2OO9 FORCES FORCES 2OO9 09PB-242 2OTH ANNIVERSARY 2OTH ANNIVERSARY FORCES FORCES marks its 20th year of publication with this issue. As always, it includes an array of tastes and sights and sounds and memories from Collin College students. Works range from the memoirs of several of our senior SAIL members to two featured poets: Mike Raffaele, whose work shadows a young Walt Whitman/Allen Ginsberg, and Susan Blick, whose work has a personal yet disciplined quality. Finally, we are blessed to be supported and backed by a board and president whose vision continues to let Collin County residents have their dreams precede realities while providing a reflective yearly touchstone that actively archives our time and our community. Also, one final trip can be taken through Molly Boyce’s 1980 © poem; it is a veritable journey through world events from the college’s beginning to present. “We didn’t start the fire.” — Billy Joel R. Scott Yarbrough Editor of Forces Literary Journal 2OTH ANNIVERSARY FORCES i FORCES is an annual student publication sponsored by the Communication and Humanities and Fine Art Divisions of Collin College. CCCCD is an equal opportunity institution that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability or veteran status. ii FORCES 2OTH ANNIVERSARY CONTENTS CHOICES vi PICTURES OF VIETNAM 12-13 Tracy Dicks Michael Raffaele-Featured Poet 1980 © 1 DRAWINGS: Molly Boyce DWIGHT, UNTITLED 13 James G. Robinson TREES 2 Donna Gors CORNBREW AFTERNOON 14 SUNLIGHT Cinde Rawn Mary Baumgartner BURYING JOHN’S LEG 15-17 ME 3 Rudy McCallister Mirtha Aertker LONE MAN 17 THANKING THE MUSE Cinde Rawn Sabrina Mendoza SMILES CHANGE THE WORLD 18 JOHNNY LEE 4 Cinde Rawn PAGE Kristi Ashcroft 2 STILL RUNNING BRONZE - BLACK BIRD 5 David Drane Suzanne Hess THE MOCKINGBIRD GHOST IN MY HEAD 19 Beth Turner Ayers Meredith Morton ALL GOOD THINGS IN THE ABSENCE OF EMOTION Katie Fitzrandolph Melissa C. Maier I HAVE CONQUERED TOYOTA 20 THE ANGEL OF BLISS 6 Cinde Rawn Jeremy Jemba SUNDAY MORNIN’ PAPER READ ME 7 Bill Cunningham Mirtha Aertker GRAPHITE DRAWING 21 PHOTOGRAPHY: 8-9 Nicole Barnes FAIRVIEW WATER TOWER, SUNFLOWERS, LIVESTOCK STATION WORDS ON A PAGE PAGE7 Katherine Robinson Susan Blick-Featured Poet AMERICAN SUPERSTORE THAT AWESOME Michael Raffaele-Featured Poet ROAD WE TAKE 22 Kristi Ashcroft RUNGS 10 Donna Gors LITTLE RABBIT 23-28 Virginia Davis TWO DOUBLEBENT SNAKES Greg McClure ALL HOLES LEAD TO CHINA 24 Beverly Sellers I STAND AT THE DOOR 11 Cinde Rawn UNTITLED 25 James G. Robinson A FOREIGNER IN A FOREIGN LAND O’CONNOR 5 26 Marge Anderson James O’Connor UNTITLED 12 SHADOWS 29 PAGE Ashley Danielle Siebert Donna Gors 21 2OTH ANNIVERSARY FORCES iii MEADOWBANK RD 29 ART LIFE 44 Michael Raffaele-Featured Poet Ashley Sanders O’CONNOR 3 30 TATTOO 45-47 PAGE 30 James O’Connor Angela Klewicki O’CONNOR 2 31 TRADITIONS 46 James O’Connor Cinde Rawn BLUE-JEANED KIDS PLAYGROUND 03 48 Anna Gauthier Terry Chen ETHEREAL ANGEL 32 SPECIES Jennifer Nail Susan Blick-Featured Poet CHRISTMAS PAST 33-35 DAVID 48-49 Doris Yanger Michael Raffaele-Featured Poet NIGHT OF FIRE 35 DEATH OF A VALENTINE 50-51 Terry Chen Michael Raffaele-Featured Poet PHOTOGRAPHY: 36-37 ANGEL FACE 51 MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN, Cinde Rawn HALL OF STATE, VICTORIA HALL Katherine Robertson MOTHERS Donna Gors POEM ABOUT PENNIES Michael Raffaele-Featured Poet MY HOUSE 52 Mirtha Aertker NO DIMES TO SPARE 38 Cinde Rawn FAMILY REUNION Sidney Portilla-Diggs TEXTURE SCARS 39 Terry Chen PAGE GREENHOUSE 35 Anna Gauthier WE ARE MAYBE NOT PREPARED 39 UNTITLED 53 Yvonne Morgenstern Macy Freeman Xx 40 LETTING GO 53-54 Susan Blick-Featured Poet Christine Hagen PAGE53 SAINT FRANCIS 41 CONTEMPLATING 54 Suzanne Hess Tracy Dicks A MATTER OF FACT PLAY THAT GUITAR 55 Beth Turner Ayers Elizaberh Fiechtner BLACK AND WHITE 42 MALAISE Cinde Rawn Lauren Smart AND THEN SPINSTERS, FULLY FURNISHED THERE WERE NONE 43 Joe Milazzo Susan Blick-Featured Poet iv FORCES 2OTH ANNIVERSARY CONTENTS PINS 56 SCARECROW’S Joseph Martinez LAST THOUGHT 66-69 Anthony Armstrong UNTITLED 57 James G. Robinson TRAIN #2, TRAIN #6 68-69 Austin Worth BLESS ME . Susan Blick-Featured Poet LAWS 1, LAWS 2 70 Leslie Laws NEPTUNE’S NET 58 Eunice Bridges STATUE STOOD PAGE WITH SILENCED LEGS 60 HEAVY IN MY JESUS YEAR Greg McClure R. Flowers Rivera SHOPPING 71 NAKESHA, NAKED Betsy Giron Molly Boyce DETAILS 72-73 THE ANCIENT ONES 59-61 Donna Gors Beverly Sellers THE COAT IRON & UNTITLED 60 FROM VIA CAVOUR 72 Tomiko Ueda Dallie Clark GUARDA ESPIRIUS JARS 61 BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S 73 Eunice Bridges Amanda North ABANDONED UNTITLED 2 74 Molly Boyce Norma Jean Montejano GREEN WOMAN 62 94 Joe Prescher Philip Fullman PREDAWN AUBADE 63 UNTITLED 1 75 R. Flowers Rivera Norma Jean Montejano DURING LECTURE A DOG HOW TO WAKE -UP GETS HER HEAD STUCK IN FROM A NIGHTMARE 75-77 A CHEETOS CONTAINER 64 Paul Boynton R. Scott Yarbrough DANCER 76 IF POEMS WERE CHILDREN Joe Prescher PAGE74 Philip Fullman CRETE 77 UNTITLED 65 Joe Prescher Elizabeth Fietchtner UGLY SNOW 78-81 ANANDA Amber King Chad Hansen TREES AND SHADOWS 79 TRAMPA 66 Donna Gors Mirtha Aertker UNTITLED 3 82 Norma Jean Montejano 2OTH ANNIVERSARY FORCES v CHOICES Tracy Dicks vi FORCES 2OTH ANNIVERSARY 1980 © Molly Boyce word was the world had changed were we so gullible to believe all their lies, for the worse everyone speculated our fault we were not Bueller who escaped for a day, what would become of this world gone wild . Palestine clashing, preachers confessing routing for Molly blossoming in the Breakfast Club, and no one in their right mind never recognizing E.T. and his transforming power booked Guyana for a vacation allowed Luke to fight galaxies far, far away, were we on our way to oblivion are we better off today for what was left behind, when Lockerbie, Scotland shook the world yellow ribbons, Brook Shields, and “who shot J.R.” before it was chic to live in fear, do we still mourn at the Dakota, cheer the Laker’s win, but no one dares remember that flight or continue to count the number of poison pills along with 9/11 or Flight 93 that accidentally killed our “King” maybe it was true this world had gone to pot how do you judge progress during this era, doctors claimed it was good medicine after all by Madonna or laughter on Saturday Night, cell phones romanced us as we learned to Relax, English fairy tales proving they do come true, easier to lose oneself in Pac Man or Mario those miraculous births of Cabbage Patch Kids, when ‘just say no’ did not work finally disco died and we all were proud what would become of this world gone wild, one thing for sure as we head Back to the Future hijackings, bombs, arming foreign gorillas, Footloose dancing through barns, across car hoods, NASA holding tight a young teacher’s hand, moon walking into Thriller, skating rings around Xanadu, the other Bush wooing us with ‘read my lips’ whether a Springfield or Joel musical generation after the man knocked down the wall we all admitted how hard it was being green might be true we lost our virginity during those years or gave it up while millions died before they were born, Black Monday diverted the world with a grim prophecy stock market crash, money lost, human error to blame, contaminated waste lining eastern shores 2OTH ANNIVERSARY FORCES 1 SUNLIGHT Mary Baumgartner Sunlight fascinates me It‘s so warm It‘s so bright It‘s so majestic It‘s so sublime. Sunlight draws me With its bright colors With its effulgent rays With its warm waves With its constant presence. Sunlight guides me As its light illuminates me As its brilliance excites me As its fieriness warms me As its existence lets me be. Sunlight blesses me Its energy heals me Its beauty inspires me Its provisions strengthen me Its presence reasons for living give me. TREES Donna Gors 2 FORCES 2 O T H A N N I V E R S A R Y THANKING THE MUSE (in homage to “The Confessions of St. Augustine”) Sabrina Mendoza I dream of a place where we can make love on conquered heights of once-blank pages spilled with the ink of moonlight and white sleep An ageless old volume words will flow like music . whose leaves curl upon the inward thoughts; where realms tumble down rolling hills of mind “And I will be immovable, and fixed in Thee, Thy Truth”; Words will flow like music, and thoughts fill like fine food Tip-toeing through worlds of knowledge, picking books like blossomed flowers ME Mirtha Aertker 2OTH ANNIVERSARY FORCES 3 JOHNNY LEE Kristi Ashcroft 4 FORCES 2 O T H A N N I V E R S A R Y THE MOCKINGBIRD Beth Turner Ayers it is genuine, it is unique . ALL GOOD THINGS Katie Fitzrandolph Necessity brought me here. I had preconceived notions Of Texas. The terracotta plant saucer turned ashtray How appropriate, I thought. on the balcony filled with rain water and created The mockingbird perches a butt swimming pool murky with nicotine. In a representative pose “That’s a lot of cigarettes,” J said As it mimics, yes mocks, “You can tell Russ has been here” Inducing false hope But it wasn’t just Russ’s 27s, With its imitation of reality, there were the occasional No. 9s With unnatural voices. in their hot pink bathing suits Prolific, deceptive voices: flirting with the new guy Crush’s The cowboy want-to-be splashing up reminders of the whirlpool Cheerleader moms week, sleepless night early morning The voice of the Old South conversations, vices and family secrets, “Ya’ll come back ya’ hear,” long eye catches and new kisses.