Category: Spring 2021

Their resilience and persistence Is the reason for my existence.  Their drumming and singing Keeps time with my heart beating. The centuries-long fight, Is passed along through my blood.  Their struggle, hardship, and plight, An invisible burden on my shoulders. I am a mosaic of those who came before, Walking our homeland.  Unlearning, relearning, advocating Read More …

I am from a shared room,  One hallway,  Happy home. I am from an Artist, Patient enough to share his craft. I am from a Super Woman,  Powerful enough to do it all. I am from two alternate versions of Myself. They are Vigilant and Laughter.  I am from a squeaky backdoor that leads to Read More …

“Has your heart ever broken  So sharply in two, It seems like a butcher’s cleaved you  One piece from another, split into halves?” He asked, outside in dewy April.  My back lay on the grass in the rain  As I pondered what he’d asked.  Perhaps he felt the suffering of lost love  Or the demanding Read More …

Dance cards dangle from delicate wrists Fans flit through cigar-hazed air  Young women curtsy as their hands are kissed  Weaving the beginnings of illicit affairs     Poor girls are blind, thinking love will start   They dance and smile, knowing all except  The games that men play in the dark In corners far off, with promises Read More …

All the days are the same. The room is cold when I wake  I rise to foreign windows that remain  So different from my own; day breaks. Day one … two … three … The room is cold when I wake;  It is not my own room, but a lie So different from my own Read More …

When the world is no longer kind There is a place I like to go It’s not too hard to find I simply close my eyes It is a place called Galaxy Beach A quiet place with water still Warm wind comes in soft gusts Restful is my will The sky is a dark canvas Read More …

Ice on my windshield The movement of the wipers The deafening scrape The cold seat fibers Powder sugar snow Soft to look at Sharp to touch A whitewashed glow Solitary shivers Leaning on the vent Frigid whispers Stony sins repent  The next day Slippery slush The bite has gone away Thawed-out brush Heart beats lighter Read More …

You are a thief. Thief of knowledge, Creativity, and inspiration. The mind — a workspace where Stolen parts are fashioned into Frankenstein’s monster, bringing Dusty ideas back To life. Recycled again to make someone’s existence Seem worthwhile. Paris Riggle is a biomedical biology major who reads and writes far too much poetry for her own Read More …

Towers stand watching the land — It changes. They store Grain like memories.  A great white barn A museum of paint peels Hand-powered metal Blankets of dust Slowly give way to ravages Of time Crumble away and rise to Paint fumes Brittle plastic Plaster dust Quick, quick quick To forget But not the silos.  Paris Read More …

Slowly and methodically I pack The boxes, with each a moment Of my life I encase, seal, and  Shelve. They are saved For later.  Only to be given away to a stranger, Oblivious to the slice of myself They carry tucked between the pages Of a well-worn book They’ll never open. Paris Riggle is a Read More …