The Winter 2015 issue of Canvas Literary Journal will publish three poems by Alicja Madloch ’15, “my vantage point,” “Consider This a Tribute Poem,” and “there happen to be things i’ve observed” and a poem by Mollie Wohlforth ’15, “Snow Day, Revisited.” Congratulations, poets!
To read the winning poems, click “continue reading” below:
“Snow Day, Revisited” by Mollie Wohlforth
Condolence cards
found their way
into mailboxes.
You
found your way
below the frozen dirt.
You sent me
a postcard from
California
last summer.
Now the snow
makes all the
world a ghost.
The mail was delivered.
Your closet light was off,
for once. There
was no glow behind the curtains.
I debated what to
wear to a teenager’s
funeral.
“Consider This a Tribute Poem” by Alicja Madloch
Some things are worth commemorating individually-
like people holding hands even when it’s hot
and trains with interesting neighbors at your left hand
and Burt’s bees chapstick after kissing strangers.
[There’s nothing worse than chapped lips in beautiful cities.]
If I had a say, I would commemorate your clothes,
slightly see-through in the right light
and cobblestones
and rings that don’t fall off when I’m holding your hand.
If life went by like an operetta
I’d find some deeper meaning
and motivation to be more graceful
but it’s all more like chaos and two-day carnivals
[…with wonders and pessimists alike.]
“my vantage point” by Alicja Madloch
i’m pretty bad at forgetting things
like deleting last night’s inspirations off my nightstand.
i can’t hold on to good-byes or hold out for good love.
i try to make friends with silence
and kiss like i can live up to my stories.
i play make-believe and fool myself into thinking
all eyes give way as i walk past.
sometimes i try extra hard to impressive and
sometimes i’m invisible and sit conspicuously slotted
between bodies.
i like to think i’m okay at holding hands and
not stepping on cracks.
i try to take pride in my weaknesses
because they seem okay,
if you just pretend that it’s all for the sake of art
and living like they do in the songs.
And i want to live just so–
balanced but perfectly outlined
bold and in love and written
like someone in a novel,
but three dimensional.
“there happen to be things i’ve observed” by Alicja Madloch
i’m pretty bad at forgetting things
when the world revolves around our mistakes.
maybe the instructions should be like boats
made out of newspapers and actually hold their own
against water.
yelling is always circumstantial
and on occasion I prefer screaming adorations
to throwing bottles.
there is always something to show me I’m human
and to have passion is to add color
to a pencil sketch of person.
we should strive to capture touch
and harness heartbeats like jam jars
and keep very deep cellars.
i’m just a pen scratching at thoughts
that itch like scab-marks on knees
and don’t go away unnoticed.