A REVIEW OF NSCC STUDENT LITERARY & ARTISTIC EXPRESSION SPARK 2010 volume 2 sparked by inspiration Through poetry and stories, photographs and drawings, Spark showcases the talent and spirit of students at North Shore Community College. This second issue of Spark is dedicated to the persistence of vision, forward movement, and the knowledge that creativity is its own reward. Enjoy. on the cover: Gibson by Jake Bartolomeo, NSCC student opposite page: The Golden Box by Hillary Scott, NSCC student spark on the inside 2. My Deity | poetry 13. Stiles Pond | art 22. Patterns of the Night | photography 2. My Window | poetry 13. Berries | photography 23. Hunter’s Table | art 3. Fictitious Walls | poetry 13. Shoes | photography 23. Kayaks | photography 3. Painted On | poetry 14. The Peddler’s Daughter | art 23. Being Praised | photography 3. Not Like I Used To | art 14. Two Wheeling Tinkerbell | poetry 24. Essay | literary 4. Husband | literary 15. The Jump | literary 25. Boston | photography 4. Canyon | poetry 16. Help Trees | poster 26. Cactus | art 5. Another Race | poetry 16. Fruit | art 26. Tiger | art 5. Windswept | photography 16. Paris Carousel | photography 26. Flowers Macs | art 6. The Woman in the Distance | literary 17. Sad Portrait | art 27. Morning Arch | photography 9. Unique Flowers | photography 17. Thomas Edited | photography 28. Something About the Way | poetry 10. Climbing the Ladder | literary 17. A Marine’s Arrival | photography 28. Street Market | photography 11. Eagle | photography 18. Callum | art 28. Like the Tides | poetry 11. Black & White Portrait | art 18. Crucifixion Fin |art 29. The Darkest Night | poetry 11. Neon Neutral Geometry | photography 18. Nostalgia on the Wind | art 29. Guarding the Game | literary 12. Benjamin Brooks | art 19. In That Moment I Found an Angel | poetry 32. My Road to Life | poetry 12. Brick and Steel | photography 19. Autoportrait | art 32. Paint Me a Picture | poetry 12. Brotherly Kiss | photography 20. Finding Myself | literary 32. Prom Lady in Red Dress | photography 1. SPARK 2010 volume 2 My Deity My Window by Christina Siebertz by Deb Scarfo I wonder where I’m going Days seen through muted windows At every second of every day; Deceiving the eye to see Walking around aimlessly My dream’s enticing delusion With an invisible blindfold, Through ambiguous transparency Chasing a dream I think is real, Trying to live up to Clouded from despairing breaths Ambivalence scratching its surface Expectations, Of the perpetual devious mask Either those of my own From my life’s unconscious mess Or someone else’s, I haven’t figured it out yet. Do I dare attempt to raise open Chasing people of my future A window a crack at least Or people I only hope In hopes of glimpsing my desperate dream To be my future. And finally be released Like wishing stars they are, So large and close at night; Or do I scream wildly, pounding and punching Non-existent during the day. Until the glass shatters dangerously Working, writing, thinking, Blinding my visions of escaping organizing The malevolent misery For a better tomorrow. Consistently forgetting about Fighting to uncover the fearlessness Forever kept remotely at bay The todays and yesterdays. Permeating my every movement Losing joy for the moment Behind the muted windows of my days Incessantly pushing forward For my prize, His eyes, My dream, Something that is what it seems. Losing hope because I’m losing hope Needing perfect fulfillment Not in human form. A deity. My deity. Struggling for something unearthly. 2. SPARK 2010 volume 2 Fictitious Walls Painted On by Kayla Sweet by Kayla Sweet Your fictitious walls, they will A painted on smile, not break, An echoing laugh, You’ve built them “unreal”, A trail of old secrets, for your own sake, And a deceiving old path, The protection you’ve A welcoming garden, created, all on your own, Which hides wretched weeds, Prevents you from ever, being If you’re trying to grow, alone. Stop planting dead seeds, Disguising yourself, is all that Your mask will not cover, you know, But smother instead, It’s a desperate attempt, to A lie is a lie, never let go, No matter why it was said. Can’t you see that you’re empty? Is it something you can’t face? Don’t you see that you’re not Not Like I Used To | Martha Avril Duncan searching, in the right place? You’re reaching far out, for something that’s not there, You are driven by anger, and compelled by fear, If you submit to faith, and let yourself see, Maybe you’ll realize , what it means to be free. 3. SPARK 2010 volume 2 Husband by Florence Urban I don’t remember a time when I father with another man, but you you, and how proud I am to say didn’t want you, you have always do, and there are tears in my heart I married my dream. I know I been the man that makes my for you anytime you’ve been hurt make you mad sometimes, when I heart leap out of my chest. I love because of that. The kids depend spend money you meant to save or everything about you, the way you on you to add structure in their when my tongue whips you into look dressed and undressed, your lives, and you do that. When they submission. I need you to know calm stride and the wonderful way are hurt or hungry or happy you you are the hero in this story and your mouth curves into a smile. smile, cry and laugh with them there is no place I’d rather be then I love the hunger in your touch and we love you for that too. watching you breath. You are my and the flickers of red bursting Sometimes I watch you sleep, you husband and I intend on spending inside the green in your eyes. You are so peaceful and quiet your my life with you. When we get old are my Irish knuckle head, you mind is at rest and I can’t help and all the kids are gone and we won’t let them play games with myself, I kiss you all over your can stroll around the house naked you or question the power of your face until you growl and swat scaring the neighbors, know this thoughts and I more than love me away. I put my head on your my love, I’d do it all over again, you for that. I know it’s hard for chest and listen to your heartbeat, every little bit just to be right here you to share the duty of being a you don’t know how much I love next to you. Canyon by Kayla Sweet There is so much of you, That I cannot reach. The depth of you, There’s a center of you, Leaves me without speech. I believe it’s worth finding. There’s things inside, But in the end, I’m left to see, That I’ll never touch. That this exploration, is not up to me, But it doesn’t mean, I cannot seek, what you don’t want sought, I can’t love you as much. And I cannot think what you don’t want thought. There’s a cave to you, Instead I’m left peering, too close to the edge, Is it dark and blinding, Yet not close enough to climb down from this ledge. 4. SPARK 2010 volume 2 Windswept | Jenna Aiello Another Race by Christina Siebertz How I wish the sea Would envelope me. Freely floating And my demons In no form On a desert; Feeling the true essence Under water as a mermaid; Of nature and its intentions. In a tall tree How I do love silence, On a tropical night; In its brisk way, To subdue and nurture I wade Even the wildest of beasts, To and fro Even myself, Searching for meaning As I struggle to In life Defeat myself As a secondary race. 5. SPARK 2010 volume 2 The Woman in the Distance by Nelson Baker I noticed her when I stood There were times when I loved water. Just after midnight, with up after retying my left shoe. to love her, and other times, all the sound of the waves splashing It was a surprise that I would I could do was cry. It is difficult against the tide, life was born. never have envisioned in my to comprehend the idea that It was meant to be. This most mind. Standing there across someone like her can be taken perfect night, with the hope of a the street, holding a newspaper from you. Life has its ways and long and wonderful life together, over her head to block the rain sometimes, they override love. To and I had nothing to regret. from soaking her beautiful face, think that I would not be able to What was stopping me from she stood apart from the rest of spend the rest of my life with her walking up to her? Soon, a taxi the world. This thing that she was my only weakness. would pull alongside the curb, possessed, that which made her The night before we were and take her away forever. I did shimmer even under the grayish married, I brought her to the not know where she lived. Nor clouds, was what I adored about ocean. After walking up and did I have any inclination as her most. I could barely move, as down the shoreline, hands to if I was even welcome in her my memories of her began to find clasped, we finally sat down in life.