THE PENDULUM
Each work that follows was created by a current St.Luke's Student. The works below include poetry, prose, essays, paintings, photography and various other doodles.
I STOOD- UNBURIED IN THE SNOW
By Cate Matthews (Inspired by Emily Dickinson)
I stood- unburied in the Snow
A Gown of glinting ice.
The sun rose up -White limbs fell down
And neighbors passed me twice.
I stood quite still to see them sing.
The ground began to melt
As songbirds turned their call True North
And Emerald burned my eyes.
Great plows and steeds- have tried to move
But none could bear my Weight.
The tears of Time - with her Pale eyes
Are all that wear me blank.
On the Move- Jack Laibe
MINI-SAGAS: FLACHS' CREATIVE WRITING
THE HUSBAND WITH BAD EYESIGHT AND A DEATHLY RAISIN ALLERGY
Grace McKessy
One day Brenda passed her husband’s favorite bakery and decided she would stop in and get his favorite dessert, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Looking through the glass she saw her husband on a date with another woman. That night she didn’t say anything but instead baked him homemade oatmeal raisin cookies.
DOGS IN THE BASEMENT
Alexa Feldman
Everyday he walks five to ten dogs. He’s the guy your cousin's wife recommended when you were looking for someone to take Scout outside during the work day. Everyone knows the dog walker. Friendly man always takes good care of the dogs. Well, at least that’s what you thought.
NICK WAS BROKEN ALONG WITH THEIR RELATIONSHIP
Lea Panagiotidis
Nick was infatuated with someone. She seemed perfect to him, but flawed to others. The sight of her lit up his face, and filled his stomach with butterflies. It was a true love story, until college became a thing, and she left with no hesitation.
Heat Wave - Aida Nahas
Droplets of sticky sweat
Rolling down her neck
She opened the window
Desperate for refreshing outside air
The heat is excruciating
Dry and deadly
A cool popsicle might do the trick
Or maybe ice cold water
A fan at high speed might help
But nothing can truly stop the heat
("Lemons" by Moli Ma (Oil on Canvas)
I SAW A MIRROR ON THE WALL
Jake Kavan
I saw a Mirror on the wall--
Then walked up to its frame
An Image I wished not to see
Erupted into flames
It pierced my eyes cut through my mind
The darkness in my head
Flew out went on and told more souls
To my surprise and dread
For I believed in secrets with
A Friend whom I could trust
But like the rest of those I knew
My Friend began to Rust
(photograph by Abbey O'Meara)
Click on the Works Below to Expand
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Asleep or Merely Dreaming - (Emilia von Lilien-Brockmeyer)
She, who was born to be beloved by the strokes of a paintbrush,
Lay silent in a room heavy with the smell of pomegranate and fig,
Her face dusted with the pale vestige of a fragile euphoria.
The shards of notoriety will soon draw blood,
But she will be fluttering with nymphs and feasting
on honeycomb dripping from sylvan flames.
A Creature grotesque sits heavy on her soft stomach,
A Thing of deplorable peculiarity.
It soaks in the impurities she holds to her breast,
Savoring the delicate flavor of a life unlived.
The curtain behind her blankets a rancid black steed,
With bulging white eyes, a feast for famished flies.
“Better luck next time,” he said with a grin,
But with deaf ears she could not hear the din.
The two harvesters stand shadowed,
The rotten figment of a mind so young,
A girl who sipped on ambrosia, but fed on the thoughts of inevitable sleep.
In her room lurks a languishing dissonance with idle hands.
It will devour her starlit corpse soon.
(Painting: Portrait with Closed Eyes - Jenna Volpitta)
A response to the prompt: "You find a note in an abandoned house. What does it say?" - (Lucas Manocherian)
I’m in an abandoned building. There is a piece of paper on the floor. Why am I in the building you ask. Mind your own business. Aren’t all buildings technically abandoned? We are all just dead people living. Think about it. I mean there is air in a building. The only thing that is really abandoned is your ability to pick a winner for this contest cuz as far as i’m concerned, I didn't win.
I want 1500 dollars. I need to get rid of my wants. That is how I will achieve enlightenment and find Nirvana. Anyways I pick up the paper. I turn it over. The bright green text is shining in my face. This isn’t normal, I think. Might as well put this down. Paper isn’t supposed to glow green. I’m not supposed to win this contest. Especially with the fake name I picked. So I put the paper down. And then I pick it up again. I am a teenager. I don’t do rational things. How do you think I ended up in an abandoned building in the first place? This piece of paper is pretty interesting. Hopefully you think that the piece of paper you are reading this on right now is pretty interesting cuz I want 1500 dollars. Oh wait, you are probably reading this digitally. But not on a phone. If you are reading this on a phone then you get a detention…. I mean community rebuilding block. Computers are okay, people visiting the school love computers. This green piece of paper has text on it. The text has words. I am not in the right state of mind to read these words. Why do you think I’m in an abandoned building? Anyway I wait around until I am in the right state of mind to read the words. The walls in the building are well done. The architect must have been pretty talented. Shame no one liked his building. I read the paper. The words are “Enter to learn, go forth to serve.” These words belong on the building of a private school in a wealthy town in the Northeast. Not some abandoned building. I need to throw this out. There are no garbages here. I could recycle. I heard once that the mob owns the recycling business so it’s prolly gonna end up in the ocean anyway. Better not think about it. If you don’t want to end up in the ocean pick my paper to win. JUST KIDDING. The previous statement was a joke and is not eligible to be used in a court of law because of that. Anyway, I entered the building hoping to learn something. I learned a lot. But I still know nothing. The only thing I know is that I know nothing. Nevermind, I think I know I won’t win this contest. Especially after this ramble. Anyways, the moral of this story is don’t end up in abandoned buildings and you won’t have to read. Reading sucks. Hopefully reading this doesn’t suck. I want 1500 dollars. Then I can really go forth and serve……….
PS I didn’t have time to edit this… Take that into account when picking a winner. Everyone else prolly edited.
Claire Watson (Photograph)
THE THINGS WE CAN'T REMEMBER
Emma Scanlan
My purple baby blanket,
The one wrapped up in a box for safe keeping
Because that is, of course, something people need to keep.
The blanket you can’t remember dragging behind you everywhere you went,
Though that’s what the stories and photos say happened
The blanket you now believe saw everything you saw.
The blanket you can’t remember having draped in your lap on every car ride
Because that stopped the crying when you didn’t want to go somewhere
The blanket you now assume kept you calm as you were taken from place to place.
The blanket you can’t remember snuggling up with every night for bed
But you know you must have, for how else would you have fallen asleep?
The blanket you remember putting away, for you were too old to need it to fall asleep anymore.
So why do we keep these little childhood knick knacks?
We don’t really need them, we aren’t kids anymore
But I guess we do need them, to remember the time we were.
(Image- "Midnight" by Abbey O'Meara)
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let love be the reason you do what you do - Quinn Gregorich
let love be the reason you do what you do
fall down in sun-baked dirt and kick off your shoes
wiggle your toes and stretch out in the grass
for troubles will come, but they’ll always pass.
feel the fireworks echo proudly in your chest
close your eyes knowing you did your level best
and when you wake up, Love, sigh with relief
for there is no solace without profound grief.
rise gently each morn with daylight on your face
greet each of your neighbors with kind words and grace
believe in others fiercely without a shadow of a doubt
for everyone’s fighting a war you know nothing about.
let love be the reason you do what you do
because if you don’t, you’re a goddamn fool
savor every particle of the air that you breathe
for your life may be simple, but it’s far from complete.
(Drawing by Emilia von Lilien-Brockmeyer)