Issue #4 The Literary Panther Advisors Geoffrey Kenmuir Christine Redman-Waldeyer Issue No. 4 The Literary Panther, English Department Passaic County Community College One College Boulevard Paterson, New Jersey 07505 Credits Cover Art: Marcos Salazar Title: Drifting Into the Unknown, 2015 22 ½ x 28 ½ inches Oil pastel, watercolor, and ink on paper Layout: Christine Redman-Waldeyer Cover Design: Marcos Salazar Copyright © 2016. All rights reserved by The Literary Panther, Passaic County Community College, Visions Newspaper. Contents POETRY Miguel A. De Jesus Jr. ......................................................................... 7-10 Brielle Duncan ........................................................................................ 11 Hafeezah Freeman .................................................................................. 12 Lismery Luna .................................................................................... 13-16 Dilruba Parvin ........................................................................................ 17 Nadia Nuri ......................................................................................... 18-20 Christina Sanchez .............................................................................. 21-22 Gabriela Valenzuela .......................................................................... 23-24 SHORT STORY Arline Abreu ........................................................................................... 27 Leslie Rivera ........................................................................................... 28 Christina Sanchez .............................................................................. 30-35 Kenya Torres .......................................................................................... 36 Kiara N Tosado.................................................................................. 38-39 Gabriela Valenzuela .......................................................................... 40-45 CREATIVE NON-FICTION/ESSAY Cagatay Oncu .................................................................................... 49-52 PLAYS Lismery Luna .................................................................................... 55-61 Dilruba Parvin ................................................................................... 62-63 ART/PHOTOGRAPHY Rubi Acosta ....................................................................................... 67-68 Noah Chamberlian .................................................................................. 69 Miguel A. De Jesus Jr. ............................................................................ 69 Brian Gomez ...................................................................................... 70-71 Alexander Keating ............................................................................. 72-73 Dwight Lemonius ................................................................................... 74 Kyle Lorentz ........................................................................................... 75 Kristen Mercogliano ............................................................................... 76 Monushra Miah ...................................................................................... 77 Rebecca Mink ......................................................................................... 78 Genaya Palmer ....................................................................................... 79 Armando Rodriguez ............................................................................... 80 Cesar Salas ............................................................................................. 81 3 Marcos Salazar .................................................................................. 82-84 Emilia Watson ................................................................................... 85-86 Victoria Vulcano .................................................................................... 87 4 P POETRY Miguel De Jesus Asphalt & Concrete At the ripe young age of nineteen, I worked for an asphalt and paving company. Ten to twelve hours a day, of sweat dripping, callous creating, back breaking work. Pickaxes and shovels in hand, breaking up and removing the existing driveways and sidewalks. Rubble dumped into wheel barrels made way too heavy. Then pushed out to the street and thrown into dumpsters, never to be seen again. Then pushing wheel barrels filled with gravel and sand, again way too heavy. Then spreading them out by rake, preparing them for the asphalt, waiting desperately for a break. Then pushing wheel barrels, made way too heavy, filled with asphalt that burned at over three hundred degrees, and with the added 100 degree temperature of a hot mid-summer day, which helped to drain whatever energy that was left within me, and melting one of my contacts 7 right in my eye, which cut my eyelid, seventeen times to be exact. Only able to see out of one eye Like a teenage pirate, to find out from doctors that I could never wear contacts again. Then I realized that for all the blood and sweat I gave for monetary compensation would all go towards buying a new pair of glasses. This angered me almost an entire year, I was forced to clean black soot from my nose for hours every evening and remove tar from my hands with gasoline, which made my hands tougher than leather that I couldn’t afford to buy. Even after building up countless layers of what would become the pathways for cars that I could never afford to drive upon, and sidewalks that led to homes that I could only dream of living in. 8 Miguel De Jesus Radhika’s Bharatanatyam Arangetram All your years of study has been nothing but stressful, but your parents gave you the right name, now you are successful. Your performance was both classical and contemporary, a feat that most can’t complete, Radhika you’re truly extraordinary. Your wardrobe, make-up, and hair were flawless, they accentuated your beauty, you really are gorgeous. Your eyes, hand gestures, and facial expressions, allow you to teach everyone life’s lessons. You encapsulated the audience, kept them in a trance, your movements fluid like an American dance, a stunning mixture of hip-hop, jazz, and tap, with a hint of ballet found in every stance. You are young enough to conquer the world, just inspirational, Your insight into dance made your piece interracial. Every gesture, expression, and movement were tremendously tasteful, even when you slipped and fell it was done very graceful. True talent like yours is impossible to measure, I’m honored to have had the opportunity and pleasure, to watch you bring countless different cultures together, and change each one of their lives always and forever. You have done your parents, your guru, and Lord Shiva proud, Your Bharatanatyam Arangetram was beautiful, Radhika take a bow! 9 Miguel De Jesus Signs of Happiness Children roughhousing on a sandy beach. Teenagers fooling around on a bench. An old woman walks the path all alone, probably remembering days long gone. A man tends to the food he is grilling, while his wife laid still on the blanket, either sleeping or tanning without care, their jolly mutt runs from under a chair, nudging the bowl with just his snout, hoping a juicy piece will fall to him. Some squirrels scurry across the green meadow, as if they’re being chased by a ghost cat. I yawn and stretch rolling onto my back. My tent’s roof is a windy sky of kites. They breathe in every gust, and every cloud. I think this is how life is meant to be, Until I had to wake, get up and pee. 10 Brielle Duncan Pink Camellia As she gazes dumbfounded into the orbits of your eyes, You hark in silence while angels whisper the hymns of your revelations. His mouth muzzles her, while his lips are the equivalent to a lotus, his kiss became the rebirth of her sun. The rifts in his hands leading to the waters of Niagara Falls became her travels. It was the mission that would see over her dirty pond. He stares as if she was a Pink Camellia longing for her. He became the many desires of her galaxy. His freckles like drizzled drops of honey leaking from the cracks of God’s fingers, And as she watched him stand tall, bold, beautiful, like the Ama Dablam, Nepal it was then she realized she was one step closer to blessedness 11 Hafeezah Freeman Sound in Time Music is the art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of melody. Music is a feeling that hypnotizes your mind, and sends the wave lengths of sound through your hearts. Music is astonishing, it is heartwarming. 12 Lismery Luna Blushing, Rushing Red Red, the color of dreams, of visions, the heart, pumping bright, searing my veins. Passionate, all-consuming, fiery red It courses through me, sun scorching Red, the color of emotions, of visions Of pain, agony, of passion, love. Of a dream that is closer to the blessed Skies, the cherubs, guardians. Far from the pits of tarturus, of hell. The Gods sent Hades down to the underworld, for his passion, smoldering desire to rule like them, to the pits of inferno suffering, torture. However, Red is not a color that should describe the Netherworld, rather the heavens, above, beyond. Red is a color of passion and pain. The color of dreams, visions, beauty, The heart, pumping bright and searing. 13 Lismery Luna Cofresi Beach It’s the beginning of August The heat enveloping me, a warm blanket on a cold day. The sun is striking down on my shoulders. I cover