Marisa Thoman - University of Cincinnati

It starts like this: I finally crawl out of bed at 2pm.

Savannah Stutevoss - University of the Incarnate Word

We’d sit in the sonic parking lot almost every night

In the space three spots down from the entrance

Anna Scott - Johns Hopkins University

It works, it says. Call 1-800-THE-LOST.

The Missing and Exploited Children board

hangs at a crooked angle

Isabella Sager - Shepherd University

I’m just a modern man. Riding the rocket

that crashes headfirst

into your concaved chest.

Aarya Reddy - Arizona State University

A while ago, you charged my friend a total of 50 dollars

Tyler Lemley - University of the Incarnate Word

The moon sits in her bay window,

a framed photograph of her wedding

Sophie Krug - University of Missouri, Kansas City

my nougat heart never stood a chance against your white teeth,

toothpaste cheeks, dental degree.

Isabella Hutchinson - Ohio Northern University

When the sun is a shipwreck in the sky,

and I’m alone again,

I speak to you.

Camille Hoover - Eckerd College

You don’t make your biscuits anymore.

The honeyed taste of being a chubby

child was because of you.

Arial Hart - Duke University

Blood leaves my arm with a slow pulse.

It's thicker, darker than one would expect

Isabella Girard - University of Mississippi

In my mother’s kitchen

there are rules,

ones she never had to speak.

Pilar García - University of the Incarnate Word

My mom bows her head beside me

and whispers her prayer with the strangers around us

America Fontenot - University of Missouri, Kansas City

The seasons in the ghetto are as follows;

Winter is coming,

Let’s get the worst out of the way.

Sarah Emanuels - University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Using a pair of kitchen scissors, she cut herself

a valencia orange, one closest to the top.

Cynthia Chen - New York University

When you forget about the cracked bones of the umbrella splitting into half

You forget that fragility desires to be preserved

Sky Brubaker - College of Charleston

Select each image containing a stoplight. A crosswalk. A bridge. Your childhood bedroom. Select each image containing your ex.

David Baik - John Hopkins University

A blood red paste of garlic,

Pickled shrimp, fish sauce

Aly McConnell - Mount Mercy University

Native to this land, they were here first

Children taken, reeducated to fit the mold of their oppressor

Yalda Al-Ani - William and Mary University

three severed fingers with a salty bitter dip

one drilled eyeball covered with terror