Part One: Spring | The Glass Knife 2023

theglass knife, volume13

the birth of women

by Karabelo Bowsky ’23

She emerged from the water

With no boundaries

No clothes

No pain

Her birth was simple

Easy promising

The only birth where giggles

Echoed through the green

Her eyes held naivety

Her shoulders held nothing

Her thighs held no gaps

For why would she need to take up less

space

Her stomach was full

Her face blushed

As the earth greeted her

She grew up

The wood longed for her return

The green wailed for her daughter

Did the green not know her Daughter was her second chance at life

A giggle is heard a little girl found her way to the same water

The same green

The greens daughter had returned

Eyes sunken

Lips chapped

Smiles long forgotten

She scolded the little girl

This time for not being cautious

Did she not know her daughter

Is her second chance at life

Dear Reader,

In this thirteenth edition of The Glass Knife, we present the botanical in all its forms. It’s an idea we’ve wanted to showcase for years, but it’s only now that conditions are ideal for this particular volume to take root. In a properly-cultivated botanical garden, there moonlit vale inspires delight in anyone who wanders through.

However, we hope also to capture the profundity of nature. -

struction of an area, life returns. Microorganisms rebuild the soil; quiet growth, trees rise from nothing. Eventually, a forest is born. It’s like forgiveness, maybe, or redemption. It’s unconditional love.

We’ve found that botanics can be impossible to quantify. There’s uniquely inspiring, or how a cloudless blue sky can evoke childlike devotion. However, it’s that wild impossibility that we’ve done our best to bring forth. As you journey through The Glass Knife’s garden, watch what begins to bloom.

Sincerely,

Samhita Kumar ’23 Literary Editor

Adam Akins ’23 Production Editor

Brynne Barnard-Bahn ’23 Art Editor

Tonye Jack ’23 Sound Editor

Until the Moss Decides

women, Karabelo Bowsky Golden

, Simon Lindenau

Spring

“‘Listen to the trees talking in their sleep,’

‘What nice dreams they must have!’ ”

— L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

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Sink into the mud and Hear frogs croak songs

Let your head rest

Upon the moss

Feel the heart beating a collective drum

Into the pond

Hope reeling out

As the day grows long

The ripples like beetles

Flying to join the throng

Unwrap the answers

Hold tight to your truth

Lest it wriggle from your palms

Gone. I’m Gone

by Sage Spradlin ’23

ted oaks. I lay on my back, vertebrae pressing into the fragrant earth. I listen to the musings and melodies pass through the sky as the rot begins to crawl up my limbs. A ladybug lands on my cheekbone and soon hurries my beaten bones. The sun still passes and so does the moon.

Portabella

Brynne Barnard-Bahn ’23 Digital

Letting Go

The days of good cheer have all gone away

The laughter and joy that was here, now astray

For a love that was brief

No more will we share in the moments of bliss

The time we had together, eternal won't it be missed The sorrow and pain

It's a burden we can't sustain A life that was taken, we can only reminisce.

Though life will go on and our hearts will heal

The memories of love that we had, we shall never conceal Our hearts forever in mourning

For the love we had adorning

In memory of the life that will never be real.

The Hand

by Lila Reynen, ’26 Graphite

Moment of Departure

by Samhita Kumar ’23

We said goodbye at the bus station, and the air was so cold the windows frosted white, crisp and clear and to the bone.

Did you watch me go, until I faded out of sight?

Did you stay at that station, hours and hours until I returned? Until the frost receded in the light?

It rains. You drive me there at midnight,

oil-and-water slick, and I watch the license plates. You taught me to say goodbye, and yet, my shadow lengthens. In a moment it will dissipate. I do not want to go.

Hearts In My TV

by Tonye Jack ’23

EXPLICIT CONTENT WARNING

Ibe stress today

I ain’t dealin with this now, I need some other way

I be so stuck up in my head yet I can’t concentrate

Oh wait I’m fallin out!!

(wait, hol up, shit, eugh)

Ok I’m back in!

Baby hit my phone, like “how you been”, show some compassion

Don’t wanna be alone, we go together like a fraction

I know she love my joke, she lol, I get her laughin

This the best I’ve ever felt, I can die tonight

There’s love up in the air, hearts in my tv

I’m trynna make it clear, but I wonder if she see’s me

Or even gives a care, about the real me

I don’t really mind

This the best I’ve ever felt I can die tonight

Got me up late night, she wanna play and

But you got my whole heart, put it on a shirt

But I hate the distance, I swear it feels the worst

But I guess it works out, I’m irl a jerk

And I don’t do all that well on my own

Been like that a minute and it’s breaking my dome

When I’m at my limit you be shaking my phone

You got me feeling like, ahh Take up my life

Don’t give a fuck if I’m wrong

I swear it feels so right

So I’m sayin never stop, hit me up at night

Keep me up until the morning, I’ll be waiting for you

And that’s true Lost in conversation, we may go until noon

Until I see that text “Goodnight”

“Ok”

“Love u, bye”

patience+

by Tonye Jack ’23

ibeen sittin in my room im pretty fucked up so dont approach and dnd until my luck’s up im runnin dry, im buck

oh there it goes in the wind, im a dumb fuck

my head’s spinnin, i aint even wasted say things will change, give a little bit of patience

i’ve been broke, im in need of some maintenance

and she hittin my phone, yet she hate me

you not wit it, so why would you call to me

my phone’s hittin, but not hearin audibly

you dont listen, you takin a part of me im still livin, alive? its astonishing

and im givin it all i got honestly makin songs in my room for my sanity how i feel, you can hear it all sonically in the stars, in the sky, where i want to be

i need a change of luck life got me breakin up when im alone with my thoughts then its dangerous what do they say to us?

“give a little bit of patience, everything will just work out”

but i need it right now and im done with the waitin imma do it by myself with my own hands and im hearin em say that “its me and you”

The Magic Fountain

1ST PLACE, 2023 LOWER SCHOOL WRITING CONTEST

Ever since Sarina was a little girl, she had always been very athletic and liked running, jumping, climbing, crawling, getting dirty, anything! At the beginning of the year, she had decided that she would win a competition that included all of these things, Folsom’s Annual Four-Mile Ob -

Sadly, she wasn’t anymore. The competition was a month and a half away, and Sarina was sitting on her couch, staring down at the cast and boot covering her right foot, feeling depressed.

She had spent every day for the past four months training for the obstacle course. Four months! And for what? Only to get into a car accident and break her foot. The worst thing was that she would never be able to run again. Walk yes, run no. But Sarina couldn’t let a way to heal her foot.

pull her toward a thick book about the chair, and started reading.

One lengthy book-reading later…

Sarina nearly lept out of her chair. “This might actually work!” she thought. The book mentioned something about a myth that inside the Great Pyramid, there is a magical healing fountain that can cure any illness, disease, or injury. On one of the pages, there was even a map that supposedly shows how to get there. But the book also warned that no -

tain. People searching for the fountain wander inside the pyramid for days, get lost, and are trapped forever.

Sarina decided to take the bus to the library to do some research. When she got there, as she was about to go to the Medicine and Health section, it felt like something was telling her to go to the Geography aisle. As she limped along the aisle, a force seemed to continue to

Sarina shuddered. “I know it’s risky, but I’ll take that chance,” she thought. “I'm going to Egypt!” Sarina whispered to herself. She checked out the book and rode the bus home. As soon as she got to her house, she yanked her suitcase out of the closet and immediately started packing. later…

Sarina paid the driver, thanked her, and stepped out of the car with her belongings. She frowned as she grabbed her crutches out of the cab, remembering what her doctor had said. “You

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probably shouldn't be going on a trip in this condition, but if you must, at least bring your crutches.” Luckily, the entrance to the hotel was only a few feet away and easy to get to.

Sarina walked through the door and saw a beautiful but busy lobby, someone complaining at the front desk, and a huge, glittering, crystal chandelier hanging high above her head.

“Wow!” Sarina exclaimed. She hobbled to the front desk to get her room access card, then took the elevator to get to

Sarina unlocked the door, revealing a big living room with white walls. In the middle of the room, there was a brown

seventy-inch TV. She stepped further inside and saw the door that connected the living room to the bedroom. Sarina brought her suitcase to the bedroom and started unpacking.

packed her crutches, which, luckily, backpack.

Sarina told the front desk that she would be back in a day at the most andty-minute ride, Sarina carefully walked up the steps to the entrance of the Great map. “Let’s do this,” she said, trying to pretty nervous. Sarina stepped inside the pyramid.

Two hours later…

starting to worry that she had gotten lost. But she kept following the map. She was determined to get to that fountain.

dressed and went to the cafeteria to

went back upstairs to prepare for her trip to the pyramid. In her backpack, she packed a change of clothes, her water bottles, some food, extra shoes, a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, and of course, her book with the map on how to get to the Magic Fountain. She also

thought she heard the faint sound of rushing water. According to the map, the fountain was just up ahead! Sarina kept walking. The sound was getting louder now. Sarina took a few more steps and came to a sudden stop with her mouth hanging wide open.

There it was at last — The Magic Fountain! Sarina found it! It had three spilling into a larger ground pool. It was

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made out of solid gold and had beautiful designs etched onto it.

She took one of her empty water with the water from the fountain. She took a sip. A sharp pain shot through her broken foot. Sarina winced.

weird numbness in her foot. cast underneath. She poured the healing water over her cast and broke it apart. She tried running around the fountain.

“Yes!” Sarina was overjoyed. She had healed her foot.

Brynne Barnard-Bahn ’23 Acrylic

VSEPR

by Brooke Barker ’24

LLewis, Lewis, from dots to lines Lewis, never more than eight

The electron pairs repel each other like a chemical suspension

Arranging the electrons as far apart as the Earth and the Sun Atoms, the way the electron pairs are shared determines the positions of the atoms Atoms, atoms, the positioned atoms are shared between the central and surrounding atoms Atoms, atoms, atoms, it’s its own universe full of cheers

The structure of the molecule appears Trigonal bipyramidal

Daughter of Thorns

by Jackson Fox ’23

Aed to see. A white one if she could. Or maybe a red one. Any had told her tales since she was small of a royal garden atop the highest peak ofes of battles long ago fought and chamthere was a small place, within all of that blight, where life persisted. Meire need-

needed to see that life still had a place in this world.

She took up her mother’s shortsword that she had kept beneath her waist to keep the thieves away. She packed a sack

her mother’s wedding ring. It was a pretty thing, that ring. A silver chassis that held a scarlet jewel between four stokes. It made Meire think of her mother, a tear rolling down her cheek. She squinted her eyes hard and held the ring to her chest as if to hold her mother in one

for her journey. She stayed that way for a while. When she was well and ready, ring away in her sack. She walked up to the sweetly rotting door and opened it gently. It didn’t matter; the old thing always made a creak when you opened it.

She stepped outside onto the mossy cobblestone and looked around. The wind whistled as in between each stone cot-

The quaint hamlet upon the valley soon would be a mere memory; a story to tell. Meire took a deep breath, the moist air clearing her nose. It smelled of wood and water, and the deep sea. Meire thought the smell of water and the sea distinctly unalike. One was sweet, the other was saline.

Across from her was a path, decrepit and overgrown with grass. She walked to it and ascended its slippery smooth stairs. She had studied a map of the kingdom and had deducted that the sewers

Even though the sewer was still over a hundred paces away, she could already smell the foul stench. She had no idea the things that lay in wait for her, but her nose painted a vague image. She approached the sewer gate. She reached out and tugged on the handle only to be heavy, rusted lock held it shut.

“It’s no use, you know,” a faint voice said from her right. She swiveled in an instant, dropping her hand to her scabbard. A man, hunched over sat no more than twenty paces from her.

“Are you hard of hearing or some-

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thing?” he said, frustrated this time. “The gate’s locked. The lock’s rusted. What more can you do?” Meire just stared atof salt hugged his jawline. His nose was short and narrow. Purple discs encircled his eye sockets. He looked at her with an unwavering stare.

“Why don’t you just lie down and die already?” he asked. “Such is our fate, it seems.” The man lurched and let out a vi-

his mouth, choking on disease. He held his side with the other hand to ease the cramping that came with the cough.

Meire turned away from him and took her sword from its scabbard. She held the hilt in her right hand with the blade

hands if she could hope to even put a dent in such a substantial piece of iron. She raised the sword above her head and swung. She struck the latch of the lock directly. There was a painful clanging sound, but nothing else. The lock remained intact. She struck it again, and again. And again, and again, and again, that painful clang ringing in her ears. She heaved with each wind up to the strike, each time preparing a swing with all of the might she could muster. She went fast and hard. Over and over she struck the lock, breathing heavily. She stayed

that way for several minutes.

The man covered his ears and grimaced. “Always with the sword,” he mumbled. “When will these plague-ridden fools learn?” lock again and fell to the ground. She heaved on her hands and knees, strug-

for it. The man snickered to himself. He

“Trust me, I’ve tried,” he chided. “That lock is simply too—” His mouth gaped and his eyes widened. The lock lay on the ground, beside the heaving girl. He sat there, confused. He let out a laugh through a smile and covered his mouth as if to conceal his joy, for such emotions could only be met with disappointment in a forsaken land such as this one. He let out another laugh, and then another.

laughing as if he had completely succumbed to madness. He pushed him-

to a standing position. He began to approach the girl, his leather and plate armor rattling as he took each step. Meire

and shallow. “Girl, stop your weeping and open your eyes,” he said with a smile. “Look.” She did.