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Blue Marble Review

Literary Journal for Young Writers

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Poetry

Composing Constellations

By Morgan Almasy

You crush a firefly between fingers.

See? Still glows.

I know it does, I know.

 

I don’t look.

The clouds are suspended

around our faces.

My eyes water,

smoke induces my tears

I swear

 

I want to leave

this state of mind

 

To string necklace

from gum wrappers in your pockets,

Hold a hand while

we compose constellations

Because we never spot the real ones

 

Though I’ll never confess

I would rearrange the stars

until my fingers glow yellow

for your smile.

 

I want to know your whisper

from the wind’s,

Because still

they sound the same to me.

 

I want to know you.

But here we stand

words in my throat,

heart at my chest.

 

 

Morgan Almasy is a junior creative writing major at her high school. She has twice attended the creative writing summer camp at Interlochen Center for the Arts. Almasy has previously been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing awards and has been awarded Gold Keys, Silver Keys, and Honorable Mentions at the regional level. Almasy has previously been published in Moledro Magazine, Blue Marble Review, and Literary Orphans magazine. She hopes to pursue a double major in marketing and creative writing in college.

 

Numbers

By Patrick Erb-White

My life is full of numbers, which intrigues me a lot

I’ve been crunching these numbers, and this is what I got:

I added them together, and they all added up to you.

Either that, or I forgot to carry the 2.

 

Let’s see.

 

I’ve had at least 3 crushes, 5 at most,

I have 2 blogs, 1 of which has only 4 posts.

3 favorite PC games, between which I’ve played

over 300 hours – about 12 and ½ days.

4 years of high school, of which I’ve completed 2,

Then about 4 years of college – woohoo!

So, if I do the calculations right,

that’s about 2,390 days and nights

(rounded up in case of leap days).

 

As far as dreams go, as far as I can recall,

only 3 have to do with you in any way at all.

I can’t even remember 90% of my dreams, rounding down.

I’ve had 5 nightmares, 2 of them relating to clowns.

I write about 80% of my fiction based on dreams, well,

the dreams that are interesting, like 1 where I traveled to hell

(or the CGI equivalent).

 

7 days a week, 365 and a 1/4 days in a year, which means

there’s about 52 weeks a year, so it seems.

To convert that to seconds, if I may be so bold,

means I’m over 530 million seconds old.

Yes, I’m an old man, bet you didn’t sign up for that,

but I think 505 million is where you are at.
But we’re pretty young compared to the earth we are on,

whose life so far is, well, a number with 17 0’s, seconds long.

(really puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?)

 

299,792,458 m/s is the speed of light,

that’s the universal speed limit – yeah, right.

You, my friend, are much faster than that;

you shoot down my questions before I even ask.

My crush on you, in terms of months, only lasted 4,

and since then have passed almost 19 months more,

and over the course of those 600 days,

you think I’ve moved on, hell, you think that I’m gay.

But, if I’m to let the truth be known,

I am just as I was before I met you: alone.

 

My life is full of numbers, a heck of a lot,

I’ve crunched all these numbers, and this is what I got:

They all add up to someone, anyone besides you,

and this time, I remembered to carry the 2.

(I highly doubt I messed up, but even then,

I don’t want to go through all that again)

 

Patrick Erb-White is a poet, playwright, and amateur mathematician. He goes to Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, where he majors in Literary Arts and reports for the school newspaper.

 

Morning Song

By Laura Ingram

 

Dawn shrills from the beak of a goldfinch

pink and chapped as a kiss to the temple

dreams scaling down

from the second story window,

scampering off on all fours.

 

I wake up

sun under my tongue,

pour my pulse into a chipped coffee mug,

gulp.

 

Laura Ingram is a tiny girl with big glasses and bigger ideas. Her chapbook, ‘Junior Citizen’s Discount’ was recently released with Desert Willow Press and her novel, ‘Stand Up’ is forthcoming for release with Raven Publishing. Laura has also been published in over fifty literary journals, among them Gravel Magazine and The Cactus Heart Review. She loves Harry Potter and Harry Styles.  Her chapbook is available here: http://desertwillowpress.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=50.

Human Misconceptions

By Alexa Bunn

why is there a stairway to heaven,

and a highway to hell.

my asthma doesn’t like stairs that much,

and i can’t drive on my own.

is there anywhere for me?

 

Alexa Bunn is a high school senior in Selkirk, Manitoba, She has had two poems previously published in her high school literary magazine ‘Mercy Street’. Alexa identifies with her traditional Ojibway heritage as indigenous in Canada.

An Open Thank-You Letter to My Dog

By Elle Park

Dear Dog, I suppose I should’ve said it earlier. There was

No time when I saw myself in you more than the time we

Pulled that sled down a snow-covered peak. Flecks of white

Scattering into my peripheral vision and into your fur; ice

Slicing through the sled and breaking frost underneath our feet.

Dog, I need to ask you something—it’s been digging incessantly at

My chest since you left me. Did you love me? Because

 

I loved you. Wholeheartedly. Like a sunrise kissing the

Edge of an ocean & a waterfall cascading down to the ground.

 

Dog, that day we slid down the hill, plummeting faster than an

Apple plunges toward the ground. We were so eager, anxious and

Ready to fall down. No, please. I wasn’t ready for you to

Tumble down Fate’s red string so quick. You did it so effortlessly.

Guess it’s too late, Dog. I hope you look down from Heaven

And glance down at our measly human lives. Maybe you will find

Some value, some happiness—maybe a sanctuary—in our lost love affair.

 

 

Elle Park is a student from Southern California. Her writing has been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and Writopia Lab’s Worldwide Plays Festival. She enjoys reading a variety of books and writing, and she hopes to one day become a published novelist. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Eunoia Review and *82 Review, among others.

 

In the Pre-Dawn

By Jenna Kurtzweil

said birdsong to the night wind,

gather me up in your arms

and carry my colors on your daily sojourn

from the mountains on down to the gullies and fields,

and set me loose in summer grasses.

 

and the old wind replied,

it would be an honor.

 

 

Jenna Kurtzweil is twenty one years old and hails from Palatine, IL. Along with her responsibilities as a student at the University of Illinois, Jenna is always looking for new opportunities to experience life through travel, literature, music, and all forms of storytelling. Jenna has also been published in The Noisy Island, and Forest for the Trees.

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