective can shed light onto the knowledge and culture that another country can show you. There is much beauty in Costa Rica but also struggles that need to be shared.