after katy richey’s “therapy”

kaja rae lucas

write a letter to your father.
don’t send it. just stare at it until it
becomes you and you become it.
take your medication like your lover
took your soul out of the paper cranes you folded
for her (about her / with her).
if you were paying attention to the news;
stop.
if you were eating donuts sparingly
eat them more regularly.
prepare for hibernation.
prepare to die.
prepare for electroshock with
little nodes on your skull where the electricity goes
when you come home, pray it doesn’t snow
don’t tell your therapist he already knows
a moment is a moment even when it’s not about you though;
he tells you “you think about yourself too much”
you tell him, “who else thinks of me?”
and that’s the disorder,
you don’t think anyone
is thinking of you
not even your lover.
and some days she does. most days she doesn’t.
prepare to lie to your therapist
he doesn’t know you
he only gives a damn about you in the tongue
of pity
please reward yourself with a drink
(not an overdose)
reward because you have learned the thing
that matters most; you are only as human
as you let yourself imagine you are.
because otherwise, you’re just a devil with no
imagination. this way, you’re at least creative.
learn how to write a novel.
learn how to write a eulogy.
one for yourself / one for the ancestors.
learn how to ache without body.
learn the message of soul.
learn to feel human.
therapist tells you; “you know you never
think of yourself as human.”
and you laugh, because you’re more psychotic
than person. psychiatrist tells you “that’s not
a state of being, it’s an illness” you tell him
try it for yourself and tell me how you feel.
that letter; actually write it.
one for yourself and one for your father
in which you imagine them both as your abuser
(which is a lie in both cases.)
send it with your suicide note
notice it will probably take seven days for it to
make it to your family
scrap it. scrap the letter. scrap the therapist.
you’re hurting but not enough to talk about it.

My Two Worlds

By: Elisabeth Paulk

I jump into the car with my mom
Start going on and on about my day
Till I hit something that twists my heart
Something that doesn’t fade away
She understands what I am going through
So she tells me everything will be okay

I enter the car with my dad
I don’t talk about things that made us feel down
We might talk about things that make us mad
But that’s it
Usually we talk about history
Or maybe politics
We talk about things that interest us
These things might seem boring to you
But to me these conversations are worth the fuss

These are the two worlds I live in
They both frighten and excite me
And that’s okay
Because both of these people help me see
The world differently

Soulmates

By: Angel E. Young

What is a soulmate?

 It’s that one person that you’ll always care about no matter what people say. You don’t have to be around them to feel the connection, and just a glance can make you feel like you’ve been to the moon and back. When you find your soulmate, you have the strange urge to commit to them even if the relationship isn’t “confirmed”. The love you have for them is unconditional. And you find yourself consistently praying for their safety and happiness. That my friend is a soulmate.

Meeting my soulmate will always be the greatest memory gifted to me. With soft curly hair, a quiet smile, warm brown eyes and an artistic hand I couldn’t help but feel instantly drawn to him. Walking by myself through the hallways I would always find myself meeting his warm gaze, even in the most uncanny situations. After a while, I began to feel a slight pull on my heart strings every time our gazes met. I called it the “soul-bond pull”. The reason for this was also due to the fact that even though I wasn’t near him half of the time, I could still feel the warmth of his presence coursing through my veins. Being as nervous and shy as I was, it was a surprise when I finally mustered up the courage to speak to him. (This took many long weeks- months even) With fumbling words and rushed phrases I introduced myself to him before quickly hurrying away. For the rest of the year we’d share seemingly longing glances with each other. The burning inferno of unsaid words rising within the spaces between us. But we never said anything, the fear of what the other might say, holding us back. Sitting here today I continue to wait, keeping myself pure and loyal until the day fate decides to bring us back together again.

 

A Mind’s Eye

Stevenson University Creative writing camp is a 1-2 week session that allows you to delve into your imagination/memory and put it on paper. Every day we learn new material and get to dig deep into our creative senses. Each morning starts a full day that includes writing, activities, games, and snacks. We help each other develop our writing through encouragement and workshops. This camp allows us to explore and open our minds to the many themes of fictional writing.

We have explored many types of writing in our classes, such as fiction, poetry, and memoirs. We were under the instruction of Nate Brown, Krystle Carter, Dare Turner, Anthony Moll, Sarah Shellow, Lady Brion, and Amanda Licastro. The course “Monsters are People, Too” taught us about a variety of creatures seen in folklore around the world and helped us incorporate it into our writing.  In “Writing Mysteries” we have learned how to construct mysteries through character-driven stories.  “Writing from Life” starts each class with a yoga session, followed by writing exercises, readings from non-fiction, and practicing writing techniques.  We are instructed on how to compose drafts for different genres of writing in our multimedia class, and we took part in workshops on ekphrasis in “Responding to Art with Poetry.”

We are given motive, means, and opportunity to write and experiment different styles by attending these classes. In just a week or two, we have taken inspiring workshops and explored our creativity. We observed the world around us and immortalized our perceptions and sensations through the stories we crafted.