Fall 2008

Congratulations to Monica Schley and Mark Pilder, whose work was chosen from the Hugo Writing Classes fall end-of-term reading. Each quarter, we highlight the work of two of our talented students.

By Monica Schley

VII.
On the side of the road: needles & pins, textiles & tools. A girl weaving sumac into a black & red bowl. This is where the holy people live, where mirrors enter portals and the road turns inside out. Stitching reveals my childhood bedroom. I sit down on the bed and apples begin to spill out from underneath. They all go rolling to one side of the room as if pulled by a magnet. One apple on top of the pile is tied by a soft blue ribbon. I get up & pull it which begins to hopelessly unravel the whole room and there is the highway again with its marked edge of stones. The girl selling her bowl showing the way we are all born: out of the center coil, the tight knot of earth.

(from “Acres and Acres”)

Postcards
By Mark Pilder

Hey Tiger,

One more for the road
One for you and two for me
One if by land two if by sea

I'm on your left
You're on my right
pheromone turn signals bright lights

red   Port    green    Starboard
Left, right?   right
On board overboard just bored

Love, and stuff
Mark

•    

Dear Jason and Misia

communication
conversation intonation
body language
saliva spraying annunciation
tone of voice
your hands are waving
the punctuation away
Can't understand a word you say
But I catch your drift
 
Sincerely,
Mark

•   

Dear Grandma,

Conversation gets the word out
Agitation gets the dirt out
Legislation gets the herd out
Repetition gets         boring

Love,
Mark B. Pilder