Redlands Review

The submission deadline is only two days away and I finally decided to submit two pieces this year to the Redlands Review. It is a literary magazine made up of students work and is published in early May. It's mostly for upper class, weird.. I guess that means me now. But anyways, here they are. It's a long shot, but I thought it would be fun. They're not too long, don't worry! :)

Hope in Dirt Floors

She studied the street to understand

Against the barbaric backdrop

That keeps its people kept,

The secrets that weigh above

The trees’ sway,

Native eyes searching

A quilt of patches

Brilliant around the edges.

She stood apart and

Needed to. The blanket was unraveling

And promise of better or

Heat would help that wound.

Mosquitoes and dirt floors,

Prayerful knees, soreness

That creeps up her back

Where she carries her babies.

Not standing around, no. No

Vision she, nor hope in dirt floors,

Nor brilliance around the edges.

Landscape, Skewed

With and from you

The raw air

Darkly in love

A perfect word

Female deities

Climb ivy to the sky

To evade compromise

Lights streak

The mist clatters

Through elegance

Warm white pictures

Make memories a valley

After cocktails, petals

Bend to their shadows.

All things seek the center

Of discourse

This mirror mine

A week’s chill

Embraces the touch

Of the phenomenal world.