The INDIGO LITERARY JOURNAL OF WILLIAM CAREY UNIVERSITY 2017 The Indigo 2017 William Carey University CONTENTS Editor’s Note Edgar Allen Poe once wrote, “Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.” Donnia Adams Chatham Kemp Our university and community have experienced suffering unlike that perhaps any cover art: Midnight Ocean 26 Nocturne of us have known. However, because of our suffering we have been greatly blessed, Jared Best Cara Larsen and The Indigo is one of those blessings. Between the covers of this magazine 11 Balance 5 Stained-Glass Lips the reader will find the joys, the sorrows, and the simple expressions of everyday 12 Sinful Man 18 I See You Manatee 19 Hello, Manatee life embodied in the poetry, prose, and art of students, staff, and faculty alike. Richard Boada PaShance Lee The nuances of faith, love, and grace, and the attestations of humor, drama, and 27 Mississippi Winter Crows back cover: Mask mystery approach just a fraction of the spectrum represented herein. It is not the Garry Breland Lorie Massey circumstance of life that defines who we are, but rather, it is the circumstance of 12 A Prayer for Father’s Day 4 My Books Sleep choice – that is, how we press forward in the face of adversity. This publication 16 My Wife Says I Can’t Be a Cowboy Poet under the Stars Tonight represents the highest form of choice, the choice to make a difference. I truly believe 17 For Whom the Notification Chimes Linda Faye McGee that this edition of The Indigo will indeed make a difference, because it already has. Laken Britt 4 Content Morning Poem Sincerely, 13 Traveling in the Dark 13 Coffee Ian Pittman, Editor-in-Chief 17 Phone Luke Millender 11 Homer Calvin Brodie Cassidy Monk 11 Haiku 11 Haiku Acknowledgements We are forever grateful to those who have contributed to this edition of The Indigo. Alyssa Bussolati M arsha Newman In light of our circumstances, our faithful Carey community never fails to produce 18 Haiku 25 In the House of Caiaphas the finest, and most poignant creations of art in word and image. To you, we are Brittany Pierce Allison Chestnut grateful. The Indigo staff would also like to offer special thanks and gratitude to Dr. 5 Obscurity and the Sacred 6 Black-eyed Susan Ed Ford. He has provided a beautiful layout and design for our publication. This 25 Eyeing the Sparrow 20 Water Lily Greg Dearman Madison Polk certainly would not have been possible without you. We would also like to offer 27 Percy Field Morning 13 A Dream Encouraged our thanks to the Department of Language and Literature, particularly Mrs. Dolores Shar Drennan Houston Saxon O’Mary, our administrative assistant, and Dr. Tom Richardson, our department 6 Serenity Waits 14 The Philosopher’s Lament chair. This publication would not have happened without the support, creativity, Read Diket Jewel Lynne Shirley and willingness of William Carey University. It is our hope and prayer that the reader 12 Sailboat 19 Haiku enjoys this edition of The Indigo as much as we have. Jeremiah Smith Ed Ford Sincerely, 19 Haiku 16 Train The Indigo Editors Ashlyn Stringfellow K aitlyn Ham Ian Pittman, Editor-in-Chief Deborah Nevill, Assistant Editor 18 Haiku 25 Sonnet Dr. Marsha Newman, Faculty Sponsor Houston Saxon, Assistant Editor Cooper Herrington John Vercher Jared Best, Assistant Editor Laura-Liberty Sites, Assistant Editor 11 Haiku 26 Don’t Blink , Assistant Editor Elizabeth Whipps, Assistant Editor Haden Hinton Rick Wilemon Crystal Bush 14 Little Blue 5 Enlightenment 15 Afternoon Ashore Maia Yoon Sharon Howard 20 My Angel 4 A World Away The Indigo is a publication of William Carey University, All Rights Reserved. 2 The INDIGO 2017 The INDIGO 2017 3 My Books Sleep under Obscurity and the Sacred Stained-Glass Lips the Stars Tonight By Allison Chestnut by Jared Best By Lorie Massey At the appointed Sunday service, Those words of higher places My books sleep under the stars tonight, their pages solemn women dressed me for Fill the pews on scattered days. rifled by the January-mild Mississippi breeze as immersion. White robes, braced But at any other point of time they grow fat with weather, instead of knowledge. by sin-weight ballast, recalled Those words are built on sands and clays. Ophelia’s watery weeds. From That pulpit high, Fifteen seconds of nature’s indifferent fury baptistery wings I bobbed to Is safety wide... opened my mind to the sky, flinging Faulkner atop preacher’s outstretched arm and Or so it surely was. Hemingway and Fitzgerald, now seen only by Toni held both hands and breath. With Morrison’s eyes, Beloved perched precariously one garbled words, like mermaids’ And so begins the fall of man, shelf closer to the heavens. voices heard at Silver Springs, he A paradox of sin. thrust me underwater. At service To lay out Scripture thick Twenty years of notes jotted in the margins slowly end, believers lined to shake my Only to be stretched out thin. thicken with a coat of my mildewed prayers for hand and speak, but my ears, deaf That Dusty Book, their safe return. My books sleep under the stars from sacramental water, did not hear. In its hidden nook, tonight, but I’m restless in this calm. Was not just written “just because.” Those stained-glass lips shut tightly And form into a smile. A World Away Sharon Howard But not a grin of joy or love, But altogether something vile. Content Morning Poem That steeple tall, by Linda Faye McGee So loft’ - shall fall, And greatly when it does. Understand. Yes, it’s morning. I know you see me reaching for your watch, and you’ll hear the kettle I put on for your morning coffee, please understand. Noise. I hate these nightmares. It comforts me when you embrace me. Please. Let’s sleep in. I hate having to leave you because my work wants to call me in. Massage my head. I still love you the same as the night before. I want this kind of future, though our circumstances are foggy; your body is that gust of wind that blows it all away. Let me hold you near my heart. Time is untrustworthy. I know you only keep me from certain experiences, but only because you fear losing me. The reality starts to set, but that’s not surprising. We know how bodies start to lose momentum and strife. I would never ask from you what you Enlightenment can’t give. I’m sorry I lied… But, it’s morning. Rick Wilemon 4 The INDIGO 2017 The INDIGO 2017 5 Chapter1 Two blocks away, Jack Wilkerson, producer was hired. She began by covering small community of the early news program on the city’s second events. But her sympathetic tone and gentle voice largest TV station, barked out an order to his top led to confidences denied to others. She began reporter Allison Young. “Fire over on Pritchard covering larger stories and finally was told she Street,” he yelled. “Family home destroyed, would soon become anchor of the early show. So possibly with mother and kids – get over there, began Ali’s new life in the world of journalism. play it up. TV crews will be all over it!” Allison “But we need a catchier name for you, something scrambled from her desk and nudged the dozing classy and upscale,” the burly producer told her, young cameraman as she grabbed her keys. stroking his stubbled jaw and thinking hard. “Come on, Sleepyhead,” she said quickly to Dave “What’s wrong with my own name?” she replied Stennis, “the news is waiting!” slightly mystified. “Isn’t it the reporting that counts, He grabbed the bag with his camera gear, not the name?” muttering, “Why does news always happen at “Honey,” he said, “even John Wayne changed 3am, like babies?” His wife, his name! He was Marion LeAnn, had just produced Morrison. Now how far their third child two weeks would that have gotten earlier, and he stayed him? Why should you be perpetually exhausted. any different? Trust me. Black-eyed Susan Brittany Pierce They raced through the I know what I’m talkin’ darkened streets in the about!” station’s van along with So Ali Rebekah Yoder, Serenity Waits the guys who would hook daughter of an Amish father up the feed, and she and an Englischer mother, By Shar Drennan briefed him on what their producer had told her. became Allison Young, anchor and reporter. She “Interview any survivors, witnesses, get in close, learned how to apply makeup, style her hair, and capture the tears, etc. Ratings are down, Allison; answer to Allison or Ms. Young. She learned how knock yourself out on this one. You know the drill, to act under pressure and deliver the news with now get going!” a calm assurance she was far from feeling. She The fire roared with an intensity that was almost deafening. As the flames rose Allison did indeed know the drill. In the three years had never looked back even when dreams of her higher, clouds of dark smoke enveloped the old building. An acrid smell filled the she’d worked for the Ohio TV station, she had risen beloved father crowded her sleep and she would air and the neighborhood residents stood, hands clasped over their faces, or silently in the ranks fast. Fresh out of Ohio State University, wake with tears on her cheeks. If there were times clinging to each other. Despite the efforts of the fire crew, the fire finally reached clutching a Journalism and Communications when she felt distanced from the sophisticated, the top floor and a different sound was heard.