The Battle of the Bull by Kenzie Messer

Into the Woods by Jillian Brooks

e(ART)h

By Daniel Yanez

The land baren of trees, grass, shrubbery Plain The rhythm of the hills and the waves in the grass The sky, empty of clouds, sunshine and life Dull The color of the sunset, the shades of red And values in hues of purples and pinks The seas and the oceans drained to a dust Dry Gone are the tides and the lines in the sand, The harmony between the sky, the land and the sea Imagine the world without art Boring The balance between what lives and what’s dead, Broken

Run fast from the bullets Run fast for the hills and the cover of the forest Like a jaguar your fears are lurking in the darkness Sit still for the night It’s always darker before the dusk Listen to the heartbeat of the stars and the moon Let it lead you from the shadows Let the brightness free you from the darkness You wish it would disappear But even the light brings out the perfect pitch of black Before the sunrise Your imagination runs idle But don’t be afraid, don’t be discouraged Even when you can’t run away From what you created in your own head

Tree | Digital Art | Daniel Yanez

The Brain | Digital Art | Daniel Yanez

FLORENCE

By Daniel Yanez

Girl Meets Boy | Digital Art | Daniel Yanez

By Vanessa Navarez

This is said to be the pulse of life

How they seek this and fear losing this

It is remarkable when a piece of the whole is given in hope Some are afraid of finding this

Inability to keep this makes them run

Spoken too often to be true, these words held dearly

Loneliness they prefer, to avoid this until it is too late

Others risk it all and leave it to fate

Value and cherish this they say

Everyone and everything around us has some form of love

Boot Scootin | Oil | Amy Efurd

By Kenzie Messer

As the dust dances across the heated plain, an old cowboy sits quietly in his rocking chair. In the distance, he can see the younger generation gathered around a fence watching one another practice for the upcoming rodeo.

Suddenly he is transported back in time and a smile spreads across his face. He closes his eyes and remembers his first battle with the bull.

The lights glare into the dusty arena, as a young cowboy hesitantly walks up to the rusted iron gate. On the other side, a black bull stands with his eyes shooting daggers into the cowboy. The young man slowly nods and begins to realize that only one of them will reign victorious. The cowboy knows that he is about to endure one of the biggest battles he will ever fight.

He slowly eases onto the bull’s back, and despite the roaring noise of the crowd, the only sounds he hears is the thundering beat of his own heart as it dances in rhythm with the enraged snorts of the angry bull.

Trembling, the novice slides his right-gloved palm

under the rope and raises his left hand into the air. Beads of sweat form across the cowboy’s top lip. The rider blinks hard one last time and takes the deepest breath he has ever taken in his life.

Without a thought, he quickly nods his head. The gate shoots open, and the bull flies through the air as the cowboy’s hat crashes into the dust.

With his heart pounding within his chest, the cowboy grabs the rope as tight as he can. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a bright red number one flash across the timer.

The cowboy lets out a sigh of relief, knowing that he has only seven seconds left.

But, the battle has just started, and the bull suddenly begins to kick and hurdle through the air even more aggressively.

The cowboy realizes that the first second was only a warmup for the coming storm.

The beaming number three flashes on the timer, and the cowboy thinks, “Only five seconds left.”

He lets out a small, yet arrogant grin. Suddenly the beast jumps and kicks as hard as it can flinging the rookie to its bulging side.

Surprised at the animal’s sudden move, the cowboy clamps down harder on the rope. Glancing down at his gloved right hand, he sees spots of his crimson blood form along his knuckles.

But, the cowboy stiffens his grip even more. Hanging off the side of the massive animal, he attempts to heave himself back onto its back.

But, the bull aggressively whirls around and kicks into the air, sending the rider back to the animal’s side.

Considering defeat, the cowboy loosens his grip, but suddenly, all of the troubles and hardships that he has overcome in his young life begin to rapidly flash through his head. With the motivation from all those memories, the cowboy seizes the rope and jerks himself upright onto the bull’s back. Squinting through the cloudy arena, the cowboy searches for the timer. Suddenly, an earsplitting alarm echoes throughout the crowded arena. The cowboy springs off of the bull and dashes to the side of the crowded stands as a slow honky tonk melody dances through the air. The cowboy embraces his wife and family and with a vast smile beaming across his face, he raises both

Ol’ Bob | Steve Corbell | Oil arms triumphantly into the air.

Letting everyone in the arena know that he has won the fight between him and the bull, and more importantly he has conquered his fears.

As the dust dances across the heated plains, an old cowboy sits in his rocking chair and with a tear streaming down his prideful face, he remembers overcoming one of the toughest battles of his life.