Café Shapiro Anthology Ezra Beehler Noa Berman Kristen Bolster Kaleb A
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Hodges Adams Mahmuda Ahmed Kari Anderson Sophia Arbani Srikar Baireddy Café Shapiro Anthology Ezra Beehler Noa Berman Kristen Bolster Kaleb A. Brown Anthology 22nd Annual 2019 Shapiro Café 22nd Annual Sam Cantie Christian Charley Navanas Chetsandtikhun Kelly Christensen 2019 Sophia Christos Teresa Clark Alix Curnow Hiba Dagher Kelsi Davis Nicole de la Montanya Anna De Marinis Mallory Dwortz Danielle Falling Fareah Fysudeen Charles Harris Victoria Helrigel Nora Hilgart-Griff Sophia Jacobs Jazzaray James Grace Kent Emma Killeen Annie Lemberg Liam Loomer Christine MacKenzie Adam Magistro Lily Morris Nadia Mota Nova Nietling Tess Perry Abbey Phillipson Emily Pinkerton Emilia Prado Elena Ramirez-Gorski Shashank Rao Samuel Rentschler Nikki Silberman Sam Small Selected Poems & Short Stories Sofi Solomon Erin Strauss Alex Trombley Jena Vallina Cielle Waters-Umfl eet Kate Wilcox Elena Wilner Yi Qing Zhou Café Shapiro Anthology Café Shapiro Anthology 22nd Annual 2019 © 2019 The authors retain all copyright interests in their respective works. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without permission of the authors. Please contact [email protected] for permission information. Original Artwork provided by: Theresa A. Stanko Learning and Teaching Project Coordinator University of Michigan Library Published by Michigan Publishing 22nd Annual Café Shapiro Anthology 2019 February 11, 2019 February 12, 2019 Selected Poems February 18, 2019 February 19, 2019 & Short Stories February 21, 2019 Contents Anthology Introduction xiii Laurie Alexander HODGES ADAMS two can keep a secret 2 unfinished portrait 3 what is not forbidden is not a crime 5 hindsight 6 MAHMUDA AHMED Dead Leaves 8 KARI ANDERSON Holes 13 SOPHIA ARBANI Tilting at Windmills 18 SRIKAR BAIREDDY Horizon 22 EZRA BEEHLER A Light In The Dark 28 NOA BERMAN The Truth About Children 34 KRISTEN BOLSTER Mom 43 Players 46 KALEB A. BROWN Scopophobia 50 Kindle 51 1,000 Cranes 53 SAM CANTIE A Bracelet On My Wrist 56 CHRISTIAN CHARLEY Mabawa & Upanga 62 DFRNC NAVANAS CHETSANDTIKHUN Wild 66 Viena 68 Pretty Things 69 KELLY CHRISTENSEN Wonderland 72 SOPHIA CHRISTOS Whatever's in the Fridge 78 TERESA CLARK Anna 83 ALIX CURNOW Cavities 89 HIBA DAGHER epigenetics 99 excerpts from a mother tongue 101 KELSI DAVIS Three Girls Harmonize for Their Lord 106 The Poor Woman’s Waltz 107 Persistent Deciduous Teeth 108 It Has Come to My Attention That You Don’t Know Who I Am 109 A Hymn (for Bob, Aged 18) 110 Spackle 112 Untitled 113 What I've Got 114 NICOLE DE LA MONTANYA Cyber Sex, Chemo, & Rock ‘n’ Roll 116 ANNA DE MARINIS Colonization 126 Moving in. 128 MALLORY DWORTZ If Tampons were Behind the Counter like Cigarettes 131 DANIELLE FALLING The Going is Paused 134 FAREAH FYSUDEEN A Letter To My Body 149 Letter To My Sister 151 CHARLES HARRIS I Lost It. 154 Time to get serious. 155 VICTORIA HELRIGEL Brevity 158 NORA HILGART-GRIFF Sang/Sens/Sans/Cent 161 Mont St-Michel 162 Not Dreaming 163 mutuari 164 SOPHIA JACOBS Nightmares 167 The End of the World at a Party 169 Eve, When Asked If She Too Had Been Possessed by Seven Devils 171 JAZZARAY JAMES Stunted 174 GRACE KENT Tailwinds: A Memoir 185 EMMA KILLEEN Housekeeping (excerpt) 191 ANNIE LEMBERG Fourteen 194 LIAM LOOMER FALL 207 DROWN 209 HANG 211 CHRISTINE MACKENZIE soured milk 213 in fields of sunflowers 214 blank holes 215 our creations 216 how to stop 217 ADAM MAGISTRO Ships 219 Shipboard Sonnet 220 Dad 221 LILY MORRIS I am tired 223 An Ode to Forgetting 225 NADIA MOTA nuclear fusion 228 ode to selena 229 ghazal filled with potholes 230 NOVA NIETLING On the Modern YouTube Camera Boy 232 TESS PERRY Jasper Like the Park 235 ABBEY PHILLIPSON It’s Me, The Nasty, Heartless, Stone-cold Bitch 242 EMILY PINKERTON Cedarbrook 248 Warning Shots 249 Blackberries 250 Loveless 251 Glass Ships 252 EMILIA PRADO Dirt Demons 254 ELENA RAMIREZ-GORSKI This is for the goth latina bitches 258 I wanna be as cool as 259 Three Catholic girls and an atheist go to church 260 Love song for la Llorona 261 SHASHANK RAO The Russian Tenant 264 SAMUEL RENTSCHLER A Second Dinner 280 NIKKI SILBERMAN Twenty Below 285 SAM SMALL where the ocean takes you 287 emily & I 288 Untitled 289 SOFI SOLOMON Who Let The Butterflies Out? 291 ERIN STRAUSS Honey 297 ALEX TROMBLEY Suburbia 304 JENA VALLINA The Bird's Nest 310 CIELLE WATERS-UMFLEET Because You Called 315 Bedtime Verse 318 KATE WILCOX How Would You Make A Snowwoman? 320 Woman with Wings Clipped 322 Young Hare Ghazal 323 ELENA WILNER Imogen's Secret 325 YI QING ZHOU Option Three 332 Anthology Introduction LAURIE ALEXANDER Welcome to the 22nd Annual Café Shapiro! I am excited to introduce the 22nd Annual Café Shapiro anthology and invite you to read the following inspiring and thoughtful University of Michigan student authored poems and short stories. These works will draw you into the creative process, welcome you to think and rethink your assumptions, and connect you with the students through their individual expression. You will find a unique window into the Michigan learning experience. When Café Shapiro first launched over twenty years ago, it was a bold experiment, a student coffee break designed as part of the University’s Year of the Humanities and Arts (YoHA). Café Shapiro is an example of how past innovations become a part of current campus traditions. YoHA set out to explore the role of the arts and humanities in civic and community life through a variety of programs. Café Shapiro continues its tradition of featuring undergraduate student writers nominated by their Professors to perform their works and through during so continues to demonstrate the value of the arts and humanities. The act of reading one’s work out loud is a new experience for many of our students. Throughout several evenings in February, students will gather in the Shapiro lobby and share their works. They will be joined by friends, faculty, coaches, and family, as they demonstrate the power of speaking and performing. They will participate in an authentic act of creation, speaking possibility, expressing beliefs, and imagining the future. Café Shapiro has become much more than a coffee break. It has become an annual event featuring undergraduate student writers as they think creatively and critically, reason, ask questions, and develop the skills that help them understand and participate in our world. We also publish this anthology of their work, making it available in print and through Deep Blue, the University’s institutional repository. Through this process, students have the opportunity to learn about copyright and related steps to publishing their scholarship. We thank the many librarians and library staff for making this event possible. Events such as Café Shapiro make visible the Library’s commitment to learning. We provide a neutral and engaged space for students to practice, learn and grow their scholarship and advance their learning journey. We are enthusiastic Anthology Introduction | xiii partners with faculty and students, looking to enable the exploration of new ideas while capturing passions and self-expressions. We hope you enjoy reading the work of these talented undergraduate writers. Laurie Alexander Associate University Librarian for Learning and Teaching U-M Library xiv | Anthology Introduction HODGES ADAMS Senior Major: Creative Writing & Literature and Art History Reading: Poetry Hodges Adams is a poet and playwright hailing from Northern Michigan. In their time at this University, they have been awarded four Hopwood Prizes for poetry. When not reading too much Shakespeare or shuffling a deck of tarot cards, they can be found working in the Graduate Library or climbing trees in the Arb. This is their second year reading at Café Shapiro. Nominated by: Jose Casas HODGES ADAMS | 1 two can keep a secret if i drop a letter in the ocean it won’t reach its mark but i’ll feel better someone is receiving this love at least even swallowed with mouthfuls of salt i remove the heat from confession and though i am a coward i still enjoy the taste even underwater there is breath within me the ability to speak the name if my love is unintelligible i am not for once to blame 2 | two can keep a secret unfinished portrait the more i watch the painting the more it moves like i am peeling paint and the artist left instructions underneath all the bitterness is encoded the way an orange-rind sunset tastes like death at the end of the day how a mountain can be the shadow of the noontime sky i am the careful reader of thirty-six constellations i have written into two oceans perhaps there is one small thing i understand within the hue and cry of a single day: the world is an obsolete library filled with patrons who no longer know how to read or perhaps they know but have lost the desire the work i do is futile pulling down a case of pages and attempting to decipher i, who cannot hear cannot speak can hardly understand the architecture of ink perhaps there is one small thing i do understand what i know is that i rewrite the draft each time i see you i hold a word suspended for a week until i lift it to your eyes to find a rhyme i thought about you in a city to which neither of us were native how you and all your blood must have ambled across the marble floor it had been the type of summer that could pull a planet out of orbit—though i often wonder if i would have noticed the earth stop since i didn’t notice its spinning they say one twin may feel the other die even across miles i am sensitive, yes and yet not sensitive