Capturing Campus: Nosebleed

Content warning: mentions of blood, profanity

Nosebleed

I see red

smell pennies

am I bleeding out 

my nose

or just my eyes 

adjustments are needed

contact lenses or otherwise

I’m woozy

walking somewhere

my legs will carry me there

there is where i will go

I don’t know where  

the world’s blurry

behind fluid-tinted glasses

how funny it is 

that my body can’t contain itself

in lungs or lifeblood

the capacity to

spill over the side

and to want to

pluck reds from strawberry bushes

bell peppers come from bushes too

but you don’t see people picking them

because who’d eat a bell pepper

when life’s dripping

and you’re bleeding all over the fucking carpet

Fading Colors

The blue fades into a warm yellow, and ultimately into darkness. I snapped this photo on my way back home, and this picture reminds me a lot of painting. With how the colors match and blend perfectly, I am reminded of music. Especially tempo, the blend of colors, releases a soft and steady beat. I can see a resemblence of a series of notes transcending up the keys. Especially with the architecture that makes up the beautiful law quad, it matches the mood of the sun setting, with the twinkling of the street lamps.

With this picture, I see Debussy’s works. Specifically, “Rêverie”, the notes perfectly blend together to produce a series of wandering sounds (Rêverie). This piece reminds me of a gentle good night song, transforming into a dreamy world. Much like the contents of this picture (the colors, street lamps, and night setting), Debussy’s “Rêverie” soothing sounds, encapsulate the beauty of fading colors. 

Capturing Campus: Recipe from Hell

Recipe from Hell

INGREDIENTS

1 garlic clove

5 sesame seeds

4 snake eggs

2 tbsp sage

1 fingerbone

DIRECTIONS

Mash the clove 

Grind the sesame seeds

Crack the snake eggs

Whisk until incorporated

Crush the fingerbone finely

Sprinkle bone dust and sage into the mixture

Whisk vigorously until the souls of your enemies cry out

(from beneath the floorboards)

Bake until golden brown, or until the angels weep at your feet

Leave to cool in the center of your pentagram

Allow the hellfire erupting from the ground to crisp the edges

Dig in!

Bursley Buccaneer: Krithi “Cave Diver” Ramnath

PIRATE SHIP FACT: During overnight sailing trips, shipmates who were not the captain would either sleep on hammocks, or the floor.

Wednesday, October 16th – 1:15 a.m.

I came into college hoping that my roommate and I’s dorm room would become somewhat of a hangout spot, yet now it has evolved into (basically) an additional Bursley lounge. Whether it’s a movie night, sleepover, or a “study session” that requires “locking in,” I always volunteer our room to be the medium.

After a long day of classes, a couple of us Bursley pirates had resigned to the blanketed floor of the room with our computers waiting patiently to be used for actual work. It was during this yap convocation that Krithi brought up Hawke Mountain.

As a Pennsylvania native, Hawke Mountain was just a two hour drive from her hometown. Internationally, it is the largest sanctuary for birds of prey, along with the grand caves, scenic views, and hiking trails that give tourists the social media worthy pictures. Unfortunately for Krithi, her ability to take pictures during that trip would cease to exist when her phone slipped and fell into one of the mountain’s cavernous crevices.

This story is supposed to be somber and make you, the reader, feel a growing sympathy in your heart for Krithi’s seemingly soiled vacation. However, once I saw the picture of Krithi sitting on a rock while a her experienced friend is head first in a cave looking for her phone, the experience seems almost worth it. In context, the idea that her dad saw her distraught while waiting and decided to take a picture is the icing on the cake.

Thankfully, Krithi has a fully functional computer, not stuck in a cave, that enables her to study Computer Science here at Michigan. Her story inspires us to keep our phones close and our family/ enemies with their camera apps open, closer.

Yours sincerely,

Captain Singh

Capturing Campus: Sleep Paralysis

Sleep Paralysis

Waking became worse than dreaming

of guilt and endless rooms

familiar and upside down

bottomless pits on the ceiling

falling upwards 

to breathe but not move

words like mercury in the throat

dispel panic through fluttering eyelids

know there is no sense in fighting

a prison of the mind

as limbs stiffen hard

at the sight

perched on the bed

with angel wings

borne of kerosene 

headlights for teeth

gnashing at the stillness

beneath tight sheets

A cherry pit soul

screams freedom

Capturing Campus: Reclamation

TW: Gore, canibalistic imagery, mentions of violence

Reclamation 

a crack of the skull to let the demons out

sharp daggers to the chest

pouring love; painting a sygil 

violence on grass blades and mushroom tops

too dizzy to lift a hand

skin marred and beautiful, bloody even

nibbled by canines and premonition

bit down on finger bones

gritty and callous resistance 

chewed the marrow like tobacco

spit it out, too

onto cold ground; it ferments

like fallen leaves atop moss

the flies buzz hymnals

and maggots squeal 

gleeful, they’ll burrow holes 

a porous sponge 

for mud and dust and rainwater

raw and plain

sinking into the earth

your final resting place