Poetry Commons^™

Just The Ones That Made The News, Rachel R. Mantos

Poetry Slam 2021

"Just the ones that made the News" was written in response to the constant news of mass shootings that take place in the United States. The last two stanzas were added a year after the original draft of the poem when there was a mass shooting in my hometown of Virginia Beach.

Just One Story, Chera Broadnax

Poetry Slam 2021

The poem is about the trepidation I experience regarding being a woman of color in the field of education.

Van Gogh, Rachel R. Mantos

Poetry Slam 2021

"Van Gogh" is a personal response to the way I've seen depression and mental illness affect many artists I look up to and how they dealt with these issues through their art. I've dealt with this for many years myself and reached a point where I didn't want to be surrounded in sadness and negativity, and wanted to remember that while it can be cathartic and helpful to write about our pain, it's important not to lose sight of all the beauty and joy in life as well, which is just as valuable subject material.

Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned, Rachel R. Mantos

Poetry Slam 2021

"Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned" was an exploration of female anger and an experiment with the sonnet form of poetry.

The Lantern, 2020-2021, Adam Mlodzinski, Julian Barocas, Liam Worcheck, Sarah Buck, Jenna Lozzi, Samuel Ernst, Aurora Mckee, Jessica Schnur, Griffin Banks, Ryan Savage, Gabby Demelfi, Marie Sykes, Kayla Weil, Benjamin Tobias, Anastasia Dziekan, Emily Bradigan, Nadia El-Mourli, Isabelle Wessman, Mairead Mcdermott, Chandrasekhar Palepu, Robert Fisher, Kelsey Gavin, Kathleen Saddler, Liam Powers, Matthew Schmitz, Shayna Kushner, Yakira M. Serrano Rodriguez, Haley Bestrycki, Anaya Demota, Amy Litofsky, Vanessa Worley, Amanda Webber, Morgan Mason, Christian Ndaye, Leo Cox, Olivia Cross, Amy Smith, Valerie Eicher, Ian Abrahams, Amelia Kunko, Ava Compagnoni, Rimsha Maryam, Aviva Schuch, Cyn Ercole, Colleen Murphy, Sarah Fales, Ella Spencer

The Lantern Literary Magazines, 1933 to Present

One Thousand and One is Never Enough • House on Hazel Ave. • Crooked Men at Crooked Alley • Home • Honeybee • The Witch's Daughter • Traveling to Reyu • December 31st, 2019 • The Dominator Rolls the Dice Again • Red Flowers • Military Ball • Drowning in Color • Early Bird • Introspection • Hot Water • Reaching Into Space • Floating Marigolds Before COVID-19 • Smokestack 4 • Longing • His Fifth Year on Amstel Road • Wonderful Moments • Clean Glass • Betty, the Debutante • Teakettles Have it Easy • Fuimos, Somos y Seramos …

Definitions, Iris (Pettie) Perkins

Poetry Slam 2021

"Definitions" is a poem that was written the morning of the slam and I also use the theme of the slam to guide me.

Skills, Iris (Pettie) Perkins

Poetry Slam 2021

"Skills" is a poem that was written the night before the slam. I looked up the word "resilient" and I just wondered how I could convey that everyone can be resilient, it just takes baby steps and small victories.

Months Of The Year, Chera Broadnax

Poetry Slam 2021

This poem is about the dichotomy that exists in relation to Black women in the United States.

Amjambo Africa! (April 2021), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In this Issue

COVID-19 denial in Burundi and Tanzania.....................2

Cameroonian deportations..3

In Her Presence .................4/5

Health care

Vaccine Q&A

Amjambo’s 3rd birthday.......6

MEBIC..................................10

Dr. Shah on vaccine safety.11

Magufuli of Tanzania..........12

World Market Basket..........14

Farming

African donuts

Soil safety..............................15

Baking Academy.................18

Bikes for all Mainers...........19

Childcare..............................20

Finance................................21

Columns & letters..............................24/25/26/27

Bangor/DEI..........................28

Novruz Festival....................29

Gisele Mukundwa...............31

Musical diversity.................31

Translations

French..................................7

Swahili.................................8

Somali..................................9

Kinyarwanda.....................22

Portuguese.........................23

The Siren, Barbara Lock

Yalobusha Review

No abstract provided.

Santa Clara Review, Vol. 108, No. 2, Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Review

No abstract provided.

Ivy Leaves, Volume 96, Ivy Leaves Editorial Staff

Ivy Leaves

The 2021 edition of the Anderson University journal of art and literature, Ivy Leaves.

The names of the known editors for this issue of Ivy Leaves were Larisa Crowder, Samantha Windham, Lily McNamara, Samantha Brooks, Kristopher Sutherland, Salvatore Fontana, Gabrielle Morgan, Emma McKay, Carson Long, David Stancil, Hannah Brown, Sara Pepper, Brookelyn Taylor Harrison, Alexis Bussey, Abigail Timms, Dakota Riemer, Taylor Smith, Shelby Parker, Samantha Windham, Morgan Broom, Teresa Jones, and Tim Speaker.

2021 Spring Quiz & Quill Magazine, English Department

Quiz and Quill

No abstract provided.

For [Redacted], Lalini Shanela Ranaraja

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

This poem was written following the attempts of a close friend and myself to create awareness for the ongoing genocide in Tigray, Ethiopia in particular, and in reaction to activism in the age of social media in general. The digital age and related phenomena, such as hashtag activism and cancel culture, has enabled certain social justice movements to gain rapid traction while other equally worthy movements struggle to find a foothold. Simultaneously, standards of accountability and ethics continue to decline among global news media, with non-Western countries such as Ethiopia and my own home country of Sri Lanka bearing the …

Freefall In Reverse, Lalini Shanela Ranaraja

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

This poem was written as a direct response to the 22nd Vasquez Valarezo Award theme of "Discontentment." Breaking the noun "Discontentment" into its components parts allowed me to explore of the emotions and mental health states experienced by myself and my community during the "COVID summer" of 2020. Each of the poem's stanzas encourages readers to contemplate different emotional stages and the various coping mechanisms they may demand in order to regain a sense of control and stability. The poem also alludes to the value of a strong community during times of crisis, in particular the international student community of …

Deathtrap, Blake Traylor

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

I could have titled this one "Bad Trip in an Elevator," but that would twist the poem away from its authenticity. You'll have to trust me on this one: this happened. Not in the usual sense, but in that fiction-is-truth-in-a-funhouse-mirror, postmodern Tim O'Brien sense. And hallucinogens were not involved, nor are they encouraged or condoned. (Do with that Wretched Passive Voice what you will.)

If the word "Deathtrap" didn't amuse me so much, I really could have run with the title "Tired." Or maybe "Very Tired" would have been better. And then there are always the big-hitters: "Fatigue," "Exhaustion," "Are …

On The Rocks, Michael Grassetti

Bryant Literary Review

Upon a scoured stone, painted in soil

a bear scouts the raging river below.

Rites, Sanjana Aiyar

Bryant Literary Review

Present turns to past,

When tenses change with

Full, Caleb Lewis

Bryant Literary Review

Be the cup,

have more purpose when you're filled up.

Winter, Claudia Rosado

Bryant Literary Review

i was born on an island

and hand crafted for the sun.

Swimming Lessons, Rebecca Mear

Bryant Literary Review

It was time to learn to swim.

I Am Not A Home, Kiley Mcaleer

Bryant Literary Review

I am from many places, but none of them have ever quite been home. A mint green house where neighbors are always yelling and my dad comes to visit for a few hours every other weekend.

The Car Ride Home, Jonathan Rivera

English Honors Theses

The Car Ride Home explores the coming of age of a young boy into a queer man, searching and sifting through the trauma of home life, and realizing his mother’s addiction affects more than just herself, but an entire family. This realization coincides with views of masculinity, as he carefully watches the men around him. He internalizes these depictions of masculinity when exploring his own confusion and investigation of his own sexual identity and queerness. The poetry collection is broken up into two connected parts. Part one explores the illusion of childhood and nostalgia while introducing subtle glimpses and secrets …

My Responsibility To Live, Michael Grassetti

Bryant Literary Review

I wonder what it's like

to be a man unfazed by fire?

Flashes, Lila Bovenzi

Bryant Literary Review

Maybe it's grotesque

That I think of them like flashers.

Countless Stars, Mckenna Themm

Bryant Literary Review

I still taste the golden wisps

of stardust, dancing across the midnight blue

Youth, El J. Reyes

Bryant Literary Review

A miracle crosses paths

with me, and I find myself

staring right at my youth.

The New Historian, Nilsa Laine

Bryant Literary Review

One month, we were given just one month.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Rosa Parks.

Harriet Tubman.

Not A Goodbye, Sanjana Aiyar

Bryant Literary Review

Blood flowing in your veins.

Heart beating slow.

Rx#: Sea, Mikaela Gresty

Bryant Literary Review

The ocean calls, smells,

like rosé aged with salt