WITH A ROPE AND TETHER TIED TO DURING SUMMER
Ink and Digital Media
“This piece highlights inanimate objects that stir up memories from this summer. Two types of brushes and two types of glasses i was debating on getting. I included Ink splatters because I spent all summer drawing in pen. I included pain killers for my health condition because it's a part of my routine. The other objects remind of ordinary but fun times I had.”
SOPHIA STEINMUELLER ‘24
Ripple out the reds before I question where my mind is. Maybe
in the car: child asking why dad dyed his hair red. Maybe
under the grenadine: girl trying a Shirley Temple at the art
museum (don’t forget your cherry offerings). Maybe
at the city intersection: friends crossing the street when the light
can’t work, perpetually red. A little brighter than the rest. So starry maybe,
or not. Never where my affection wants to be, it’s always trying
to write about how the stoplight is never more than just my eyes maybe
forgetting what I have to know, just for once. Ever think that
no green will ever be as real as these reds? Take a stem, maybe,
and consider what it has ever done for me. Consider each strand
of DNA, except I’m no scientist and I can’t sacrifice my hands for maybe
a dollar, stringed with the same green. I’ll stay here weaving
my thoughts back together in the meantime. Revisit me, maybe.
A TRYING GHAZAL FOR ALL THE THINGS I CANNOT WRITE ABOUT
Poetry
“Inspired by previous pieces I’ve written about negative emotions I’ve felt surrounding colors and memories, I wanted to shift my perspective on it with this ghazal by focusing on positive memories and emotions associated with these colors, such as the equally loving and hateful red. I aimed to make each couplet encompass a different memory, using the brokenness of the ghazal form to do so.”