Blue Review 2016

cyanmagentayellowblack

blue review Twenty Sixteen

courtney is awesome

Will Thomason by Jennifer Chappell

blue review Twenty Sixteen Charlotte Latin School 9502 Providence Road Charlotte NC 28277 704.846.1100 1

Chip Martin by Annie Simpson ‘15

Dedication

The Blue Review Staff 2

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The Greatest Poet in the World Robert Fuller

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Molar Cufflinks 22 Grace Morris Survivor Lilly Hallock

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Metamorphosis 42 Kate Mace A Coco-Shaped Hole Eloise Monnin

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Fake ID Riley Singer

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Appassionato Gracie Matthews

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King of the Log Andrew Egge

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Emily Padgett Emily Hinshaw Genna Holtz Adam Bear Riley Singer Juliana Vorhoff Bridget Fish Jasmine Leahy

prose

Sherelia, the City of Mirrors Mattison Shreero

Rhea Shetty Tyler Henry Cady Hammer Grace morris Emma Haseley Hunter Willis Eliza Rich

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Delirium Michael Yang

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The Falsehood of Faith Hunter Willis

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Everything and Nothing Adam Bear

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The Glass Artist Moon Cheong A View From Atop the Steeple Nell Downey

20 Metropolis Bridget Fish

Little Lucy by Sarah Neely

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Living in Lights Audrey Davis

Four Ways to Perceive 25 a Window Harrison Fertitta

poet In a Coffee 26 Shop Moon Cheong

27 Bookmark Riley Singer

28 A Triplet Charlotte Kohn 31

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Flying Dancer Sarah Jordan

Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast Bridget Fish Bloody Love Kendall Phillips

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Forgetting as Forsaking 40 Michael Yang Navigating With Odysseus in the Wake of War 45 Gracie Matthews Technologic 53 Audrey Davis Scalular Stream 55 Jasmine Leahy In a Minnesota Airport 56 Bridget Fish

t ry Mosh 56 Tommy Halkyard

Grandfather 57 Lena Brewer

Modern Alchemy 58 Katrina Chandra Imposter Syndrome 58 Katrina Chandra

The Ballad of 59 the Imposter Katrina Chandra 63 The Lab Margaret Redic 63 A Gentle Rain Topher Gee 67 Panic Attack Grace Morris 69 Robyn Adam Bear I See America 70 Falling Christopher Williams Recoding 71 Humanity Tommy Halkyard Upon the Eyes 72 of Mt. Greybeard Hunter Willis Metal Humanity 72 and Tranquility Hunter Willis I See America 75 Rising Paige Davis Scissor Lift 80 Ascendence Andrew Fish

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Longhorn Long Grass E.C. Myers Milan Mattison Shreero Sail Away Jack Fernandez Pelican Caroline Ficca

35 Bitty Boulders Kate Mace 37 Woods on Wood Hunter Willis 38 Geometric Heart Juliana Vorhoff The Official Residence 41 of My Imagination Paige Davis

art Courtney Juliana Vorhoff Sitting Figure Bridget Fish

Venice Mallory Evans

20 Austin E.C. Myers

24 Light-Dark Bridget Fish The Quest of 26 Kuala Lampur Isabella Swic 29 Snack Time Jack Fernandez 30 Nell Paige Davis

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32 Sister Audrey Davis

43 The Monarchy Jack Fernandez

44 Lowlight Madness Emily Padgett

47 Morning Courtyard Genna Holtz 48 Firework Flowers Isabel de Armas 51 Basil in a Bathtub Avery Davis

52 The Fox and the Crane Bridget Fish 54 Along Hong Kong Isabella Swic 57 Feathered Eclipse Ashley Derrington

Grace by Emily Padgett Free Birds Alaina Lyons

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City Watercolor Mallory Evans

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When a Tree Falls Hunter Willis

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Atychiphobia Bridget Fish

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This Used to be a 77 Funhouse E.C. Myers

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Three Giraffes 78 Mallory Evans

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Glowing Girl 81 Audrey Davis

Procrastination E.C. Myers Jade Juliana Vorhoff

Fixer Upper 71 E.C. Myers Mount Miniscule 73 Kate Mace

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delirium

by Michael Yang

Longhorn Long Grass by E.C. Myers 8

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sherelia the city of mirrors

by Mattison Shreero A poem from One Stuck in the Mirrors ~ It is then I wonder how I am viewed from afar Do I resemble the city or do I still keep my own face For you see I’m sure the sun has a much brighter glow, While the city dances through the night, I remain still Eyes forward Unmoving captivation Nothing, no one can pull me away Not that they bother trying anymore This city is a miracle Its existence improbable It can both comfort and kill you must take your pick One or the other, Never both.

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Milan by Mattison Shreero

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Sail Away by Jack Fernandez

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The false hood of faith

by Hunter Willis Farewell oh faith.

Burnt sienna smoke pumping through a polluted heart.

A heavy hatred.

Pain, betrayal, fear Flailing, plummeting, skidding A lead brick of disbelief How could you leave me, I who trusted so?

Belting rusty psalms to the empty sky Shrieks of the water and wine stained lips of the wounded.

Farewell oh faith, I who trusted so.

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Pelican by Caroline Ficca 14

every thing and nothing

by Adam Bear

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the glass artist

by Moon Cheong In order to recognize a world Where the veins of an autumn petal cascade, The bending ink on a tinted canvas; Try to imagine a period Of time, every second in oil paint And every dawn a watercolor seeping into paper That leaves bristles, worn

Which faces away When you do not see, but feel The eyes of onlookers without windows.

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Courtney by Juliana Vorhoff 17

The assistant to the Greatest Poet in the World was not exactly startled when he was interrupted from his tabloids. A wellfed young man, wearing a beanie, burst through the revolving doors of the Manhattan skyscraper and rushed to the desk in the corner, where the bored assistant was sitting.

the greatest poet in the world

by Robert Fuller

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Sitting Figure by Bridget Fish

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a view from atop the steeple

by Nell Downey

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Venice by Mallory Evans

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by Bridget Fish

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Austin by E.C. Myers

metro polis

living in lights

by Audrey Davis

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like things too extravagant. He was a simple man. A simple man of money and of power. He sat with his feet up on his dark mahogany desk staring at a small TV screen in the corner of the room. He held a crystal glass of brandy in his hand with about two sips still left marinating in the bottom. In the distance, over the volume of the game, he heard the soft clicking of a typewriter coming from the next room. His receptionist, Lara, must be working again. drinking brandy and keeping watch on the score of the baseball game.

molar cufflinks

by Grace Morris

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A fine place for hosting extravagant parties, for taking someone you loved, just sitting cold and alone in the dark.

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Light-Dark by Bridget Fish

four ways to per ceive a win dow

by Harrison Fertitta

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in a coffee shop

by Moon Cheong Sumatra Dark and bright pixels,

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book mark

by Riley Singer I would have stuck it there, Folding it neatly between the pages Marking that spot, that place where In the French cafÊ, because everything You touch becomes art I would have paused Between paragraphs and salty mouths, Dog-earring the time when We planted ourselves on the roof of the parking deck, When the sprawl of city lights Made midnight hesitate to rush into darkness And I shouldn’t have closed the book Smelled like smoke Wanting and having But I lost track of the pages, The past two years Scattering and diverging

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Snack Time by Jack Fernandez

A TRIPLET

by Charlotte Kohn

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Nell by Paige Davis

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A bend in the knee following a pirouette Just as calm waves roll on the wild sea And soak appreciation for movement through singing Shall fold my wings.

FLYING DANCER

From the night of the new age

by Sarah Jordan

through one’s ears

Music is what makes me live those roles; The day the audience leaves

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Sister by Audrey Davis

survivor

by Lilly Hallock

You hear stories of people surviving for days lost in the wilderness. You hear stories of people surviving violent war. You even hear stories of people surviving malicious cancers. How many times have you heard stories of people surviving brain hemorrhages? Only 10 out of every 100,000 Americans will have a ruptured brain aneurysm each year, and of these over a third will not have a story of survival for you to hear. I am the .01% 34

Me

Mom

Me

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Mom

Me

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37 Bitty Boulders by Kate Mace

ALANS PSYCHE DELIC BREAK FAST by Bridget Fish

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Woods on Wood by Hunter Willis

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Geometric Heart by Juliana Vorhoff

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BLOODY LOVE

by Kendall Phillips

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forgetting as forsaking

by Michael Yang

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The Official Residence of My Imagination

by Paige Davis

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In earlier years, summer meant a release from colored grid carpets and reading logs. It loosened the reins of structure and schedule, freeing dirty hands to continue sculpting wondrous worlds out of dirt and forlorn branches long past recess. Hours spent outside sweating in the sunshine, widened smiles and forced out giggles and peals of bright, golden laughter. The grass sprang up to our ankles and our dreams rocketed up past the swingsets and settled just above the treetops.

meta morph by Kate osis Mace

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The Monarchy byJack Fernandez 45

Lowlight 46

Madness by Emily Padgett

navigating with odysseus in the wake of war

by Gracie Matthews

Prelude Shock We’ve come home on our great black ship, The dutch oven bus smells like chocolate and sweat.

It is Valentine’s Day. “It’s a beautiful day. I’m so glad it’s a beautiful day” over and over and over and over I’m a breaking record.

The fear is over the fear is over. the fear is--- over.

We are free.

But He is gone…

At least it’s a beautiful day.

Shock hardening around me like a shell.

I.

Valentine’s Day

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Remembering “Girls, I have to tell you something…”

We both lean forward Like Odysseus waiting for a god to speak This is important.

Seconds, then minutes, tick by We wait My heart sinks.

He can’t remember what he was going to tell us.

“I’m sorry girls, I can’t . . . I can’t remember.”

How will I know what to do if you can’t tell me?

You were supposed to be omniscient.

Pain

II.

Everyday Hero

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Writing

your my

III.

my

Morning Courtyard byGenna Holtz

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Firework 50

Flowers byIsabel de Armas

One of the most vibrant memories from my childhood is of the day my sister Cecelia and I received the gift of a lifetime. I don’t recall much from before the age of frozen frames running through my mind, and similar to a can see the twinkling lights, the bright colored gifts, and the fragrant tree encompassed in a bubble of ornaments.

For years it was my favorite memory, but now it is tainted by a newer memory. By the heartbreaking memory of the day my sister lost her gift. The day my sister lost Coco.

a coco shaped hole

by Eloise Monnin

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Every part of him is a piece to the puzzle that makes up the little girl I used to be.

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Basil in a Bathtub by Avery Davis

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The Fox and the Crane by Bridget Fish

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tech no logic

by Audrey Davis

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Along Hong Kong by Isabella Swic

scalular stream

by Jasmine Leahy

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by Tommy Halkyard

mosh

in a minnesota airport

by Bridget Fish

Grand father

by Lena Brewer

Feathered Eclipse by Ashley Derrington 59

modern alchemy imposter syndrome

A Collection of Poems

by Katrina Chandra

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Free Birds by Alaina Lyons

the ballad of the imposter

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fAke id

by ONE HUNDRED Riley WORD STORY Singer

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City Watercolor by Mallory Evans

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When A Tree Falls by Hunter Willis 64

The Lab by Margaret Redic

a gentle rain by Topher Gee

Light dew atop the leaves, Green blades of grass Glistening in the morning sun, Oak shadows Stretch out across the yard, Reaching arms out, Holding onto cool March air, One brown lump of dog crap On the growing earth.

A gentle rain reminds me of one dear to me, one whom I loved.

Its soft embrace, arms holding tight, blurring lines of wrong and right.

This gentle rain wets my skin, penetrates, soaks deep within.

And then it’s gone, a moment passed, how I wish that storm did last.

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Our den has been converted into a hospital room. Beyond the gauzy curtain shielding the rest of the house is the primal scent of degeneration. The exhalations of my father’s oxygen machine are the only sounds. Our navy blue couch has been pushed to the far side of the room, littered with medical supplies and my mom’s neatly folded bedding. An I.V. bag hangs on the open door of the armoire, a jarring contradiction. A thin plastic tube snakes to the bed in the middle of the room. One of the nurses taught she set about the work of prolonging my father’s life. My mom sits beside the hospital bed, as motionless as he - a grotesque tableau populated by those once familiar.

appassionato with passion

by Gracie Matthews

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Atychiphobia (Fear of Failure)

by Bridget Fish

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panic attack

by Grace Morris

Procrastination by E.C. Myers

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Jade by Juliana Vorhoff

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by Adam Bear

robyn

i see america falling

by Christopher Williams

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73 Fixer Upper by E.C. Myers

by Tommy Halkyard

RECODING HUMANITY

UPON THE EYES OF MT GREY BEARD

Two Poems

by Hunter Willis METAL HUMAN ITY AND TRAN QUILITY

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75 Mount Miniscule by Kate Mace

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art by Paige Davis

i see america rising

by Paige Davis

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My tennis shoes gradually melted away into the white hot pavement as the sun’s rays beat down with unrelenting blows of sweltering heat on me and my private personal prison. The eyebrows of my merciless warden seemed to be locked in a furrowed position of disapproval and distrust, daring me to attempt to escape. My sentence left me with an excess of time to contemplate my imprisonment and what I had done to earn it.

“Alright, class! Now it’s time to get out your homework!” Ms. Austin chirped in a much too delighted, singsongy voice. She circled the room like a

king of the log

like intensity peering down upon her prey and waiting for the right moment, when she could descend from the skies with falcon-like speed and extend her eagle-like claws and… “Well, well, well! It seems as if Andrew has

by Andrew forgotten his homework today!” She Egge feigned disappointment and continued, “Why don’t you have your homework, Andrew?” I was the prey, and I was trapped. She had me right where she wanted me. I stammered unintelligibly for a response sensation of dread.

“I forgot,” I managed. I accepted my fate: the time had come that gripped me, harder and harder until, to my utter shock, they released me.

“Well, since you’ve only forgotten once,” she began, and I a warning. But just this once! If you walk through that door again without your homework, you can kiss your recess goodbye, mister!”

I forgot anyways.

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This Used to Be a Funhouse by E.C. Myers

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Three Giraffes by Mallory Evans

Despite being one of the less severe punishments ...

The Log cuts deeper than all of the rest...

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scissor lift ascendence

Glowing Gril by Audrey Davis

by Andrew Fish

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mushy and heartfelt thank you note Blue Review

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Tiffany Fletcher and Amanda Labrie Advisors to the 2016 Blue Review 84