Green Eggs and Hamlet 26th Edition of the Southeastern Oklahoma State University Literary Journal Editors Noah Patton Rachel Childers Kameron Dunn S t a Rachel Corson Dylan Candelora Lead Designer Michaela Jestis Cover Designer Chance Mitchell Faculty Advisors Dr. Randy Prus, Chair of English, Humanities, and Language Jack Ousey, Professor of Art Letter from The Editors Welcome to the 26th edition of Green Eggs and Hamlet. If you are a long-time reader, no doubt you have already noticed some big changes to this year’s edition. When we fi rst sat down to prepare for this edition, we looked through all twenty-fi ve of the previous editions and noticed one thing missing: unity. In the spirit of improving the publication as a whole, we decided that the best way to approach this edition would be to pick a theme. After a long consideration of which theme would best refl ect the beautiful, turbulent nature of life, we decided on Collision, an homage to the contrasts and confl icts that bring us together. We could not have completed this project alone, and there are countless people we would like to thank. To our faculty sponsors, Randy Prus and Jack Ousey, thank you for working tirelessly to make this publication great. To the other wonderful SOSU faculty and staff members, especially Wes Lovell, Russell Poole, and Teresa Anderson, thank you for being patient with us and our many questions. To the students and alumni who sub- mitted literature and art, we wish we could have published every piece we received, and whether you were selected or not, thank you for trusting us with your work. To our friends and family who have supported and toler- ated us during this process, thank you for allowing us to be excited about this project. To our staff members, Rachel Corson and Dylan Candelora, thank you for working so hard to keep us in line. To our graphic design editor, Michaela Jestis, thank you for getting our crazy ideas onto paper, no matter how obscure or demanding. And to all our readers, thank you for making this project worthwhile. We hope you enjoy reading this journal as much as we enjoyed making it. Best wishes, Table of Contents Will the Real Mom Please Stand Up? | Vivianne Wesley | 6 Surrender | Rachel Hendrix | 6 Cherry Pie | Adeline Patterson | 11 Suspension | Alexis Olguin | 12 Take Me Home | Spencer Cooke | 13 No Refuge | Makayla Coppedge | Illustration by Michaela Jestis | 14 Untitled | Alexis Olguin | 17 Salubrious Off ering | Amanda Henslee | 18 El último día | Rachel Corson and Alissa Benson | 19 Deathbed of Lazarus | Elijah Marshall | 20 Untrue Phrases | Cherlyn Snow | Illustration by Sam Case | 21 Untitled | Bryant Lyles | Illustration by Michaela Jestis | 22 Impact | Rachel Hendrix | 26 Hips | Kathryn Carter | 28 A Past that Still Dictates | Dewey Briscoe | 29 Summer Things | Cullen Whisenhunt | Illustration by Michaela Jestis | 30 Beggars Carousel | Colton Duehning | 32 An Amber Colored Lens | Dewey Briscoe | 33 Nana’s Chair | Stephenie Canaday | 34 I Will Always See You | Sharon Scott | 35 EyeDea | Tyson Hudson | 37 The Other Side | Colton Duehning | Illustration by Chance Mitchell | 38 Zedekiah’s Folly | Chance Eubanks | Illustration by Michaela Jestis | 40 Years Go By | Exie Grice | 44 The Red Lady | Spencer Cooke | 45 A Clumsy Friend | Dawn Smith | 46 Golden | Stephenie Canaday | 50 Waiting on Time | Austin Duval | 52 The First Day of School | Adeline Patterson | 53 Thirteen Ways of Looking at Clouds | Tayte Weatherly | Illustration by Darija Catipovic | 55 Chronos | Stephanie Clauson | Illustration by Michaela Jestis | 56 Big, Sha-Bang! Adventure | Rachel Corson | 58 Finding Her Voice | Chance Eubanks | Illustration by Michaela Jestis | 62 Untitled | Bryant Lyles | 66 The Color of the Hearth | Cullen Whisenhunt | Illustration by Sam Case | 77 Copious Bounty | Amanda Henslee | 78 The Dove and Wren | Dawn Smith | Illustration by William DeShazo | 80 Will the Real Mom Please Stand Up? by Vivianne Wesley “We can’t call you mom anymore.” I can’t tell you how many times I have heard my kids say this. There was always some reason inspired by their biological mother, Candy, or bio-mom, as I now call her. It always came in phases too: The kids would call me “momma” for long periods of time, then the bio-mom would suddenly disap- prove, and the cycle would repeat. I never really planned to be a parent at this stage in my life – it just sort of happened. I fell in love with a man, in that space between the Bakery and the Deli in Walmart. Not long after- wards, I learned that man had three children. I debated with myself for a while about the right course of action – I mean, he was older than me, I just got out of a relationship, and now becom- ing a parent on top of all of this? I wasn’t sure if I was ready. But then I met them, and I knew it was meant to be. Flash forward a few years: we were planning our wedding, and we were happy. As any young family, we were struggling to carve a place for ourselves in this crazy world. Our kids, Terrance, Ryleigh, and Veronica, were all in school; I was “Surrender” by Rachel Hendrix working as a substitute teacher and as a wouldn’t be the last. I took a long, deep waitress; my husband, Aaron, was work- breath before responding. ing to support us all. Simply put: life was “Why not?” I knew the answer to the very busy for the fi ve of us. Despite the question before I asked. It would start diffi culties we faced, we were content with something like “Mom said,” and knowing that we got to come home to whatever else followed would just be a loving family, regardless of what hap- fi ll-in-the-blank. But I was not sure how pened out there in the world. else to respond to this situation. I mean, it Of course, Aaron and I weren’t perfect broke my heart every time they said it, but parents, and we still aren’t – there is no that was for me to know, not for them. I such thing. But we were trying to do the absolutely hated that their bio-mom poi- best we could, and we are still trying soned them with these sorts of thoughts today. The kids only spent about half of – who was she to tell them who a mother each week with us, the other half they could or couldn’t be – but that was not in spent at their bio-mom’s – the outcome my power to control. of Joint Custody. I always knew parenting My children all shot off a bunch of was a struggle. I had never seen it adver- responses that could be condensed down tised as “easy” or “simple.” Occasionally to “Mom says she’s our only real mom, fun, sure, but always diffi cult. The real and you aren’t. She says we make her struggle, I now know, comes when you sad when we call you mom, and we don’t only have your children half of the time, want to make her sad.” I had heard all and are trying to teach them the values this before. I had also heard that blank you fi nd important; the other half of the fi lled with “she will punish us for calling time someone is teaching them the exact you mom,” “she will be okay with us opposite. Of course, it doesn’t help when calling you ‘mom’ when you and daddy your kids are doubting your role as a are married,” or that “we only have one parent as well. real mom,” among other things. What It was on an average day during that went in the blank never really mattered to happy but crazy time when my kids and me – it was all a slap in the face. All that I were just talking. I was in the kitchen mattered to me was that my babies were preparing dinner, and they were at the being manipulated and there really wasn’t dining room table. They had just fi nished a thing I could do about it. their homework and were in that excited I did the exact same thing I had always state that follows completed obligations on done: I explained, “You know you guys a night with few plans. The conversation can call me whatever you feel comfortable was light and pleasant, until we struck with – Mom, Vivian, whatever.” If they on some chord that reminded Ryleigh, weren’t comfortable with it, why would my middle child, of less simple things. It I want them calling me “mom?” I knew was then that Ryleigh told me, “We can’t I didn’t give birth to them – they knew it call you mom anymore.” This wasn’t the too, though their bio-mom thought we fi rst time this had come up, and I knew it needed reminding. But I never thought Will the Real Mom Please Stand Up? 7 being a mother or father was limited to kids’ new step dad. having been involved in the creation of a We were at one of those points in child. the cycle where the kids had been calling After a moment I added “Regardless me “mom” for a while, except for Ter- of what you guys call me, you’re always rance, our oldest child. He had become my babies, and that’s all that matters to numb to the idea of calling me “mom” me.” I tried to seem happy and unboth- for a long time, thanks to his bio-mom’s ered by this conversation, but it always inconsistency towards the concept.