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    • Staff 2021 -22
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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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Stairs to the Sea
​By: Madeline Nugent

Picture
I stood there on the stairs leading to the sea
led by innocent feet to this edge of the ocean.
There stood I, staring at the waves who stared back at me--
 
What was held beneath the tides? Peering into waters lonely
seeing apparition memories of those long sunken.
I stood there on the stairs leading to the sea…
 
Night shrouded rocky shores and distraught souls left weary,
listening to the silent calling of that steadfast siren 
There stood I, staring at the waves who stared back at me--
 
Chains of water that would bind myself to thee
To whom belonged those bones swaddled by bed of ocean?
I stood there on the stairs leading to the sea…
 
Whispers reached my ears as they had girls once promised to free
How arms that reached to envelope would feel so lovely!
There stood I, staring at the waves who stared back at me--
 
Those silent waves coaxed me to the depths’ expectancy.
I took a step with one hesitating motion…
I stood there on the stairs leading to the sea…
There stood I, staring at the waves who stared back at me--
 
Writer's Statement: Stairs to the Sea was inspired by a book I read long ago and my personal experiencing of the intense emotions one feels when encountering stairs that lead to nowhere and the emotions of the transition into womanhood and the fear, dread, and temptation it brings.
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