Untitled by Sophia Chu

i can just see it
​as if the insides themselves have manifested
emotions packaged and ready for detonation
every organ twisted around itself
wrapped in skin like tissue paper
tied with veins like twine
a dark present
a monster of anger
a blast of power
when what you are extends
beyonds the confines of your body.
how big can the explosion be
and how much damage can we cause?

Untitled by Rebecca Bosloy

Oh Ariadne,
With your hair threaded gold,
How you dance on light feet,
Uncalloused and soled.
 
Oh Ariadne,
With your heart like a sun,
How you give it away,
To be broken and won.
 
Oh Ariadne,
For whom do you care?
For your brother, the monster,
Alone in his lair?
 
Oh Ariadne,
With that ball of twine,
You condemn him to death,
And you to the vine.
 
Oh Ariadne,
How cruel does fate weave?
For you’ve killed your brother,
Yet only you grieve.

Image submission by Braelyn Cheer

Labyrinth of War by Elizabeth Pelletier

War rages on for the innocent soldiers sold to the demon of greed
Money is the root of all evil,  corrupted, financial power is the seed
Warriors want only to escape this hellish labyrinth of their graves
The battlefield grows  towards the sky, now a dark, bloody  cave

​The devil’s lair has a special place to those who romanticize war
Floors painted red of the innocents  mothers had once bore
Bring home what’s left of the troops, and commander’s  plinth
Thousands of lives will never return from the depths of this labyrinth

Ghazal Poem by Pascale Malenfant

Rings in tree trunks tell themselves a persisting story
​the thick and thin, illustrate an existing story.

In early night wrapped in quaint quilts and calm quiet  
father reads an old oaken saw, a bending story.

A tale of two lovers carved in bark through two letters
grown over and faint from time, a disheartening story.

In a maple-wood crib lies a new daughter, swaddled
long-lashed grey eyes do foretell an impending story.

Girlish giggles and shrieks at a sparking fire’s side
as one speaks of ghouls and beasts, a frightening story.

Her fingertips are dry from thesaurus pages, the
writing narrative defined as a persisting story.

Escaping the Cage by Phoebe Ivie

Gloomy grey skies are telling me
“Come and wave a greeting”.
Inside it is cold, breezy and comfortable.
Beyond the wall is similar,
Though I prefer closed scenery.

Carrying weakness, I spit out
Terrible red blood
That you created from your fist.
Perfectly bruised knuckles
Were my returned gifts,
As my jaw shone with pride.
The tambourine clinked in our background,
And left us to be an undefinable scene.

On Park street you let me know you were leaving
After I gave you hues of red, purple, and blue
Green and yellow too.
In our end I found a beginning,
I lay down on the grass and sigh
I can finally move on.

Gloomy grey skies spun above me,
Dim stars could be my only companions
As the sun had not quite set.
Outside it was cold, breezy, comfortable,
Beyond the water’s edge
A swan called out my name.
And though I prefer closed scenery,
This feeling is the same.

To Keep Me Safe by Elizabeth Tackabury

I built the walls up around me
​A maze to keep me safe and sound
To protect a heart that shatters too easily
I built the walls up around me
To keep out the tides of the sea
The other half of me is never found
I built the walls up around me
A maze to keep me safe and sound.

Untitled by Braelyn Cheer

If steely-grey spires stretch up to the sky,
then rivers of lava devour the land
If a hopeless horizon sits bare to the east,
then the west must crawl with unwanted surprises

If the stars in the heavens are fading and dead,
then the fires of hell are blazing
If life as life is full of joy,
then death be life relinquished

So if pure silver water be muddied by dirt,
then the salts of the earth shall rise
And if tired children fall into dreams,
then restless souls shall pace

​And if freedom is defined as power to be,
then how many more are not?
But if one kind soul should take pity on us,
then sacred hearts shall thrive

Frayed Reality by Emily Eddy

I often feel as though my world can be
​Torn away, that it’s not reality,
But the framework of one that has been frayed.
And for a second all becomes quiet,
Time slows, feelings numb, and I look around,
Won’dring what I’m doing in this odd place,
As though life was but a simulation
Becoming blurred and fizzling away,
Until it suddenly snaps to focus,
Back to as it was, leaving me with a
Puzzling emptiness, disappointment
Over “a something” that should’ve happened,
That I should remember, but this world tugs
Me back and it is all reconstructed.

Untitled by Kelly Trojanowski

​Last night we were both falling asleep
But in different beds
Whilst I thought of you
And you thought of him

Image submission by Tyler Scharf.

Untitled by Mikaela Lewis

We are a pondering race
Wandering around in this labyrinth we call life
Searching for some form of clarity
Before the world crumbles around us

We try to play god
But we’re just humans
We’re David trying to be a giant
A lamb trying to be a fox

And yet we try to wrap our tiny human brains around the universe
The ever expanding infinite universe
We tell ourselves we’re important to it
That it can’t survive without us

​But who are we to tell the universe what it needs
To say we’re the the most important thing
That we are the center everything
When in reality we are the center of nothing

Image Submission by Phoebe Ivie

Untitled by Rishika Achyuthan

Her heart was like a puzzle. She thought she had finished the masterpiece. Every part had been put together. But just as she finished she realized a piece was missing. She gave that piece away and it destroyed her. She was never whole again, and everytime she tries to start anew she gives another piece away until there is nothing left, and she’s just left there, broken. In a never ending maze, she searched for a way out. A way out of the pain she caused her heart. A way out of the darkness. Every direction she turns is another obstacle. Another stitch added onto her heart. Maybe one day she could escape the labyrinth of her mind and heart.

Lost, So Incredibly Lost In Class by Rebecca Kempe

Entering a new school is like knowing that no matter which way you go, you will have no recollection of where anything is, because you course you’ve never been there before. The walls are alien. The doors look strange. Even the blandest classroom can feel scary when you’ve lost your bearings, when you have no idea where you are. Trust me, I’ve been there before.
I’ve moved enough times to know that the whole experience of switching schools is never seamless, at all. There’s always a part of it that sucks, no matter how mentally prepared you think you are. Sometimes it’s the feeling of isolation that gets to me. Sometimes, it’s just my paralysing fear, or even more likely, a combination of both. But if there’s a constant for me, it’s entering the new building and feeling hopelessly, hopelessly lost.
It’s a feeling I almost never fail to experience. I’ve attended six schools and visited 5 others, and across the board, the main similarity between the experiences was my confusion, disorientation, and general anxiety. Thing is, anxiety tends to make me more likely to not pay attention, leading to my continued worry as I still have no idea where I am. I’ve gotten lost in a two hallway school before. It involved me standing outside in the pouring rain until someone deemed it necessary to open the portable, which took  a while. It was fun, I swear.
Entering a new school to me is like solving a puzzle where I can see all the pieces but I have no idea how they work together. On better days, I’m just a little lost and confused. On the worst days, it’s like complete culture shock. I don’t understand the layout, or the social structure, and I have no friends. I kinda hate switching schools. Which is why I try to avoid it.

Magic 8 Ball by Celeste Cormier

​There are 20 possible answers in a magic 8 ball; ten affirmative, five negative, five non-committal. The outcomes of this play are determined entirely by its answer.

​​The Tunnel Problem:
(Explorers arrive back in a room and stare at the 5 doors.)
IAN: Does anybody know which way we came from?
GABRIEL: We don’t have enough time to check them all!
LILITH: Not together no.
IAN: What do you mean?
LILITH: Well there’s five hallways and eight of us. So we go in pairs down four of the hallways and when we get back we’ll know which ones are safe.
AMBER: Except one of us is possessed by some evil plant ghost, right? So if two people come back arguing about whether or not they found the exit we won’t know who’s right!
GABRIEL: I’ve got the protective ruin, so I can’t be possessed. I’ll go down one hall alone.
BLAIR: That leaves one person by themselves. They could lie.
IAN: So? We only need to know about four of the halls for sure.
PETE: But they could lie about traps or something.
GABRIEL: He’s right. We’d have to know for sure.
THEA: Look, we’re wasting time! I know I’m okay, I’ll go alone.
IAN: But you could be lying!
AMBER: So could you! (The cave rumbles.)
PETE: There’s only one way to know for sure!
(He pulls out the magic 8 ball.)
PETE: Great Stone of Prophecy, is Thea Tempest possessed?
(Scroll to the corresponding section: YES, NO, or MAYBE.)

YES
(PETE reads the answer. THEA looks around frantically.)
THEA: The stupid thing is broken! I’m not possessed by some cave ghost!
LILITH: Calm down…
THEA: I’m not gonna calm down! It’s not me! It’s not me!
GABRIEL: No one’s gonna hurt you, okay?
RED: We have to go!
THEA: No! (She lunges. GABRIEL grabs her. She screams. PETE hits her with the magic 8 ball. She’s unconscious.)
AMBER: Well I guess that answers that question.
GABRIEL: Pete, tie her up and stay here. The rest of us can go check four of the hallways.
(PETE ties THEA up. The others split up. PETE opens his pack and pulls out the amulet case.)
PETE (To THEA): You know, this thing better be worth it. (Beat) Sorry about hitting you by the way. (Beat) Maybe I should apologize when you’re conscious.
(Pause. He puts the case back in his bag and pulls out a granola bar. He eats for a few seconds. BLAIR runs in and shakes his head. GABRIEL enters.)
GABRIEL: Did we pass a giant pit of wolverines when we came in?
PETE: I don’t think so.
GABRIEL: Then it’s not that way.
(IAN and LILITH run in. IAN pants, LILITH doesn’t.)
LILITH: No good.
(GABRIEL lifts THEA up just as RED and AMBER run in.)
AMBER: We found it!
(They run down hall number 4.)

​NO
(PETE reads the answer and THEA sighs with relief.)
THEA: Fantastic! So I’ll go alone. Everyone hurry!
(RED grabs AMBER and holds his knife to her throat.)
RED: We’re all gonna stay right here, okay?
LILITH: Okay, okay. We’ll stay. Just put the knife down.
RED: Everybody sit on the wall over there! (They do.) We’re gonna stay right here. We’re gonna stay right here. Here.
BLAIR: It’s okay Amber, it’s gonna be okay.
(AMBER winks and reaches for the knife in her pocket.)
RED: We belong here.
LILITH: If we don’t leave you aren’t getting your college credit.
(AMBER stabs RED in the leg and runs. He screams, PETE runs up and hits him with the magic 8 ball. He’s unconscious.)
IAN: Right. Lilith, take a look at his leg. We’ll find an exit.
(LILITH ties RED up. The others leave. LILITH opens her pack and pulls out bandages. She wraps his leg.)
LILITH: You know, this amulet better be worth it. It’s why I became an archeologist, did you know? I’ll be it a medic.
(Pause. Enter BLAIR. He shakes his head. GABRIEL enters.)
GABRIEL: It’s not that way. Unless we passed a giant pit of wolverines when we came in?
(IAN and THEA run in. IAN pants, THEA doesn’t.)
THEA: No good. How’s Red?
LILITH: Pretty good actually. When he’s back to normal I’ll give him some antibiotics.
THEA: Will he go back to normal?
LILITH: Now that is out of my jurisdiction.
(GABRIEL holds RED up just as PETE and AMBER run in.)
AMBER: We found it.
(They run down hall number 4.)

MAYBE
(PETE reads the answer. There’s a pause, the cave rumbles.)
AMBER: Well what now?
IAN: We’ll just have to risk it! Everyone split up, and hurry!
(They all nod and run off, THEA alone. Beat. IAN and LILITH run in and look around. LILITH has spider web in her hair.)
LILITH: I have a bad feeling. How will you know who to trust?
IAN: I guess I’ll wing it. At least we know we’re fine. I think we can agree that wasn’t the exit.
LILITH: What tipped you off, the massive cobweb in the way?
(She pulls the web out of her hair. AMBER and RED run in.)
AMBER: No luck. (GABRIEL runs in.)
GABRIEL:  It’s not that way. Unless we passed a giant pit of wolverines when we came in? (THEA runs in gasping.)
THEA: I found it! I found it!
IAN: Well this is just peachy.
THEA: I swear, it’s that way. I’m not possessed. I saw outside.
(The others stand skeptically. BLAIR runs in.)
BLAIR: Guys, we found it! We found the exit!
(IAN looks frantically between THEA and BLAIR.)
GABRIEL: Where’s Pete?
BLAIR: He’s waiting outside!
AMBER: Not good. Very not good.
(IAN looks back and forth again.)
IAN: Thea… Lead the way.
(BLAIR screams and attacks RED. GABRIEL grabs him from behind and AMBER knocks him out with a rock.)
GABRIEL: What about Pete?
THEA: Blair must’ve left him somewhere in the tunnel.
GABRIEL: Well I have to go get him! Go. I’ll catch up.
(He leaves. They grab BLAIR and all go down hall 4. )