This issue of the literary arts magazine Fusion from Blessed Mother Teresa High School features poems, illustrations and a short excerpt. The magazine aims to provide a permanent home for self-expression through writing and visual arts. It acknowledges the support of school administration and local education leaders.

1. USiON
Blessed Mother Teresa’s
Literary Arts Magazine
Volume 1, Issue 1
Cover Illustration:
Eye on You
Ithamar Dawkins

2. “Words keep liked canned peaches...if they’re good enough.” – Gord Downie
When the mind, heart and world collide there is inspiration, and where
there is inspiration, there is art. Self-expression, through the written word
and visual arts, now has a permanent home at Blessed Mother Teresa and that
is between the pages of Fusion, our new magazine for the literary and visual
arts. We are so pleased to present to staff and students this inaugural issue
of Fusion. Enjoy this first issue and know that there will be many more oppor-
tunities for each of you to have your words and art published.
Fusion
In unison
...But there is a fusion that happens
When your words touch the page.
Truth comes to mind,
Passionately defined.
Here there are no asides,
No margins
No lies
No periphery.
Just words,
And
visions, artistry,
Encapsulating all we have been
And hope to be
Or leave behind.
Words are truths spoken,
With meaning, they signify.
Images—
These visions are etched for infinity.
Infinitely you.
Infinitely me.
Just ourselves printed boldly,
Passions on blank pages.
We rage on...
We rage on.
In unison
Fusion.
- Rosalba Lloyd, Brian Kennedy

3. Anew
I start this page anew.
A fresh beginning I say.
Illustration:
Something to push through this pain,
The Sacrifice this resentment sharp and piercing but nev-
-Leslie Tuakabiangana er slain.
Constantly I live with this.
To argue, to makeup,
to yell, to hug,
I run, fall then grab for hope.
I am lifted!
A sudden calm falls over my heart.
Feels like a land I once knew of,
a serene place called home.
Looking at this situation with a new
view,
a new perspective, a good one.
The fight, the struggle, to hold on!
I do not quit!
I pick up the pieces,
start to build anew.
No more pain, no more pain
This is a new day!
Rejoice and happiness.
We shall make peace.
For one day you will be me,
all I am will be you.
I start this page anew.
- Dylan Stewart

4. Illustration:
Pen Tiger
-Leslie Tuakabiangana

5. Time
Dear Alarm Clock,
If you rang 5 minutes later, would it really be that big of a deal?
If I hear you telling me that I’ve got things to do, places to see.
I hear you, I really do
But I’m guessing you don’t feel how warm sub-consciousness is?
Don’t you see?
How happy I could be,
If only you would let me dream.
Listen here time,
I open my eyes and you’re gone again.
Are you really telling me that that was 9 hours?
It must be a mistake, a glitch, a kink,
Because I know for a fact that that was barely even one little blink.
I would really rather just stay,
But you’ve got me running around,
Trying to do everything at once, all while still searching for a little bit more time.
I should’ve known that it would be impossible to find.
Well, I’m not sure if you know,
But on average, by the time we reach the age of 75,
we’ll have slept 25 years of our lives away.
Where do you take those years, Time?
I really want to go to that faraway place.
You’ve got me running again,
I wish you’d stay right there.
And you’re running again,
I have to watch you disappear.
Do you know that one person?
That one person,
The only one,
The one
I’d stay awake for, for a million days,
Just to stop these moments from passing by in a haze.
I’d watch the sun rise and never get tired, you’d see,
Wow, I’ll probably be around so much you’ll get sick of me.
I’ll be here, through the good times and the bad,
Balancing polynomials and chemistry,
Don’t you worry
Because whenever I’m with you,
It feels like a dream.
- Thentral Amirth

6. llustration:
Glorious Moon
The Process
The eraser removed bad habits,
While the pencil continuously drew on new ones.
The glue stuck on a whole new face,
As the scissors cut away my past.
Then pen made the changes I attempted permanent,
As the colour pencil shaded in my body.
The calculator changed my way of thinking,
As the sharpener grazed over my rough edges.
At last, the ruler measures up to your standards.
Now, me and you walk, talk and think the same,
Two moving as one, I don’t even know who I’ve become,
who I was before…
You’ve changed me, more than you’ll ever know.
- Samantha Caprietta

7. Poem and Illustration by
Lara Meneses
Lily
The Artists
As I walk by
Paintings hung high
The statues guarded
By Security,
I’m surrounded by fame
I’m surrounded by death
The artists who lived...
And the artists who left
All different tints,
Tones and shades,
They’re all like mine
The ones I’ve made.
All different streaks
All different brushes
Thousands to choose from
But ONE to cherish
As I leave what has started
As I leave what has ended
Keeping my word in techniques
Myself with my brush, paint and pallet.

8. Illustration:
Us
-Mary Paraiso
Untouchable Feeling
Relax, take a deep breath,
Hold my hand, and close your eyes.
Go to the place you love the most;
It is an amazing creation that can not be changed.
While I hold your hand,
I feel what you feel.
I see what you see.
The feeling is unstoppable.
I can’t touch it, I want to
But
I can only imagine, we can only imagine
This special place held in our deepest, most inner-thoughts.
The good things in our lives,
The treasures we miss the most.
Who we love, or have loved.
Then we exhale.
Open your eyes.
We have all 10 fingers interlocked.
Our eyes meet and smile to one other.
We do not use words,
Our feelings have taken the lead.
I see you seeing me.
I feel you feeling me.
And together we have created an untouchable feeling.
-Dahlia Jewell Duncan-Busby

9. Illustration:
Cross Sport
-Russell Cabbab

10. My Story
(excerpt from Radiyah’s Speech to the Canadian Center for Diversity)
I never truly appreciated the effect that someone can
have on your life until I stopped and listened to the tales
they had to share. As a visible Muslim teenager living in
Canada, I can say with confidence, that finding a place
where you feel absolutely comfortable is not an easy
task.
We go through our high school years, shadowing how we
feel or what we believe because we do not want to deal
with the repercussions of doing so. We do not want to
feel isolated. We do not want to feel different.
I learned how truly beautiful our differences could make us.
You and I, we are not the same. But we both have things
to learn from each other, and we have stories to share.
Thank you for allowing me the chance to share my sto-
ries, but most of all, thank you for listening. I will
forever be changed because of the opportunities that
you have provided for me.
A stranger is not a stranger, but in fact, a friend.
Just one whose story you have not yet heard.
- Radiyah Chowdhury

11. Illustration:
Boy Behind the Glasses
-Shemar Lue
The Other Man
...Things are not always easy as they seem. I see it more as a mirage and less of a
dream. My steps to the future are so close, One more year and then I can coast. Time
ticks...every step I take. It all will determine my fate. The belief in God and myself is
grand, Don’t want to fail, rather be the other man. - Shazaan Sajeeb
Illustration:
Girl in Mirror
-Jillian Felipe
My Mirror
I love my mirror. Her ragged
It’s my only mirror, it’s clothes drag on
my favourite. the floor,
It’s a very old mirror, And sometimes
very ancient indeed. she looks like
she’s trapped
I sometimes hear voic- inside that
es coming from her. mirror.
She is the only
I sometimes see a one I ever see
woman come out of it in
the middle of the
But it sounds like there’s
night…
more inside the mirror of
She has long black hair
never-ending dreams
that covers her eyes
…nightmares.
Her skin, as pale as a
ghost
- Ashley Cimino-Gransjean

12. Illustration:
Angel Standing By
-Julian Flatts-Robinson
Fusion would like to acknowledge the support of
the following people in the BMT Community:
Principal:
Stephen Carey
Vice Principals:
Sandra Mudryj & Michael Wetzel
Superintendant of Education:
Anthony Petitti
Trustee:
Tobias Enverga
And to all the staff and students
who support us…we shall rage on.