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I S S U E 6 | M A Y 2 0 2 1 Commentarius Table of Contents Poetry Art ON THE COVER 1 David Garrett Jaron Johnson Snowglobe World Unthinkable Life 2 Mackenzie Wasson 3 Jaime Herrera Maskless Unrequited Love Broken Mirror The Lake 4 Elizabeth Bacherini Typology, 4 Commentarius Encaustics, 10 Podcast 8 Marie Niyonzima Masterpiece 7 Dikchya Biswa Faculty features Converse World have a new home on 9 Alissa Logan Spotify! Check out 14 Kayden Portillo the interview with Lilac Dissociations Jay Ashby and please hit subscribe 17 to get up to date 11 Mackenzie Wasson Kaija Gerlach Multiplicity interviews in the Dead Roses future. 20 Sakari Ochoa 12 Katie Woodard Angel Cayendo Nightmare Ambos Mundos 24 Micha Boykin Short Fiction Strangers 15 Mackenzie Wasson Garden of Eden SNOWGLOBE BY DAVID GARRETT I feel like being alone tonight I don't want to be on my phone tonight Just me and my thoughts Thinking of relationships sinking in a fragile world Never knowing when to begin a conversation Communication wasn't big in my family growing up I feel small from being dealt with so roughly each day In my snow globe world I lie awake 1 Maskless Mackenzie Wasson 2 UNREQUITED LOVE BY JAIME HERRERA Words cannot describe how much I love you. I’ve known you for so many years, yet it feels like I only met you yesterday. I remember the day that we met. You came out of nowhere and made my life so much better. I never thought that someone could make me as happy as you did. But these past months, you’ve been different. You don’t spend as much time with me as you used to. Instead you spend your time with her. The one person that I thought you despised. It makes me doubt your love for me. When I get close to you, you walk away. When I tell you “I love you”, you ignore me. But it doesn’t stop me from loving you. The only time that you love me back is when I shake the container full of catnip. You purr and meow at me constantly until I give you your tasty snack. And when I do, you go back to ignoring me. But this won’t stop me from loving you. My wonderful cat, Peyton. 3 Typology Elizabeth Bacherini 4 BROKEN MIRROR BY JAIME HERRERA I look at myself in the mirror, wondering if this is what people really see. “She’s such a disappointment.” “I’m embarrassed to be related to her.” “She’s so annoying.” Once in elementary school, a boy told me that I was ugly. That always stuck with me. I don’t remember his name. I only remember the impact that it made. I wonder what it’s like to be proud of yourself. Or to even be proud that you are who you are. To be able to see a picture of yourself and not hate what you see. Or to accept other people’s compliments and not think that they’re lying. My father told me that I was pretty, funny, and smart. He said it with a genuine smile and joyful eyes. But I only saw lies escape from his lips. He noticed my doubt and his eyes filled with sadness. I only cry in the shower, so that the running water masks the sounds of my sadness. I can never tell the difference between my tears and the water running down my cheeks. Sometimes I have to gasp for air because it’s so suffocating. I want it to be over. 5 THE LAKE BY JAIME HERRERA I’m trying to skip stones, putting all of my hope into them. I’m so confused. I don’t know what to do. I’ve never been so lost. Each stone that I skip sinks. I hope that each stone will give me an answer. But they only fall short. I wish that each stone will tell me what I want. But I guess they’re just as confused as I am. I think back on the past few months of my life wondering where I went wrong. Wondering when and where I lost who I was. But I am like the stones that I skip. I’m confused and I sink to the bottom. So heavy with confusion and wonder that I fall. 6 Converse World Dikchya Biswa 7 MASTERPIECE BY MARIE NIYONZIMA Passing the unknown, you are deeper than anyone's understanding. You are the rhythm of a heartbeat beating outside its chest, making a melody so remarkable, That even the angels come down from heaven to hear. You are love in its purest form. Even jealousy itself envies you, everything that is more than you is actually less Because you are everything that could be and everything that is. You are a dream, Even the night sky falls for you. Abandoning the stars, it used your heart as a pillow And only there, it finds true peace. You are a book held together by a spine that's been bruised pages that have been torn by people who did not care for your story, broken and beautiful, you are poetry. You are art, a masterpiece. 8 LILAC BY ALISSA LOGAN Hold onto me As if i were a flower in your hand As if i were a lilac that you so adore Although i may be hard to hold Hold onto me Like a river flowing with gold Don't let go Keep tight with me, as I am a fragile lilac 9 Encaustics Elizabeth Bacherini 10 DEAD ROSES BY MACKENZIE WASSON Her mind was slowly floating away. Each thought took a piece of her brain. Her mother compared it to a dead rose With petals slowly falling from the stem, Revealing an empty center. She had never thought of it that way. The doctors often poked and prodded her rose. They tried to figure out why it wilted. She told them it was just old and that it’s natural, But they seemed to be unable to hear her. Often, she repeated this, Trying to convince them That all roses die eventually, But she was always ignored. She laid in a stark white room each night. The sounds of beeping lulled her to sleep. Her mother was always there, sitting in the corner. Her cheeks were always stained with tears As she told her that it would be okay, All roses die eventually. The words had been strangely comforting, Maybe because they were the only ones she heard. While her own rose lost its last petal, Her mother held her hand tightly, Guiding her on her journey to a new life, One where roses would never wilt, One where roses were forever bright. A life where roses never die. 11 Dissociations Kayden Portillo 14 NIGHTMARE BY KATIE WOODARD I felt the coldness of the grey stone walls of the basement As the rain pounded against the roof. I smelt a sickly sweet stench to the side of me. I turned to the unpleasant smell and saw oak table, Littered with small dead animals Like rabbits and rats. I didn’t know why I was here, Nor did I understand where I was, I just knew that I needed to trudge down The steep and damp staircase Leading to another room deeper in the ground And below the basement. It was so dark down that staircase That I could not see past the third step. I gripped the frigid iron railing of the stairs So that as my hand wrapped around the rail And my fingernails would leave imprints on my palm. My lungs fought to breathe in the dense air, As I turned slowly to the dark corner in the basement To see if she was still there. Dread spread throughout my body As I saw the outline of her back. She was something like a witch, Without the long charcoal color hat Or the jet black felines. Her hair was stringy and full of knots And her clothes were very simple and tan. When she turned from the corner All I could see were her cold dead eyes That seemed to bulge out of her head. In a dreadfully long second, I looked between the witch and the staircase, Trying to decide which way I would rather go, Knowing fully well that I was about to die No matter what choice I made. I looked back at her and she lunged towards me, And screamed a high pitch sound. In her right hand she held a threatening knife. 12 I tried to thrust myself down the stairs But I moved in slow motion, And she caught up with me quickly, And I saw myself fall to the ground. She stood over me, Her eyes now red and bloodshot. My vision started to fade to black As I felt the cold knife on my throat And I could no longer breathe. I opened my eyes once more And found myself in a basement. I felt the coldness of the grey stone walls of the basement As the rain pounded against the roof. 13 GARDEN OF EDEN BY MACKENZIE WASSON As we step out of the car, onto the gravel Percy. Percy has been friends with Eden and I driveway, my sister, Eden, and I look at our since we were three, and although he seems scary, surroundings. The glowing, white light of the moon he’s very shy. reflects off Eden’s black hair, accentuating her I make my way towards the second figure, bright, blue eyes.

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