Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® Student Creative Writing 2008 Zephyrus Western Kentucky University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/eng_stu_write Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Western Kentucky University, "Zephyrus" (2008). Student Creative Writing. Paper 56. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/eng_stu_write/56 This Magazine is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Creative Writing by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Zephyrus t • .". ,,-, .. ,,'. ,.;, :. " •. ; .... "",,;,,:~,:,~,,~. J'.-,~.... ~".I_,.' '.' .'.-. t .< .~' •••-..;, •••••• 2008 I Zephyrus ( 2008 ., A pUblication of the English Department of Weslern Kenlucky University Bowling Green, Kentucky Award W inners Editors: I Brandon Colvin Lesley Doyle ( J im \Vay ne Miller Poetry Award Tyler Jackson Saeed Jones Brooke Sha far "The God of War on Valentine's Day" Browning Literary Clu b Poetry Award Mary Sparr "Anne Grace Murphy, 2007" Cover art: Emil y Wilcox "With Wannth" Ladies Li terary Club Fiction Award .' T itle page art: Brent Fisk Shallda Ciemniecki "When and Where" "From June lO September" Wanda Gatlin Essay Award Bi anca Spriggs <http://www .w ku .cd uhc ph)' r u s> "When You Drin k With th e Devil , You Drin k Alone" Art coordination: Mike Nichols Zephyrus Art Award James Matt Holl and fllcully :uh'iso r: David LeNoir "Tree Han d" )Jrintin g: Print Media Ed itor's nole: Our se lection process is based on complete anonymity. Ifan ed itor recogni zes an author's work, he or she Writing award recipients are chosen by the Creative Writing abstains from the decision-making process for that work. staff of WKU; the art award is chosen by Zephyrll .5 staff. Table of Contents Kimberly J. Reynolds "Germination" . ,.".,'.',.,., ..46 Mason Broad",ell "Dreams and TIleir Relation to the Unconscious" . , , . , , , , . , . , .. , . , , , 7 I James Matt Holland "Tree l'land", . ,."., . 47 "Open Mie Suspect Parade", . , .,. , . , ,8 ( Ed Rogers "cockroach" , ......... , , . .48 "Not Perfect Is Good" ..... , . , , . , , ,9 Jesse Hazzel I-Pi ng "Bruce Lee". .............. 50 Joseph Brandon Colvin " I lunger" , .. .......... 10 Dave Shackelford and "An excerpt from Jeremiah Bell ' A Tale of Two Houses'" ... , ... , .. , 5 1 " Pre-Soak Snack" . ... ...... 12 Brooke Shafar "Besondere Traume". , , . , . , , . ,. , .64 Lesley Doyle "Under the Wealher" . ,.".,., .... 14 Jessica Mattingly "#1". .... , 66 Morgan Eklund "Polish Man's Return"., . .... 15 Mary Sparr "Anne Grace Murphy, 2007". ... 67 "Why My Mother Falls Asleep • I on the Couch" . ".,., ...... 16 Meredith Dahlstrom " Dancing Shoe". , . , , . , . , .. .. ,70 Brent Fi sk " From June to September" .. ,. ..... 17 Bianca Spriggs "When You Drink With the DcviL You Drink Alonc .,., . , . ,. ,71 WiIIl lolli s "an Appalachian boy knows his Din" .. , .. , .. .... 19 Ryan William Hunton "Telcvision"." . ....... , . .. 20 Tyler Jackson "l lostile Takeover". 21 Amanda Tuscan "Graduality of Time" . .....22 Saccd Jones "Thc God of War on Valcntinc's Day" , . ,. .. ",.,." .23 "Jc7cbc l" s FM Radio" . .. ".,. ,24 Justin Comley "What , Who"., . ... ... ,., .. ,26 Dustin Meyer "The Cigarette and thc Man Who Smokcs It", .... , , . , ...... 27 "Thc Trcmors that Minor on a Bcery Thursday Night" .. ,.,."., .44 Drea ms and Their Relation to the Unconscious Mason Broadwell I submitted some I poems ror review, and slept, and heard ( back much soonertha n I expected. They sa id, You do not lise line breaks very effeci ively, and your refe rences are too abstr usc, so we're goi ng \0 make a Hawthorne esque spectacle ory ou by readin ' g YOll aloud and moe . king your Iii crary shortcomings. But we still like you as a person. 7 Open Mic Suspect Plu ade Mason Broadwell In the beginning, the poet who ran for President, I then the silent poet, the antinomian poet, and the poet trapped in the vocabulary of an Albanian motorcycle. ( The poet reclusive, the poet regretful, the poet adrift. '0 Next, the established poet, the lonesome poet, 0 0 the mildmannered poet, the red poet, the blue poet, the yellow <.l belliedbootlickingtumcoatfictionwriter poet, the green poet, the pink poet, the tokenminority poel, the upandcoming poet, '"<; the wild poet, the canted poet, the selfdescribedoddball poet, " and the poet who does not speak to his reflec tion for 20 years. ..'"" "0 z Now the poet hollow, the poet pretending, ., the despot poet, the phosphorescent poet, the lover- poet, the teacher-poet, the surgeon-poet, the poet who drinks no water, the tame poet, the jihad poet, the critical darling poet, the bespoken poet, the tomfool poet, the maneating poet, and the poet lost in the wildemess. Then some hitandrun poets, the seascouring poets, the anti­ poet, the unabashed pirate poet, the adjeetiveless poet, the roollop poet, the poet hunting parakeets with a shoehorn, and final judgment on the poet controversial, the poet di lettante, the unidentified fly ing poet, the poet oblique, the sons of the poets, poets named after poets, the poet abdicant, the poet sycophantic, the asbeslos poet, the wanderlust poet, the poet who gives birth to rhyme for words beyond our ken. 8 I-Iunger Joseph Brandon Colvin Turning fork slowly coils I try 110110 slare, just eat. I tepid pasta. So much He si ts nearby, wailing. plastic and Styrofoam, Tell 111 yselfnollo ( sq uea king from soft fork-plate walch split-concrete hands friction and scraping maws. scralching bony ann scars. My eyes darting to loud kids. Food arrives with thud on cold tablc. I walch him eat. Slurp noodles as door creaks. Wind gust sneaks around cracked I-lis wart-skin hands dig in door, bringing new patron. marinara firc of Drop pasta to mushy mcat and stearn goop. No fork. pilc and I watch customer. Plow-likc shovcl in g of A thin old man, limping. food into crusty mouth . Watch with waterdrip eyes. , I Ilis hair like broom bristles, malted white string with oil Fork on table, gaining and matching facc scruff patch. unuscd age, like antiques. Too-small shons, bright blue in Saucc dri ps like thick blood winler air, bare legs like from oily wolf jaws mud slicks wrappcd in rust twine. and fingernails cake wit h dried red stains and dirt filth . Gold pit-stai ns on whi te shirt like tobacco-tooth rot. I look away, eye eclipse, Bare feet bearing bli sters breathe deep, walk OU I, don' t stare. scoot forward on waxed noor. Back tumed, listen to iI , Geek-cute twentysomcthing like car-crash nesh, the sound wai lS at cash register. of gulped pasta slidi ng down the old man's dry throat. Old man mumbles cough-speak, sprays words like phlegm candies. Cash ier shakes head, squints eyes, ponytail wags back and forlh . Whi te stringy man spea ks loud, "spaghetti," gives clerk cash. 10 I I Pre-Sollk Snack Jason Brandon Colvin My laundry bag scrapes Vapor bi llows up and creeps I along the carpel in the hallway, over the mirror. I see myself ( frayi ng to reveal its mctal frame. as muted Monet blur. Now [t ranles hard against my calves, plaid boxer shorts slip down evoking winces from my legs, loosened by the stea m week-old bruises. of the spurting water. The brown cloth tower My foot plunks in to the scald wobbles like a Weeble and bends in the liquid like a when I flin g it into the pencil would. Red skin pulses fire comer by the bcd. and I can 't bend my tocs Socks spill oul onto without ouch. the deep red rug, scattered like fabric­ I' ll have a snack, let the bo il unrave l. softened Nonnandy Puddle-dripping to the kitchen, .' casual ties. I find the vegetable version of Bill Buckner in the '86 World Series. The fuzzy rush of faucet downpour smacks The shiny black mini-fridge the cold tub basin in the was too cold and the carrots nex t room. The soft thud all froze overnight, of liqu id charges a right to the core. Naked and cloud of sleam with damp, I snap a carrot like an audible rhythm. arthritic hip. I!'sjust icc inside. I started the bathwater running, waiting for me, a fle shy Titanic, to sink in its depths. [merge with humidity as I step on the slick tiles. 12 I ) Under the Weather I'olish Man's Return Lesley Doyle Morgan Eklund Ir's lIor o/l\'ays going 10 be lhis grey. Came back to words again. I --George Harrison Poli sh man, returned he has ( from a place nOI suitable for the relined small talk. Charcoal clouds purr on the hori zon, their edges wet with secondhand sunshine, Now a calVed up moon. glistening like algae in the half-dawn. I saw your bones beating Main Street yesterday, like a carcass from earth. The trees shove against one another, '·Iead low, so the wind grazes your skull rasping out vowels. Branches become and nOI your restless vision. dark serrations that gnaw at the sky. Crazed man, Even the wi ndowpane forgets my reflection, now so mber from mind's worn fences. remembering only the pale curve of my jaw, Is it this estran ged town and hollow shadows where my eyes should be. that makes yO ll ill ? ' Or the nonnative tongue . that makes you li ve in yo ur head. That makes you li ve in your head­ too much and too often. 14 15 From June to Septcmbcr Why My Mother Fulls Asleep on the Cou ch Brent Fisk Morgan Ek lund A few years after my grandfather's death. my grandmother I Goodnight to Mother, woman washed away stopped living with us. She moved into a small white house with from paddles and currents of the previous hours.