Days of gifts arrive
Snow would be nice but alas - winter poem
Some ice must suffice
-Sagan Novesky
© 2024-2025
All rights reserved. No works may be copied or reproduced without the express written consent of the writer or artist.
Cover
Table of Contents Table of Contents
Ren Tamagawa, Winter Train
Sagan Novesky, “If Only Snow”
Poets
Jenny Chen, “Sun Mother Awakes The World”
Adrian Yang, “The Great White Orb”
Luis Gruesshaber, “Silent Reagent”
Evie Tonry, “Observance”
Seven Crofts, “Not So Scary Movies”
Kalin Cutler, “Invisible Blood”
Emmett Jaslow, “Van Gogh”
Keiyona Jolly, Haikus
Alice Kim, “Dream”
Jayla Williams, “To When It Was Easy”
Nyla Anderson, “Love is All”
Milana Rivera, “Mine, and Hers”
Atlas Kirrane, “Pride, be not dead”
Juliana Diniz, “Identity Crisis”
Andrea Lopez Moctezuma, English Translation of “No Se Adonde
Van los Muertos”
Eylul Bakal, “I Don’t Know”
Diego Vallasciani, “My Dream is My Own”
Elspeth Darhansoff, “Homeland?”
Aadya Gorti, “In The Name of God”
Joe Ma, “My legacy”
Liam Morrow, “Legacy”
W.T., “Us, Our Friendship”
Zixuan “Jessica” Ni, “The Quiet Flame
Ronan Kraeutler, “Through the Window”
Mahlia Murray, “Made up Place”
Artists
Eray Yang, Sun Mother Awakes the World
Evangeline Garcia Darres, The Great White Orb, Undersea
Adventure, Survivors
Marquise Sampson, Silent Reagent
Seven Crofts, Observance
Sid White, Invisible Blood
Ren Tamagawa, View from the Hill Above Town, Self-Portrait, Mechanical Whale
Keiyona Jolly, Blood Moon
Milana Rivera, Self-Portrait
Jenny Chen, Still Life
Ayako Yoshinaga, Portrait
Joya Yu, My Birthday, Follow Me
Jerry Cao, Historical Scene, Freedom of Thought
Minchae Kang, Food Insecurity, Me and You
Jiann Lee, Untitled
Milo Miga, Abstracts
Faculty Advisors
Dr. Alexandra Finn-Atkins, English Department
Mr. John Carruthers, Art Department
Ms. Megan Liggett, Art Department
Ms. Sophia Grausso, English Department
Sun Mother Awakes The World
Jenny Chen
Beneath the silence shadow, the world lay still No whispering breeze, no shimmering leaves. Only quietness ruled the ocean and trees.
Then it was the Sun mother, A golden arc that kissed the world. With her gentle touch of warmth, Into caves deep, on the ocean’s tide.
But chaos grew, bickering triggered. She rose again to sooth the trife Her wisdom shone their ways, Creatures chose their ways. Rivers ran, forest danced, As life sprout in every crevice
Though night roam the skies, Her light remains, taught by her kins. Moon and stars glimmers
In the quiet womb with a soft tone
And still she rises, day by day
A living tale of balance spun, Beneath mother’s warmth, Eternal giver of life.
Inspired by the origin story "Sun Mother Awakes The World," one of the dreamtime stories by the Australia Aboriginals
Garcia Darres ‘26
Evangeline
The Great White Orb
Adrian Yang
How thus, I am confused by the world‘s unreadable melody.
Looking into the mirror, two black orbs were there, embracing their fleeting owner. And he stopped, his eyes were no longer eyeing, his lips were no longer wet, and his lungs, fell into a deep slumber and never awoke. He ceased to exist, but was yet there. And the dead saw the flaming one, the brightest shadow, the great white orb.
Once, the orb shined the brightest, Crowd would gather and say, “I shall not look up.” and the poet burned his eyes, “I shall not touch on.” and the clown lost her hands. It has shone brightly as the truth, as such, the great white orb, beacon of the ego, Once, men had such pure and free, the cold breeze in their head. Now it is unbearable and shatters the mind, bursting out and ruins the soul. Can a skull of man contain such marvels?
The touch of cosmic, ah must be refused. Yet still, how sweet was the forbidden fruit!
And here, a man with a mirror, two eyes and one mind, three orbs and one soul, here they are.
The hand rose, instinctive yet considerate Ah, unforgivable!. Ah, unforgettable!
Oh, a man with a soul, how inexorable!
The whiteness remained burning, as he felt his very bones shiver. There will be no redemption, but only damnation. Though, there, he reached the orb. How dare he, the touch has made, leaving the dead behind with a flaming skull, a gleaming mind amid the black ashes. And here, I write his name. Human, it is.
Marquise Sampson ‘25
Silent Reagent
Luis Gruesshaber
Not like the royal tombs of Egypt which occurred more majestic from time to time They have under the sands their secret, silent reagent which will forever ever shine.
Our ominous night sky crystal clear and never ending cosmic diamonds, but also shy shine bright golden and blending. It seems sometimes that they are asking: ”Make a wish or endow me with one” We desire that could everlasting but in the next morning, they are gone… the stars above, like pyramids of old, secret, silent reagent, in the night so cold.
Observance
Evie Tonry
It stays, watching Listening, stalking, always Now it knows, the cat
Not So Scary Movies
Seven Crofts
The screen presents its flimsy art
The film struggling to maintain any scares
We were reeled in by a deceptive start
It almost became too much to bear.
We scoff at the amateur horror
A flinch from none was reason to gloat
And even though no cause to scream was in order
No one reached for the remote.
Despite the stupidity of such a movie,
One made by a foolish brute,
There was a peculiar beauty
About the solidarity that began taking root.
So we finish the subpar movie feeling light
A tight-knit friendship about to take flight.
White ‘25
Sid
Invisible Blood
Kalin Cutler Cut teeth, Sharpened knives, Eyes in the back of their heads, Smiles in the front–
Of course
Their grins are too bright, Too wide, too sharp.
Behind every word, The glint of steel.
Behind every breath, A shadow moves, Behind every gesture, A quiet threat. They dance with precision, Their steps rehearsed, But the floor is slick With invisible blood.
Cut teeth, Sharpened knives, And always,
Those smiles in the front
Of course.
Ren Tamagawa ‘26
Van Gogh
Emmett Jaslow
Ears, Athena Tacha, 1970-1975
Day after day, year after year,
I am forced to relive my descent to madness.
I hear an echo in my ear; spiraling down, many reflections. Into the vortex, though I am clear. The water is murky, I see my life flash, distant apart from each other.
Starry nights melting, falling through again. At the end, everything cuts off.
All
I hear is regret.
Keiyona Jolly ‘26
Haikus
Keiyona Jolly
I fell for you like The stringy Catkins from the Tall oak trees in spring.
I fell for you like The drops of ice-cream on the Sidewalk in summer.
I fell for you like The fiery leaves fall from the Trees in cool autumn.
I fell for you like Snowflakes in the chill of the Barren cold winter.
Like our love
The seasons changed too Forevermore.
Dream
Alice Kim
In the forgotten depths of my old memories, I gently take one out to see, Among countless pasts, in graves of feelings, A childhood dream that once seemed free. In endless plain of brilliant green, Beneath a sky where stars would shatter, I whispered to the bright moon upon in the sky, Being someone who could help, for others to fly. Now, I find it hard to reach. I walk the way that others want me to be, Though I try to forget, to erase, That dream still stays inside of me. The child I was calls me, From fields of green where once I'd roam, A voice that guides me, While I stand, now far from home. The world has changed, and so have I, But deep inside, the dream remains, Once more it calls, in the wide plain. Back then, I ran without a fear, And now, I look back at the past, Once more, toward that star so near, I chase the dream that holds me fast.
잊혀진나의옛기억속,
나는조심히그중하나를꺼내어본다
수많은기억들속, 수많은감정들이들어있는추억의무덤속, 이제는이룰수없을것같았던, 어릴적나의꿈.
그추억을회상해본다
끝도없을것만같은푸른초원속에어린시절의나는 저찬란하고별이부서지는밤
하얗게빛나는달에게
사람들에게힘이되어줄수있는멋진사람이되고싶다고속삭인다.
이제는나조차감당하기어려워,
남들이선망해하는길을걷고있는나.
잊으려해도, 지우려해도,
그꿈은여전히내안에남아, 푸른초원속어린내가
지금도내마음을부르고있다.
세상이변하고, 나도달라졌지만 어느순간, 내마음한편에서
그꿈이다시나를부른다.
그때의나는두려움없이달려갔고,
지금의나는그길을돌아보며,
다시한번, 그별을향해나아간다.
Evangeline Garcia Darres
To When It Was Easy
Jayla Williams
I grew up where the days were always bright, laughter loud and love felt every day
mom and dads cooking, playing till it’s dark, I had great times that left a lasting mark.
Sister, We’d fight sometimes, but still stick together, Through all the storms, we made it through the weather.
I know I’m lucky, never had to fear,
Just hope I keep that love and light near.
Things were easy, i wish i could go back to days with no stress, nothing that I truly lacked.
Love is All
Nyla Anderson
Love is all; vital like the air we breathe.
It’s the light we seek as we trudge through a damp tunnel.
Driving us mad and forcing our emotions to seethe.
Seethe and freeze, and seethe and freeze again.
Filling our bodies like the atoms of which we were made, And the blood streaming through our veins.
Yet love is a game that some never played.
It is a language not everyone can speak. With the loud exclaims of love everywhere, the efforts of others are merely a squeak.
Fighting to find that someone who can see between the cracks.
You find yourself becoming restless trying to decipher unheard thoughts.
But all is well once again when that phone dings and you receive that text back.
So we’re reminded that love is all.
Milana Rivera
Mine, and Hers
Milana Rivera
I sit and pray, practice my great grandmother's faith
My hair is my mother’s, grandmothers and hers too
I’ve Read her stories passed down of strife and scathe
Someday, soon, i’ll flock north or south
I’ll see the fields and seas my parents called home
Trace back to the place of my nose, my mouth
I’ll take the path they didn’t take
I’ll hear their lectures of what I should do
But I know it, I’ll have my food and eat my cake
They won’t always be there, my “biggest fans”
but them I can’t be rid of, present in mind and flesh
I pray again they might lift me up or lend a hand
Pride, be not dead
Atlas Kirrane
Pride, be not dead, though some have denounce thee;
Audacious and haughty they cry and pray
For without, man may lay another day.
Live on, dear Pride, hidden inside thou’st souls
From war to peace, bubbling, like water boils;
Despite displeasure, constant it flows,
In the dream of doves, and the caw of crows,
Angels nor sinners, the attempt to flee
Is useless in the face of a defeat;
As nature is fate, it cannot be beat
With hope or despair, with rest or restless,
Almost like a bird who is featherless,
As one is lost to the cruelty of time, Pride, be not dead, I need thee to be mine
AyakoYoshinaga‘28
Identity Crisis
Juliana Diniz
A question I get asked a lot,
Is where I am from
Well for that you need the whole plot
There shouldn't be a norm
Born in Brazil, raised in Brazil
In my veins Portugal blood runs
America in my future, in my "will”
So don’t bring out your identity crisis guns
You see I am a child of the world
All mixed, all tangled
Even though this poem I might have curled
I believe to have just in a different direction angeled
I Don’t Know Where the Dead Go
No Se Adonde Van los Muertos
Translation by Andrea Lopez Moctezuma
Original Spanish Version by
Carlos Lopez Moctezuma
I caught up with my dead when they were crossing the bridge. I had to shout for them to pay attention to me. I had to die a little for them to recognize me.
Ren Tamagawa ‘26
I had to hide my black tie, conceal my deep sadness, change my serious face for one that says nothing happened, let's continue the party.
I already considered them dead But I could stop them in time, What would they have thought of me if I had let them go?
Almost against their will I forced them to come back.
I asked them to stay to teach me how to die.
If the dead are leaving then to whom do the wolves howl, and the coyotes in the early morning?
Who does the owl stare at almost without blinking?
To which nocturnal wanderer does the firefly lend its light?
To whom does the wind direct its whistle through the branches?
Or maybe the dead don't leave, and they live lost in oblivion, waiting for someone to call them.
With full intention, I forgot that total surrender is useless, the brutal attachment to the living body; nor forging chains with the veil so fragile of the flesh, if tomorrow we will experience the bitter taste of absences.
I don't know where others' dead go, those I didn't know, those who left, and won't return, I don't know where they go. Mine are here.
My father in his blue velvet chair, next to the fireplace, looks at me patiently with every step I take stumbling through life.
My friend Ernesto came back to lift a burden off me.
Now I understand it wasn't too late when I learned you were leaving without saying goodbye to me; now you understand, it was better to welcome you than to say goodbye.
I don't know where the dead go, those who left and I didn't know; I don't know where they go. Mine, I have them here. I can touch them, talk to them, make them laugh, play cards and get drunk with them. Everything except letting them sleep! because I know, I'm sure, that asleep, they will forget me.
RenTamagawa ‘26
I Don’t Know
Eylul Bakal
I don't know why I love you, I don’t know why in your soul my heart gets lost. When I look into your eyes, I get lost inside and can’t escape. Your smile takes me away, You don’t know what I would give up just to see you smile again. I don't know what to do.
Seeing you for even five seconds in a day makes my whole day better,
You always come to my mind and never leave, I don't know what I would do if I didn't see you, I think of you when I wake up in the morning, And I think of you again before I go to bed at night, You come into my dreams, I can’t forget you and actually I don’t want to, I don't know what to do.
I know everything about you, but you don't know this, When you are sad, my soul feels your soul, I feel sad too, When you're happy, I'm happy too, I want to be closer to you but I can't, If there's one thing I know, it's that you and I are more impossible than Romeo and Juliet, I hope the impossible will not be impossible for us, Because I don't know what to do…I don't know
Original Version Written in Turkish by Eylul Bakal
Seni neden sevdiğimi bilmiyorum, Kalbimin neden senin ruhunda kaybolduğunu bilmiyorum, Gözlerine bi bakınca içinde kaybolup bir daha çıkamıyorum,
O gülüşün beni benden alıyor, Bir kere daha gülümsemen için nelerden vazgeçebilirim bilmiyorsun, Ne yapıcam bilmiyorum.
Seni günde beş saniye bile görmek bütün günümü güzelleştiriyor,
Her zaman aklıma geliyorsun ve hiç oradan çıkmıyorsun,
Seni görmesem ne yaparım bilmiyorum, Sabah kalkınca seni, akşam yatmadan önce yine seni düşünüyorum,
Hatta rüyalarıma bile giriyorsun,
Seni unutamıyorum ve aslında unutmakta istemiyorum, Ne yapıcam bilmiyorum.
Senin hakkında her şeyi biliyorum, ama bunu sen bilmiyorsun, Üzüldüğünde ruhum ruhunu hissediyor üzülüyorum, Mutlu olduğunda bende mutlu oluyorum, Sana daha yakın olmak istiyorum ama yapamıyorum, Bildiğim bir şey varsa o da senle ben Romeo ve Juliet’ten bile imkansızız, Umarım imkansızlar bizim için imkansız olmazlar, Çünkü ne yapıcam bilmiyorum..bilmiyorum
JerryCao‘26
My Dream is My Own
Diego Vallasciani
My father's love lately hasn't been near,
Chasing dreams I know he doesn't share;
Not words of hope to calm my doubts or fear,
Nor gentle hands to show he truly cares.
My father doesn't want to see what is in my heart, Nor understand the path I chose to take; His doubts and I never part, They weigh me down with every step I make, Pushing me to the limit, when something blocks my way.
When failures come, and I feel lost or small, I wish he cares or tries to hear me say:
"My dream is my own, I will stand through it all."
Eventually I will fail and fall,
But I will rise again and prove I earned it all.
Homeland?
Elspeth Darhansoff
My mother is from the country of England
My father is unassertive of his origin
My mother was the emperor of my young land
Choosing my own culture as an American has always felt like a collision
In my home I share a space with Britain's ghosts
My mothers mother also raised me
Despite of all of this America has always been my hast
Only when I began going to school, did I realize how this haunted home betrayed me
I had encountered the strange voices of the outside world
But, never have I ever spent this amount of time with these tongues
Nonetheless, they hurled their insults at me
I wanted to be among them.
In The Name of God
Aadya Gorti
In the name of faith, they draw their lines, Hearts once pure, now filled with anger and strife, Forgetting love, the essence of life.
Temples, mosques, and churches stand, Symbols of peace, now marked by those who fight, Who cannot see the shared humanity in you and I.
Wars are waged, lives are lost, The price of conflict, an unbearable cost.
In the name of gods, they tear apart, The very fabric of the human heart.
Yet in the quiet, a whisper grows, A call for peace, a hope that love and kindness can prevail, Healing the wounds where hatred fails.
Minchae Kang ‘25
Jiann Lee ‘26
My legacy
Joe Ma
My ancestors made their home in the ancient land
My blood travels through these thousand years
The endless land is the trace left by their hands Civilization’s mottled fire heads near
They cultivated hope on the earth with hoes
Regardless of wind or rain, regardless of mud Civilization blooms on the soil of hope and grows I’ll forever carry them in my blood I will carry on their hope
This is my refuge and my comfort zone
This is my origin and will be where I stand America, can you please help me understand?
Legacy
Liam Morrow
Uncertainty is the only thing of which I can be sure
Doubts burden us and lead to a journey that is arid and far
Making ideas of one’s legacy difficult to spur
Though searching through deeper seas makes us secure in who we are
Nationality as an American can recall a thin gilt layer
It almost seems as something which is false
But in spite of this my country is something I still hold up as fair
Though this opinion my mind still somewhat halts
When sorting through the gold and dirt of our lives that clutter
My family is what I hold above all the rest
They who truly bring the luster that makes one’s heart flutter
They who in this dirty world make life the best
Legacy should founded on happy memories of which all hopefully possess
For what is accomplishment without even one left to confess
Us, Our Friendship W.T.
I, me, myself
I am something I hate Something about me
Is that there’s nothing interesting about myself
You, your, yourself
You are someone amazing Your talent stretches wide and great Always improving yourself
How I admire you, how I envy you
My dear friend
Milo Miga ‘25
The Quiet Flame
Zixuan "Jessica" Ni
A spark alights in hearts so true, A whisper soft, yet breaking through. Not in riches or fleeting name, But love’s warm glow, a quiet flame.
Through storms and nights, it holds us near, A gentle voice: You’re strong, my dear. Together bound, we rise, we stand, A thread of hope in every hand.
Minchae Kang ‘25
Through the Window
Ronan Kraeutler
Through the window you can almost see the winds blow.
Through that foul house of brick there’s a family having a wonderful picnic.
Through the window many wonders await but alas, you’re stuck at home with not even a blade of grass.
Through your ears you hear the sound of someone throwing a party full of laughs and cheers.
Through your mind course thoughts of sleep, however one must weep when they think about everything they can’t see, everything they can’t do.
Through your life you have made many blunders but now it’s time to see all of the wonders.
You open the door, step outside when suddenly someone shouts “Dinner!”
You didn’t even get any fresh air.
Joya Yu ‘26
Made up Place
Mahlia Murray
What if you could go away and replay a life that ends dismay and hatred in the world that replays..
The harshest darkness gone away in replace of calmness and nothing that can harm us or mock us..
A Made up place, where your stomach feels like it’s dancing- a feeling of whispered chanting, replaying like an unfinished painting…
A feeling of an orange, bitter on the outside from replaying the past, but a realization of sour to sweet that leads to success and peace…
A Made up place, as delicate as the petals on a elegant flower, until you get to the roots that’s the element of survival..
A Made up place of an illusion, where everything is confusing until it comes to an end…
A Made up Place