CHRONICLE 1998
[table of contents] Sa
I
J What Big
Girls
Are Made Of
Eden
Vaughan
Tim Lewis
Single Yellow Dahlia In the
Jessica
Orchard, After
Jessica E. Proctor
Han est
Rolf Parker
The Narrow Bed Locks
Summer Muzika Mike White
Sex Haiku
Woody Muire
After Leviticus
And
Rolf Parker
Before Deuteronomy For John
Janci Ketner
For Janci
John Joyner
I'm Sliding
Tim Leu
The
Room
The Leaves Are Screaming The Final Cut The Fisherman's Worth Succulent Incognito
Too Late December Suffering
is
Keith Darnell
New
in
in
England
Daylight
Angi Taylor
Mike White Mobley Summer Muzika Jessica Vaughan J
Rolf Parker
Ryon Wells
Proposal
Angi Taylor
agape orange
John Joyner
untitled
ina Es
Rat Race
Scott Hazle
Short Story
Aman
Ode To An
Elderly
Behal
anonymous
Calculus Teacher Chronicle High School Magazine Competition
What Jessica
Big Girls Are Vaughan
Made Of
She saved the first grade family drawn by chubby hands
portrait,
pressing burnt orange crayon
on a paper
We at
plate;
share a laugh
her Olive Oyl figure
towering over
Dad and
"Has anyone ever She really does
told
I.
you
that
you look
like
Cher?"
with her long legs and dark curls,
o
though you'll never catch her and Dad's the one with the
"Your daughter must look
in
spandex
tattoo.
like
your husband."
A tight smile and curt nod please, don't
remind
her.
Round-faced and big-boned,
God
thank
"I just
But
got her height.
I
don't want you to turn out like your cousins."
Mom.
.
.
She writes the check, ignores
my
protests;
Chrissy eats a chunk of cheddar
and
I
get sent to fat classes.
"
den
m
Lewis
walked, slow with alcohol
e
;d stumbled sidewalk-curb
an alley side store.
neon
ith
call girl
above,
d hairy backed bouncer.
;
rked over price. d landed in bar stool seals.
;
:ioke laminated walls.
;d disco lights
on an 8 foot stage.
aitress. beer, tip-again.
usic
loud and unfamiliar,
i/oice
loud and over that:
welcome Adam and Eve!"
lease
bplause died off, :
iip,
a drag,
ley
came
id stripped
they
moved
together.
with ha/el hair.
ore music, 'veat
act
began,
yells, a whistle:
fucked like animals.
stage
ie
and the
and skin smell.
meone ley
;d sex ^
tossing pants,
-
with green snake tattoo,
ie
:
-
black leather.
and g-strings.
:d bra.
iked
and more music.
in
was
their garden.
no forbidden
fruit.
gaped with disbelief,
id the j;y
music stopped.
picked up their leather,
id hurried off.
r
6
o
I Single Yellow Dahlia Jessica E. Proctor
It
was an unusually warm spring
season, of quietly
new
life, filled
the
day.
As
air.
the
The sights and sounds oft young man of seventeen s<
on the church pew, he could catch a glimpse of the churchyc
through a baseball-sized hole
in a
nearby stained glass window. He
spied butterflies and baby birds dancing through the cloudless sky.
The whole world seemed
to
be alive and continuing on outside of
tiny country church, but inside
young man absently
tr
something else was occurring. The
listened to a pastor read a eulogy. Inside this
church, the congregation was mourning the death of this young mar'
mother. Inside this church, the dark cloud of death cast a consumin
shadow over
the
newness of
spring.
and incredible disbelief, the young man attempted to use his thoughts to drown out the various sounds of mourning echoing through the church. It was too unbearSitting there in a state of confusion
ably cruel for him,
now
orphaned, to think about his mother's
seconds on the emergency room operating ening for him to
God
sit in
table.
It
was too
God's house dwelling on how unjust he
was, prematurely taking both parents from him. Having
father to prostate cancer
when he was
mother from a head-on collision tree just blocks
from
the deputy sheriff
their
five years old,
in her late-model
home, were too much
on the scene kept ringing
dying''
disheart'
and now
thoujt lost hk
his
sedan with an
to bear.
in his ear:
oa'*
The words
"Apparent
cause of accident: brake failure."
young man searched memory he held of his mother. TI corners of his mouth slowly turned up when he thought of a pleasantry from his childhood. He thought of the flower, a single yellow dahlia, his mother wore in her long, wavy chestnut brown locks. Tl young man cherished this particular memory more than others because it also involved his father, a man he had few vivid memories of. When his father grew gravely ill from his cancer, when the youi Rather than dwell on
deep
in his
all this
sadness, the
thoughts for a special
l
-
nn was just Iwer in her
a boy of four years, his mother began wearing the
This was an attempt to brighten the dying man's
hair.
At the time, the young boy did not understand the
Mrits.
lice of the flower. However, years Jks about to
I On
a mild
go out on
his first date, his
sat
on the
signifi-
moments before he
mother explained
October evening, two years prior
and son
l)ther
later, just
it
to him.
to the present, the
front porch steps talking about first loves,
woman recalled her relationship with her late husband. The Lung man learned that nearly twenty years prior to this conversaie
tn. in the
warmth of
a late July sunset, his father proposed to his
Âťther on the very same steps they were
His father knelt
sitting on.
•Mwn on one knee, held out a single yellow dahlia, and blurted "weetie. will you spend eternity with
lice the flower
Iks of
hair
in. his
entwined
mother
me?" Not having
stem between some
slid the dahlia's
and tackled him
in a braid,
out,
a lapel to
in a
bear hug,
The couple never had an engageAnt ring, just a single yellow dahlia. Every two days, right up to JL day they actually walked down the aisle of the same tiny country Mirch the young man was sitting in at present, his father brought his fcviously accepting his proposal.
ncee
new yellow dahlia to replace the previous one before it He maintained that as long as that single yellow dahlia led, and was worn in the young woman's hair for God and every a
|jld die.
Knowing
would
so
c j else to sec. I
their
undying love for each
m, the woman began wearing ine t
it
in
after he
know
that she
would
passed on. She would always have that single
\ low dahlia, therefore she
Is contemplated rther wearing
had between
her hair again to offer him
reassurance. She wanted her husband to
okay
other.
the significance this single yellow dahlia
this
f ding his lather
would always have
flower
meals
in
her hair.
in the hospital
The young mind of his
his love.
the various images he had in his
The image of her
patiently
bed they had moved into the
luse drifted into his mind. This image brought a reality with fcung
T
man could now
relate to.
He
finally
it
the
understood the undying
6
J love his mother had for his father, and the desperation she must ha\ first love slowly wither away into nothingHe had discovered a new empathy for his mother. Suddenly, strange as it may sound, like his mother had had with his father, he
while watching her
felt
ness.
wished he was afforded the opportunity
to take care of her
and
offe
same reassurance that he, too, would be okay once she passed. Instead, she was ripped from him, leaving him unsure of his future and leaving her nothing more than a memory, much like that of the
that
single yellow dahlia.
Slowly
his attention drifted
activities of the church.
from
his thoughts
Before the young
realize his actions, he, nearly
and back
man had
to the
a chance to
mesmerized, shuffled up to his
mother's open casket and propped himself up against the side of
it.
Then, from an assorted flower arrangement within arm's reach oft! casket, he plucked a single yellow dahlia and carefully slid
it
into h
mother's lightly graying hair.
He
paid careful attention to slide
her ear, where he remembered seeing her wear years ago. Peering
down
at the lifeless
it
woman who
world since his father passed away twelve years
man managed
all
a faint smirk. Before turning to
it
just
those
above
many
had been
his
young walk back to the pew prior, the
he clutched the woman's dainty and frigid hand. In a quiet voice,
young man ready for Papa in
quiet only he and his mother could hear his words, the told her, eternity.
"There you go Mama. I
love you. Always."
Now
you
are
s
)
J the
i
Orchard, After Harvest
blf Parker
Hng entwined on
a pile of apple leaves with
you
the hill in full moonlight, a fragile hint of
ci
^let on the snow, and blues, hues of an ff
er present sun,
shadows, on bare trees
Micate moonlight failed to
at
midnight.
warm
nr cold noses and fingers but tch of us
was happy
to
climb and
jde under the stars, like children in winter.
fflght
lover
me
c
6
Iting 1
unk
ilove t:h time
lank jfc
warmth of you rose
Help me with my ijneed
my
learned
how
^ lat
I
t
fear,
to
eJings. and to
emotion.
I
itli
a chuckle.
hands.**
kissed you.
know, was how very
you also were
and
after
know
yet couldn't
Insitive
my
easily the cold air affected you,
body shivered even didn't
with a laugh.
mittens", you said w
fingers for this, not just
s all
ÂŁ
me
to greet
how your
The Narrow Bed Summer Muzika I
want
to
go
to that place
Where the dish towel hangs The stove light stays on and The white walls speak of simplicity I want to be where Fenway Park is a daydream
And jazz The
is
Afternoon I
a venture
toilet seat is
want
down and
never
through the blinds
light filters
to sleep in the
Close to him, the one
narrow bed love,
I
Alternately sweating and shivering
o
Because the
air conditioner's
Too much or we
Made I
want
Cause It's
just
love. to get
back there
this place is not
my
my home
terminal for change,
for growth, for maturity,
for everything
He I
is
my
want
to
I
need
to
do on
my
own.
home.
go to him as no I'm not perfect but
Perfection; If
I
care and
Defeat the apathy
Then
am
I
admirable and he
Will be proud of me. I
want
to sleep in his bed,
His savior-love goddess
Who
is
wholesome
And deep And warm.
1
ocks ike
White
weather-worn door anding
still
in
cool baby blueness
:eling paint to the floor silent self-destruction.
jx
o
Haiku
oodv
Mu ire nipples
in
tongue swirls
moonlight like a
galaxy
painting red mountains
1
AFTER LEVITICUS AND BEFORE DEUTERON011 Rolf Parker This town has 12 bars and 1
paperback bookstore
and more than 20,000 students. Doesn't that strike you as odd?
Does each student take and wait
till it's
a
number
his or her turn to
why the Newsroom German like orderliness
browse a book?
never
full?
Is that
is
A
preventing stampedes and chaos
bookstore?
at the
Reading the score card
we
all
know and
in the big concrete
stadium
love
is not the same as reading Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. The man with the iguana who used to work at the
coffee shop
(one of two, count 'em) said
it
best:
"This town ruins everything"
The Black
Rat, the local head shop
("Those carved pipes are for tobacco only") will sell
you
a
hookah and a black
light poster
of
Bob
looking stoned as an old testament adulterer, as fried as
KFC
but will call the cops like
de ganja, ya
Does
that
at that
man
if
they think you smell
come de
police
mon, take
with the iguana, the one
Mexican
restaurant with the
that place that failed in
dat
who
good
bum
later
beer,
about a year, does he
still
live in this state?
Or
did he vanish, like those
two other bookstores
away.
worked
?
used to struggle here, but withered and died,
tit 1
e the fig tree that
1
e a brain
offended Jesus.
damaged man
in a
coma,
Mose feeding tube has been removed. Oing once, bye. bye. ging twice, lights out.
§ne bankrupt, closing sale
toks half price but no one fry're at the bar, again
is
buying
and again and again, stepping over
vomit of Christian freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors
t'
forms puddle-lakes of half digested
lit
fire
on the sidewalk.
e bar men cause the Great Deluge to come out of a garden hose prifying the land with a flood of tap water it after forty
forty
ÂŁ.1
streets
fc;
c
still
smell like Lazarus did
the third day.
you
fin
V
tell
I've
been here too long
were not meant for each other.
1 y c
minutes
minutes more
I
hi
me a book, if you can find one me a snob send me the fuck home
o
I For John Janci Ketner deep pre-orgasmic
in the
stillness
of a rare waking thought revelation startles me:
space
is
immaterial
and time does not exist as the impulses in
my
brain approach the speed of light
in a
screaming asymptotic struggle,
(my
friend Einstein
was
right because)
time slows to a fraction of
and
my
usual crawl
its
brain perfects
each neuron swelling i
am
eternal, galaxies
swim
itself,
to the
my
in
dimension of a supernova
eyes and
fly
from
my
lips.
.
until .
and eating the space-time continuum for breakfast, i
perhaps slurp
for i
God
feel
my
milky way a
when and
the
my
men
too loudly,
hands
and
me in cover my eyes
itch to
like a child
welcoming not
i
touch
hurry
my
lust
and contempt
sweet and forbidden places
-
step
their appraisal but the familiar
spin of the earth on
glow of
dress
gaze with a prickly combination of
or perhaps to
my
bit
Someone) has certainly noticed me: eyes upon me, and the associated guilt (the way I feel on the street in my short (or
its
questionable axis, the pseudo-perpetual
the sun, the trembling of the stars) as
neural pathways
infuse
them with
kinetic grace until they spin
dervish-style
around
my
delusions of grandeur
:
br Janci t
hn Joyner
\o galaxies collided last li a strange knowledge E
night,
liver
upon
Existed retraction of light reflecting
t
pond
me
t:ame too dear to i\
was amazing
Is
your asymptotic struggle
evou told j
me
about star gazing
eyes glazing over
t
under
l\
Eioment named wonder
ÂŁ
dismember.
1
ij'ou
can.
concentric circles of
t
my
eyes
t nebulae
web of nerves
1 i
spacial shallow
1
C
ing shallow but
s
mad
with loose sparks
noontime joy, Ik deep enough and you Id
a
simming
)
i
in stars
know about
it
i
the theory of relativity
i
past times pulsing
1 languidly fc:ry
will
boj
in the
druidh
beginning.
atom
piting to draw a conclusion
i
c
1
the first passion )ur
young
scientist friend
o
i I'm Sliding Tim Lewis Not
like life
-
or air winding out of lungs not
much
like color splash
on canvas,
or that last drip of ice cream
on a sunburst July noon. I crossed silent and slow, as
deep purple fading black
or a
Sunday morning;
a whisper in a canyon,
an ember in a jar. Forget light and playground sand.
O
Not a splash
in the
waves,
not a needle in the hay.
Think more of Lazarus,
who
died twice,
of a grandfather,
and your
own
death.
"I
r
he
Room
lith Darnell
"Sean, would you "Sure.
i
I'll
lagraph
come
be there
help me." She asked,
in just a
second," Sean replied. "I've just gol
to finish this
first."
mean
"I didn't
that
needed the help
I
She snapped,
later."
"I
need the help
Iwr Sean took a deep breath, looked up "I don't f tires.
(//(' //
i
I'm
lew win
I
xou don't want
jom^
to
do
it.
to
anyway!
at
the patterned ceiling,
spend the extra money on these
Mom
always said you were
<
light
heap.
I
don't
didn't listen to her!"
and then drudged into the living room. "I'm sorry, honey. What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong. t
I
need you
just
to sign this
check for
that coat
I
looked
at
other day."
"Where
are your checks'"
"Why should
I
need a job
/list
y just give me some money "I
forgot to order sonic more.
Sean accepted the pen thrust Oiis
to %et
m\ own
Can't you in his lace,
h\mer\ check. He looked back up
Thanks.
<
hecking account? U In can't
every week'" |ust
sign the check?"
and signed
at his
his
name
be back alter you've ahead} gone to bed.
I'll
to the
bottom
wife and handed Her back his
Don't wait
upon
"
n
Sean nodded his head
in
understanding, and stood watching alter Her as She
g a coat from the closet. '
\"0f course
Use
I
need another
coat.
U
In don't
you
just quit
asking why
I
need
tilings'.'"
and headed out to the ear.
She was gone. Sean looked at his watch. Two o'clock in the afterWhere was She going to be lor the next ten hours'.' What was he going
Aftei
Bin.
tdo
until then.'
BMaybe
he could get some more writing finished.
He walked hack This It
|li.
was Sean's
was decorated
A
and
into his study,
sat at his large
oak desk.
retreat.
like a prestigious college professor's office;
large, leather chair rested
ÂŤ. perched on top ol the table.
I
Sean liked the
behind his desk, and a green, glass desk lamp here were hundreds of books looking out
lln the shelves along the walls, and a Free-standing suit of armor, wielding a
T
I
large ax, protected
all
was
the stories. There
a fireplace
when he
usually found himself prodding the embers
on another
and
wall,
Sel
couldn't think of anything
i
write.
There were a couple of impressionistic paintings of inspiring landscapes hanging on either side of the fireplace, and one large painting behind lone, free eagle circling
overlooked a small
hill,
stood an old, lanky oak
his
desk
above the mountains. There was only one window, blanketed with an open
field, in the
middle of which
Besides the important objects
in his study,
Sean also kept a computer on
his the;
on top of a high mountain, back droppc
dating, and standing, laughing
still
I
tree.
desk for his writing, and a small picture of himself and his wife taken when
were
o|
but;
only by the sky.
Sean
down
sat softly
"/ love you, too!
in his chair,
and focused on the
Oh. yes! You know
picture.
marry you! Oh. Sean.
I'll
I
love you so
much! "It'll
o
be great; we'll be able to hike
like this
whenever we want
to.
be able to kiss each other each morning when we wake up! Oh. Sean.
and I
we'll
can
hardly wait!"
Sean had loved Her more than anything
that afternoon
passing forest ranger take their picture. In fact, he anything. At times he
"Sean,
never talk
it's
to
felt as
again.
"Oh, come here, poor thing.
work as much as it'll
I do,
you never
and
It'll
talk to
your mother again, or you
life
being any
better.
be okay, dear. Someone soon will love yow
will publish
be okay. Conic here and
He had made
a
You make the choice."
but at other times he couldn't imagine
now.
when they had
loved Her more than
though She demanded too much out of him,
that simple. Either
me
still
let
one of your books,
me
I just
know
it.
There
hold you."
She was the right one for him. and h, making their life together a success. She was his first, true love. ..the first girl he actually kissed. They had a few problems in the beginning, but Sean had just assumed those were normal in a had devoted
all
the decision long
of his
ago
and love
trust
that
to
relationship.
He still He had
didn't
know any
lost a lot
better.
of friends because he refused to listen to their "wisdom" Ht
believed they were jealous because he had found a
and they were
still
hanging out
at
So he abandoned them, and dedicated himself
And he was
still
confident that he had
They had been married
woman
that
was
right for hin
the mall.
made
for five years, and
it
to Her.
the right decision.
had been anything but easy.
of his friends had gotten married, eventually, and they claimed to be happy
Mo
them
*ienever he passed
However, Sean suspected they were
in public.
h ing as tough a time with the institution as he was. and were just too cowa ly to
admit
it.
He continued
But Sean really thought he was happy. n get published,
S'
and She continued
hope
to
that
he would
encourage him.
to
She was very gentle when Sean approached Her with a problem, and he a hough he had found a true soul mate in Her. Their love
Of course,
at had been on their honeymoon.
my needed b ausc ithut
to
the hikes,
life
was
which Sean desper-
remain sane, had dwindled to once a year. But that was okay
between grading papers and making lesson plans, he wrote a
in
being
woods and
in the
w
living
he was currently working on a short piece for an outdoors magazine
In fact,
He had always been able to get these little articles published, was was concerned about. But this story needed to be mailed by the nexl
b>ks he .
lot
Nature.
ith
fclranada.
d
felt
just as alive
it
unnen
so he decided to turn Ins attention back to the for several hours as the sun
He wrote
dropped
to
ing, blinking cursor.
throw
its
warmth through
night's a\ ax window. He often stopped and watched the shadow of the knight's gttch across his books towards him. Then he would shake the rumblings out
He had always been taught m, never very good to stay that
at
ugh he didn't want
tt
Lights,
In dozed
away
('„>
r ve vol to run. icier
I
'
crucial to a
it
^-—<SJ
always
how
as
it
make
to
that a logical stance.
lew of those horrible essays from his students,
little I
V
story, but he
was
were good enough a
d good
his idea to paper, uper.
after dinnertime.
promise
never do
I'll
hex' re not going to stop.
I
it
again! Just leave
wish I could see
me
"
alone
"Ouch!"
1
I
what that was?
Maybe T re
to risk
grade
off to sleep a
So!
was
hard he worked to change it. it was probablj because he trusted his first messing them up In second guessing himself.
matter
he thought
his instincts
\fter slopping to
»
No
and didn't want
He figured
\X<>'
to:
that re\ ision
Once he had committed
it.
way.
tl
1
is
Maybe
there will he help
I
<
an help m\
sell
Wait
Think about
this.
a solution
"Ouch!" leez. there
Wait
B A
it
was again. Okas, maybe
There, that's
I
I
1
1
much
drums are
%l, please don't
r
how can they getting
let
I
lie
down
thes won't be able to see
They' re getting closer. The) must
anymore. I've got
7 see anything,
ij
better.
an hear them
can't run
Their
^\
and concentrate again on the internal cursor.
Otis head
famed
111
[
i
to stay
see
loser.
them find me
I
here
and hope they
know I'm
here.
don't see me.
me? ran hear the clanging of their
shields.
I
I
They're almost here.
I
can hear their heavy breathing; their blood
Why can
breathing. Their hearts are beating so loudly.
Oh God! He "No.
I
thirsty
my own
not hear
heal
sees me!
." .
Sean jerked awake, and looked wildly around the room. Sweat dripped from, his forehead,
and his breathing was heavy. But slowly he drew
had been having a bad dream. Slowly.
realized he
.
.
slowly.
.
.
in his breath as
he took
in
each |
breath.
.
.
calmly now.
.
.
he sat back
down
in his chair,
braced himself on his
desk, slowly drifted back into reality, and looked around his cold, dark study.
,
Sean leaned over and flipped on the desk lamp.
The
light
But Sean
came
on, but the
way
felt that
room
still felt
the time, so he
all
dark.
checked
his
watch and was amazed;
how long he had been asleep. She would be back any minute now. He flipped the desk lamp back off, and headed out to get a snack and find way to bed. In the kitchen, he put together the perfect meal: a peanut butter
hi:
sandwich and some Doritos.
o
He was driveway.
half finished with the
A minute
later
sandwich when he heard Her car
pull into the
She was fumbling with the lock, and he heard Her cor
in the front door.
"Sean, what are you
"I'm a
just
still
doing up?"
grabbing a bite to
eat.
I'm getting ready to go
to bed.
Did you hav
good time?" "Yes, thanks. ..what are you doing eating that junk?
like
it,
snack.
that stuff's
bad for you. Besides, I've
Why can't you
"I'm
Look,
sorry.
I'll
be there
I
don't care
how much
you a thousand times not
y
to
listen?"
let's just
"Alright. I'm going on.
"Okay,
told
in a
go
You
to bed.
I'm
full,
anyway."
clean up your mess before you come."
minute."
Sean began clearing away
his
mess, wondering to himself
disheveled. But he dismissed the thought, remembering
it
why Her
hair
was
had been a windy da)
away the last of his sandwich, Sean turned out the kitchen light way through the darkness to their bedroom. She was waiting on him there, and Sean remembered why he loved her so
After throwing
and groped
his
much. She was so to Her,
beautiful, and
Sean forgot
all
horrors as Her hands pulled hin
and She seduced him.
Late into the night, Sean finally
Sean couldn't
was absolutely find nothing
see.
blind.
in this
no way of knowing
fell
asleep.
He was surrounded by darkness, and it was absolute. He He reached out and groped for some support, but he couli
apparent void. There was nothing if any
to
to. and there vr< became overwhclnw
hold on
help were coming. Sean suddenly
1
h a sense of abandonment. He fell like surname had led him by the hand this room, had made him feel comfortable, and had then fled. And now
was alone,
in
in total
darkness. w
ith
no knowledge of any potential help.
So he screamed; he needed some help; he needed someone
him the wax
to
be there to
would probably lose mind. He hated not knowing what was in front of him. hut what had driven to this point.' W hat had made him helpless and alone? Someone had
>w
Left in this horrible blackness, he
out.
i
ntionally put
him
room. and. thinking about
in this
it.
Sean began
to feel
Her He was furious that anyone would lead him into such a bleakWhy would anyone want to do that? Why was s. and then leave him there. no one to help' He didn't deserve this ill he had ever done was hold his it out for Her What had happened to it? Then he heard another scream. Was it his echo? Was it Her.' Was it a
;r\ at
'(•
nster.'
\o.
and
'•am.
He
lie
didn't think
it
was an\ of those.
It
was a blood urdling i
darkness that drowned Sean he
in the total
forgot his anger; he
<
i
ouldfeel nothing but
ouldfind no help, so he forgot
and he
his logic,
zamed again. That was the end. Sean could now feel hands pressing closer towards him. couldn't even see his the screams
r
Was
own hands,
this
He
Sean forgot to jropc. and he began to run. ck void.
\nd he could
but he could sense others
Hell' W hat was happening?
He screamed and he screamed,
ran frantically through the
He stumbled
but no help came.
heaped around the darkness. He heard si reams and his hair He was losing it. but he couldn't stop it. This wasn't his this was now his fall Where was the help.' Was he not screaming
oss invisible shapes led at flit, bill
Icily
enough?
Then Sean tripped M d. 1
s.
1
lie
He
s<
reamed He
downward, downward. He
nc\ cr hit the ground.
flailed his
arms and twisted
He
fell
dow
his legs, but
n-
he
ontinued falling.
She rolled over, and realized Sean wasn't
in
bed.
She figured he must not
some more. She got up and room. She saw the door was
h e been able to sleep and had gone to write
ked towards his study.
v»
•>ed.
As She neared the a scream. She ran
and then She heard
to the
room was completely dark, so She flipped on Kam from somewhere, somewhere tar away. Where was Sean? What was that seream? What was happening'.' 1-
T'n She saw him.
n i/ed
that.
But his eyes were no more than
Oh God,
he was gone.
door and threw
the light.
a
it
open.
She heard another
vacant stare and She
J The Leaves Are Screaming Angi Taylor
The leaves
me
are screaming at
something about in this
again
can't be a
I
woman
world anymore.
The other day laughing
the daffodils at
my
so I'm not sure
were
femininity
ever
if I
could have been one.
My
Barbie dolls won't play tea they'd rather fight with G.I. Joe
and they scoff because
once
I
dreamed of knights in shining armor sweeping me onto white horses or cowboys saving me from scalping injuns
o
or that
tall,
dark stranger
me from
untying
the railroad ties
just in the nick of time.
But
my
prince charming didn't knock
or even call
or so
much
as leave
me
a
morning-after-see-you-never note,
which After
all,
is
who
like
God But what does or
I
guess.
white dresses, hair curly
red nails and
if
better than nothing
they're the ones
make-up like its not even there you don't shave your legs.
forbid it
matter
I'm a woman,
ma'am
if
if I
I'm a
am
girl
female
or lady.
Barbie's gone to fight and shave her curls
and
I
think
in the trash
I
saw her nylons
can the other day.
"
e
J
wants to be strong and respected and wants
what every hardworking
i
man
deserves, /id
women
hurt their
husbands
because they aren't treated like /id
women
/id
men
hurt
because they aren't treated like
like girls"
but that contuses
h
want
I
supposed But
I
and
I
k those
me more
to be like girls
to be like girls
don't for
men
and scream and say
yell
"Don't play
b;ause
women
men
know
women
just
want
damn
if
there
in this
to
go
daffodils.
is
room
world
left
The
Final Cut
Mike White I'll
never forget the day you smiled and
Said, ''home plate ain't for everyone, kid. I
dropped
I
never could handle the curve.
that pitch,
proving your point;
Like the day she called to say
You had slipped your lips Around the shoteun steel. Painting the wall red with your thoughts.
o
What were you
thinking,
Flinging fastballs
anyway?
at silver
mirrors,
Without a single umpire there
To watch you throw
the
game.
1
he Fisherman's
Worth
Mobley a poet, are there not roles that
s
ssumes? Might
I
one
suggest a fisherman.
miewhat, being a suitable
likeness'.'
fishermen, along the water's edge,
js,
liting their
hooks with the truths of
lies.
may drop a lure, like a segmented worm, many ridges, peaks and valleys dance, pulse down into the lonely depths
>me
•xtured with iat If
the fish's
keen perception.
bites.
It
This hers
i
employ
Jifree, yet :•
a
almost
is
good.
a surface skimmer.
fly,
like a ballerina.
tempting, fishy finds that he must strike.
This too
is
good.
•me even resort to using cheese, hoping fish'll
le
fore
it
forget
what they
are. snatch
should sink, even though
Even I
I
r it
should be
his ability to
tjst at It
known catch
that the
fish, yet
it
it
up
stinks.
this
is
good.
fisherman's worth
he
always keep a license and heed the rules,
change with time, of the wardens
him not consort
o\'
the craft.
to filling his basket.
V should he conform to catch and release. lr the fish I
s
are out of the water already,
the poet's job to
help them back
in.
o
Succulent Incognito Summer Muzika Fire seeped through the hole-in-the-wall onto the gray expressionless streets.
A man felt the heat, picked
up
its
musky, heavy scent and brought
his vehicle to rest.
He
stepped from his
car,
another until he arrived
His
o
pulled his hat tight and put one foot after
at the table.
table.
The chair at the table was worn as the wood had given way body until thetwo strangers became friends. There
is
no scent
like that
to his
of burning flesh.
This was the aroma of the quaint cafe, overpowering the cafe
latte:
and soup du jours.
was ablaze
The
flesh
The
skin burned, devouring the blue eyes and
in the furnace at the center
of the room.
brown locks and
finely-shaped hands he'd once held.
Ashes
He
fell to
tile floor.
staggered backwards, tipping over the chair that
spectacle
He
nothingness on the checkered
knew him;
was too much.
reeled about, searching in wild desperation for
countenance
in horror.
some
similar
the'
I
found none.
I-
Te professors and bums and 9-5
men
chatted calmly amongst
tlmselves.
iwspapers
rattled,
cappucino frothed and Miles Davis bleated
n se from his horn.
I was well.
Bt the flesh
continued to burn,
Voluntarily he cast o\\ his the cool
bi si
until rage
overcame him.
demeanor and seized
marble shocked him. and the
man
the pyro
woman:
recoiled from the
30th, hard breast.
H
clasped his hands tightly.
.
.
heat rose in his cheeks as a
Ti:
biinessmen murmured
in
burned by the
bum
raised an
frantic sculpture.
eyebrow and
disapproval.
ICughed inside, delighted.
'as
obvious
my
lover
H hovered between
was shaken.
the door and the eounter, his
mind
obliterated
m incapable of decision. A:r painful seconds he walked to the counter.
Unchanged 11
led.
1
a bill for a steaming
mug and
sat gingerly, sun-
o
He
kept his eyes on the liquid before him, diverting them from
inquisitive stares,
He was I
drank
and god forbid, from the
the.
fire.
spent.
in divine dissatisfaction
and admired the curves, the dips
and protrusions of the passionate work
that
him, enveloped him, embraced him, burned him.
My work. I lit
my
o
a pipe and
let its
smoke
curl as a
mask about my
face, veiling
identity.
From my
hiding place
I
took note of every emotion on his face,
recording his expressions in the private box with those of the endless spectators
of
my
art.
The box
that lets
The flames curled provocatively about me lence of incognito.
t
had captured him, heki
me as
create.
I
realized the succu-
r
Late Vaughan
)0
Jssica
|/o
Ad
more weeks would have made
I
fc.tead fle
it
up
to you.
in
Toronto
of
room-wrecking brawl
m fists
through glass on High Street
fat waitress at the Holiday Inn
Ettomless gin
I
&
ould have you
tonics with White)
remember
Cvered bridges and Eskimo kisses
Sm
angels
at
midnight
S nny-dipping in the Biiillabaisse
I lr
ould have
wo weeks.
Muskingum
and white /inlandel.
made
it
up
to
you
6
December
in
New England
Rolf Parker Ice covered trees
die under the weight if
they aren't released by early spring.
December "Light
is
coming back
"Only hang on velvety green
every
Woody
yesterday,
o
them.
lies to
I
a
to the world, boys,"
life
he says.
longer and there'll be
little
pushing out of
pore." But.
saw a maple
.
.
split
open, good
wood and
Until then
thought perhaps he was sincere.
I
tried to
I
bad, splinters and sap.
knock him down and
December just winked
at
set
him on
me, turned
fire
but
to the trees
and said
"Only a little longer boys, just a bit longer now, I think we're all going to make it." then laughs; he knows no one makes
it,
winter never dies,
again to see who's
it
left,
just
comes around
and who has arrived newly for removal,
murder, and for his sympathy,
in the dark.
fo
offering in Daylight Bon Wells on top of hen she's on top of
l'i
u's unbearably cute and
I
am
me
such a tease
of our black sheets f created a refuge out 's the one I've always wanted; she grows on
I
Dn't
open the blinds baby because
ink
E
lost
I
my
die for
is
me
like the streets
eyes
some more
cigarettes.
.
.
please
dollars and pennies
a drought around this time every year
're down i|e the
in
Houston with no way out
clouds as white children hanging out
^she takes off
ink
my
up and strung out over here
Pi bottled
ire
two
hurts
hands somewhere - maybe they're on your thighs
to the store for
llin
it
to
my
clothes and her tongue surfs
myself-
my mouth
I'm tired of being alone I'm tired of being alone
I'm so tired of being alone
R
ht I
now
can
Inchool >c l'i
I
feel nasty like a disease
make you I
smile with another catch phrase
took Depression 101
me w
top asking
make me
h\
I
don't have any fun
violent, girl
m are the calm before the storm i make me hard when am soft m somehow always manage to keep me I
wre down
in
warm
Houston with no way out
Ife the clouds as white children hanging out A:, he takes off
link
I
to
her clothes and her tongue surfs
myself-
I'm suffering
in
daylight
my mouth
6
I Proposal Angi Taylor "What's the answer?" he asks.
But I'm not
listening.
I'm staring
at
the curve of his neck
and a
little
of
outside
my I
eye
can see the flashing scenery
of the car window.
And I'm
o
thinking,
not of what he asked, but of
why
his
neck curves
just so
and how to place
my
I'd like
hand
there.
barely touching the soft fuzz.
Not now, of course, for he
waiting.
is
But his neck
is still in
view
me of how I used
reminding
to feel,
and the colors are flying by the corner of
changing
fast
my
eye
from green
to blue
to red to black, all
muted
My
together.
throat feels dry
and
all
I
can say is
"No."
*;ape
orange
Jhn Jovner
want
I
naked
you
to see
in the
ocean
with pearls of water dripping from your skin like lapis lazuli stones,
your only emotion kissing
eyes
my
malachite
like lips
of
fog, lips
of heaven.
lips
of laughter
from a child after the sun has risen
over the opal waters
where you your body
let
float
with the waves
while marble quicksilver twists through
your
orange hair
1
1
the
ocean evaporated
would you still be there? or would you rise slowly to the
sky
and become a cloud that
and
would
rain
on
me one day wash me away?
6
untitled ina Es
i've
never really thought of
somaybe
lips as skin
justso
sin
(of the flesh)
would not apply i'd
been waiting for the sun to
set
a long time before
you came
for the earth to roll
the cold to creep
a chill to seep
o
my
bones
mmmmmmmm let
me
(it
skeletal scandal
you
tell
would be)
jump bones jack bones shake
the dust off these old
yeah and move on this sun's got a nice slant
now
welcome
after
i'm thinking
it's
a year of
waking ever
want
to the
warmth of
your kiss well i've
been waiting for the guilt to
go
a long time since for the
wind
to
you came change
the stars to shift this
cloud to
lift
sky
r/
oh vastlasting vortex ,
let
me
tell
you (it
lear
once was)
sky black sky undone wings and
yeah and
fly
move on
this sun's got a nice slant
i'm thinking
it's
now
epitaph
of your mouth moving ever maddening slow over mine
to a year
well
i e
never really thought of your
lips as skin
snaybe justso sin
(of the flesh)
would not
T
apply.
Rat Race Scott Hazle
"I
saw
the best
minds of my generation destroyed by
madness, starving hysterical naked"
— Allen Ginsberg, Howl '"And
who wants sir?
to die today?
How
equality,
about you,
we can
all
Not me.
madam?
Is
This
it
is
you? You, the age of
die!"
— David Romtvedt, I
can't
jump, not I
o
yet.
must shout
From I
Yjrj
the rooftops,
must vent
Before I've
I
die.
done
my job.
But there are things a
Harvard education Can't teach.
I
found
In the
And
God
work of Spinoza
Nietzsche,
Logic
in the
quad
At midnight-
Love and liquor Over Einstein anyday.
"Come
in
from out
Thank you,
there, son!"
but I'd rather stay.
There's nothing for
me
in there.
1
learned that the Wall Street
I
Journal, the
New
York Times,
Are the Bible and Apocrypha
Of my Brave New World. not worth
"It's
it,
kid!"
Define worth for me,
officer.
Perhaps that of Merrill,
And Lynch? They want me
And
to smile,
nod, and wink knowingly.
Birdie the thirteenth.
Order martinis.
Marry Sharon Stone an apron.
In
But
My
I
6
drink Pabst.
girlfriend's in Soho,
Playing Rent.
And no power Is
broker
as tolerant
As
a
Doctor of Philosophy
At the Hasty Pudding.
My
ideas are smaller now.
Harvard means no more than SUNY.
"Come
in off the ledge,
I'm certain,
buddy!"
sir.
That you have good intentions But you can't save I
me from
myself.
can quote Descartes and Kant
And But
I
Hegel,
work the god-damned Xerox machine.
can't
I
Short Story
Aman
Behal
The
train
And
as usual, the scuffle
grinded to a stop
Bombay
a small station in the
Monotony breeds such contempt, people
boarding.
way
at
suburl,
resumed between those alighting and struggle their
out of one hell and nonchalantly march into another. After
this is
what distinguishes the man from the savage, the
all
ability to f
bored and then the necessity to be bored differently.
The two cops entered
the coach,
dumped
the oblong,
they were carrying and proceeded to seat themselves.
wooden box It was a sull
June afternoon on a Wednesday and the sardines had just disperse to
o
work, so there was some breathing space
Francis heaved a sigh of crevice and Francis
relief.
in the
compartment.
A beam of light shone through a
wondered what time of the day
it
was.
He
.
mijt
have dozed off for a long time.
A sharp bend made
him shuffle his position but a tiny bit and now was no longer glaring him in the eye. The cop yawned, seemed, for ages and opened the newspaper he had picked up froi the platform, and of course, it was gratis just like the train ride anJ everything else. The law always prevails, we are a country given that ethic. The headline screamed - 5000 perish in major quake irl Iran. The cop looked at his partner, and as if on cue, they yawned again in unison. Pande looked at the box and saw that it had slid (1 ,
the light
il
I
the wall a
little,
so he got up and gracefully kicked
yawn and opened
the
film review page where a slinky starlet stared
him
He resumed
his seat
eyes sparkled.
Francis
felt
hard there.
whole of
He
and
leered.
his
He was
it
back
in
newspaper
placl to
tl
happy.
a sharp pain in his ribs as if somebody had kicked hir He wondered why. He had never even harmed a fly th
his
life.
Why
would people want
to hurt
*
in the face. Hif-|
somebody who!
I
The
forever trying to be gentle?
ÂŤr;
Ksengers and
among them was
u her and she held him their kids,
ft'ut
And
Bight.
k
it
blood
was
he ?
picked up a few more
train
kid, say five, with his
little
Mothers are always paranoid
close.
and justifiably felt
a
so.
Own
flesh
and blood, Francis
own abdomen.
something sticky around his
He wanted
to pull his shirt
up and have a look but
hand would not move, no matter The mother loosened her grip and the child ck off in the direction of Francis. He was happy to see kids, he ild them. The stretched hand of the mother caught hold of the iid and forbade him to go nearer. "Not good for kids.*" Francis Jught why suddenly he had become so repulsive to people. On
cramped
1/ hard he
for space. His
tried.
iv-kends. he used to take the street kids out to the ti
their
playground
mothers always trusted the man. He was known to be a
i-hearted, gentle fellow. His thoughts wandered.
1 then,
it started coming back to him. Last night, he had come Ik from work and his wife had said she needed some wheat8<ir for dinner. He had promptly changed, tucked his wallet in his Wit-pocket as he always had done, and had darted out. The street ir. dimly lit and someone had called him by his name. He could
clearly see
id's
who
voice, and
it
was but
the voice
was (ami liar.
everybody was a friend
in that
It
poor
was
a
locality.
\i then somebody had grabbed him from behind. They were
Hoping him of his watch, his gold-ring
(it
was
part of his
dowry)
He had panicked and K'amed and then he had felt a warm current envelop him. He Kd to recall what had happened later but wouldn't come back. *'
then
somebody was going
tor his wallet.
it
the train entered Dadar station and slowed down He saw the two cops coming in his direction. And he widered why he would merit their attention. The cops walked
K
ai
hat
moment,
halted.
01 lifted
b;d
the coffin
dekhenge
and walked
out.
(will take care of
it
"Dump him
after lunch).**
here,
khane ke
6
Ode To an
Elderly Calculus Teacher
anonymous I'm walking,
my
closed in
makes me
hand.
in the rain,
like
I
it
all
like the rain, or at least
I
amongst the storm rather than
feel like a raindrop
surrounded
with that really long umbrella
closed,
around by fluffy white clouds. The
it
a sto
rain's falling
1
j
my matted red hair, racing down my skull, sliding down my ears, sneaking down my forehead, gliding along my nd only to be blown off by my heavy, heartrending sighs. And I'm thinking, as the rain beats out a driving rhythm, about my posture through
I
behind
of
all
hate
my
it
goes:
I
hate myself.
my bone-structure, I hate my hate my psychosis, I hate my sub-conscious, hate m) I hate my inner child, my outer ego, my heart-on-the-
body,
neurosis,
o
way
things. "Listen up. This is the
my
I
I
hate
hair,
I
hate
1
I
I
conscious,
sleeve-don't-hurt-me-please-why-were-we-ever-here-and-why-an you-all-the-way-over-there personality and
alone that I
I
manage
much
my
announces
to
everyone
what's going on here,
spend the next hour .
.
."
and
to the depths of
possible.
in the
my
live in
I
in
my
is
the prof walks that
have absolutely no idea
my HP-48G
living
my mind
"I
rain pondering
So
grandmotherly smile
that
room,
by the grace of Gr
up straight!"
third semester calculus class.
walking quickly and displaying
an "OK.
it is
less stand
get to the multi-storied building after
and walk into in,
to stand,
and you are about
to
room." She opens her mouth
heaven and skipping over the earth as quickly
She must have gotten around
because she breaks into
my
wi'
gone, traveling from the brink of he
mind's
to
flight
memorizing
as
my name
with the deadly question
"Chris, did you have any questions from last night's assignment?'
And immediately my starts
thinking finishes up
with a simple question, "Did
I
its
tirade
on posture
anc
do the homework assignment
Did you? And while we're on the subject, did you figure out the were you busy recording the meaning t(
secret to life last night, or life?
Did you do your thinking about
love, or
God, or finding Goc
1
opeing a god, or a Child of God, or the
superman
Wt-death of the universe, or did you even
manage
theory, the to figure out
fait
you were feeling? Did you get closer
to enlightenment, to
in.T
peace, to a loved one, or did you only
draw your knees
Jtr chin
bow your head and
and
to
rock yourself crying to sleep
Have you backstepped your way through your childhood one incident that made you the way you are, forr? Did you tell someone you love them? Did you touch the wire, disarm the past, or decide to endure the present? Did you IV ar an unbreakable oath and mean it? Did you make a promise ap a promise, break a promise, make someone's day. make jcieone laugh, make someone cry, make someone die, or bring Jcrself back from the dead? Did you waste your time or did you ajin?
u found that
ally
accomplish something? No, I'm
Br calculus ir-quation
r
last night,
but
I
tell
worth solving, then
sorry.
you what,
I'll tell
if
I
I
didn't get to
ever actual
you the answer."
I
\
sol
"O
J Chronicle High School Magazine
Competition In this age of ever increasing technological influence,
it
can
remember the importance of the arts and find an outlet creativity. The Chronicle High School Magazine Competition w begun to combat this problem by encouraging creative expressi difficult to
1
throughout South Carolina.
High schools
all
over the
state
were then judged by Chronicle's sign, content quality
submitted their magazines, whi
staff in three areas: layout
and
and selection process. While we applaud
all
c t
participants for their excellent publications, three stood out partic
o
larly strong in all three areas:
First Place: Laureate
Brookland-Cayce High School, Cayce,
Second Place:
SC
Illusions
Fort Hill High School, Fort Hill,
SC
Third Place: Sa pphonv
Wade Hampton High We
congratulate
all
School, Greenville,
the schools
encourage them, and everyone,
SC
on a job well done and
to continue their support of the
art:
and creative expression.
m—m
-
Fall
1998 Chronicle
[senior staff]
Heather Buxton
Editor-in-Chief
Heather West Kostas Ioannidis
Managing Editor Business Manager
Dunphy Bobby Congdon
Layout and Design Editor
Kelly
AshleaHall Aaron Craven [active
Submissions Editor
Copy
Editor
Webmaster
members)
Matt Fallon Jay Mobley
Woody Muire Jessica Sosebee
[thanks
to]
Jennifer Lester
Media Advisor
The Coffee House The Media Advisory Board
Poetry and Accoustic Night;
[submit to Chronicle...)
PO Box
2 187
Clemson, SC 29632
chron@hubcap.clemson.edu [online]
http://liubcap.ciemson.edu/~ch ion
Chronit
an and literary magazine of Clemson University. The do not necessarily reflect the opinions o\ the student body, or administration. The editors oi Chimin le assume responsibilty for the le is the official
contents ol faculty,
<
'hronu
le
publication ol opinions stated or otheru ise implied in Chronicle, but necessarily agree with those opinions.
do not