2021
Table of Contents 1
Sriya Annem
25
Olivia Ryan
2
Jadyn Underwood
26
Anonymous
3
Natalie Bianchi
27
CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT: Natalie Bianchi
4
Cass Bryant - Three-Four
29
Kaya Lee
5
Nathan Gibson - Within
30
Sam Hurley
7
Naomi James
31
Carly Riggs - Jellyfish
8
Anonymous - Birdwatching
32
Teayom Karimpourian Oh, Nevermind
9
Nick Schiffman
33
Jadyn Underwood - Stairway
10
Nick Schiffman
34
Cass Bryant - Stitch
11
Grace Miller
35
Genevieve Ansay - Renewal
12
Naomi James What Loathsome Delights
37
CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT: Jadyn Underwood
13
Jack Rost
39
Alara Gungor
14
George LaHood
40
Naomi James - ad nauseam
15
Natalie Bianchi
41
George LaHood
16
Naomi James
42
Natalie Bianchi
17
CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT: George LaHood
43
Natalie Bianchi
19
Natalie Bianchi
44
Naomi James - model citizen
20
Evan Clark - Choo Choo
45
George LaHood
21
Carly Riggs - Redemancy Series
46
Maddie Oliver
22
Cass Bryant - Marmalade
47
Nick Schiffman
23
George LaHood
48
Lola Shipman
24
Cass Bryant - Spilt
49
Varsha Venkatesh - Icarus
Welcome to BVNW’s Literary Magazine
Sriya Annem
1
Jadyn Underwood
2
Natalie Bianchi
3
Three-Four oh, how you change the tempo of time how, not just the heart, but every organ of mine turns to the metronome behind such a panicked waltz. Cass Bryant
4
5
Scan to listen:
6
Naomi James
7
Birdwatching I walked this path with my dear daughter once, I ahead of her, but then I stopped to admire a bird. She continued on into the fast approaching grill of a rusty pickup truck. It seemed as though I could not hear her final agonized words over the little thing’s song. Now I sit day after day, scope aimed up into the treetops, waiting each time to tense my forefinger with all its might, daydreaming of an end to their sorry tunes, and mine as well. Anonymous
8
Nick Schiffman
9
Nick Schiffman
10
Grace Miller
11
What Loathsome Delights I kiss my own forehead and whisper “goodnight” Shuffle my feet to go turn off the light My pillow is damp, my nightmares in sight Dead love and fresh grief, what loathsome delights. Naomi James
12
Jack Rost
13
George LaHood
14
Natalie Bianchi
15
Naomi James
16
CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT
17
George LaHood
Featured on pages: 14, 23, 41, 45
What inspires you? “I think that a lot of times—and I think the pandemic has helped with this—a lot of times people just kind of walk, they just kind of do their day-to-day and they don’t really look around. And I think that... if you stop and look, there’s pretty cool stuff.”
Why do you feel drawn to your medium? “It’s just easy. I like taking pictures... It’s so accessible and really simple, I just go outside and take my camera with me and maybe I’ll find something.”
How many cameras do you own? “I have two digital cameras, my movie camera, my DSLR. Then I have two Pentax Spotmatics; they’re 35 millimeter cameras. Then I have a Holga... like a medium format camera—you should definitely buy one, they’re very cool, like 40 bucks. Then I have this other old medium format camera which would have been owned by a family, and it’s kind of crappy but I got it for Christmas… then I have an eight millimeter camera.”
How do you see your future as a creator? “Well, I’m going to study film production in college, so I’ll always have a camera with me, I think. If I ever go anywhere, I take a camera with me, and I’m sure that won’t end. I’ll just keep doing it.”
18
Natalie Bianchi
19
Choo Choo Trudging along the tracks Neverending they seem No one else in the world who has to pay the tax The train lights shine bright More blinding and blinding they numb Closer and closer I succumb The shadows around shrink in fear The horn shrieks devilishly It’s a song of distress, no, of bookends But it’s arrived too fast, too soon Blocking out the cries of friends The train hits They don’t understand why the tears fill the pits Why me, Why him Evan Clark
20
Redemancy Series
21
Carly Riggs
Marmalade The oranges we picked grew heavy on short trees leafed in glossy green. The branches drooped; their leaves smoothed over pored peels. My fingertips grew sticky from broken fruit skins, covered in a thin sheen of sugar that seems to seal my fingerprints. Walking slowly you could feel the humidity hang in the air, as though light would have to ripple to pass through it. My sister and mother walked ahead on the path, with lumpilyfilled white linen bags slung over their shoulders. I jogged to catch up, stuffing one last orange into the gap in the bag. They looked tired but calm: lips upturned, but eyelids heavy. We paid for them by placing the bags on a large shiny scale and giving the owner two dollars and fifty cents for every pound. They rolled around the seats of the car as we drove the long way home. My mother started water for tea while my sister and I gathered the oranges back into their bags then poured them into the sink for washing. I watched as she dried them off on cream-colored cloth and sliced them thin enough you could look through the segments like small panes of a window. We placed them in layers like scales at the bottom of a pot and coated them in thick layers of sugar. Under heat they broke down and liquified into a lazy syrup with bubbles that rose slowly and sank back down. The saccharine steam off the pot smelled thickly of snapped citrus peels. We stood as close as we could without burning our fingers and learned that watched pots do boil. That the bitter bits of the orange’s exterior broke down eventually, leaving a fine grit or soft lumps in the coating of sugar. That they must have been there on purpose, or we would’ve removed the peels.
Cass Bryant
22
George LaHood
23
Spilt I am a grain of salt, escaped from the shaker, a singular speck. I am a grain of salt, casting for once, its own shadow finally, uniquely, one fleck. Yet I am exactly the same as the five thousand three hundred sixty two others that too have chosen to spill away from the rest (give or take). I am one of a million and one from the million which are exactly the same thing in french. Donc, je, un sur un million with only my singularly saline story to share, am left to wonder, how among all these others, do I compare? Cass Bryant
24
Olivia Ryan
25
Anonymous
26
CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT
27
Natalie Bianchi
Featured on pages: 3, 15, 19, 42, 43
What inspires you? “Pretty much everything. I just look at stuff and like whatever comes to my brain, honestly, it can go anywhere, I guess... Mostly people, just because they’re so different and you can do whatever you want with the face and it still looks like a face. And, you can use different colors, and you can still see a person there.”
Why do you feel drawn to your medium? “Mostly, I like acrylic paint just because if you mess up it’s super easy to paint over it—and I mess up a lot—so that’s pretty much why I like paint. Right now I’m taking a bunch of art classes to make sure what I like is what I like. I’ve taken sculpture and jewelry, and drawing, and ceramics, but yeah, all of it’s fun.”
How do you see your future as a creator? “Hopefully in a lot of different mediums just because I take a bunch of classes in those mediums. Hopefully just very diverse, and very artsy.”
Will you pursue art in college? “Yes, just because that’s what I see myself doing, and that’s what I like to do, and I can’t see myself doing anything else because that would be boring.
28
Kaya Lee
29
Sam Hurley
30
Jellyfish
31
Carly Riggs
Oh, Nevermind Every time I look at you It seems what I said Just the night before Has been erased I told you these things Because I trusted you I wanted to be so close So why are you so far away? Did I share too much? Was it too specific? The lump in my throat Explodes with apologies And begs for you To forget I’ll never share again I promise you Because I really do love you And I would do anything To keep you from leaving Even if it means Never being able to Truly speak to you again. Teayom Karimpourian
32
Stairway
33
Jadyn Underwood
Stitch ripping the seams of others’ dreams she collected new threads for sewing then stitching her life from tendrils of strife she wondered where she was going for the time spent thieving and causing these grievings only coated her needles with grime that slickened her fingers and spoke of dead dreamers and how greedy she’d grown with time Cass Bryant
34
Renewal
35
Genevieve Ansay
36
CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT
37
Jadyn Underwood
Featured on pages: 2, 33
What inspires you? “I’m kind of just inspired by me. I would say I’m really inspired by a lot of other artists as well, but I try to only make what I want to make. I don’t try to make things for other people; I make them for myself.”
Why do you feel drawn to your medium? “I try to use as many mediums as possible. I think it’s really important for me to expand my artistic ability in all places. It’s mostly just trying new things. I think trying new things is just in general really good for your brain, so I try to do that for myself.”
How do you see your future as a creator? “I hope to be some type of independent creator eventually, probably during and/or after college. I think in general, I’ve known since I was a child creating art is going to be what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. So, I’m just excited to either, hey, be a freelancer, work as like a cute little artist for like Hallmark or something, or just kinda— I’m just going to do what I what honestly, but hopefully make money with it [laughs]”
38
Alara Gungor
39
ad nauseam the warm taste of sore gums I douse myself in the honey/acid/ pheromone of human connection so my brain can take a stroll down the floral path reserved for those who know what it is to be wanted fingernails dig crescents in soft palms I place daisies in my hair and crush berries onto my lips because “vintage” sound better than “used” and I look better when I’m with you Naomi James
40
George LaHood
41
Natalie Bianchi
42
Natalie Bianchi
43
model citizen it’s funny how you convince yourself that a system of exploitation was really designed for you and that maybe you’d stop hating yourself if you just gave it a day or two. Naomi James
44
George LaHood
45
i want you to touch me like you used to i envy your bed come lay with me and tell me the stories your eyes hold. i was a vacant residence, now enriched in candlelight by your soothing charisma the warmth you give me is something i deeply crave but with time comes detachment and i know you will pack up your belongings and blow out the candle and lock the door with your interest on another place to call home. one to fill with your charming smirk and music i grew to love your light flickers now, a candle mingling with a ghost or two the wax melts i know your lease is ending today, tomorrow, and the days that follow will be spent soaking all of you up so that when your wick is no longer ablaze, the residence of me will indefinitely blossom with light odd how your faltering feelings make me feel undeniably beautiful. Maddie Oliver
46
Nick Schiffman
47
Lola Shipman
48
Icarus I. she dreams of the moon One night, she stops to look up at the loyal moon And then she finds him, A lonely star shining, sparkling, screaming for help. The brightest star of them all, flickering desperately against the cold night sky. II. her heart belongs to the stars She is flooded by a wave of courage Making it her quest to reach the lonely star and make him feel safe again. She blasts forward with immense speed, powered by everything she has and more, Hoping that if she is fast enough she might just take off. III. she lost it all to the fire She soars Reaching her hands out to the star Her skin blistering, burning, peeling, left crudely deformed by the concentrated heat. She welcomes it, for the heat is the answer to make her feel whole again. IV. all that’s left are the scars Her body burns against the surface Melting into the flames First her hair, then her skin, then her bones, then her being. Further fueling the fire, and healing the brightest star of them all.
49
Varsha Venkatesh
Editors
Naomi James Cass Bryant
Staff
Jadyn Underwood Natalie Bianchi Eli Dougan Evan Clark Varsha Venkatesh Sriya Annem Sommer Huang Braden Bartalos
Sponsor
Mrs. Sarah Lee
Acknowledgements Thank you to Mrs. Rachel Kendrick, Mr. Andrew Addington, and Mr. Billy Ning for making this publication possible.
Disclaimer This is a student publication and may contain controversial matter. Blue Valley Unified School District No. 229 and its board members, officers and employees disclaim any responsibility for the content of this student publication; it is not an expression of School District Policy. Students and editors are solely responsible for the content of this student publication.