Words from Semester XXV

Anna Perling

Poppers

By Anna Perling, Semester XXV

The impatiens flower
Lives through fall,
Fighting chill and dodging bombs
Hurled down from her long lost friend
The oak, who has grown so tall
He has no sympathy
For her anymore. But I do,
Taking the time to search among
The tangle: blossoms, leaves, and vines,
To coax babies from their green shelled wombs,
Shedding seeds and spreading life.

Anne Dugger

Distance

By Anne W. Dugger, Semester XXV

The noise of the highway is distant
almost indistinguishable from the forest around me.
The left over rain built up on the leaves of the rooftop
drips down upon my legs.
The thin little tree I’ve been observing
still doesn’t seem to have any life.
Its branches, stripped from their leaves,
pointed out toward the foggy sky.
I never wanted to leave that spot
from beneath the trees.
But there comes a time
when everything has to end.
And so I avert my eyes from the little tree
and begin my descent from the forest.