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  • Staff
    • Staff 2021 -22
    • Staff 2020
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  • Issues
    • A Fire of Words
    • Editor's Note 2022 >
      • The Floor Wallows Lower
      • Cornflowers
      • Erudite
      • That One Morning
      • mom, im afraid
      • selenophilia
      • Roses and Rainbows
      • If a poisonous snake bites itself, will it die?
      • Rochester
      • Crown of Branches
      • Stairs to the Sea
      • A Poem Written Entirely From Advertisements
      • Pyromania
      • silhouette of a bird against winter stars
      • thunderstorm in the bedroom
      • A Night in Recovery
      • sleeping gypsie
      • paper dolls&goodbyes
      • We Are Women
      • Village Air
      • Sunshine's Laughter
      • the male gaze
      • The Forensic Entomologist
      • Lacking
      • Drowning
      • Adelie
    • Create the Wonders We Dream (2021)
    • Editor's Note >
      • Zove
      • I'm Sorry
      • Fake Smile
      • My Friend the Balloon
      • Eyes Intertwined
      • Perfect
      • Only a Moment
      • A Dangerous Word
      • My Dreams
      • The Last 100 Meters
      • The Green Void (Villanelle)
      • The Whimsical Galaxy (Sestina)
      • The Silent Kindness
      • Pressure
      • Table on the Hill
      • The Yukon
      • The Shore
      • Repentance
      • Her and I
      • Infections of the Soul
      • Threads
      • Dream of a High Schooler
      • Empty
      • little flame
      • scars
      • black and white
      • The Cat
      • Joy
      • Sweet Honey Bee Stings
      • If There Were One Day
      • Delete
      • Our Hearts to Central Vietnam
      • him or Him?
      • Ocean
      • Es Llaner Beach
      • Sewn Together
      • Rain
      • Yes, I Like
      • The Legacy of the Moon
      • The Wind Whimpers
      • From Here I See
      • To Feel Clean
      • Red
      • Survival
      • Substance
      • Golden Lies
      • Midnight Tango
      • Ode to a Spleen
      • Modern Siren
      • The Night's Diamond Tears
      • Beats In Double Time
      • A Day in the Flight
      • Carved By Venus
      • Lifeline
      • Everest
      • Education
      • How Much of Reality Can Be Observed
      • What is a Spork
      • What is the difference between love and in love
      • What would you have wanted? me to say
      • Planet Caravan
      • The Journey of a Minute
      • The Circus of Scars
      • Mosaic
      • Color
      • Love and Acceptance
    • Colors I Never Knew Existed (2020)
    • Her Voice Remains (2017)
    • Watch Every Second (2018)
    • Words Become Reality (2019)
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Everest
By: Constantina Pappas

I’ve climbed the mountain of life
So far, only fifteen years.
I’ve grown, in age and inches
My body shifting at the gears.
 
The older I grow, the more I know
That the slope just gets steeper.
But when I was a child, all young and wild,
I found this to be a keeper.
 
A little red husky shrunken down
No bigger than a rock
I kept her tight inside my palm
Because she couldn’t physically talk.
 
I gave her my very own voice
As I had no other of my kind.
I desperately needed someone to talk to
To help mend my twisted mind.
 
She helped me continue the climb
Up to the next level.
My teenage years were now approaching
And I had heard those were the Devil.
 
I’m now fifteen, a sophomore in high school
And I don’t clutch her in my palm no more.
Instead, I’ve lost my sense of direction
But thankfully, I haven’t shut her door.
 
I peeked my head around this corner
And got back bits of my cleverness.
Letting her plastic shine, I held her above
My heart swelling with tenderness.
I screamed, I cried, I looked up and I smiled.
​
“Ah! Up there! I can see the Everest!” 

Picture
Writer's Statement: Every piece of work I create has some elements of my personal life experiences embedded in them. I hope readers feel a connection with my pieces, while also appreciating the craft and love that was put into each one.
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