by Maya Asregadoo
Last in the forest
Beautiful in its death colors
The sunset-colored leaf
Clings to its branch
Wavering
The Long War
by Christian Theodossy
The men had been fighting for years, eons. No one, not a soul, not even the old generals commanding young soldiers to their deaths could remember why it had started. But still they fought. They fought day and night, not even stopping to remove the bodies of nameless men. It was no “civilized” war like people fought in old times. There were no ranks of soldiers lined up to open fire and mow down the opposing lines, but instead a confused, angry, terrified mass of human beings fighting, tearing each other apart, gouging and ripping and biting and cutting. And the demon of war stood above on a hill, looking down on the great war he had begun.
“This is good,” he said.
“The men fight. They suffer. They die. And for no other reason than because they do.”
The fighting went on for centuries, children being trained to fight at an early age and sent off to battle when they were ready. The sides were evenly matched, no side ever gaining ground on the other. They simply fought on a scorched field covered in packed dirt and blood from hundreds of thousands of restless feet pounding the ground. The people were beyond hope that the war would ever end, so it became their way of life. Continue reading
Ember
Monterey
Life is meant to be Lived
By Jack Joseph
I needed to get this out of my head and onto the page, so that I would be free of the weighty burdens of work and pleasure.
__________
This is not for a prompt. This is not for any external reason. I am writing this for a selfish purpose. I am writing this for me.
I have come to the conclusion that one of the most insidious inventions of mankind is the calendar. Yes, it allows for long-term planning. Yes, it provides a definitive schedule so that we may structure our lives and partition out our time. Each and every one of us has been able to make long-term plans because of calendars. However, it puts a person into entirely the wrong mindset. Continue reading
Alan’s Face
by Michael Lutzker
Alan’s face
outer space
makes me go to my
happy place
Alan’s face
watch it flutter with such grace
to call it ugly is a disgrace
perfection of the human race
i want to see it draped in lace
grind it up and make a paste
brush my teeth with it in haste
lean in and give it a quick taste
only after i spray it with mace
Alan’s face
Elegy to Childhood
by Maya Asregadoo
Day after day marked off of the calendar
Endless ticking of a clock
School, job
life
Make it stop, make it stop
Sticky-sweet apple juice on my fingers
Cracker crumbs on my lips and
Wet soil packed onto my pants and
Gravel stuck between the cracks of my
Shoes
My mother shook her head in
Exasperation but she still
Smiled with secret pleasure
Days devoted to learning and play
In equal measure Continue reading
Isolation: the only truth
By Jack Joseph
This is my response to the fear prompt. It’s meant to be from someone’s perspective that doesn’t realize that he or she is living in fear. Contains barely any mature language.
_________
I left as quickly as I could. I hadn’t said anything, luckily, but I could still feel all of their eyes on me. Why can’t they just let me suffer on my own? It’s bad enough as it is without them laughing behind my back. I know they do it. Even if I try to spend the period with my head down while I doodle in my note-book, their attention gravitates towards me. Oh, they’re subtle though. I rarely see them stare at me directly, but I know that they do it. Those clever assholes have had years to practice.
The walk home is blissful, even though I know I have homework, projects, presentations, finals, interviews, applications, tests, and quizzes all hanging over my head like the Sword of Damocles. I finally had time to be away from those bastards and just breath (which, coincidentally enough, is what my biology presentation next Thursday is about — breathing, I mean). I didn’t need to worry about the cars passing by me on the sidewalk and what the drivers thought of me. Why should they? I’m nothing to them! I am a bystander in their lives. I play such an insignificant role that anyone could do it! The blink of an eye and I’m gone. Just like that. Never really needed to be there in the first place. God what a beautiful kind of life. No one peering into you, asking questions about what you think, who you look up to, or what kind of ice cream you like. Continue reading
Words 