Author: EKArts

Erin Knape is a University of Michigan senior majoring in psychology and minoring in creative writing. Her greatest passion has always been the arts, whether that be writing, painting, or photography. Capturing Campus, a weekly installment of poetry and photography, aims to capture campus life through artistic expression. Dive into Capturing Campus every Sunday!

Evolving Emotions: Tarot Reading

EKArts Leave a comment

The cards that hold

Knowledge I already knew

But couldn’t access

 

The hands that have seen

Roughness

Niceties

And warm gestures

 

Grazing the cards

Selecting aimlessly

 

A past

Repressed

And bottled

 

A present

Confused

And hopeful

 

A future

Essential

But fearsome

 

Forming a row of formidable cards

They speak and expose

 

A heartbreak two folds

Too strong

Complications of roads

Too intimidating to choose from

 

Decisions neglected

Thoughts finely pressed

And set aside for a different morning

 

Desires to be realized

Dreams to dazzle

And worlds of people to meet

 

Such an accurate picture

Painted by the person

Sitting before me

 

Divulging my concerns

Encouraging my pursuits

 

I heard what I yearned for

Absorbing the words

From across a rickety table

 

UMMA: Queer Night

Evolving Emotions: Numb

EKArts Leave a comment

Sights have lost their luster

Songs are no longer melodious in tune

Colors are gray

Lights have darkened

In a haze

 

My pupils lazy

My mouth lame

My limbs heavy

 

Unable to express

Unable to cry

Unable to feel

 

What would it take?

 

To allow the dreaded

Thoughts

Sensations

And concerns

Inside

 

Accepting them

Embracing them

Unafraid and willing

 

Would it make a difference?

 

In the haze

There is no beginning

No middle

No end

No light at the end of the tunnel

 

It is an indifference

A distance

An apathy

 

Disturbing as it may be

Not feeling

May be dangerously appealing

As a small price to pay

 

Evolving Emotions: Bliss in the Dark

EKArts Leave a comment

Setting in the west

Purple and blue hues

Over the plains of grass

A peace fills the air

Dotted with stars

My friend sits in the sky

Pronounced against the black

We are alone together.

My neck cranes

To witness his light

Grazing my face

I lay in the grass

Looking out

Darkness surrounds me

Concealing my existence

Only acknowledged by my friend in the sky

 

A profound comfort washes

Across my skin.

The softness of the breeze

The chill of the night

The peace in this place.

No judgement

No eyes upon my flesh

Probing my mind.

Just me on the Earth

And my friend in the sky

 

How blissful is anonymity

The release of the pressure to conform

The anxiety of inadequacy

The worries for the future

And the loathing of the past.

My friend steadies me

I shine with him

Our bliss in the dark.

 

Evolving Emotions: Centrifuge

EKArts Leave a comment

Having depression and anxiety is kind of a

Funny thing. 

 

Those depressed moods

However awful they are

Remain comfortable 

Remain separate from the whirlwind of

Thought and obsessive

Worry

I can’t fall from the floor

 

There is no surprise 

No jarring suddenness 

 

Just peace in the low and dull

It’s a sick cycle

That enraptures 

Makes me yearn for the consistency 

That is ruining my life.

 

You don’t take chances

There’s no point

 

You don’t try things

Why would I?

 

Are you ever going to start living your life?

Do you want the truth?

 

Maybe a day will come

When the anxiety isn’t so grand

And the depression seems just a little 

Unappealing 

 

A day where I step out from the centrifuge

That whirls and spirals

And step into the light

 

With a novelty I never knew 

And a take on life 

I had never held in my hands

With a world of possibilities 

I had yet to realize

 

Evolving Emotions: Yellow

EKArts Leave a comment

Yellow has been a rather

Permanent resident in my life

 

Since fourth grade

My single driving force

Aspiration

Ultimate goal

 

Was to be a

Maize and Blue

Student

Supporter

And success

 

That last part

Has proved challenging

And a twinge undesirable

 

The place I called home before any other

Apart from the womb

My childhood bedroom

A zany yellow on the walls

In an artificial cheer

 

It was not always

So cheerful.

 

Something I learned recently

A rather depressing fact

Bananas are disagreeable.

 

For all of the cramps I sustain

Apologies in advance

To my near and distant future

 

My eyes loathe the sun

It’s bright rays

The sweat beading

It’s a sticky sort of hatred

 

It never ceases to amaze

How ironic the world is.

Connections and coincidences

In fascinating alignments

All for the purpose of absurdity

Made sensical

 

Blue has become a recent tenant

 

Paint rollers glided like waves

Creating a sky along the walls

 

Each raindrop and cloud

Brings a comforting cold

And reminder

Of dirt’s occasional aroma

 

I’ve often been blue

Sad beyond belief

Swallowed by a riptide

 

But it’s in those moments

That I’m grateful

For it all

For the joy

For the tears

For the bananas I cannot digest

And for the Zen in my bedroom

That served as a transition

Between color and emotion

 

Evolving Emotions: Familiar Weather

EKArts Leave a comment

You are perched

A wooden stool in the kitchen

Creaking beneath your weight

 

Staring out at

The meadow beyond

Past the chipped window frame

The light pours like water

Streaming through

Weathered glass

 

An alluring glow

Inviting eyes to

Dip

and Dive

Across the hills

And into the trenches

 

Its beauty is

Undeniable

But you can’t shake

 

The twinge in your chest

A stab at your tissue

Inside your head

It nags

 

A

Disturbing

Disruption

Amidst the serenity

 

The possibility

 

The hills

Vacillating

The trees

Snapping

The sky

Darkening

The rocks

Clamoring

 

The chirping of birds

Screeching

The rushing of water

Pounding

The movement of clouds

Hastening

The whistling of grass

Shrilling

 

Sending the mind

Into a frenzy of static

Quickening in pace

You feel it.

 

The light fades

 

In its place

Are gloomy clouds

Rapturous storms

An unbearable inundation

 

A pond fills the sink

Entering through the tap

 

Spilling onto the checkered tile

The countertops

And dull appliances

 

The rivers flow

With unending power

 

Through the opened window

The cracks in the walls

The age-worn door

 

Oceans form inside your skull

Waterfalls drain your eyes

 

Taking with it the innocence you held

Leaving hollowness behind

 

Wracked with exhaustion

All dries up

The sun burns flesh

The light lay strangely now

 

You were used to the ponds

The rivers

The oceans

 

Only for them to leave you

A battered husk

On a wooden stool.