New River Anthology 2020 2020 New River Anthology A Collection of Student Art & Writing Volume 24 CHAIRS Eric Vithalani Holly Adcock EDITORS Melanie Bruce Deborah Doolittle Ashley Ess Andrea Herrmann STUDENT EDITORS Zoe Cox Loren Fioritto Tristan Orvis SPECIAL THANKS Emily Ellis, David Heatherly and Ginger Tuton COVER ART “Winter Window” By William Smith OASTAL AROLINA CCOMMUNITY C COLLEGE Jacksonville, North Carolina The Right to Write Award is sponsored by George and Lora Cole of Jacksonville, given in memory and in honor of their daughter. George earned an Associate in Fine Arts from Coastal; he is an accomplished artist with awards received from many campus and local art exhibitions. The Coles are passionate about recognizing the academic achievements of successful students, and we are pleased to present this award to three writers in particular: “Sticks and Stones” by Shaniya Fisher (Nonfiction) “The Book” by Susan Lavin (Poetry) “Short Stories from the Apocalypse” by Micheal Bean (Fiction) Table of Contents “Her Garden” by Casey Kirkendoll ........................................................................................................... 1 “Possumwood Acres Peacock” by Meghan Baskerville ..................................................................4 “Betterment” by Angelo Lytle .................................................................................................................5 “Among the Stars” by Zoe Smith ...............................................................................................6 “I Hear You Ma” by Guadalupe Lail ........................................................................................................... 7 “One Father’s Journey” by Paul Delong ...................................................................................................9 “Nervosa” by Cat Akerman ....................................................................................................... 12 “If You’re Experiencing Armageddon, Please Press ‘One’: Short Stories from The Apocalypse” by Micheal Bean ......................................................................................................................... 13 “Live In Color Butterfly” by Meghan Baskerville ......................................................................... 16 “Pañuelos y polen: lágrimas de néctar” by Mariana Orrego Serna ...........................................................17 “Handkerchiefs and pollen: nectar tears” Translation by Mariana Orrego Serna ......................................20 “America” by Cat Akerman ....................................................................................................... 22 “New York City Graffiti” by Daniel Rivera ............................................................................................... 23 “North Hazel Avenue” by Angelo Lytle ..................................................................................................26 “Serpens” by Angelo Lytle ....................................................................................................... 29 “Threads of Awareness 2019” by Cat Akerman ....................................................................................... 30 “Shallow Time Deep Impact” by Christopher Campell ............................................................................ 31 “Waterfall” by Meghan Baskerville ........................................................................................... 35 “I Remember When Your Name was a Synonym for Happiness” by Angelo Lytle ..................................... 36 “Mountain Tops” by Meghan Baskerville .................................................................................... 37 “TRANSgressions” by Sarah Barnes ...................................................................................................... 38 “Jellyfish” by Meghan Baskerville .............................................................................................. 40 “The Silent Killer” by Brianna Logan ...................................................................................................... 41 “Reflect” by Angelo Lytle ......................................................................................................... 48 “Triple Meter” by Sarah Barnes .............................................................................................................49 “Tiny Einstein” by Cat Akerman ................................................................................................ 51 “There Is No Rain” by Angelo Lytle ........................................................................................................ 52 “Floating Shades” by Ashley Ferguson ...................................................................................... 54 “Sticks and Stones” by Shaniya Fisher ................................................................................................... 55 “A Novel Graveyard” by Slayde Rascon ..................................................................................... 64 “The Book” by Susan Lavin ................................................................................................................... 65 “Dino” by Cat Akerman ............................................................................................................ 67 “Sleeping Dog Lies” by Angelo Lytle......................................................................................................68 *Artwork pieces are bolded. Her Garden By Casey Kirkendoll On the little hill within the battered roads of the At a much earlier time, when the garden was still Holly Ridge Holden trailer park remains an old tended and the home still full of life and leisure, white trailer. Its wide porch is encroached with wild, my great-uncle Miller and his wife Fronigale had disobedient knock- out roses whose vines angrily come to visit from Kentucky. I was around eight grip at the graying wooden boards. The boards years of age at the time, and had lived in a small have become so gray and worn that their edges are trailer just to the right of my grandmother’s, a curling up with their loose, brittle, and rusted nails. mere five-minute walk away, when I had decided to The decaying flower beds are unkempt with rag come and spend some time with my favorite uncle and sorrel weeds, as prickled grass and other odds for the afternoon. They had been there for a few and ends have somehow buried themselves into days already, and he had been working around the the ground over the years. Shards of glass, rusted house while doing small jobs for my grandmother nails, those old fat Christmas bulbs, flimsy plastic who couldn’t handle some things herself. He and flower signs, and mysterious keys are all buried I would often share colas on the front porch as I’d within the fertilized dirt like tokens and mementos. watch him strip copper, and after a long day’s work, The golden lantanas are fat and heavy, as they we would enter the house to escape the summer reach over their designated spots of the situated heat. concrete blocks. The tulips and daffodils still stand high, as they proudly display their colors of loud One particularly hot summer day, I remember reds and loud oranges. But all the surrounding retreating into the house after some hours of being black- eyed suzie’s, four-o’clocks, and other flora outside. The cool, calm air brushed past our bodies are all dying, desperately waiting, and are straining as we entered, and the aroma of coffee bubbling to be ever-growing. on the pot and cleaning products greeted us. There my grandmother – or Mimi, as we called her, sat The garden once reflected the beauty of its with my Great-Aunt Froni. My Mimi was a fairly caretaker, my grandmother. A woman whose short woman with some heft to her. Her short, gray kitchen was always full, her yard always busy hair was often kept and combed particularly in a with either gardening, farming, or children, and way she’d like it. Her sun-beaten skin was soft and her home always eagerly open to guests, sure warm, and her carefully tailored pink fingernails to provide a sense of comfort, friendliness, and were never without a Newport cigarette. hospitality. The home was always a place that kept special memories for me. There are memories of laughter, celebration, and silliness with all family members included. “The garden once reflected the beauty of its caretaker, my grandmother.” the new river anthology 1 Upon entering in through the weather door, plain cake. This cake had grown a full, luminous, she smiled at us as we came in and sat down on outstanding, beautiful head of magical, silky gray, the coarse, forest green and brown plaid couch. moldy... hair. The television lowly murmured with a spaghetti western, and the wooden ceiling fan lazily turned. We stared at it for a brief moment of awe before Her home was decorated in an old fashion with bursting into the same wild laughter that she had, hideous green carpeting, a green bar with one and she met our laughter with “I’ll be - if that cake side lined neatly with dusty shelves that held her ain’t got a full head of hair!” And she was right. extensive angel collection, and outdated kitchen The amount of “hair” on this cake would have wallpaper, which was lined and patterned with little enamored the most uptight of beauty queens. It roosters that were randomly situated in various had locks that were so silky and fine that the cake directions. Wind lamps, ash trays, and doilies itself could have