2015 EEIC Creative Writing & Arts Contest

Showcase
& Awards
Ceremony
03.31.15
#getcreative

“Here’s another example of invisible
engineering. Your computer keyboard
keys are laid out in a funny way, the so-
called “QWERTY” keyboard. Why? In
the 1800’s some folks did a lot of
testing, thinking about which letters do
you use the most—in English, anyway—
and which the least. The ones you use
the least are saved for your weakest
fingers, the pinky and ring fingers. They
are also distributed left and right such
that you rarely have to type a word all
with one hand, which would be slow.” Betty Lise Anderson
From “Have You Met Your Engineer?”

from “This Frayed Ribbon”
Michael Smith
This blue and black ribbon in my hand;
I carry it often and run my hands against its silky texture.
Although the sides are nice and crisp, the edges are frayed.
I can see the seams separating and fragments of cloth beginning to fall.
Its detail and integrity failing because of my attention.
I selfishly mourn its decay, just as I selfishly desired its preservation.
Because the ribbon belonged to many others before it even crossed my path,
And the ribbon’s journey does not stop with me.

“There is a boy age 12 or 13, sitting up in his room. Darkness
has set, and so the walls once again confine him. He is told to
go to sleep, but, isolated from the world around him, how can
he? The walls stare, mocking him. Their stern glare is nothing
but a challenge for the boy, who accepts. All that he can think
about is the outside world in which he longs to be. He thinks,
he thinks, and he thinks, harder and harder. The menacing
walls look back at him, ready to crush his dreams”
from “The Uncommon App Essay”
Danny Flax

Diana Boldrin
“Jack Sparrow”

“As we left the school compound, after my mother’s prayer, I looked through
the back window to see my big sister one more time. There she stood, exactly
where we left her, in the thicket of green uniforms, fourteen to eighteen-year-
old girls. Some of them were crying. Some of them were showing off their
polished black shoes and newly relaxed hair. Some had faded uniforms. I
could tell my sister apart by the lines our house girl had plaited on her head.
Her shiny eyes made a lump in my throat. With time, when we would drop my
sister off for subsequent school terms, I would look back to see her smiling,
already half-turned towards the dormitories, one arm hooked in a friend’s,
the other waving at us. Eventually, she would not wait to wave goodbye, or I
would not be able to tell her apart. With time, I too stopped looking back and,
eventually, when she was dropped off, I did not even go.”
from “In the Middle,” Njoki Mwangi

Samartha Channagiri Ajit
“The Destitute”

from “Important”
Brian King
But art is what matters most, for it controls the soul
Excellence without contentment is merely an exertion of pride
Control without oration is imposition of will not justice
Eternity without music is a hell beyond imagine
For who would wish to live only one life

Usoshi Chatterjee
“Taken Aback”

But now with the leaves beginning to change
Our hearts and souls will again become estranged
Its not the barren tress, their empty soul
Its not winter’s ice, the lonely cold
Its not the gloomy rain, the flower’s fighting through
For all the beauty of the summer comes from being with you
This summer brings something special for you and me
For it is the start of our lives together, our eternity
Katherine Gradert, from “Changes”

Could the voice in my head be that of Perspective?
Could Perspective be demanding my gratitude?
Asking me to change my lenses? To finally see the diamonds in the rough?
Maybe these new lenses will allow me to capture……
Amazing in annoying, triumph in tragedy, refinement in rejection and
strengthening in struggle?
Could an attitude of gratitude take me to a rarefied altitude of consciousness?
If so, then my one and only decree should be …..
“I’m thankful”
Regardless of the case, I guess there is always a cause to be thankful
So for all that I have and all that I don’t…..
“I’m thankful”
from “I’m Thankful,” Ushe Chipengo

I. before
I am a water molecule:
two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen.
I spend an infinity being unborn—
a microcosm of the ocean
II. during
I fear the inevitable fall
from consciousness.
I’ve slept under the stars
and danced under city lights
and watched the sun rise
and fade more times than I can count.
now that I know this existence
I am unprepared to give it up
III. after
I fall into nothingness
as easily as I fall into dreamless sleep.
the birds sing as beautifully
as they did when I was there to hear,
and the leaves are as vibrant
as they were when I was there to see.
I am a water molecule:
two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen
Reyna Lusson, “I am a Water Molecule”

Ray Swetlin
from “For What it’s Worth”
If I really give it a go
I know my flow will go and go
from my soul through my toes,
and end up
here and there,
everywhere!
Because I dare
yes
Brennan Barrington
There once were some values in
pounds mass
A test many takers couldn't pass.
But I was feeling smug
For I'd put it in slug
Yet the conversion still bit my ass.

“Since I was a child, I was never ordinary. I tossed aside my dolls for books. I
stared at the night sky instead of at the television screen. I preferred Scientific
American to Vogue magazine. I loved to learn about atoms and molecules and
the states of matter. And as I learned more about the world, I noticed its
imperfections. I noticed the over-dependence on fossil fuels in the United
States. I also noticed the lack of updated medical equipment in Tunisia, my
father’s homeland – my homeland.”
from “Dancing in Steel Heels’
Leila Mansour,

Gupta Puja
“It’s Raining”

from “Tribulation or Titration?”
C.B. Cummings
My few convictions
Of the consequential kind
Are suspended in a solution too murky
Impractical to find.
I can neither count nor tabulate my beliefs
They are experimentally indiscriminate,
And this unknown concentration causes grief
As the solvent marries the solute.
from “awake at midnight”
Richard Grieshop
My life in dreams
fade to black
like sweet sad songs
a grace they lack
And though I hope
to hold a few
all turn to smoke
and fade from view

from “Yonder Mirror”
Archit Rede
Pull of the grip
the invisible hand
drag against
tight grasp
but always invisible, cuddling
from “Magnets”
Alyssa Ross

“I don't know why I keep doing this. Why I keep holding on to the idea of you and I.
It’s silly because you were never mine to begin with. That someway, somehow, I'll see
you again one day and everything will fall into place. But who am I kidding?”
from “Only Happy Reflections”
Anonymous
I do not know what a soul is
But I know you have grazed
mine and I yours
Yet Still
Dylan Bederman
from “Pillow Talk”

Sreeja Krishnan
“The Divine Love:
Radha Krishna”

I woke up this morning craving soy sauce.
Now let me begin by saying I hate soy sauce.
So naturally I looked for some higher meaning
to all of this, some symbolic artifact that would
forever change my existence but
I was too hungry to think – I needed food.
Now I stare at this plate of sushi and now it is gone
save one last piece –
– it is covered in soy sauce.
Just as I begin
I have binged again.
Colin Giacalone, “Soy Sauce”

Robbed in smoky alleys
Beaten in our forced
Yet uncontested labor
Waiting for a moses to speak
And bring the dark cloud so thick
With blind death it could be groped
Mount Sinai smokes
Oh what a train wreck we're going to see
from “Train Wreck”
Michael Billips
Do you remember the monsters of your
childhood?
They dwelt in dark and unknown corners
They lurked in silent and vulnerable alleys
In closets, under beds, in the woods
They looked like demonic hybrids
They smelt of gore and wreckage
Bright red eyes, crooked noses, rotten teeth
from “Monsters”
Sarah Lagpacan

Paul Lacher
“Disassembly
of a Camera”

In the midst of modern life
We have cell phones and email
And deadlines and meetings,
But what are we missing?
I am sitting here
Listening to the rain fall
To the twitter of a wayward bird
To the mew of a feral cat.
I have watched the trees
Change from dead, to bud, to leaf;
Seen the spring tulips sprout, bloom, and flower,
And I think that life is beautiful
And I am happy to have lived it.
“Rain #2”
Jessica Winter

from “The Golden Chest”
Alexis Ortiz-Rosario
I stand before a chest,
silver plated, under a golden veil.
I fear for the content,
I weary deeply for it.
A big investment,
Has been vested,
and I do not know
If it remains there. from “Untitled”
Jesse Fine
And so with this,
I want to touch you in my own way.
With my words, with my heart.
I love you.
Always.

“Subaru Forester, 2002,” I whispered as it flew backwards in the
right passenger window of the minivan. I’m very good with car
names, but I always say them quietly. James told me that saying
car names annoyed other people. He said that other people
didn’t think cars were as interesting as I did. I’m glad he told me
that; I can’t tell.”
from “Taillights”
Alex Aurand

from “Mickey the Dinosaur”
Paul Beck
“Mickey saw rainforests and waterfalls and deserts. He liked to pass the
time by telling himself jokes, using his telescope or calculating the rate
of leaf growth on certain trees. One day, he saw a beautiful
brontosaurus female. He was too nervous to approach, so finally she
walked over. They began talking and soon fell in love. Life was going
swell until Mickey spotted a giant asteroid in his telescope. He and
Sheila immediately began making preparations for the impact. They
constructed a giant bunker and stockpiled food and water. On the day
of impact, they went in their bunker and sealed themselves off.”

•
“Her ears blushed red smarting from the embarrassment caused by the
accident earlier in the day. She tried to focus on the equations her
teacher was pointing out, but they blurred into distance as a thick film of
tears welled up in her eyes. She felt mad at herself that it was the
embarrassment in front of her classmates that brought her to tears and
not her mother’s injury. “
from “The New Car”
Santosh K. Behera

“In his hand, Hans saw, was the most peculiar thing: a bunchlet of yellow
flowers that should have been happy but weren’t. They weren’t wrapped
in tissue paper or shiny plastic, but were held bare. The man’s fist
gripped them tightly. The bulge of the peephole, with the rain in the
background, made the flowers look like they had sad eyes and mouths,
little faces with stories and worries that drooped in their neglect.”
from “The Timeman”
Michael Billips

“Nobody remembers why we started fighting at
the beginning, maybe it was for more land, or
maybe the pigs were jealous of our living
conditions. While we live in nice clean homes, the
pigs roll around in mud to clean themselves.
Whatever the reason, 20 years after the war
began, the fight continues to rage on.”
from “Pigs and Bunnies”
Timothy Buban

Hudson Sharrock,
“010000100110010101100101”

“Kayborn’s direct appeal was overturned. He might find hope in
the state court. They’ll bring me in to make my statement and
reexamine emerging (or ignored) evidence. I can only hope to be
reasonably cognizant when my time comes to speak to the
appellate courts. What would make this all easier is if that thing
appears again. A third witness would provide grounds for me
keeping my job, and solid testimony for Kayborn’s second
appeal.”
from “Runoff”
Jeremy Cottam

Benjamin Straiton
“Insanity on the Verge
of Genius”

“I woke up to the sun lying softly on my face. I took in a breath. I took in
the silence. Nothing moved. Even my heart seemed still, though it was
not. I thought about moving my hand, I thought about bending my knee,
but I didn’t. I looked and my hand lay peacefully on the covers, not
clenching as I had commanded. I closed my eyes again and opened them.
There was something warm on my cheek. It was a tear, escaped from my
eye. Only one left its track along my skin, following the curve of my face
and clinging on, for the barest of seconds, before dropping to the sheets
and disappearing. My face never changed. I continued to look at the wall
and watched the light move across it, but it was empty. Today was the day
I would die. “
from “The Day I Would Die”
Rebecca Dunne

from “The Strength of Heroes”
David Giffin
“The glowing orb, that mocking eye peering over every blemish of
the manmade artifice, grew tired, and sank into the western
horizon to be replaced by a full moon. Now from the mountains
streamed the little black ants that fought tirelessly to rid their
mounds of the infestation. The trees remained deadly calm and
silent underneath the cloud-ridden night sky. Thunder rolled in the
distance, and the first drop of crystal night escaped from its bonds
and fell gently, gently to earth. Not a rustle, not a word between
anyone or anything. The stalwart opposition still held, but it had
slowly been bent to its limit. Now was the time to break it. “

“Almost exactly five years prior to the president's state of the union, the world
watched with bated breath, as seven astronauts, four women and three men started
their nine-month journey to Mars. Those carefully selected women and men who
came from all over the world, were to become the first humans to set foot on the red
planet. The mission was revolutionary, its goals lofty and the complexities involved
could not be overstated. In fact, at the time of mission inception most of the
technology needed simply did not exist. Nothing of the like or magnitude had ever
been attempted before. It’s no surprise then that public interest the world over was
unprecedented and the astronauts themselves were adored and treated like super
stars.”
from “The Man on Mars”
Adithya Jayakumar

from “The Only Thing Left to Fear”
Charles MacKay
“Ten paces into the forest I started hearing the first sounds. There was to be a
rustling behind me, no matter how fast I turned, always directly at my back.
Twigs snapped, branches creaked. The rustling was far away at first, but with
every step it grew faster, louder, closer. To worsen the situation, the trees
moved to block my path behind me, adding to my growing feelings of
desperation. Suddenly, the rustling stopped. Relieved, I took a few steps
forward, but before I got far I heard thousands of footsteps coming towards
me from all directions. Terrified, I began to run, looking frantically about me
so attentively I did not see the tree in front of me until it was too late.
Blacking out, I heard laughter, and felt myself being carried over a shoulder
roughly.”

Stiphany Tieu
“Fleur de Lis”

“Using song to label a number was hardly a brand-new practice in
mathematics. Not Franz’ invention. The innovative aspect of his work was
the way a full orchestra was being used to capture the dignity of an integer.
But mathematicians had been casting bells and pipes to label numbers for
quite some time. In fact, it was argued by math historians that the ancient
name of Whistle-Dee-Dee-Hi-Di-Dee, a number so low that even simple
schoolboys could count to it, was actually intended to be a musical number
when it was first named.”
from “The Great Mathematician”
Christopher Menart

Usoshi Chatterjee
“Subject Leaves Paper”

from “The Strangest”
Jack Morrison
“With that, all three set off toward the tent. The rest of the daylight hours passed in a
blur of activity. Rations were stored, seals were checked, and geological data was
charted and processed preliminarily in an attempt to find something on Mars that
wasn't completely hostile to humanity. John was in charge of equipment safety and
proper function, while Karla was in charge of logistics and schedules. Terry was the
effective captain of the ship, acting as point man with the press and having the final
say on mission critical decisions. The three of them had been picked for the lofty job
by the Space Committee, the most able out of a pool of thousands upon thousands of
applicants. Each knew their exact duties, each knew the hopes riding on them. They
did not allow themselves to think of failure. The collective will of humanity to expand
was riding on them.”

Liyang Chen
“Boundaryless”

“’For every second you experience, Death endures a thousand days.’
Death was sitting comfortably on his preferred bench at this particular park.
He slowly looked over the small green hill watching the motionless water flow.
Beside him, a newspaper could be seen turned into shreds by the constant
shifting of pages. It was the hundredth time Death had read it. He sat on the
bench thinking who knows what while watching the frozen world before him.
He sat quietly gazing from the darkness of his cloak, an instant that would take
forever to unfold by his standards. Everything was extraordinarily slow to him;
every second stretched a hundred million times. “
from “La Mort”
Alexis Ortiz-Rosario

from “Red Team”
Jack Rawlinson
“Falling vertically I let my chute catch air, feeling it billow out behind me, sensing my
teammates doing the same around me, hundreds of hours in training paying off as I
hear four other chutes deploy. Dropping onto the roof we quickly capture the billowing
fabric and fold it back into its sack, Blaze finishes first and takes point, leveling his
silenced medium range carbine as he searches for guards. After he motions the all
clear we take up position around the laser map that Fox lays out. Crouching in front of
it he explains the floor plan of the hall to us.”

Paul Lacher
“Looking into the Mirror”

“I sat back and looked out at a skater on the sidewalk. Her speed matched
ours yet her path had obstacles. She dodged old ladies and school children,
and kick flipped over trash cans while ducking under low hanging branches.
Up ahead was a gap in the street. She looked over at me in fear of the
impending doom and then smiled. She lowered her body and focused her
mind, determined to make the gap. Then she jumped. She was gone from
vision.”
from “Journeys”
Jake Roemer

Ismail speculated that since there were eleven pen-stands in the cabinet,
Rahim would not notice immediately if one was gone. After trying several
keys from the bunch, one finally worked. And he saw the small army of
eleven pen-stands neatly arranged in a single file on a rack one above the
bottom. He reached for the one at the left end and quickly put it inside his
schoolbag that he was carrying. He closed the cabinet and put the keys
back to the drawer where he found them in the first place. Drops of sweat
were forming at the edge of his forehead.
from “Theft”
Sayak Roychowdhury

from “The Perpetual”
Terra Williams
“Pulled from a package of its own kind was a standard #2 yellow pencil. Its
surface was unscathed, a crisp dark yellow and protruding from its end was
a cylindrical eraser. Its tip was smooth and undefined as it had yet to be
sharpened. It yearned to be sharpened, to feel its purpose in life to be
fulfilled otherwise its existence seemed meaningless. It was slowly carried
away, anticipation building in its core as it stood erect and proud. There
was no escaping and the desperation filling the pencil to have its edges
acuminated.”

The room was pitch black when a noise woke Adrian. He looked
around frantically, thinking someone had broken in, but could see
nothing in the darkness. He reached for the lamp by his bed and
the room lit up. No one was there. Suddenly, he heard a bang from
across the room. The sounds were coming from next door. He
turned to face the other way and pulled a pillow over his ears, but
it did not drown out the yelling.
from “The Divide”
Shelby Wright

Jacob Naft
“Through the Years” (Video)

Diana Boldrin
“Wings of Art”

2015 EEIC Creative Writing & Arts Contest

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