The Literary Panther Advisors Alphonso Dunn Emily Eklund Christine Redman-Waldeyer Heather Wojdylo Issue No. 2 The Literary Panther Passaic County Community College One College Boulevard Paterson, New Jersey 07505 Credits Cover Art: Albert Bustos Cover Title: Face in Hand 2 Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved by The Literary Panther, Passaic County Community College, Visions Newspaper. 3 4 Contents POETRY Nelton A. Barrett 9 Parul Begum 13 Alex Blau 14 Andre Brown 19 Albert Bustos 22 Miguel DeJesus 26 DeMond James 30 X’Zaviour Johnson 32 Amanda S. Kibler 34 Kamil Kozlowski 36 Matthew Redling 37, 39 Nicole C. Richardson 40 Matthew Zeitlinger 44 SHORT STORY Kamil Kozlowski 49 Jair Quijano 52 Nicole C. Richardson 54 CREATIVE NON-FICTION Fatima Jamal Kanouni 59 ART Albert Bustos 21, 31 Cesar Marquez 46 PHOTOGRAPHY Lisa Costabile 29, 63 Eric Francisco 27, 43 Fatima Jamal Kanouni 23, 35, 51 Hannah Tallorin 25, 38, 62 5 6 P POETRY 7 8 Nelton A. Barrett Memories Just For You My love, my love, my love. Ooh my love, my love, my love. Wait for me where we first met. Wait for me where we saw the sun-set. My love, my love, my love. Wait for me where we first sat, Wait for me where we first met. Under the willow tree I will say my last goodbye, So be there by nine. For after that time I will have to rest, But if you cannot be on time I will do my best to withhold my last breath. Under the shadow of death I wait for thee. Through the moonlight I seek thee. The truth… I wait impatiently, For love, nor hope, can hold me. But make haste, while breath flows, Because I’m too weak even to blow Or make ugly sounds of my last fighting breath. Remember this before I go In the field listen to the Bamboo-Phone And remember the sweet songs I sang so low. My Dear, my dear, my dear. Ooh my dear, my dear, my dear. Meet me where we first sat and ate Not far from where we first met. My dear my dear, my dear Wait for me not far from where we met. Wait for me where we first sat and ate. Under the Sapodilla tree, We will eat our last meal together And you and I will pray for this blessing to last forever. 9 Under the sapodilla tree We used to play childish games Under the Sapodilla we played our idol fames Under the sapodilla tree we played games of old and new, But best of all is the game ‘ooooH, how I love you” Over and down the dark and rocky trails Ooh how I love to hold your hands And whisper in your ear, My dear have no fear. Until we reached the city lights Ooh what a thing to bring us near Just because we share The thing called “D-E-A-R”. So remember all of this, before I go… Over and down those dark and rocky trails. My voice will speak comfort in your ear. And in the midst of changing winds I will weep with thee And by the spread of a dove count the things I love and be happy. And under the willow Where we often sat and discuss And under the sapodilla where Together we filled our stomach And through the bamboo-phone Hear the love-verses of my heart Which I sang so sweet and low. And in the spring Where lovers sing; where birds fluttering feathers glow… Remember with whom I love the most. 10 Nelton A. Barrett What You Are to Me On the road of life alone I love to trod along. But I met a lovely flower and I made the mistake of holding her hand. And now I want to understand this gentle butterfly. As pretty as a rose, to me, as chattering as a bee. But I love to listen to her attentively. Although she complains how I look at her meticulously. She knows my eyes can see her true needs. Thou the light of my eyes Light up the darkness around thee. I cannot see behind the mask of beauty, your everlasting mystery. Thou my eyes want to unfold your mystery my soul need not see, but to unite with thee. For my soul cries out for what my eyes can only see the mystery I love. Stay as guileless as a dove as fresh as early morning spring as clear as day and as full as the moon that comes by night. Stay as pretty as a newly blossomed rose and beside me stay close… On this lonely road of life, on which I found 11 The L-O-V-E of my L-I-F-E. Stay as natural as Nature’s Spring, in it birds come and sing. And no matter how the days have been and how uneasy I have felt I’ll just wash clean myself And drink to our health. Just Stay as a dove. It symbolizes the things I love and yes, it’s the thing the world need so much, P-E-A-C-E and L-O-V-E. My Instructor saw me wondering off in space, and think I can’t keep the pace. But at this time and date, I concentrate to dedicate these words to commemorate the day I thought of my Dainty Blue… All because of you. 12 Parul Begum Friends without Faces We sit and type every day and night Without thinking whether it’s wrong or right. With our smart phones we roam through the internet and get lost in a maze Looking for someone or something for days. We desperately chat with others hoping that some friends we can make, we met Superman, Blade, Cinderella, and Tiana, but it didn’t occur to us that their profiles can be fake. We’re very happy and excited to have Blade as a new friend But we didn’t know there will be a sad story at the end. We continue chatting and start sharing our Thoughts with a foe, sooner or later he or she will shatter our hearts with a bow and arrow. Now we are sad and depressed and there is no one to tell If we are mature enough we can tolerate the sorrow or else we will deteriorate within the hidden shells. We should vow ourselves that we won’t believe the strangers Even if they act like power rangers. Online predators come in various ranges After all they’re all Friends without Faces. 13 Alex Blau Raise The Torch Overworking yourself will only make you fall Not everyone can start out standing tall In life sometimes you must crawl Before you can walk and have it all Working hard and living life without a break Is less of a benefit and more of a mistake We start out shuffling the dice giving it a good shake The outcome may give less than what it will take Still you must remember to strive for what you can do Not what others expect of you Success will still come to those down below You don’t have to have it all to put on a great show Entertain yourself by doing your best Do what you can but still get some rest Doing more than what you can is how you fail life’s test It’s a battle between you and yourself so what is the contest Life is like breaking a bone It will grow back even stronger than before in the broken zone You’re an instrument that life will take out of tone Still your journey isn’t left alone Deep inside you will find your metronome Everyone will become lost but it’s your choice whether or not you want to find your way home The tuner from within will get you back to where you have to be Like the Polar Express you must truly believe it in order to see Struggle has become a second nature to humanity What you will endure challenges more than just your sanity “Aspire to raise the torch a little higher” “Keep the fire burning even brighter” “Unleash your inner desire to soar farther than anyone could before you expire” “Karma can be a nightmare but you can fight her because you’re a survivor” “So you must continue to aspire to raise the torch a little higher” “Keep the fire burning even brighter” 14 “Unleash your inner desire to soar farther than anyone could before you expire” “Karma can be a nightmare but you can fight her because you’re a survivor” Everything comes in three From start to finish your position hasn’t come for free It starts out with birth Then it transfers to struggle throughout your life on earth Until you reach down inside and cause a rebirth Deep within your soul’s fireplace igniting its flame above the hearth Don’t back down when your already pushing through to finish showing what your worth Finishing first by using what you have been able to unearth Digging down deep for the treasure you kept hidden inside Only your goals should reside Influence can harm the brain like contact with cyanide It’s a parasite that can manipulate in order for its intentions to hide Like an Olympic participant with every move it has a long stride Splitting our life making it divide Do what you would like to do and this problem would never come to light Its hideous plan would never blind my sight Keeping goals are perfect to have insight Never submit to what others force upon you every plight The world is a battlefield and all you can do is fight Success isn’t what others make of it, it is doing what you feel is right Martin Luther King Junior used his words to change America’s outlook He formulated his success like a recipe in a cookbook Cooking with ingredients he collected from himself in some sort of scrapbook Spreading more than he took Everyone in the world is food and the predators seem to always lay their hook In which we fall prey to because the warnings we mistook “Aspire to raise the torch a little higher” “Keep the fire burning even brighter” “Unleash your inner desire to soar farther than anyone could before you expire” “Karma can be a nightmare but you can fight her because you’re a survivor” 15 “So you must continue to aspire to raise the torch a little higher” “Keep the fire burning even brighter” “Unleash your inner desire to soar farther than anyone could before you expire” “Karma can be a nightmare but you can fight her because you’re a survivor” Lost in a game you created Still played even after the expiration that was dated Your success is so valuable that its gold plated You can set goals but sometimes they will become belated Not everything happens on time as history has already stated