by JAMES

Strangling
Ropes swing around me, almost strangling me
I was born into a big web surrounding me
Dropped head first into a world built on how tightly can your ropes be strung
It was really confusing
Noises, voices telling me to cast out my ropes to my neighbors
I was unsure of this, so I acted like it
I sent out enough not to be consumed by the void below
But I sent out thread
Enough to make contact, but no need to tug
Over the years, I’ve commandeered my own strings
Never really sent any out, the select few
But I feel the need to grab when people need another anchor
I let one go once
I felt sick, guilty
But I can’t hold on to this one
I watched it as long as I good, spiral away
I hope it got tethered, I think it did
I can still barely see it, like a dot, a speck in the dark
But I gotta move on
I run around these strings like trapeze artist, scooping up these loose strings
I’ll hold onto my own, thank you very much
I don’t trust you to have them
I’ll just stuff them into my pockets, make room for others strings
Running around, grabbing strings, making my way around
Sometimes I need to get at strings just slightly out of reach
So I can just hop around off other strings when needed
They won’t barely feel it
I’m not using them, just borrowing them
Sometimes I want something to happen
All it takes is to pull a few people’s strings
Simple as that
But I gotta pull them the right direction
Easy peasy
Swinging people through this void
A different, unseen layer of our world
An ether
Where I thrive, the cold, unseen vacuum of our world
It’s ok, I like the cold
And I know how to navigate, so stop worrying about me

Well, one day, I was doing my regular old thing, when I was suddenly transported
A new part of my void I hadn’t been before
New ropes, dangling around me I went around, tugged a few
None felt sturdy enough to get me where I wanted to go
I hopped around, swinging but never getting far enough
Until one day, a new rope
It was like a cold, steel I grabbed on
Gave it a tug
And suddenly

Whoosh

I fly through the air
Yanked into the sky
Flying through the air
But here’s the strange thing I don’t fight it
I felt content, flying through the air
I was headed where I needed to go
Up, up, through the ceiling I’ve always known
And there was a man
Old, and young
At the same time
There, he had a shovel
Digging holes, all around
Holes in his world
Wrapped around his waist, a silver rope
Cold, like steel, but worth all the more
There I found a strange new world
A large field, hills of grass, never ending
A place beyond comprehension
I sat down
He sat next to me
And we watched the sun lower into the world below
And the day ends
I check the time
Four ones
Time for me to return to my own world
So I slip back down, and return to my business
But I had to make sure we would meet again
He’s holding something for me
Trailing behind me, reaching into the world above
A single rope… my rope

by LEVI

skip dinner wake up thinner
no
skip dinner
wake up and
your hair is thinner
and
you’re cold even though you’re wrapped in
six blankets and
two sweatshirts
skip breakfast and
maybe you’ll weigh a little less but
you won’t be able to think and
the white fuzz on your arms grows a little longer and
you’re tired but you
skip lunch
because it’s better beat nature to the punch
killing yourself before it kills you
you skip dinner again
but it’s okay because you’ll wake up thinner
right?
but that night you
are in bed trying to sleep just a little but
you can’t because you ache to the very bones
that you want to see so badly
and you realize that maybe it isn’t worth it
to shrink because this is
too much to bear
and you don’t want to keep
losing your hair

by AJ

I wish my gender didn’t dictate who I was, that they knew “AJ.”

I wish they knew my name, “AJ.”

When they use “his” name, it hurts like a punch to the gut.

When people call me my name, I smile as they call me, “AJ.”

“Would you like you read, AJ?” Butterflies swirl.

A smile brandishes my face hearing the name “AJ.”

With eyes closed, I have to say to those who won’t accept me. “It doesn’t work.” “I hate that name.” They don’t like “AJ.”

I’m ready.

I don’t care anymore.

This is who I am, you should never try to change that.

AJ is what I’ve decided, it’s who I am.

I don’t want “him” to come back, here and queer. It’s “AJ.” Breathless. Silent.

No longer.

I won’t stick to the binary. You can’t make it that way. I won’t listen.

AJ is loud and proud.

by JAMES

Khaki Sam and Suzy Q:
A love too real, regardless of truth,
A codependency, stuck together like glue
From camp to clocktower, I see them through.
The queen to his kingdom,
Little Manhattan, Adam Sandler,
All so bandwagon, oh and Baby Driver,
Hitch, Juno, and Annie Hall —
I just want to watch them all.
On Netflix, their titles call.
Love in cinema, big and small, finds all.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
Tom Hanks gets the girl.
When we first met with Adam Devine,
They all have their own little thing.
My second favorite is Steven and Connie,
Going out together like Clyde and Bonnie.
Root for the underdog, you got his back—
Guys like Steve Carell and John Cusack.
Why do you come back to this TV screen?
How much love have you even seen?
Real world models seem so tense.
Fate seems almost on the fence.
Love is sex and partly fear.
It seems like a lie never really near.
Having a person to work with you, old and new,
When you’re blue—
Wait, that’s weddings. I’m off track.
Don’t worry I’m back.
So what do you do when your model
Of a relationship is soiled?
Who do I look to when I need to know?
Nowhere to go, ask what does it take to love.
Parents split, relationships are s***.
That’s who people are sometimes:
Just another scar, when they become so far
Distant like a star.
What is a relationship?
Two people who care?
Someone to be there?
No longer alone.
Sorry, it appears I’ve droned on.
Role models, I don’t have many.
Toxic, like Forrest and Jenny.
But on TV, there’s plenty,
Like Ross and Rachel with their baby.
So maybe Rom Coms are a quick fix—
Log onto Netflix, love in a few clicks

by BREE

Click. “Hello my name is Siri,” “Ring Ring.” It rings and stays ringing as a mash-up of Rihanna and Sam Smith singing. Leave it alone, because when you’re on it you’re very monitored. You haven’t noticed but you’re alone because your friends have left you, didn’t tell you because you’re losing humanity and sanity within an idiot box, so please let the madness stop. Your phone, android or not, is still ringing. Were you near Rihanna and Sam Smith singing, Ding. Buzz. Pop. The ringing hasn’t stopped, but you have a notification. Your family is on vacation in paradise and not to be precise. There were five fights at school and a girl hung herself because today while you were on your phone you called her lame! Now you feel the pain you’ve gained for not putting your stupid “new box of shame’ away.

by JOHN

Craving. The craving is real. When I crave for a drink, candy, chips it grows stronger. The craving never stops. It starts to take control.

Joy. Having fun with friends. Have the feeling that you’re surrounded fun. The one special day that comes every year your birthday. Getting ready for summer.

Sadness. Sadness ruins everything. It changes our vibe, feeling, action. We have and still face it. Sadness is stronger, or weaker depending on the situation.

Fear. Fear always somehow comes back to haunt us. Fear can destroy us or can make us stronger. For some, we need support and time to overcome the fear. Fear is fear, and there is nothing more than fear.

Awkwardness. Is never comfortable. Most of the time it is dead quiet and weird.

by JAROD

We get caught in others lives
Like we should really care
But we also get jealous
Like our lives aren’t fair
We should be happy we have a name
We aren’t living in the cold
But we focus so much on others
And the information we are told
Like OMG Kim or whoever is having a baby
Do you actually think I care?
That fact that I would is extremely rare
Stay in your own life
Stop living in a fantasy
Two celebrities did the naughty
I don’t care about their intimacy
Famous people did drugs
Wow isn’t it so crazy
They have others do their laundry — amazing.
They are so lazy
Let them live their lives
Keep them out of the spotlight
Because if you tell me one more thing
We might have to fight

by KYLE

If I could be any type of bee, it’d be free
And a kind fellow.
This little bee could play the cello
With me as the guitarist.
We’d start a band. It’s be mellow.
Oh, we’d be so wrought with glee.
I’d name him Carmelo.

by BREE

Mad, mad, mad as a hatter. It doesn’t even matter
Because as humans we are full of laughter. But it hurts
When you find out dirt about someone you trust.
If you must, ask “Why, why are you so sad
That you had to do what you did?” Just rub it in, all of it.
Not just most, but go as far as the list goes
Because you were told that a white man
Was good, and that black people are from the hood!
But can a white man who is our so-called president
Stop all the cop violence, the sexual harassment,
The guns in schools and the ones people use?
I’ve said a lot of facts, but that’s not even the max
Of it all. See we as humans all have our falls,
But we get up. If we ain’t in cuffs,
If we ain’t used as tools, to fools,
Who cause damage having power.
So as America, we need for our voices
To be louder, as I became mad as a hatter.

by NORA

As children, we have a hero,
A role model, an inspiration.
We need someone to dream about.
To be without, what do we aspire
To be? Mine was Billie Joe Armstrong.
My hero from the start listening
To Green Day, day-in, day-out.
Green Day was my everything and Billie Joe, the centerpiece.
He stood up for his views even when others didn’t care.
He’s just as entitled to an opinion, and he used his voice unlike I ever could.
Why stay quiet when you have an audience — people to listen, people who care
And actually consider what you have to say.
When you’re a nobody like me few care
to hear me, but with an audience I could share it all.
So I look up to him and hope some day I’ll be the same
As him, using my voice and music just like him to share
My thoughts even when others don’t care
Because, like it or not, this is how I feel.