NOT for publication Etchings Issue 33.1

Page 22

Savannah Harris

Your Thinking Putty—

The Winner of the 2020 Lucy Monro Brooker Poetry Award

It’s intrusive when You find a stranger’s partial crammed in the side of a sphere You’d worked so hard to mold. You craft it just right, just round enough, set it down / think it is finished & then

oh God—

there’s something never-perfect about them, each one You craft, with little regard to the last one You’ve mashed for not being good enough between Your goddess fingers

& when You return to rectify the lumped form, Your makeshift earth, thickets of swooping greens wrapped about themselves in an obscured Eden— like all edens closed for repairs / each equally flawed—

a new snake, slicked in the venom of a danger-promise, appears like clockwork— each adam sent in rescue only bows at the sight of Your sparse cuppings of foliage

& falls for apple tricks until You become bored, Your fury burning new paths through vines / scorch marks marring a man-god’s design in a man-god’s world for men who think themselves gods. oh God, Jesus, Adam, Satan himself— Who fucked it up this time? One evening, I could not for the life of me muster inspiration. A friend passed over a container of Thinking Putty, and as I instinctively rolled a ball of it , the speaker of this poem leapt from within me, and so I wrote her story—how she feels about the men in her life, religion, and the world. It came together before I really realized what I had, which I believe is a very relevant take on some timeless concerns regarding the human condition.

20

Etchings

33.1


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook

Articles inside

Krannert Memorial Library, University of Indianapolis, 2009 - 2013 | J. W. Surface

12min
pages 104-113

Rayos al Miedo Blanco | Tylyn K. Johnson

2min
page 103

Untitled 2 | Kami Spear

1min
page 102

In the Market of Spare Feelings | Mackenzie Hyatt

1min
page 101

See You Soon | Rochelle Bauer

1min
page 100

Olympia | Patrick Handlon

1min
pages 97-98

Rainy Gray Day i | Joe Raymond

1min
page 99

Modern Woman | Rochelle Bauer

1min
page 96

Manners | Kathleen Hacker

1min
page 95

Life Sounds | J.W. Surface

1min
page 94

Iowa Harvest Ritual | Joe Raymond

1min
page 93

Charlottesville, 2017 | Sarah Reynolds

1min
page 89

Untitled | Kami Spear

1min
page 85

Vino in the Garden | Joe Raymond

1min
page 86

A Prose about My Boyfriend Who I Think Is Hot | Whitney Wilson

2min
pages 87-88

Transformation | Cory Pickett

1min
page 84

As a Young Girl | Stephanie Gibson

1min
page 83

Sunglasses at Night | Patrick Handlon

1min
page 82

The Unknown | Victoria Miller

1min
page 78

Ask: | Mackenzie Hyatt

2min
page 79

Kama Sutra at Barnes & Noble | Olivia Williams

1min
pages 76-77

The Gates | Olivia Williams

1min
page 74

The Kiss | Patrick Handlon

1min
page 75

The Bees Can Stay – If They Keep Away | Abigail Asher

1min
page 73

The Bean | Joe Raymond

1min
page 72

What’s Left Unspoken | Riley Childers

1min
page 71

The Aging Process of a Mermaid | Lindsey Henderson

6min
pages 68-70

Sonnet One Point Five | McKenna Tetrick

1min
page 67

Porque Yo No he Juntado las Marchas | Tylyn K. Johnson

7min
pages 62-64

Space Figure 3 | Patrick Handlon

1min
page 65

Sonnet One | McKenna Tetrick

1min
page 66

The Bird Waited | J.W. Surface

1min
page 61

Perfection | Victoria Miller

1min
page 60

Childhood, Childhood | J.W. Surface

1min
page 59

Overshadowed | Kami Spear

1min
page 58

Letterpressed KJU | Joe Raymond

1min
page 57

Pressing Matters | Joe Raymond

1min
page 56

El Reloj de la Noche | Kensington Eiler

1min
page 51

Momma | Riley Childers

1min
page 54

I am the 1% | Joe Raymond

1min
page 55

Blooming | Riley Childers

1min
page 53

Give Me a Try | Rochelle Bauer

1min
page 52

Dyslexia Interrupted | Joe Raymond

1min
page 50

Crimson Black Night | Joe Raymond

1min
page 49

The 6th Amendment Poster | Adam Fernandes

1min
page 44

Haiku | Olivia Williams

1min
page 45

Did You Have Your Conversation with the Moon? | Mackenzie Hyatt

1min
page 46

The Cashier | Chelsea Keen

36min
pages 26-39

First Date | Victoria Miller

1min
pages 47-48

Algunos Consejos en Apoyo de Cambios Sociales | Tylyn K. Johnson

3min
pages 42-43

Between Your Goddess Fingers | Olivia Thompson

1min
page 21

Your Thinking Putty— | Savannah Harris

1min
page 22
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
NOT for publication Etchings Issue 33.1 by JRaymondArt - Issuu