English Language and Literature Commons^™

Inside The Vatican, Brittany Blake

The Tuxedo Archives

No abstract provided.

Goddess, Brittany Blake

The Tuxedo Archives

No abstract provided.

Ashland Creek, Or, Brittany Blake

The Tuxedo Archives

No abstract provided.

Sleeping Ladies, Rachele Ketchem

The Tuxedo Archives

Out of nowhere a man jumped out of the bushes on the trail a little ahead of us. He was balding, tall, a 40 something year-old with spooky eyes. Christine knew damn well Kim and I were scaredy cats and began to quote a favorite old horror movie of ours,

“Barbara! He is coming to get you Barbara!”At that point, Kim and I were giving her the shut-the-fuck-up look as this creepy guy wearing camouflage in the dark was walking towards us. ~excerpt from prose

Crash And Burn, Ashton Guasco

The Tuxedo Archives

My eyes open slowly as the paralyzing drugs begin to lose their hold over my body. I wake up alone and at first, I look around in fear; not knowing where I am. I begin to remember the terrifying events of the morning that led me to this place, this hospital recovery room at midnight. It had started as any other horse show day. ~excerpt from prose

The Need To Be Inspired, Jessica Curlett

The Tuxedo Archives

It is like opening my eyes for the first time as I step off the plane and new sights greet me like a warm breeze of air. This is the Golden State. The State people think of when “the land of opportunity” runs through one’s mind; home to both the red wood forests, and Tinsel town. ~excerpt from prose

Moon Love Valley, California, Megan Lynn

The Tuxedo Archives

There is a valley north of San Francisco where the moon shines her love. Mountains stand tall and proud, rooted to the ground, protecting the valley floor. The North and East mountains are darker, the protectors. They are covered with tall, earthy green trees that, on grey mornings, fog tangles in on its way over the mountain crest, clearing just before noon. ~excerpt from prose

Creation Myth, Annabelle C. Maginnis

The Tuxedo Archives

There was nothing. Emptier and emptier still, chaos made its way between the gaps. Eventually, chaos spun itself into a figure of all capability. This figure was It. It was an androgynous watery conglomerate that grew tired of life alone, and curious about the nature of its own body. It tugged at its malleable sides and burst, creating a circular globe that It named Earth. ~excerpt from prose

It Happens Everywhere, Mariah Mcguire

The Tuxedo Archives

When did violence and hate become the norm? I can’t turn on the t.v, listen to the radio or turn a page without hearing about someone getting popped. Pop pop. All it takes is one shot, one stab one burst of anger to end a life. My friends, my classmates did they even see it coming? He wears that red bandana hanging out the back of his pocket with pride. ~excerpt from prose

The Eternal Torment, Benjamin Mages

The Tuxedo Archives

I sigh. How many days have I spent in this hellish torment? Has it been weeks? Months? Years? There’s no way to tell time in this prison of eternal twilight. Each cycle (as it is impossible to know if one of these is actually a day) seems a monotonous repeat of the previous. First, I wake up. I am surrounded in filthy and reeking dirt that covers the walls of my cell. I have a single roommate, Jorath. He’s a brute of a man, just as dirty and reeking as I am after all this time. ~excerpt from prose

California Bluffs, Katelin Filipps

The Tuxedo Archives

Inhale the salty, crisp air.
Fingers tracing lines through mist
Covered brined metal, despair,
If you’re ensnared, flung away ~excerpt from poem

An Untitled Pantoum, Allysa Miranda

The Tuxedo Archives

The woman walked down the lane
with barely a care,
letting the path lead her onwards,
wondering where she would go. ~excerpt from poem

The Line, Kaileigh Robinson

The Tuxedo Archives

Do you see how low I can be?
Lower than the valley and bottom of the sea.
Last night I was on top of the world.
I had you in the palm of my hand.
You were the line I couldn’t understand. ~excerpt from poem

Scorned, Megan Lynn

The Tuxedo Archives

I wove a barbed-wire basket
To carry my ex-lover's heart,
An evil remembrance of what you tore apart
Now all I need is to open his casket. ~excerpt from poem

Ode, Brittany Blake

The Tuxedo Archives

o Heorot

My dearest love, how I long for thee!
When I yearn for nourishment, thou feedest me.
I grasp for words which thy beauty describe,
Thy pleasing water is such I love to imbibe. ~excerpt from poem

Starry Night, Brittany Blake

The Tuxedo Archives

The day God created her,
there was no mold,
no precedent,
no standard. ~excerpt from poem

From My Mouth To God's Ear, Aiyana Beck

The Tuxedo Archives

From my mouth to god’s ears
I cry with tears
Save him, save me
Save us for a sad world indeed
A world where a whole is spilt in halves
And a child cries for his dad ~excerpt from poem

Reserved Signs, Keara Teeter

The Tuxedo Archives

No abstract provided.

Hold Me Dear, Keara Teeter

The Tuxedo Archives

No abstract provided.

Img2998, Lauren Rigor

The Tuxedo Archives

No abstract provided.

The Art Of War For Pre-Med Penguins, Elyza Genilo

The Tuxedo Archives

Organismal Biology: Mon/Wed, 8am; General Chemistry I: Tues/Thurs, 8am; Bio Methodology & Research: Fri, 8am. Great, you think to yourself, all 8am classes from Monday-Friday, a 17 unit workload that also includes College Algebra and Statistics for Health Sciences. This is what your college days will be like for the next four years as a pre-med student. How do you think you will survive? ~excerpt from prose

An Open Letter To All The Adam Carolla's, Adrienne Formentos

The Tuxedo Archives

So. I want to say I expected better, but in fact, I'm not at all surprised by your total ignorance and racism.

The first time I heard about your tirade about Manny Pacquiao's illiteracy, prayers to "chicken bones," and the Philippine's reputation for sex tourism I found myself caught in a bit of struggle. You see, as a Filipino-American woman I was not at all shocked to find you think little of my motherland and its hero. ~excerpt from short story

Let's Get One Thing Straight, Tyler Birss

The Tuxedo Archives

The feeling was far from pleasant. Once my friend’s colossal head collided with my face, I knew that I had broken my nose. Blood immediately drenched my large white tee and trickled down and onto the blacktop. I looked as if I had just fought Mike Tyson in a boxing match during the prime of his career. I slowly stumbled to the athletic trainer’s room with my bud in hopes of receiving some treatment. No one was there. ~excerpt from short story

People Watching Ii, Phillipa Armes

The Tuxedo Archives

I wonder if they knew they were neighbors.

I would never have known had I not followed them to their doorsteps. I would never have guessed that these two seemingly average men happened to live next door to each other in their million dollar houses. I would never suspect such a coincidence. Was it coincidence?

But maybe I should learn to expect the unexpected, be it cliché or not. ~excerpt from short story

Tongue Twisting Word Listing, Alex Ward

The Tuxedo Archives

I’m Tall like Bunyan, Pierce, and Gasol,
I’m white like Wall, but my names not Paul,
unfortunate fortune tellers break their crystal ball,
Peter Piper picked a patch, cabbage patch doll,
wicked wizardry words slippery like lotion ~excerpt from poem

The Gladiatrix, Heather Soderquist

The Tuxedo Archives

Birth me mother, please, in silence
For I’ll know no tranquil world.
Only then will life be peaceful
For I’m a rebel girl. ~excerpt from poem

Sir Gerstle's Fowl Lament, Vicki Thomson

The Tuxedo Archives

Do you hear gobbles from a haunted voice?
Feather cape, swan-like neck, on stage no more-
I, Sir Gerstle, gallant turkey, hero,
Swashbuckling star of street studded drama,
Deceased. Thespian whose sharp crimson beak
And golden feet, leaped, fencing and dashing,
Darting between moving cars, trucks, and bikes
Earning their wrath while I gave you a laugh,
Aviary Aristophanes –gone. ~excerpt from poem

Background, Eugene Rinehart

The Tuxedo Archives

Dad stands in the back aisle

And smiles

I know, he prefers it that way

To being up front and

Not having a good time. ~excerpt from poem

Unfolding, Julie Muskat

The Tuxedo Archives

All the beauty in the world is contained in a grain of sand.
Once a rock, a shell, a bone
Tumbled by history
Tossed through the sea
Atoms traveling, changing, constantly evolving
Forever creating
New forms ~excerpt from poem

Haitian Bitch, Sukey Lewis

The Tuxedo Archives

Destruction of my substructure by stressed plates,
Some voo-doo curse laid it on—deconstructing my
Already worn-out, washed-up, ruined heap some called infrastructure.
Why? Too much bad blood, buried bones.
Lost babies, lost mamas, lost—
Nothing new, but nasty all the same. ~excerpt from poem