Maleah Olivarez - University of the Incarnate Word

History of houses that can’t be torn down

I imagine that they were in the time-

of men who created art and not a “tinder” handle

Zachary Corona - University of the Incarnate Word

When I get on that stage and feel your engagement, 

I write the future chapters of my life book. 

Your claps and cheers are very dear to me, which steers me toward my path of Theater. 

Jett Montes - University of the Incarnate Word

Under star-scattered night sky,

The ocean hits the long shore of La Jolla,

A place where the boundaries between

The material and spiritual waver.

Caitlin Callahan - Point Loma Nazarene University

I cry too much

because the clouds where I live refuse to cry for me—

at least, they don’t cry often enough.

Adeleine Mireles - Young Women’s Leadership Academy

I imagine you sat.

You are filled with strangers then emptied again.

And in return for your warmth they filled you with bottles.

Star Zuniga - University of the Incarnate Word

They don’t tell you how easy it is to destroy a life,

to make someone’s nerves pulsate or cause a

shiver sliver down their spine.

Alexandria Hernandez - University of the Incarnate Word

If I could save her,

I’d give her another chance

and tell her that the stars are her friends

and that she’d never be alone again.

Zachary Corona - University of the Incarnate Word

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

Gotta get to it.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

Saturday calls for my inscription.

I better get to work before trouble lurks,

and I go berserk.

Juan Rivera - University of the Incarnate Word

Deshojada la flor en la orilla de Necoclí

Es una flor en cada pétalo

Y cada uno es un recuerdo

Una caricia, un suceso

Laisha Cervantes - University of the Incarnate Word

And I do not mean the leg warmers,

or fuzzy headbands and colorful leotards.

Mercedes Rodriguez - University of the Incarnate Word

It’s tough being a girl, having to be pretty

and still and constantly cautious of where we are in a big city,

but God forbid we’re too much, too witty

in our conversations with a man that it makes him feel pity

for himself.

Luke Stout - University of the Incarnate Word

Momma made a monster,

It had olives for eyes,

Pepperoni for teeth.

It’s boiling blood oozed,

on your Thriller outfit.

Caitlin Callahan - Point Loma Nazarene University

You say you want to slay serpents like a boss so what are you doing sitting on your rear, legs crossed, sipping on your Stanley, sighing as you stare at the broken glass, shards and blood—you’re spitting on Earth’s surface like a spoiled daughter, heart not scorching, heart not charged.

Mercedes Rodriguez - University of the Incarnate Word

Sadness is just a landslide with tears streaming down that can’t quite read a room waiting for the tissue to soak up the salt before the wax seal breaks and the sea spreads and the salt burns the fresh cut

Giovanna Cordova - University of the Incarnate Word

In the hum of fluorescent lights,

Amidst the aisles of stacked goods,

I saw you, unexpected,

A ghost from the past, resurfaced.

Makayla Vallejo - University of the Incarnate Word

I hit my funny bone,

but it wasn’t funny.

It sent ripples of pain through my body,

but didn’t feel like any normal pain.

Laisha Cervantes - University of the Incarnate Word

The end is nigh. My salvation was behind motion detecting

sliding doors, souls traversing through without a care.

Knuckles turned white, losing reality’s grip on the red bar

of the shopping cart.

Savannah Chasteen - Charleston Southern University

I welcomed You.

I provided You with

shelter,

food,

safety.

Star Zuniga - University of the Incarnate Word

Shuffling through the bushes, fumbling through the long thick branches of oak, with roots

deep in the depths of the ancient soil.

You’re lost deep in the body of the woods.

Destiny Moreno - University of the Incarnate Word

Today, I was okay, I smiled at your pictures and spoke to the air as if you were here. Shortly after, I got a knock on my door; it was my dear friend grief. It jumps down my throat, forcing its way down, and when I try to spit it up, all that comes out is, “Cancer took you away, and I’m sad,” and back down goes grief.