THE APPRENTICE WRITER Volume 35 $3 APPRENTICE WRITER : 1 The submission period runs from January 1st to March 15th, 2018. EDITOR: Introduction GLEN RETIEF Welcome. The Apprentice Writer Susquehanna’s Creative Writing major SELECTION EDITORS: annually features the best writing and now enrolls over 170 undergraduate Amy Anderson, Alyssa Coleman, photography from entries we receive students. The Writers Institute also hosts each year from secondary schols Creative Writing Day once a year, a day Morgan Green throughout the United States. of readings and workshops, giving high FINAL SELECTION EDITOR: school students the opportunity to Emily Gilman Every September, we send printed experience creative writing in college. Print & Design Editor: copies as a public service by The Daily Sydney Curran Item in Sunbury, PA to nearly 3,000 If you are interested in learning more Web Content Manager: schools. about the Creative Writing major and programs related to writing sponsored Matthew Dooley For full submission guidelines for the by the Writers Institute, see the back Special thanks to: 2018 edition of The Apprentice Writer, page or go to www.susqu.edu/writers. Codie Nevil Sauers please visit www.apprenticewriter.com Table of Contents PROSE 30 LIGHTS IN THE VAULT ~ Joseph Christensen 31 THE GUILLOTINE’S FINAL WORDS ~ Celeste Wu 7 MEMENTO MORI ~ Jimin Han 31 THE SUN’S ODE TO THE MOON ~ Elizabeth Winkler 12 DRIVING FROM ASHKELON 32 REASON ENOUGH ~ Willow Quindley TO TEL AVIV ~ Dan Rudiak 33 VAGABOND BONDING ~ Andrei Bucaloui 12 CHARLIE ~ William Jasey Roberts 33 HUNTRESS ~ Meagan R. Thomas 18 MY FOURTEEN DAYS OF COLOR ~ Allison Jung 34 THE NEXT TO THE LAST DAY 20 A CRY FOR HELP ~ Naomi Jeanpierre BEFORE THURSDAY ~ Dominick Leskiw 22 AMELIA ~ Alena Marcinkoski 34 TEA ~ Alyssa Chen 24 STARS ~ Jackson Eagan 35 VIEW OF A 19TH CENTURY Photograph ~ Elizabeth Winkler 26 AFTERLIFE ~ Sydney Peng 35 CASUAL REMARKS ~ Meagan R. Thomas 27 LOVE, TUESDAY ~ Gwendolyn West 37 POETRY WINNER: LETTERS TO NOBODY, 31 SCOOPS ~ Nicholas Kassoy WRITTEN AT MIDNIGHT ~ Alyssa Chen 36 PROSE WINNER: TEXTS FROM SPAIN ~ Betsy Zaubler 44 MY LUCK IS INHERITED ~ Jenny Li 38 THE HOUSEGUEST ~ Mairead Kilgallon 46 TRAPPED: IN THE NATIONAL TRANSIT BUILDING, 45 NAMESAKE ~ Brian Murray OIL CITY, PA ~ Catherine Buchanan 46 SALT ~ Nicholas Lasinsky 49 INNOCENCE ~ Ebelechiyem Okafor 48 A STREET OR PASSAGE CLOSED AT 51 MIGRATION ~ Cindy Song ONE END ~ Nara Benoit Kornhauser 51 EQUATIONS ~ Isobel Daniels 50 ON FEAR AND ILLUSION ~ Sean Wolfe 52 STARBUCKS ON TALCOTTVILLE ROAD ~ Abigail Howard 54 BABY FLAME ~ Isabella Gonzalez 52 GENIUS ~ David Reynoso 55 TO BE HUMAN ~ Jessica Xu 61 FOUR THIRTY ~ Lauren Ellis 56 FAMILY MOVIE ~ Erin Chang 63 IF YOU MEET HER, TELL HER SHE’S 57 SURNAME X ~ Edward Moreta Jr. BEAUTIFUL ~ Grace Morrissey 64 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN ~ Jenny Li 58 GLASS CEILING ~ Ella Fasciano 66 SUNNY ~ Young Se Choi 59 CAPTURING THE MOMENT ~ Haemaru Chung 68 THE BICYCLE ~ Sydney Vincent 60 A HOUSE TOUR OR SIMPLY THE NEXT 71 NEVER QUITE ENOUGH ~ Callie Gonsalves PILLOW OVER ~ Piety Exley 74 ANNIE DILLARD’S “A WRITER IN THE WORLD” AND TRUSTING 60 WHEN IT’S OVER ~ Erin Chang MY OWN VOICE ~ Anna Osborne 63 WATERMELON DELIGHT ~ Alder Flecker 66 THORNS ON BARE SKIN ~ Brianna Caridi POETRY 67 ANTISOCIAL ~ Jessica McKenzie 3 PENITENTIARY ~ Jeremy Hsiao 68 STEMS ~ Ilana Sabban 3 ATLAS ~ Jade Cruz 75 THE SINGLE TO THE DOZEN ~ Badriah Moussa 4 PAPER CRANES ~ Meagan R. Thomas 4 I AM THE LORD, YOUR SHEPARD ~ Kelechi Nwankwoala PHOTOGRAPHY 5 NEW YORK WINTERS ~ Chloe Burns 6 GRANDMA’S HOUSE ~ Mariam Trichas COVER: A MOTHER’S LOVE NEVER GROWS OLD ~ Sarah Ryu, Leonia, NJ 11 ANTIQUITY ~ Eva Erickson 6 BRIDGE OF STONE ~ Erin Mahoney 11 LITTLE LULLABIES ~ Isabella Gonzalez 17 MORNING SAHARA ~ Michelle Mulé 16 LAUGHABLE ~ Badriah Moussa 25 JUMP! ~ Charlyn Sunico 17 HIS STORIES OF THE SEAS ~ Taylor Burgin 49 ONWARDS ~ Victoria Maung 19 IT’S JUST RAIN ~ Elosia Sablan 53 ENDURANCE ~ Haemaru Chung 19 DETERIORATE ~ Gizela Maksym 54 SWEET TREAT ~ Abbi Dehmey 21 DWELLING ~ Elizabeth Anne Zupancic 55 SUNLIGHT ~ Michelle Mulé 23 HONEYSUCKLE ~ Emily Tian 56 DE LOS OJOS DEL NIÑO ~ Emma Gallagher 25 SNOW ~ Tazein Shah 58 ENDLESS SPIRAL ~ Mariam Trichas 26 INTUITION ~ Jeremy Hsiao 59 CRY FOR FREEDOM ~ Haemaru Chung 2 : SUSQUEHANNA UNIVERSITY Spend a week immersed in writing with Susquehanna’s nationally recognized authors! Summer JULY 8–14, 2018 Live the life of a practicing writer through intensive writing workshops WRITERS and one-on-one conferences. Concentrate on fiction, poetry or memoir. The $1000 fee (discount given for early application by April 15) covers all costs, including room and board. Scholarships are available. WORKSHOP APPLY ONLINE AT: WWW.SUSQU.EDU/WRITERSWORKSHOP I saw yet another captive garage, titled RHYTHMS. Penitentiary dipped in marbles of black, Those who left would one day white return Jeremy Hsiao and everything in between to admire the minds of WALNUT, CA shooting stars through the prisoners in drug-induced sky. comas People stare at each cell There were those who death hidden in tar pits for minutes stood in tangibility lounging outside. and all they saw were things as sculptures. to marvel. deformed yet perfect I saw painting prisoners frenzied radio transmissions trapped behind clear bars 3D printed with no interior to preserve the aura of a except light. portrait. Those were the ones I admired Within a frame, I could watch most, flashes of a life the ‘escapees’ still rooted to through torn, paused VHS the spot tapes with a glistening streak in their fragmented and placed layer many eyes upon layer down through their esophagus to form a jumbled, into the lungs and the heart mismatched, puzzle that beats no one would have to ask. forced together incorrectly. in the self portrait from the Everyone would just know. Every day, people would look It’s not hard to suspect, at the prisoners and say really, what all he carries. “What does he mean to you?” Some say it’s the stress of Life is too short so many classes. Others to wonder about the things Atlas believe that matter to others Jade Cruz parents are the problem. There are even rumors that yet they still ask. TYRONE, PA If stumped, visitors read their he once went head on into labels and titles With constellations on his a lost battle and hasn’t as a guide, a broken GPS. skin been the same since. One such painting stood and bruises on his hands, Perhaps all gleaming through white he takes heavy footsteps of it is true. Or it could strokes moving forward despite all all be completely wrong. drawn in door frames, he carries in his arms. But personally I believe I and the prisoner meant He looks sort of frail, but know what keeps his arms nothing at all, mostly tired. No one is full. It is clear to me that disappearing back into ignorant enough to call him he holds nothing less than synchronous lines weak. Nor is anyone naive the sky itself, and we that still beckoned to me with enough to ask what he is ought to be in awe of its oddly shaped, dark gray carrying. If people could the heavy, enduring fingers see with more than their footsteps yet pushed away with a palm eyes, of Atlas. of glass. I moved on. APPRENTICE WRITER : 3 I am the Lord, Paper Cranes Your Shepherd Meagan R. Thomas Kelechi Nwankwoala Coventry, CT NEW ROCHELLE, NY The grey city is masked by an aging day of mottled umber After four days of deliberation, the jury found former smog. Oklahoma City Police Department Officer Daniel The sky looms, Holtzclaw guilty of multiple counts of rape and sexual threatening thunder. assault. On Dec. 10, Holtzclaw, who has been on trial since November 2, was accused of targeting black Asphalt arteries clog with lazy women in the community he patrolled. All 13 women traffic. testified against Holtzclaw in the trail. Eyeless strangers rush the ash i am just a woman sidewalks. and the gospel of today Steel wires cross the sky is that i am something to be conquered on rusted bolts and creaking poles. The smell of electricity is blind now. i am high and hospitalized, careening and crashing off PCP As the day goes darker, HE a cold breeze whistles through the is Policeman, Hero of the streets, and hollow city, Respected in OKC carrying tantalizing insinuations HE of rain just wanted to talk but body language betrays to wash away the grime. bodily functions Someone brave glances up to see HE said “you know you got these warrants” and thousands of paper cranes somehow my body just knows something perching on the telephone lines, i silently watching, know that this is much more than a search waiting. HE took me to Dead Man’s curve The breeze stirs their pale wings; HE they incline their wedged heads is here to Protect and Serve with yours. peering up The first drops break on their i think pointed tails i was wrong to have thought my body a temple and your unmasked face. my eyes were watching god The sky fills with rain but he forced me still and soggy paper, saying “you know this is better than county, right?” washing the earth through i just gasped the night. the whole time i am staring straight into the night i am still losing my voice in that alleyway forever i am still that girl with The damp dawn bathes the city her arms outstretched in rose gold and amber. and her mind More lift their heads with you, reaching far back to the big safety of before looking past bare wires This to newborn sky.