Crumpled Santas on the lawn the night is o’er, their glory gone. Their magic wanes with eager dawn Valiant penguins watch the door Snowmen guardians as of yore Mammoth ersatz beasts galore Plastic lifeless forms they lay Waiting for some midnight sleigh Deflated figures of the day Will Christmas come, or be delayed? Inert…
Category: Poetry
Eye in the Sky by Zoey Bankston
This poem is an ekphrasis on this image of the Southern Ring Nebula taken by the James Webb Space Telescope: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2022/033/01G70BGTSYBHS69T7K3N3ASSEB Rusty eye sailing on Argo’s Vela, peering down upon Earth from the heavens, watching Romans trade silk and spice across continents. The web finally peers back. The sky iris has deformed through time. The…
Light by Makaelynn DuVall
I lost all we had found in the darkness, and I wanted it back. I lost my orgasm on your shoulder blades. It cut so deep when you pushed your colder shoulder into the iris of my palm and thigh. I pushed back, and when you weren’t there, I cried every night. New boys came…
Finches by Marian Hesse
Trapped in a body I cannot flee My mind yearning to be free The teeth of age ingest the fragments of my mind The loss I cannot feel The joys that pass me by Magic spirals in the air Hummingbird flight paths on a dare Mourning doves “I love you, I love you” And dilute…
Song of the Force by Phillip Lara
A fallen star, a rising storm; a million Stories told in the sky. Living things bound to rock and water. Unaware of what the stratosphere has to say. It speaks in whispers, it is the waves on the beach that sweeps The sand to the sea. It is the breeze in the trees that forces…
Last-Year-Old Me by Jacqueline Del Ciotto
My generation was raised on the tail end of what I call, “The Last Years,” “The Last Years” when I was handed a phone when I was thirteen and clicked away the last days of my childhood, When my grandparents gave up on trying to figure out how to take a screenshot and I became…
A Photograph in the Junk Drawer by Kris Mascarenas
I see my past in sepia tones, taupe eyes reflect clamshell skies and drowsy clouds shadow my wayward worries and woes of mothers and dandelions and copper-colored surly curls tangled in threads of my sweater on shoulders drooping like sunflowers in October #notmuchhaschanged Biography: When I was in 4th grade, my godmother gifted me a…
Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá by Martin Rios Banuelos
It was a Sunday afternoon, and my parents were determined. They packed their belongings and got my siblings ready Today was the day, their lives would change forever, knock, knock, knock The Coyote [1] was here “Is everyone ready”? Along the way they were encountered by The Cartel. “WE DEMAND ALL YOUR POSSESIONS” … “What…
Pennies in the muddy creek by Daniel Lerner
Oh brother, You’re a boy with his own funeral song to sing While young, given a gift of grief Broken morals and disbelief, Reckon you’re unable to control the evil within, Filling your heart with songs of hate. Deprived and left in misery while songbirds mourn your pain Believing God has forgotten your name One…
Death by Araya Korgan
There is a creature that lurks around, It stabs people with the pains of knifes. The creature will show up unexpectedly, Leaving people with feelings of disparity. Families will beg and plead, But they will not succeed. It can appear in many ways, It swallows people like a black hole. The creature holds no sympathy,…
Show Me A Man by Leonel Evans Robles
Dedicated to those that grew up fatherless, had to make premature adult decisions, and were forced by circumstance to grow up too quickly. Show me a man, one whose aim is to be worthy. A man that in spite of his soreness and hurting Rises out of his bed early. A man who arrives to…
Summer by Audrey VanDriel
Summer rain plunges, Earth’s quaint figure swells slowly, Drinking it’s last drop. Biography: I came to Aims in the summer of 2022 to fulfill part of my credits for my Associate in Arts. I am graduating this spring from Front Range Community College and then transferring to Colorado State University for a bachelor’s degree in…
Boy hearts by Isabella Lopez
The boy eats Hearts, He’ll take it in and make you crumble into dust. Don’t be surprised if he spits you out. He likes throwing his tongue in the lines on your cheeks, blood as a neighbor he sees so often he smiles.
Drugs by Isabella Lopez
My parents warned me about drugs but never about the ones with messy hair and a contagious smile. They warned me about addictions but never about how you’ll crave them every day. They warned me to stay away from harm but never against those who could hurt me the most. They warned me not to…
Shaking-A Sestina by Jessica J Jacobucci
I sit down and quiver in fear It’s too hard, I can’t handle this I begin to sob, my leg shakes My clothes are now scratching on my flesh All I can feel is the cold I just need to remember to breathe in Panic quickly sets in My heartbeat quickens in fear The hair…
Oregon Bound by Ryan Ellerman
Against the wind, I struggle. Against myself, I fight the urge. Against nature, I tramp across the plain. Against time itself, I am lost. Against the prairie wind, I am nothing. Against the west, I am a lost girl with a wagon train. Gold is where we are traveling. Gold is the dream ahead. Gold…
Spirit Ex Machina by Patrick Thompson
Everyone says to keep yourself organic Keep all your parts together That replacing it all takes you away Removing more than just the base What makes you human What gives you the soul to live It should feel no different For each part remains the same The wires and circuitry span the muscles and skin…
Visiting by Princess Nasya Yahudah-Dobbs
I just want to be in your arms Have them wrapped around me like a warm, tight blanket With my little feet on top of your huge ones As we waddle like one big penguin And you have me wrapped in your big coat 5 Like a safety net so the harsh…
Autumn Mourning by Phillip Lara
I wanted to gather the remnants of courage to emit a heart of purest form to you. Though I know I was not worth it; I found that neither were the tears that fell for you. So many times I wanted to reveal my truest intentions. So many times I was left with false hope….
The Mountain by Madeline Wiseman
Dark. A cold dark morning. Morning filled with excitement and expectations Excitement for the challenge ahead Ahead, The Mountain. Blocking out the sunrise. Blocking the way to the summit. Way. A dark rocky path with countless turns and twists. Turns that lead surprising directions with new paths. Twists with holes and rocks that distract. Rocks…
Compañera Celeste by Adamar Vazquez
Aullidos sonoros suenan por doquier Y el lobo solitario busca a quien querer “¿Por qué tan solitario?” Le pregunta la Luna; un pensamiento milenario Su cobijo plateado provee compañía Y el lobo, solitario deja de ser hasta la llegada del día Por favor no me abandones Mi compañera celeste Tu resplandor alegra a mi corazón…
Waiting Room by Emily Young
Take a deep breath into my lungs Holding onto the air’s chill with selfish intent, Reluctant to let it go Breathe out anyways. Watch the trees sway Realize in this moment they only exist for your perception Understand they may have been meant for someone else’s. People will come and leave. Sometimes the leaving is…
1*7*20 by Ixel Macias
I wished you would have stayed. I wished you and I would have lived happily ever after. I wished this nightmare would have ended and we’d be at Dairy Queen once again. But this isn’t the movie Aladdin, and unlike him, I don’t have three wishes. My heart was 1,720 miles away in your Army…
Brain Dead by Talon Fusco
Anxiety rises as class grows near He’s trying to write but his head is clear Twice a hundred words too many, oh dear Starting earlier would probably have helped Xbox and friends placed the project on the shelf Waiting was foolish Now this project seems ghoulish What else can one do but sit down and…
Lost by Gretchen McLaughlin
Don’t hold it too tight, else you set it free That precious piece of peace. It has gone too far, and a hopeless venture cannot guarantee. To what extent, you will never know the degree You protect the claws of the beast. Don’t hold it too tight, else you set it free. Something cries in…
Mary by Mariah Crawford
I thought the church lived in the buildings the ones with vaulted, ornate rooms filled with women in their best dress and men in their starched suits judging the faded blue of my denim I thought the church lived in the book the one I bought secondhand lugged around every Wednesday and Sunday the book…
Labor of Lumber by Grant Gruber
Rest assured of certain rain Of troubles you will surely gain That grow and sprout on errant trunk Fed well on woe they’ve gladly drunk A forest filled with saddening trees No other way no labors ease Strength is borne of constant toil To weed and clear your patch of soil This trail so long…
Shrine by Warren Walz
I hate to see My Mother cry It hurts my little Pink insides I’d rather be kicked In the head Than see another Tear shed Down that face It looks like mine I would prefer a knife In my spine To shed her tears And drink them up She stares me down And fills her…
Remembered Potential by Eliza Bratt
Melancholy Sickle cuts of bitter harvest Honey and salt-blood Dry your eyes, Oh indifferent one Wanton Unrest Lift you from an effervescence Beautiful child Futility is a fever of the mind And lugubrious the fates of the infected Touched with Melancholy
Twilight In The Wilderness by Dan Jennings
Sunlight blazes, distant in the horizon Like a waning love not yet forgotten. It paints fire in twilight colors across an unbound sky. Colors which fall and gather in the river below, Trapped there as the water flows. Pillared trees and somber mountains Rise to hold the sky aloft, the roof of a grand cathedral….
Still At sea by Eliza Bratt
Floating on a sea of empty feeling Broken words, Falsified promises, It’s hard to hold this An arabesque of confidence And keep aboard my boat of utter apathy This quantum entanglement is of dread and destiny As idiosyncrasy plagues and weighs upon my soul I stare, the world a moving set of contradictions Ephemerality is…
Acrobat by Taliana Schmidt
He swings High. So high. His suit is tight, But he does not mind. The freedom of swinging, It undermines That uncomfortable uniform That he wears all the time. Biography: I’ve always been drawn to the arts. I find that creating art is a good outlet and way to connect with other people. Art can bring…