INKLING Volume 24 Spring 2014 Number 1 Inkling is the creative arts magazine of Lone Star College-Tomball. Students of LSC-Tomball are invited to submit poetry, essays, short stories, or artwork for this annual publication. All copyrights revert to the authors and artists. No portion of Inkling may be reproduced without consent of the individual contributors. Senior Editor: Jeffrey Rodriguez Editors: Elizabeth Bailey Shanna Dudley Staff: Elizabeth Bailey Lorena Bentz Cody Copeland Shanna Dudley Udo Hintz Sarah Huntsman Khodi Jacks James Lambdin Clark Shaw Advisors: Amy Hirsch Mari-Carmen Marín Catherine Olson Melissa Studdard Cover Art: Midnight Snack Rachel Eckert The cover artist has found great joy playing with paints and the many colors in the world. The artist would also like to dedicate her cover painting to her brother Nick, who is not only the cover model but her partner in crime and with whom the artist has been making 3:00 a.m. pancakes since the beginning of time (thus inspiring the painting). Inkling Table of Contents Carry You with Me by Cassidy Krause........................................................................................................1 First Place Poetry Winner Evanescent Existence by Madison Estes......................................................................................................3 Lyric’s War by Andrew Robinson..................................................................................................................7 Second Place Prose Winner Fairy Tales of Youth by Emily Smethers....................................................................................................11 Patience by Amanda Fulton..........................................................................................................................12 Third Place Prose Winner Stalkers and Addicts by Mary Elizabeth Stamper......................................................................................13 Nighttime Visitor by Amanda Fulton..........................................................................................................15 Hnnng by Traci Overstreet..........................................................................................................................16 My Tomb by Brandie Webb........................................................................................................................17 A Stampede of Words by Lorena Bentz.....................................................................................................18 Heart-Shaped Box by Mai-Aleesha Morgan...............................................................................................19 HIM by Morgan Severn................................................................................................................................20 Roller Coaster by Sara Watts......................................................................................................................27 Third Place Poetry Winner Untitled by Rachel Eckert............................................................................................................................28 True Art Never Kills by Cloie Barcelona...................................................................................................29 Third Place Art Winner The Art of Levitation by Charlene Woelfel................................................................................................30 Five O’Clock Shadow by Meghan Elsik.....................................................................................................31 Shadow of the Past by Sarah Huntsman.....................................................................................................32 Space City by Sarah Huntsman...................................................................................................................33 First Place Art Winner Berlin Writings by Meghan Elsik...............................................................................................................34 The Life of the Spring by Charlene Woelfel..............................................................................................35 Hanging Around by Sydney Allen.............................................................................................................36 Feel the Music by Sydney Allen.................................................................................................................37 Transformed by Bethany Jarvis..................................................................................................................38 Lost Treasure, delivered by Ike by Felicia Barcelona..............................................................................39 Second Place Art Winner A Conversation between Mat Johnson and Inkling transcribed by Shanna Dudley...............................40 (Tap Snap Wrap) by Rachel Eckert............................................................................................................51 Second Place Poetry Winner From Dust till Dust by Jack S. Moorman...................................................................................................52 The Eagle and Child by Dustin Inkster......................................................................................................55 Alzheimer’s: The Second Hell by Morgan Severn....................................................................................58 Third Place Poetry Winner On the Clock by Madison Estes.................................................................................................................62 First Place Prose Winner Inkling Staff, Club Members, Advisors Photo........................................................................................64 Acknowledgements....................................................................................................................................66 Contributors’ Biographies........................................................................................................................67 Submission Form.......................................................................................................................................68 First Place Poetry Winner Carry You with Me Cassidy Krause My life in sum is the moments between goodbyes The plane tickets that tears are shed on It’s a box filled with letters My life can be visualized through punctuation It’s a colon and a star instead of your lips on mine These faces taunt me They clearly display distance My life in sum is the moments between goodbyes It’s a light inside and out that can’t be extinguished It’s the look on your face when you see me The strength of your grip around me It’s hours filled with giggles Photographs to keep you in my heart My life is dancing around the kitchen While our dinner boils over It’s running through the rain by choice It’s the designs my fingers trace on your skin It’s lying awake, completely intertwined Cursing each passing minute Don’t say it Please don’t say it Just hold me My life in sum is the moments between goodbyes It’s the blackness that sets in for days It’s lashed-out anger towards everyone but you It’s reaching over and not feeling your warmth My life is continuous daydreaming 1 I carry you with me Until there are no more goodbyes My sailor says goodbye I can be strong My sailor says hello I break 2 Evanescent Existence Madison Estes The citronella candle scent mixes with the smell of grass and cologne. This unique aroma triggers a sign within me as the meddling mosquitoes drop dead into the wax. The hammock we lie on sways. My head nuzzles against your chest. I stare up at the moon, the stars, the constellations, the endless universe, and I feel as insignificant as the insects compared to infinite space and time. I feel smaller than an atom, as unique as a grain of sand on a beach. But then I look at you, and think of us, together on this amazing night, and I feel more like a morning glory that has not yet withered. I exist for only a short amount of time, but I am cherished while I’m here. 3 Second Place Prose Winner Lyric’s War Andrew Robinson He was only nineteen years old, but you could see across his face that he had experienced much more life and death than any nineteen-year-old should ever have to experience. From his clothes and demeanor, people would consider him unapproachable, possibly even dangerous, but if you looked into his eyes you would see kindness, you would see hope, you would see life. He would not have wanted you, or anyone else, to see those things. At this time in his life, his anger and his gang and his apparel were a great wall he had built to protect himself from the pain he endured as a child. He had heard so many people tell him he was better than this, but the only things that echoed in his mind were the insults that had been spewed his way from people who could not see past the wall he had built. He didn’t know it, but he longed for someone to see past the wall. He longed for someone to see what was behind his deep blue eyes. However, he would never have told you that. On this day he sat on a bench, looking out over the Gulf of Mexico. He knew there was something stirring inside him. But he had no clue that today would be the day his life would change forever. Thoughts slashed through his mind like a fencing match, back and forth and bouncing off one another. Occasionally, one would strike him to his core. If you had seen him, you would have thought he was just wasted from