The Word Vessels

Hannah Bowman

I still have the first ones worn-down Norcom brand composition notebooks 200 pages, Wide Ruled (I always had gargantuan handwriting) filled with scribblings done in the one classroom that felt like home taking inspiration from the random word generators and books on poetic forms that Mama Natty provided

Then there were the leaner times where all there was to write on was plain white copy paper and little golf pencils with no eraser both bought in bulk and set out in the group therapy room to be written on as a testament to feel even just a little bit free I still have those too

Then there was the leather journal bought at the Decatur Book Festival discounted because the clasping mechanism didn’t work there were celtic knots and a pentacle on the cover and the pages were handmade, thick and scratchy I did write in it, but not as much as I wanted to and to this day many of it’s pages remain blank

Now I type my scattered thoughts and pieces of poems into QuickMemo+ a preinstalled, generic vessel one of convenience

I miss the savage scratching of black ink into pulp like I miss the days when words would flow from me like letted blood be spat out like a habit but a phone is lighter than a book and even though the bright screen hurts my eyes and the words no longer come at my beck and call

I persist, knowing that if I don’t put them down somewhere they will suffer in the limbo of the unwritten

“Do not be afraid”

Lord, show me how

How can I not be afraid?

How can I not be afraid of this baby growing inside of my body?

My virgin body

A baby

Your baby

The son of God

Inside me!

You never make mistakes, Lord

But I don’t understand how you could look at me

My sinful heart, my imperfect faith, and all of my flaws And make me the mother of the Messiah

I’m so young

I could hardly raise any child

Certainly not The child

Your child

I see the way that people look at me Look at my body, with the baby

In my virgin, unmarried body

I know you love me

I know You have a plan

I know how much honor there is in this But they don’t.

They who stop and stare and judge Be with me Lord

I need you

Do Not Be Afraid

Anna Beringer

“Do not be afraid” I was afraid It’s alright to be afraid But never hopeless

No, never hopeless, because the Lord is our hope I thought I was unworthy of such an honor

Sinful, imperfect, flawed I need your help, guidance, protection, love I was I need you

For I alone could never be worthy To carry such a child

But the baby inside of me came to change that He grew into a man

A man who lived without sin

But died with the weight of all the sins of the world on His back Died

My son who did nothing wrong, killed by His own people I wept

I wept a tear for every drop of blood He shed But then in the Lord’s perfect timing He rose again

And the weight of all that sin

Not His sin

Your sin, my sin Was gone Forgiven Washed clean

We don’t deserve

And with this knowledge

Who could be afraid?

My Mother’s Necklace

The House

The Stained Glass Window

Madison Freeman

Standing in the grass outside the Burd Center, I gaze through the stained glass window. Its brilliant hues of green, blue, and red, form a kaleidoscope of shards.

And through it, I watch the outline of a bronze dancer standing elevated in the center of the room.

The fading light from the setting sun dancing across her body forms a different picture with each glance.

Bare feet dipped in blues, ruby reds running up her torso down her arms and into her fingertips, emerald greens glinting off of her smooth hair, along her back, and across her slender shoulders.

Her elegant figure reflects hundreds of fragments. Shards welded together to form a whole, a mirror.

Looking into her eyes, I see my brown irises reflecting back. Each shard of her body emulates my own. Every piece masterfully crafted, molded and shaped by a marvelous Creator.

Versatility 3

Annabelle Brown

vir•i•des•cent Sara Reed Wilson

We didn’t put any music on. Silence echoes in his Hyundai as I wrestle with my belt. In between kisses and promises of forever, the damp breath of desire, the dignity in giving up, giving in. Shaking hands brush against my own, guiding each other, wanting more, the air thick with un- certainty. How does this all work? Neither of us knows what we’re doing. At least, that’s what it feels like. We know the basics, and go off instinct.

There is a kind of electricity that happens every time we touch, and I think that’s what love is. He bows his head for a kiss and our teeth clash, sending a rattle through my brain. No one knows where we are, and there’s a kind of thrill in that. No one cares where we are, and there’s a kind of bitterness in that. But we care. He cares. He cares about me in the way no boy ever has, and so I let him touch me. I can feel the car move ever so slightly, wheels rocking and pressing against the ground. I open my eyes to look around, two milkshakes lay abandoned in the cupholders up front. Mine seems to be leaning towards his, almost. I like that. The streetlamp yards away casts a slight glow over his back. He has nice shoulders. I can’t see the color of his eyes from here, but I know they’re green.

Green, from all the way across the room. Almost radioactive. I could never. I could never be what makes him light up. I feel a hole opening in my chest, feel my heart sinking deeper in my stomach, urging yesterday’s ramen and today’s fireball to come flying up and out. Disgust and bile fill my lungs. Green is seeping into my very skin, making it crawl. I watch him. I know he sees me. We make eye contact and he stares at me blankly, as if he doesn’t recognize me, because of course he did. Asshole. Son of a bitch. I can’t stand him. I want him so bad. I stumble slightly through the hallway and push open the door to the porch, where some- one is passing a joint around. The smell makes me sick in a good way. I watch some upperclassman I don’t know with a snapback and flannel roll another for himself. I like watching other people roll, there’s such concentration in it. And there it is again, that wretched color; infiltrating every part of my life. The joint gets passed to me, and I graciously accept and fill my lungs with green. There’s no point in trying to escape it. Green is everywhere, making things alive. I think it’s almost a kind of cruel irony that the absence of green is the absence of life. That asshole. I don’t know what anything means anymore. I want another drink. I want to slash the tires on his stupid Hyundai. I want to be color blind. I want to go home.

Stay a Little Longer Anna Beringer

Stay a little longer because one day things are gonna change Stay a little longer because the Lord is working

You can’t see it yet but one day He’s gonna reveal Himself to you He’s gonna open your eyes More importantly, He’s gonna open your heart And yeah, it’s gonna be hard, scary even Everything you thought you knew about the world, about life, about yourself, He’s gonna show you how wrong you were. How terribly wrong, and dark, and deformed, and distorted your way was.

And then He’s gonna show you how beautiful, and holy, and good, and right His way is. Stay a little longer because you aren’t going to be alone

Stay a little longer because when everything changes He’s gonna give you people People to look up to People to lead you in the right direction People who love you, miss you

Sometimes they might sit you down and lecture you. But it’s the Lord’s lecture, because He speaks through them And not only will He give you people, but He will be there Every second of every day, He will guide you

Stay a little longer. Stay so you can experience His complete and utter forgiveness, then stay a little longer so that you can experience it every day for eternity.

Stay so that He can show how much He loves you, then stay a little longer so He can show you to love others in the same way. Stay so He can heal the scars, and mend the broken heart, Then stay a little longer so He can remold every once of your being to be more like Him So stay a little longer, because heaven isn’t that far away Stay a little longer and then you can stay forever.