I had stayed late at school, long after the last bus left, for some club or tutoring I had felt obligated to partake in just to claim involvement with something other than my own misery. I found myself walking home in solitude. Following the curve of a street lacking…[Read more]

“Stranded,” my grandmother said as she looked up from the Toyota Camry’s hood that had seen more damage than any car probably should and it had finally died sitting outside the community temple. She looked around the empty parking lot, inhaled the spring air, and finally crouc…[Read more]

https://soundcloud.com/user-939639650-85313951/listentosaltyyellowhere

I had just come back from tramping in the woods. I came into the musty smelling, wood floor slanting kitchen where my mother awaited. I had been gone all afternoon. I was too young to do that. The Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup that my brother and I had begged my mom to b…[Read more]

You are dying.

Your branches wilted,
no longer extend for help.
They twist downward.
You droop, hopeless and
Alone.

Your leaves have fallen.
No one protects
You.
I hug you to give you warmth,
but the wind goes
Through you,
Still.

You’re no longer apart o…[Read more]

Wind-whipped splotches
of red all along her jaw.
Tears dripped over her chin,
down to her collarbones.
 

His eyelids were heavy;
a boxer’s wrists after a match;
slumped with defeat;
exhausted.
 

He closed his eyes,
shook his head,
brought his hands up to
 

Stop. F…[Read more]

Car makers have created a “crumple zone” on modern vehicles that absorbs the impact of an accident. Typically, the crumple zone is located in the front of the car and acts to minimize the dangers of being in a collision.

“If the car wasn’t already so full I’d invite yo…[Read more]

I see white
Black.

Fingers graze keys as the
pressure put on each goes
down.

Pressure.
I hear in my head,

“Do it again.”
My shoulders slump
and again I play

Red welts form
hands shaking

Repetition.
A living metronome
human error ceases.

Eyes clo…[Read more]

Branches stroked the window, their silhouettes waving against a moonlit backdrop. The faint smell of well water floated through the halls and into the bedroom. The house was still. No pets roamed, no floorboards creaked beneath pairs of feet. It had long since settled into itself…[Read more]

ouroboros

and it is warm for January
birds swing and fall in the sky
like dancing stars.
the sun sits low on a cloud
washing the land in warmth and light,
shattered by the naked branches  
of an oak tree

beside me lay a serpent of stone
encircling the old Homestead.
its tail is…[Read more]

Slivers of invasive white light beam through the bedroom window exposing small triangular parts of mismatched furniture. In the dark shadows, my mother and I lay cuddled up under a patched quilt that spreads out like the night sky, blanketing us with dark shades of blue speckled…[Read more]

I am fifteen years old, trapped at a football game when my two best friends approach me. I knew they were up to something as soon as I felt Ellie’s impish smile tingle my skin. I start to squirm.

“Hey, Madi,” Ellie taunts a few yards away, “wanna get out of here?”…[Read more]

Barren trees, pines, and a blanket of snow surrounded me.  Underneath my feet, the dark ice of a small pond.  The chill of the air pierced through my snow clothes. Laughter bounced off of the trees that bordered our hide a way, tucked a short distance my aunt’s hou…

[Read more]

I sit on this bench reminiscing and feel a sense of darkness creeping up on me. My thighs quiver, I go to move but feel paralyzed, chained to this bench as if it is begging for me to stay, begging for some company. I know that feeling all to well.

People start to stare, or at…[Read more]

Split open over
double yellow lines
of the black
street
a speckled pumpkin
skitters
away from my boot.

Now cracked apart at the
seams
Chunks of tiffany blue and
orange lay strewn across the […]

I feel like a metronome. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…the time signature rattles through my head. My left foot is tapping on the hi-hat pedal making a metallic click as the pressure sensor underneath the black rubber pad is pushed down. After two full counts the band all starts pl…[Read more]

Beverage splatters
d r i p d r i p

Cheeks turn rosy
r e d

Absorption does not
o c c u r

A glimpse at
t i m e

The dreadful hill
a w a i t s

My hike to
c l a s s

Slowly sleek into my red seat
l i s t e n i n g

For my next assignment.

Neha Marolia was born in Queens, New York and now…[Read more]

A numbness tickles the back of my neck and I pull my jacket tighter around my shoulders.  A glint from the setting sun catches in the shattered glass of the white house and the feeling of being watched sets itself with a tight grip on my chest.  It’s like a wei…[Read more]

Pine needles travel over water like paw over dirt
the brook trout twist and turn, strong
streamlined, colorful- they smell of moss in my hands.
Tramping through wildflowers, mushrooms
crunching leaves […]

When my history teacher passed back the report that I’d poured my heart into with what felt like a huge “F” on the front, I thought I was going to throw up and pass out right there. I waited until after class […]

He sits
On a throne of broken wood
Paired and stacked in ordered planks
Engulfed within a scent of coffee
And faint lights

He is the watchman with four legs,
Whose brown skin shows no stain,
nor any wrinkles.

He will see hundreds of youths stagger today
And hear…[Read more]