Tag: poetry

Capturing Campus: Reclamation

EKArts Leave a comment

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

aSoSS 26 | Fit

a-spider-on-state-street Leave a comment

I liked how our teacher had a coordinated outfit! It was new!

Central Campus Transit Center, 10AM, 8/28/2024

summer comes and the house is not as i remember it. flies cling to the windows like barnacles. i bet a bird died in there, you say as we pass. it must have been heat stroke– but i already knew, i could smell the sweetness in the leaves. trees mourn too, did you know that? everything in the world mourns. the curtains are rustled by an invisible breeze; god’s not watching, there’s nothing to see. what’s buried won’t burn us. the clouds are sharp and shapeless, jigsaw pieces strewn across a coffee-cream sky.

Fit check, how is it?

Nice, got on that Laufey… I know how to say it now, not loofah or whatever…

Alice Lloyd Hall, 5:00PM, 9/13/2024

it was there the day i left, a dust storm dressed in bronze, waiting for me at the corner of the station. you hid behind a newspaper dated a week into the future: soothsayer’s grin, reaper’s curse. i pretend not to notice but we are both done with pretending. the threat of eye contact forces me astray. someone shouts a name–not yours–and you turn. it wears your eyes and nothing else.

your memory is stagnant, a still pond. i forget your face in the swarm of gathering flies.

My favorite pants has holes in them, just from wearing it a lot, and I’m going to patch it but I think this might be their last season…

Michigan Union, 12:30PM, 9/24/2024

it’s not there anymore, is it? the things you save until you can’t be saved. markers leak and stain the canvas; stickers dry and cut your nailbeds. you move out and your nails are painted and the world is over, yet the earth continues to spin. the antenna spits static and the radio hums to life. does the flower wait for the bee to approach before it blooms? kill the fantasy. fall in love with the present.

conscience of theseus: if you replace every thought in your mind, are you the same person?

With another year brings another vibrant campus community! Rain or shine, the human experience perseveres. Whether this is your first introduction to aSoSS or we crossed paths last year, I’m so glad I could be a part of your day =)

Welcome back, stay a while // It’s been a minute and I miss that smile~

~Sappy Daze~ Day 1

Sappy Leave a comment 
if i wasn't lied to
some things that i 
didn’t know that i 
should’ve known i 
now do know are

if you get infected don’t elevate a leg 

if you are small you might (not) be a chihuahua

if you taste like styrofoam you’re a bone

if you swim you’ll get caught

if you need to fold a fitted sheet just ask Grandma

if you wore a fuzzy onesie it’d be shocking 

if you breathe your lungs could explode

if you have counted sheep or not

if you know if sea walking exists

- sappy

Capturing Campus: Panic

EKArts Leave a comment

TW: Mild gore

Panic

It starts with a s u r g e

not like a seizure’s electrical storm

but a thickening of your skull

soupy membranes turned slick and wiry 

veins puffed up and tangled

Entrapped in your mind

the heat pounds heavy and gross

filling your ears with thoughts

taking no form, no substance

unintelligible thoughts of the present and future

And exposure 

a naked vulnerability as eyes find you

where all senses and sense of peace have eroded

and you question whether peace ever was

or was it always anticipation?

of a quiet that won’t last

But you beg for one that lasts

you stupidly, ridiculously beg for one that lasts

for a tranquil touch you swore you used to know

Was it seconds ago or longer

so familiar and so far

with tainted bones 

a brain stained and comprehending

that a dull poison 

will still kill you 

Capturing Campus: Homebody

EKArts Leave a comment

Homebody

The copper hinges on the backyard door groan when it rains

pipes thundering like a dejected one man drumline

the clothes line snapped last month

just before the sink ran dry

but the wallpaper got wet somehow

and the ceiling weeps every morning

It sags like peeled flesh

with mold like hair growing 

or maybe I’m imagining the fuzz in the fridge

that’s not frigid anymore

and I wonder if that’s why they call fridges fridges

or if chairs always had three legs instead of four

but that can’t be right because the kitchen table has two 

and my bed squeaks because it’s lonely

I’ll grease the hinges next time it rains

Capturing Campus: My Savior

EKArts Leave a comment

TW: Sexual assault, domestic violence, toxic relationships

My Savior 

Should I bless

the carving in my chest

where your words plucked at veins

and picked at my pulp

wrap me up and keep me

Should I weep

as you leave

Would it relieve 

this bleeding heartache

aching for your nails digging in

for the impact of your fist

the raised bruises on my arms

burning between my thighs

It was always you I begged for

I wanted the hurt you’d give me

even still I do

sometimes miss you 

miss the misconception 

that I deserved this

and that kneeling on my knees

was deliverance

I begged you to deliver me 

holy and broken 

dignity like a lemon peel

I’m worth nothing to you

and I owe you your falling flesh

without a kiss

of apology or sympathy 

No goodbyes

for the liars and sadists 

because you killed me

and I saved me