2013 Morpheus Staff Editor-in-Chief.......................................................Logan Burd Contest Director................................................Clayton Burke Layout and Design Director..........................Jackie Stanziano Marketing Director...........................................Cole Randolph Cover Design....................................................TJ Wasserman Heidelberg University Morpheus Literary Magazine 2013 2 Table of Contents Morpheus Literary Competition Author Biographies............................................................................................................................5 Fiction Winners..................................................................................................................................7 Poetry Winners.................................................................................................................................18 Visual Arts Winners.........................................................................................................................22 Journalism Winners.........................................................................................................................26 Academic Winners..........................................................................................................................36 Senior Writing Projects Author Biographies..........................................................................................................................68 Logan Burd.....................................................................................................................................70 Calista Hall......................................................................................................................................76 Samantha Gosche............................................................................................................................93 Kayla Graves.................................................................................................................................109 Cole Randolph...............................................................................................................................118 Jackie Stanziano.............................................................................................................................130 Clayton Burke................................................................................................................................142 Annette Rogers Heidelberg University Morpheus Literary Magazine 2013 4 Author Biographies Logan Burd Logan Burd is a senior English-Writing major and the Editor-in-Chief of this edition of The Morpheus. Logan is a member of Rho Eta Delta and works as the Editorial Director of The Kilikilik. After graduation, Logan plans on running around frantically until he hits the crystal-clear front door of his dream job. Clayton Burke Clayton Burke is a senior English major with a concentration in Writing. After college, Clayton plans on pursuing a career in advertising or technical writing. Clayton is a proud member of Rho Eta Delta men’s fraternity and enjoys geeking out about fashion. Erin Gorrell Erin Gorrell is a junior biology major and chemistry minor at Heidelberg. She is involved in Greek life as a member of Zeta Theta Psi. She is also a member of Greenhouse Club, Tri-Beta, and athletic band, and works for the NCWQR. She enjoys watching Netflix with friends and reading in her spare time. Claire Meneer Claire Meneer is a proud native of Akron. She is a political science major and is also in the honors program. Claire is a sister of Kappa Psi Omega, and also enjoys being a Rhos Bud! In her spare time, Claire enjoys photography, drinking an abundance of coffee, and watching any Cleveland sporting event. Bethany Pelzer Bethany Pelzer is a senior international studies major with history and German minors. She is an alumna of Delta Sigma Chi and a member of Heidelberg University Concert Choir and Chamber Singers. After spending a semester in Glasgow, Scotland, she can’t wait to travel and see more of the world. Heidelberg University Morpheus Literary Magazine 2013 5 Jenna Rhoades Jenna Rhoades is a senior communication major. She is the entertainment editor for the Kilikilik and is heavily involved in theatre productions. Jenna is a proud member of the Euglossian Society and is also an Alpha Phi Tau Lil’ Sis. Amber Spiegel Amber Spiegel is a senior English Literature major and the current Ohio Poetry Day clerical assistant. She recently ran a poetry workshop for the OPD event. Amber is very excited about being published in The Morpheus, and she wants to congratulate all of her fellow winners as well! Jeffrey Stephens Jeff Stephens is a 30 year old Early Childhood Education major from Atlanta, Georgia. He began attending Heidelberg University in the Spring of 2013 on scholarships for academic merit and is a recent addition to the Sigma Tau Nu fraternity. Look for Jeff’s other work, The Rise, online at Authorstand.com. Alicia Towe Alicia Towe is a freshman at Heidelberg University. She is an Education AYA major with an English focus and an English major. Alicia has previously had artwork published in the literary/art magazine Whimsical Ink, however this is her first time having written work published. Sebastian Williams Sebastian Williams is a senior at Heidelberg, and is studying English literature and German. He plans to attend graduate school to continue studying literature, as well as compiling debt. He works as a pizza delivery boy, and was an understudy to the great Phillip J. Fry. Heidelberg University Morpheus Literary Magazine 2013 6 Fiction Writing First Place - Amber Speigel Fire’s Burning.......................................................8 Second Place - Sebastian Williams Red Scarf..............................................................12 Third Place - Jeffrey Stephens Little Red and the Wolf.......................................15 Heidelberg University Morpheus Literary Magazine 2013 7 Fire’s Burning By: Amber Speigel During balmy nights, when the world her father, her brothers, her father’s father, has gone silent and the watchers gather and so on ever since her family had placed around in vigil of the ill or the dying, the its roots in the town. Each mechanism of call of the deathwatch beetle is the loudest, that billowing heaving industrial machine the most shrill. When Lucas McClarren had sent forth groans that butted against died last spring, it was said by those who the family home for decades. The workings were with him, and by the doctor himself, of wood and nails have swayed with the in- that the old man was going to pull through take and outtake of that factory’s mechani- the worst of it. Then, Mrs. McClarren heard cal lungs since the home’s beginning; it had the tones of the deathwatch beetle when never taken a breath of its own. Capitalism! she was laying out the sheets one Saturday How endless your depths are! Yet, even morning. She, like all the other well-wish- these noises of endless toil are a lullaby ers of the town, ignored the omen of death, compared to the clicking of her ill begotten but, as her day drew to a close, the message friend. only grew louder in her ears, echoing long It has made progress now-- nearly into the night. For when you hear the sound to the window frame. She stood, meaning of the deathwatch beetle, your loved one is to go, to leave, to escape. There is nowhere doomed to die. Mrs. McClarren had awak- left to go. She sits again, this time across ened to silence; the rustling of her husband the room, away from the window. From on the sick bed in the room above her had here, she can see the scope of the painted ceased long ago. But then Mr. McClarren glass; her mother had done this work with was dead; so of course poor Mrs. McClar- shaky fingers and eyes like her daughter’s. ren wouldn’t have heard her husband. It She follows the painter’s stokes restlessly at is foolish to ignore the death call that the first. The anxiousness that had built inside beetle brings. For the results are always the her subsided; looking at the glass, not at same; only the details of the story change. the intruder upon it, caused her body to -------------------------------- ebb. She felt it relax; each tendon and joint There it is. Clawing its way across giving to a superior force. Then everything the painted glass of the window. Inching shatters. All the calm leaves. along, oblivious of the outcome its presence From the bowels of the house, she brings. The room’s occupant’s ever watch- hears a slam, everything in her locks itself ful eyes, devoid of light or of darkness, up again. She watches as the sound shifts following the creature creeping, creaking the world around it to make room for its closer-- closer-- closer-- to her. Each pro- noise. It must be Nicky. She trains her longed step of her companion carries to the hearing towards the door that has been listener’s ears a sound of dissonance to the firmly shut since she entered and listens air around it. The noise is constant, inces- with the same rapture that a sinner listens sant really. Like the turning of gears in an to the weekly sermon hoping for redemp- overworked turbine. Click… Click… Click… tion, salvation. This time she does move, Click… On and on it goes. Down the street out of the room and on to the landing; she from her home is a factory. It had employed goes to listen. Heidelberg University Morpheus Literary Magazine