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Blue Marble Review

Literary Journal for Young Writers

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December 2022

Life and Death Within Words

By Moa Maeda

The soft lily lay on my hand, the pink petals powdery with pollen. The end of the stem, brutally cut off, dripped tears of sap, its smell mingling with the sickly sweet perfume my grandmother wore for that day. My grandfather lay stiffly in his coffin, yet wore an odd smile while my relatives smothered him in flowers and tears, and I stood by awkwardly holding the flower to my chest.

If anyone had asked me what I feared most, I would most likely have replied “death.” As disturbing as it was, though, death stirred a subconscious interest, led by morbid fascination, in the back of my young mind. Ignorance only fed the flame; I allowed my imagination to roam to keep fear at bay.

I imagined an unknown world of silence and darkness, of constant suffering, or complete numbness in the senses.

I was 10 when I first came across the words that suggested otherwise. John Green walked into my life through The Fault in Our Stars, and since then, I had been ravenously eating up his works. I had gotten to Looking For Alaska when Miles, the main character, introduced me to the last words of Thomas Edison: “It’s beautiful over there.” Those vaguely suggestive and foggy words drew me in.

Where is there? The train of questions that followed intrigued me and triggered my new hobby of collecting famous last words.

Collecting last words became a way of connecting with a mysterious world. “The Other Side,” as I thought of it, allowed room for open debate and so many different perspectives.

I began to spend as much of my time with the words of the dead as with the living ones. Before I realized it, I’d developed a better understanding of both life and death.

Though I cannot say that I have let go of my fear towards death entirely, I have begun to see that if reality dissipates into nothingness, it’s inevitable and so I might as well accept it with calmness. Accepting, I realized, can bring a sense of peace as though all burden of fighting back were lifted off my shoulders.

When they closed the lid on him and his flower, I did not cry because I believed that wherever my grandfather had disappeared to was a better place—one filled with unworldly beauty. As Bach last said, “Do not cry, for I go where music is born.” I remember very clearly that my grandfather always had quite an obsession with beautiful music. Standing over him, for a second, I saw him on the “Other Side,” and he was beautiful.

 

 

Moa Maeda is a Japanese ninth-grader who enjoys writing poems, learning about other cultures through food and music, and collecting famous people’s last words.

The Girl

By Maggie Yang

The Girl

 

Maggie Yang is a poet and artist from Vancouver, Canada. She is a Foyle Young Poet of the Year, and her work has been recognized by the Scholastics Art and Writing Awards, The League of Canadian Poets, The Poetry Society of Virginia, and Poetry in Voice. Her work appears or is forthcoming in The Adroit Journal, Polyphony Lit, F(r)iction Lit, among others. An interdisciplinary artist, she is particularly intrigued by the intersections of the written word with the visual and performing arts.

Editor Note

By Molly Hill

December 2022
Issue 28

-For My Children-
What does the world require of you?
Nothing.
So find in yourself what you require
and go.
—Kate Baer

Dear Readers and Writers:
We’ve written our way to Issue 28 and proudly present(!) writing and art perfectly suited for snow days and waiting-for-the solstice nights. This year we’ve published three (Jan, July Nov) lite, online poetry supplements and wrap up 2022 with our last FULL issue. It goes without saying that we recommend it ALL.

When you finish the poems, stories, essays, and art— here are some other suggestions for waiting out these short days and long nights:

 

  1. Kate Baer’s new book of poetry And Yet. See above poem, but go ahead and purchase/read/peruse anything else she’s written.
  2. courtneymaum.com/subscribe— a newsletter of publishing tips for those that aspire…
  3. Smartwool
  4. @talkwithzach on Instagram. Mental health/youth focused, spot on.
  5. Rhodia notebooks
  6. Hot Cocoa almonds from Trader Joe’s
  7. The Tattoo Edition of Sleet Magazine: sleetmagazine.com
  8. Lovely art on Insta: @lydia.jung.h
  9. Litmags!——> lumierereview.com and icelollyreview.com
  10. newpages.com/young-writers-guide/

Let us know your recs, and don’t despair. More LIGHT on the way.

Molly Hill
Editor

Hanging in the Balance

By Maggie Yang

Self-Reflection

 

Maggie Yang is a poet and artist from Vancouver, Canada. She is a Foyle Young Poet of the Year, and her work has been recognized by the Scholastics Art and Writing Awards, The League of Canadian Poets, The Poetry Society of Virginia, and Poetry in Voice. Her work appears or is forthcoming in The Adroit Journal, Polyphony Lit, F(r)iction Lit, among others. An interdisciplinary artist, she is particularly intrigued by the intersections of the written word with the visual and performing arts.

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