Demogorgon Art & Lit Magazine // 55th Edition

DEMOGORGON ART&LITERARY MAGAZINE

At the beginning of this year, at the school’s showcase of clubs, Demogorgon stood out. “Is this a Stranger Things club?” was asked multiple times. “No, we create poems, short stories, photos, art and compile it into a magazine” was our answer. They would walk away not sparing a second glance. But to the people who stayed and asked questions or joined, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Spending time ranting about our classes, writing wacky stories, listening to music, and talking about art, poems or movies made school feel less… overwhelming. I remember learning about the club my freshman year on a whim at homecoming; one of the editors-inchief at the time convinced me to join the club. The crazy chaoticness of the club from an outsider’s point of view would make us seem insane, (sometimes we were) but we were a close group of dreamers, artists, and visionaries wanting to make something of this twisted world.

Creativity and inspiration thrive in the craziest circumstances. By no means were these years anywhere close to normal, but one thing stayed the same, Demo. Whether this magazine gets remembered as a distant memory or just an endless shout to an audience not there, I hope at least one person can say “Demogorgon? Oh yeah East’s Art Literary Magazine, we were a close group…” and be able to speak kindly of this club. Demogorgon “a vague, mysterious, infernal power or divinity mistakenly thought to belong to ancient mythology,” yet vague and mysterious as we seemed, it was the complete opposite. To future members of Demo, please carry the memory of the club and make East less scary. Thank you, and I hope this club can continue being a safe space for you to share your form of art.

---Cecilia Tavares

Demogorgonis Cherry Hill High School East's student-run art & literary magazine. Please submit work to our Google Classroom, the codeis l2rzzmf (lowercaseL)

Sunflower

JackMcnulty'23

Editor-in-Chief

Cecilia Tavares

Club Advisor

Mr. Connolly

Assistant Editors-in-Chief

Valerie Wang

Sarah Weber

Magazine Designers

Winnie Tang

Cecilia Tavares

Valerie Wang

Sarah Weber

Mikee Alvarez

Sofia Bass

Jay Arato

Ilanna Bernstein

Asher Boiskin

Calvin Bouch

Maureen Castle

Mason Dempsey

Nate Greene

Gia Gupta

Staff

Social Media Manager

Grant Yoon

Aron Kabai-Tokes

Lilu Kaufman

Azra Küçük

Lucie McFadden

Jack McNulty

Justin Medero

Lyann Mejia

Aakriti Mishra

Ciara Mulligan

Nhi Nguyen

Naresh RaaghavVasudevan

Vivian Rong

Nate Stein

Kayla Tabares

Winnie Tang

Cecilia Tavares

Valerie Wang

Sarah Weber

Grant Yoon

Kaylee Yoon

A Sail in the Horizon

Ciara Mulligan '23

In Our Own World

Let’s fantasize we’re falling’ through the sky

Let us lie

Let us lie

Let us lie

And the clouds of cotton candy are melting on our tongues

We make our way to cloud nine and sugary sweet fills our lungs

What kind gods we have to let us sink in such bliss

What kind souls they are to let us exist

There’s no wars, no famine

No plague and no death

The horses of the horsemen in their stables

And the men of the horsemen listening to our fables

And I’m not anything I don’t want to be

And I’m everything I've always dreamed

Your heart beating warm in my hands

Your eyes fleeting forms of beautiful lands

Your head rests on my lap

As you settle down for a nap

It’s just me Just us

And I’m not anything I don’t want to be

And I’m everything I've always dreamed

Your heart beats warm in my hands

I promise it won’t ever crack

Lilu Kaufman '23

Cecilia Tavares '23

My life is the sand, my choices the sieve. There is no sketch, I dip in ink and think… oh-- no rewrites… just one page I can live. When it dims, have I wasted the ray’s pink?

It ticks… yet death is unknown to us all. And I wonder if at the end I stroll the market of possible, lost… no call… leaving the mark of just one-more-gone-soul.

And I wonder if I choose a place, I lose the journey… grasping a dream, alwaysworried. It's out of grasp. I turn, I cry, I look back, it's long gone in my gray haze.

The ebb is my star. I trust its odd flow. Swimming dazedly with ink to… unknown.

Gia Gupta '24

The Lily in the Valley Justin Medero '23

You’re my Black Hole

You eat time and death, my incalculable love.

The planets fall off endless cliffs around You: a circular bottomless Cliff. I fall back around You, and it’s a perfect Glide; the force of a wave. You, a natural fact; I pray, don’t ask for more.

You don’t, but I Give anyway

You need not ask Anyway—

You, the Last move. You take Me in.

You, I love, lose, and leave to.

Grant Yoon '23

Light Show!

Valerie Wang '23

Cecilia Tavares '23

Her.

Her hair matted with tangles

Her dark clothing clotted with blood

Her eyes a storm of unbridled rage And I, I a conduit of lightning

She flicks her blade in one swift movement

Her head snaps a leer in my direction

She burns looks of fervency into my skin And I, I look back with unwavering warmth

She, like the battlefield, is a blur of rage But unlike war she is encompassing love

A fire that is all consuming A pyre of uncontained emotions

She, like the sun will burn And I, I choose to succumb to the flame.

Gladiators

Naresh Raaghav Vasudevan '26

Operatic

Any exit would be ungraceful. The audience cannot avert its eyes. The actress, its caricature of self, Roves the stage like hunger through a body. A divine miscalculation placed her Here, and everyone is unhappy With the arrangement. There is no other.

“I move as a parade of corpses,” She thinks, “with the torturous relief Of the soul, to sing of—”(she pauses)

“—Indulgent pain.” She considers the exit; “I am consigned to the inscrutable—”

(the audience’s open mouths, shadowed, turn her to me)—“and your perverse escape.” Grant Yoon '23

Creamy Valerie Wang '23

Among the Bugs and Wildflowers

Kaylee Yoon '26

Daffodils

An orangy yellow center with crisp pale petals bloom. A fragrance that attracts all sorts of beings big and small. A reminder that the cold chilly season slowly disappears. Instead, a warm breezy, sometimes humid season takes its place.

Petals that dance through the wind or trees slowly come to bud.

Watery eyes, small sneezes, pollen in the air. Instead, I shut the blinds to the harsh sunlight filtering through.

For too much light will cause demise.

The daffodils slowly wilt away forgotten in the vase. A reminder that things will come to an end. A once orangy yellow center with crisp pale petals, now shriveled up, brown, and discarded.

She Was Kind

She was kind because the world betrayed her. She was kind because she knew what it was like to be sad. She was kind because it was the way she was taught, and any other way she’d feel bad. She was kind, but she has had enough. She was kind but turned into a storm. She was kind and there’s no coming back.

Forgive and Forget

To forgive and forget, God, what an awful phrase. A phrase of three words that could not grasp The pain, the excruciating pain that you've caused. Caused, because you did it on purpose, And for purpose, no regrets.

Do you regret what you've done?

What you said?

The distance you've put between us? Us.

This chapter between us of years is over now, Now, is nothing. Nothing it will stay. Stay.

To forgive and forget, what an awful phrase.

Cecilia Tavares '23

A Story Starts with a Drink

“Grandmother, grandmother! Can you tell a story, I’m bored and don’t want to practice piano anymore.”

“Sure, what kind of story do you want to hear? Love, fighting, jobs?”

“Hmm, maybe a mix of all of those things.”

“Ok, hm, I’ll tell a story I haven’t told anyone. Even your father doesn’t know.”

“Yay!”

Aki sat at the kotatsu table with tea and kettle. She poured out two cups of golden chamomile tea. Mei sat down and took a sip of tea.

“Let’s begin.”

The splatter of rain drenched the concrete pavement. Dark clouds forebode the night ahead. I walked the uninhabited streets just after work, close to it being midnight. Exhaustingly dragging my feet, trying to see if there were any open restaurants to eat anything.

But, in my delirious daze, I could hear footsteps following me. I stopped for a second and the footsteps stopped too. It kept happening, when I moved it moved. When I stopped, it stopped.

I didn’t know what to do, I looked behind me, but nothing was there. I must just be tired, right? It’s all my imagination. I began walking again, but the footsteps started up again and grew louder.

“Nope, I’m not doing this.” I thought to myself as I began to sprint through the vacant street.

I passed neon signs in my blurred field of vision, looking for a place to seek asylum from someone or something that was chasing me. Just wanting rest, I turned a sharp corner to a dead end. Rain poured down my back and my face.

“This is where I die.” I panicked, breaking down.

However, in the corner of the alley, I saw a neon sign light up, Dead of Night.

Gothic Sky Ciara Mulligan 23' Comfort Ciara Mulligan 23'

16 DEAD OF NIGHT DEMOGORGON

“I’m saved, yes!”

Whatever was following me had turned the corner and I saw giant shadows enclosing the wall. I ran to the door of the cafe and ripped open the door. The silent atmosphere ceased as I slammed the door shut. Dripping wet, the floor covered in water. Patrons of the cafe and the undisturbed barista looking at me.

The thing chasing me began banging on the windows and doors. I was startled and hesitantly moved away from the door only to slip and fall on my hands. The barista offered his hand and pulled me up. I sat in the closest chair possible, shaking from fear.

The light and lanterns of the cafe began to flicker as the barista got close to the door.

Gently putting his calloused hand on the door and he closed his eyes. The banging on the windows and doors slowly ended and the lights stopped flickering.

The barista retracted his hand from the door and turned to me with a sympathetic smile.

“Who or what is this guy?” I contemplated.

The barista came up to me and pulled up a chair, while the patrons were already back to their chatter. I looked at him in awe, wondering if what I just saw really happened.

“Would you like a cup of cocoa, my dear?” He asked with a tilt of his head.

All I could do was nod in reply, still speechless about what happened. He got up and went to his counter. I watched as he swiftly poured the contents of his kettle into the cup, as he sprayed whipped cream, and drizzled chocolate syrup on as a topping. An antidote to soothe my anxiety.

He lightly placed the cup on the table, as well as a plate with cornbread. I looked at him, and back at the drink and food a few times. He gestured to me to

give it a try. I hesitantly brought the cup to my mouth with my hands still slightly shaking.

The barista noticed, as he glanced at my hands but didn’t say anything. I put the cup down and smiled. It was the most delicious drink I’ve ever tasted, the chocolate still lingers. I took a bite of the cornbread and beamed. The barista smiled back.

“I’m glad you liked it”

“Yeah, this was all I ate today, it’s delicious!”

“Why didn’t you eat today?” He asked with a frown.

“I was really busy with work, meetings, and papers. I work as a secretary. Didn’t get a chance to have dinner either. But, I’m fine, it’s all good.” I tried convincing myself.

“My love, that isn’t good. You need to eat and for god’s sake rest! You’re a human no less.” A human? He saw my expression flash with mixed emotions. Fright, confusion, unease. Aren’t we all humans? I looked around the cafe as others were glancing at me. I took a look back at the barista, realizing his fangs and pale complexion. Vampire, I thought and my hands began shaking.

Suburbian Stroll Valerie Wang 23'

17 DEAD OF NIGHT DEMOGORGON

Vampires exist?! What the hell? I’m going to die though, right? Now that I know they exist and the truth. Oh god, I-

The worried vampire grabbed my hands and gave them a tight squeeze and stopped my spiraling thoughts.

“I swear I’m not going to kill you, nor drink your blood. I run a cafe and would rather not gain a bad reputation for drinking a human’s blood. We welcome everyone here. Especially a human like you, who’s gotten chased by the Shadow Clan. My name is Kuragari, it’s nice to meet you.” He explained.

Shadow Clan, blood, Kuragari, kill, cafe, this is way too much. I need to get out of here, I learned too much. I should have let the shadows get me.

I realized that I hadn’t said anything when he was looking at me for a reply to something. My name, maybe?

“Oh sorry- yes that’s good. Hi, my name is… uh-”

Shit, I can’t think of a name.

“Love, you don’t have to tell me your name if you’re not comfortable. I do not mind, you’re scared and you just met me. Understandably, you don’t trust me.”

“Right, sorry.

“Please do not apologize, I shouldn’t have frightened you and overwhelmed you with information. Forgive me.” He handed me a towel while looking down apologetically.

“It’s ok, thank you for saving me.” I took a deep breath and the towel. I dried my hair and my soaking wet clothes. The rain didn’t seem to be letting up as I looked out the window.

“Miss,” Kuragari startled me. “Would you like a spare set of clothes to change to? You might get sick if you leave what you’re wearing on. Especially if you have to stay here for the night.” My expression flashed again, stay the night? I got nervous again, and Kuragari realized what he said.

“Ah, bloody hell. That wasn’t my intent in what I just said. I’m sorry, I meant we have extra rooms upstairs for people to sleep in if they get drunk or need a place to stay. Not anything weird. My deepest apologies.” He nervously laughed.

Late Night Snack Valerie Wang 23'

DEAD OF NIGHT DEMOGORGON

“Miss,” Kuragari startled me. “Would you like a spare set of clothes to change to? You might get sick if you leave what you’re wearing on. Especially if you have to stay here for the night.”

My expression flashed again, stay the night? I got nervous again, and Kuragari realized what he said.

“Ah, bloody hell. That wasn’t my intent in what I just said. I’m sorry, I meant we have extra rooms upstairs for people to sleep in if they get drunk or need a place to stay. Not anything weird. My deepest apologies.” He nervously laughed.

“Oh, yes, I’m sorry I thought of something else. Yes, that would be great, thank you.”

I followed him behind the counter through a wooden doorway. I traversed the ebony staircase, tiny candles lighting up by each windowsill. Magic, I thought, really exists. Maybe this will be a dream when I wake up.

By my expression, Kuragari could tell I’ve never seen magic before. He welcomed me to a beautifully furnished room, with roses in a vintage vase by the window. A gigantic bed, with a fluffy blanket that could hug you. Kuragari smiled as I looked through the room.

“This is beautiful, thank you.” I had no more words to describe how happy and amazed this room made me.

Kuragari left me to rest in the room and bid me good night. I checked my cracked phone. Three in the morning. Shit. I have work in a few hours. Maybe I'll call in sick. Yeah, I need a day off.

I laid in bed, eyes blinking shut, as sleep welcomed me in its arms.

Cecilia Tavares '23

Leaf Ceiling Valerie Wang 23'

Emperor's Palace

Valerie Wang '23

Tulip SofiaBass'25

Sticky Spring Nights

the birds sing into sticky spring nights with golden pink sunsets peeking, whispering-screaming, behind wispy curtains. and it is tasting freedom, dizzily lightheaded with giddiness. feeling loved and in love, everywhere, all at once.

it is naive and utterly triumphant and infinite.

it is gulping freedom, swallowing without sorry. when the moment is all that exists, everything is enough. we believe, despite. we love, despite. we laugh, despite. we continue, despite. we live.

Gia Gupta '24

21 FINISH THE STORY DEMOGORGON

Kevin Feige

Giant hamsters invaded the moody cities. They destroyed lamposts and the city streets. As time passed, something felt off. The whole world-it was as if it was turning into a void. The sunlight darkened, and it became clear: Kevin Feige had taken over the universe. Everyone knew it was bound to happen someday. But that did not stop anyone’s intense emotions about Kevin the Feige. Some laughed, some cried, and Feige cried a lot. Until his cries created a puddle. The puddle got so big it turned into a pool. People were so happy and Feige was no longer sad. Feige was so happy he started bouncing off walls and floating in the air like a balloon. He seemed happy though so everyone let him float and bounce away into the sky.

Secret Rat Agent

There were rats in the house. The rats wanted people’s cheese, but they knew that they could not get caught. So one of the rats devised a plan. The mischievous rats decided to snatch themselves on top of one another to form a humanlike shape. They put on a long trenchcoat, a fedora, and sunglasses to hide their rattiness. They wanted to sneak into a business meeting. John on the shoulders of Todd in his massive trenchcoat entered the massive office building. John and Todd then decided to go to the yoga classes being held in the building, even though it cost seventeen Kromer to sign up.

“But John,” said Todd. “What in the heck is Kromer?”

“You see Todd, Kromer is antimatter itself. It’s easy to get, really. You just need a particle accelerator and a will to rupture the spacetime continuum.” Todd stared blankly for a moment at John before replying, “Seems legit, let’s go.”

A Spinoff

Once upon a time, there was a guy with a cloud-shaped scar on his forehead. His name was Parry Hotter because he was cooler than Harry Potter. He had his own gang that would fight against the other wizards. He met his own group of friends, Won Reasley and Germione Hranger. They were changed; they understood something he did not. Won Reasley and Germione Hranger learned the art of selling hubcap decals.

“C’mon Won!” Germione exclaimed. “Here’s the best decal of them all! She smiled, presenting him with a photo-accurate picture of Flextape.

“Oh wow, Germione! This is the best thing ever! Flextape is awesome!”

And so, the pair sold overlook Flextape decals. They made Flextape brand swim caps, socks that don’t slip down your foot, and scrunchies that hold forever. Slowly, Flextape’s royal customers began dropping dead. There was mercury in their sticky formula. Sadly, the company filed a lawsuit and has been shut down.

Motorcycle Cecilia Tavares '23

DEMOGORGON FINISH THE STORY

Blind Dancer

Hillary was a just dance star and she knew one day she would go just dance far. Some people said that she blew, but that was not a Hillary thing to do. So Hillary blew the balloon until it was ten feet tall. But the balloon got so big she could not see. She was blind. Due to her blindness, she had to crawl to get from one place to another. This caused the skin on her knees to peel off. The pain grew more and more. But, something weird happened. The skin went back on the knees and grew stronger. And she became a hero for her knee kicks. In fact, on her birthday, her parents hired a professional cake sculptor to make a fancy cake. It was precisely in the dimensions of her knee.

Burger King, My Love, and Chickens

As I walked down the hallway, I noticed strange pieces of paper on the floor. Where was I? I approached the exit and fled the place. When I walked outside, I saw the sign: Burger King. My eyes popped out of my head, Burger King was my one and only true love. Not a day passes that I don think about my burgery wurgery King. My passion overwhelmed me and I busted inside. I busted inside so hard that I scared everyone around me. But then, the popo came. When the popo came, it started caw-cawing, as chickens do. It was a mating call because thousands of female chickens stormed the area before I knew it. The chickens had taken over the town and eaten all the corn. The people needed more food or else they would die. That is how the Great Chicken War began, to stop all chickens.

Frozen then Plants with No Kneecaps

¨It began with two sisters. One born with magical powers, the other powerless, and their love of snowmen infinite”. I’m not really sure what to do here, so I wrote a quote from Frozen 2, but anyway uh… *Ahem* okay, the real story starts here. There was once a plant in all the land but then, he has a botched height enhancement surgery. The little plant now has no kneecaps and he feels very de-plantscamated. No kneecaps mean he can’t make any pollen! The plant was so sad. He could not make any pollen because he had no kneecaps. So, he made his own kneecaps. But even though he could now make his own pollen, it was not as fertile as everyone else.

Soojin Oh My God Azra Küçük '26

Made by Ilana Bernstein '25, Calvin Bouch '24, Cecilia Tavares '23, Sarah Weber '24, and Kaylee Yoon '26

Owl of the Forest Sarah Weber '24

The Doe and Her Child

Sarah Weber '24

Workshop

Valerie Wang '23

26

A Distant Shore

The rainbow faded The light disappears slowly A new beginning

Salty Sea Cerulean

Sea, sky, sadness in the air. Slowly subsides from the sun.

The sandy shore and serpents form all to have fun.

The salty sea, shines from land to tree, The sails fall down at sundown only to see work is done.

If the sea salt turned to sugar, I think the seals would agree to drink tea, during their lunch.

Anonymous

Seaside Rainbow Valerie Wang '23

Western East Valerie Wang '23

Not About You

Well, why you when I can have Honeyed sunlight in my empty room?

I think of all the days that I’d need to give you—The pleasant days

I’d be happy to share, where We would hold hands and feel less strongly Than we did. Where kissing you Would have gotten more bitter than warm.

And you know: there’s that overwhelming Sharpness in this solitude

If I seek it out. Who wants Their tongue honey-coated, oversweet

Speech? You didn’t. I don’t Need the mask of you to touch the dread You asked to know. Do you see I was right? Do you even remember?

Cracked throat, what I was, unnerved

You and oversteeped your desire. Hear its speech, crushing joy

Out of days; You know, finding more in sleep.

Grant Yoon '23

Dappled Valerie Wang '23

Singable Alone

Breathe in,—

Imagine a totally empty space. Emotion imposes so many blades That glow and fall like rain upon themselves. Look–they’re melting into a plane stretching Across the void, flat. One blade with no edge. What could make a cascade of light and sound Into this plainest sheet? Arrogance and Thinking one knows oneself. Aspiration.

Something else: from chaotic shifting or Reflective oneness, desire, as its Heartbroken pulses attune to the turning of an axis, Learns and mimics that image, imperfect. Grief molds the soul into a conduit, Which shapes the futile currency of breath

To piercing music. Sense the gaping holes, Locked in stunting fullness except in pain,— And release. Grant Yoon '23

Firefly Jar Sarah Weber '24

To Forget a Dawn

It all glides inward, from all sides, This sea of stimuli;

Alighting upon every nerve— What measures this, the trees’ downcurves?

A breath learning to pull alone, And eyes upturning sight like stones:

They drink the leaves’ puddles of sun And bleach gold of what once was won.

Grant Yoon '23

Tart Cake

Aron Kabai-Tokes '23

Barbecue Aron Kabai-Tokes '23

Staque Aron Kabai-Tokes '23

Atmosphere

Mason Dempsey '23

United when cleaved to another, I cleave two unlike things apart: One, total circumstance; the other, Pure will; their atmosphere, the heart,

Resolved cosmic dissonance, ripping Dumb ache from unsunned, barren ground; Design from the mystery dipping In the first’s view, then out, around,—

Broke leveled color from evening light; Ordered phenomena—delight Made tranquil the maker of one art. That was intent. That was untrue.

The stagnant, cold body becoming What was dead is left to die there. What was moonlight is left to lie there. The heart named, built, and ends itself.

It said what it could, and could have cared. But the material’s useless; Intellect’s not above, but fully About what is felt. And judgement’s

Dead here, where thought’s free of form and bound. Nothing endures but time’s passing; Unlike delusion, empty of comfort, but painless. Apathetic.

Voices

Nate Greene '24

Thanks for the Pen and Paper

To Yarden, in Financial Literacy

My mind (what speaks of it, at least) Is drifting like a matterless balloon Through clouds of heavy, slow thoughts That, when they grasp form, release it as soon.

But what I’m given ties the felt

Into the known— the droplets can condense And be incredulous at last.

The speaking mind says: “What names for what sense!

Air, inside me, heavier out; Medium that cognition occupies— Is that what I am? Container without essence in deep skies? So I hold

And there’s nothing else?” But listen. In parched altitude, it whistles out some Of its stores; built pressure within, The mind employs its faculty, and hums.

Grant Yoon '23

Grant Yoon '23

Mason Dempsey '23

Treble Clef

Kayla Tabares '25

Bach Stradivarius

Kayla Tabares '25

Silhouette

Mason Dempsey '23

Music Sun

Kayla Tabares '25

Scene For My Father

The blood dried and being bled alike Is forgotten into the slow pour of time; The wounds are closed as if parted skin were hands Guided gently together by hands;

Dismissed is what precedes freedom and breath, when Christ touches down from his long-suffered post; His limbs and lungs lithe, sensing wet sand, dry air, Then—abounding gratitude; but cries:

“Those torn apart in your name must rise from Their corpses, from whose throats they gave You screams. Absolution cannot unstain the soul, And heaven’s choirs sing haunted half-lies.”

But deep in the tombs of His soul, That scar parts into an eye; that lantern finds The treasure irredeemable; flesh, proof— But this must stay; all time converges there.

Roe V. Wade

Valerie Wang '23

Dark Forest

Aron Kabai-Tokes '23

Cotton

Silence fills up the walls, stifling me with venomous glances and curt nods. Beats of time come and go They dissipate and reform like clumps of gelatin. My fingers quiver against my will

I try to quell my restlessness and stare comatosely at my dim phone. My heart thumps furiously

I feel a pulse in my right ear, my left knee,

Faster And Faster.

I strangle my pillow and breathe in the scent of cotton

A wiff of comfort Pain. My nail has split My perfect manicure ruined.

Valerie Wang 23'

Portal

Aron Kabai-Tokes '23

Land of a Dead Bird

The shapely beak’s wrong in death. The entrails no longer pulse. The air sits and stales, unmade Into music. The clouds drag.

Dark is matted on the earth Like damp feathers on the skin. The world’s a dead bird. Unused And wasted, but better dead.

What good, to say I love him?

What’s good in acting fevered? The bird’s inanimate eye Stares at the greyed dawn. The sun

Is full of grey light behind The curtains, and the world’s grey’s Alive like wood. The bird’s dead, Its song hanged in the sheer sky.

Grant Yoon

'23

Waterfall

Jay Arato '23

Bison Spa

Jay Arato '23

A Toast Mason Dempsey '23

Grand Canyon

Jay Arato '23

"Friendship isn't a big thingit's a million little things."

-Paulo Coelho

Aron Kabai-Tokes '23

Confidant

Forgive the paint-stained hands, for they lie of mischief and thievery that comes by.

Forgive the fool with multiple shadows that observe everything and any minute detail like a tallow.

Forgive the plague for it tries to reconcile its past mistakes with experiments and smiles.

Forgive the justice that is given, for the truth to be told is to be driven. And forgive the doctor who wants to make things right, with no pain, anger, harm, or strife.

If the mask falls and the night forgives, may we be saved by the angel that lives?

If the mask is broken and the demons run rampant, may the people's hearts be safe and not be taken.

Anonymous

-Anonymous

Shoe Study (1985 vs 2022) Kayla Tabares '25

Hand Study Kayla Tabares '25

"A large crowd can be a beautiful thing, but it can also be overwhelming. However, solitude can be equally distressing."

Like licorice

Blackened like licorice my soul is laced with bitterness

I burst with desire and ambition

Covered in a sugary coating

Perfectly smooth Words of poison devour me

I weaken

I am rubbed raw.

Autumn

Mason Dempsey '23

Valerie Wang 23'

Sanctuary Jack McNulty '23

Netflix and Chill

Valerie Wang '23

Dear Society,

DEMOGORGON A Losing Generation

Remember when we all thought that by the late 2010s we would have flying cars and everything would be futuristic? Instead we had wildfires, riots, death at every doorstep, a virus that spread through bodies, hearts, and minds. Isolation held strongly and people departed this station of life.

A society where we laughed at others misery and hid what's really happening in our lives. To be picture perfect, to be everything they want us to be, to be a shell of nothing.

Society, where a fire that lingered through the wind that caused skies to look apocalyptic. Ice caps melted, floods that made towns to ruins. And all we did was sit and watch the destruction. Our generation will die seeing nothing except pain all because of the older generations putting their problems to us. Never getting a real childhood because of what they did to us. Telling our kids how we had to fight battles that they gave us.

Fear society, for we will die destitute with nothing left, but the one video we thought that would make us popular. Whether we can change our future for better or for worse, we will always be lost with no place to truly belong.

The Lost Generation is to describe the people of 1883-1910, but really, we are lost and losing a battle that time will tell if we have truly perished. Beaten, dying, lost.

Sincerely,

Cecilia Tavares '23

Silk

Hazy with morning dew the air glimmered. Just above eye level, a single thread of spider silk connected the bushes beside the door. The silk oscillated in the wind, up and down, swaying with the glossy leaves. The spider was nowhere to be found.

Koi Pond

Aron Kabai-Tokes '23

Valerie Wang 23'

Greenery Mason Dempsey '23

Snoopy and Woodstock

Kayla Tabares '25

Merge Valerie Wang '23

Grumpy Paladin

Lucie McFadden '24