wedged cheese
by Jillian Scocca

Your tangent should probably find cos or sine
But if you’re going to be so green-yellow sour
First, get all the ducks at lemonade stands donning graphic garb
in a row, you very hungry rainbow caterpillar of crayon

Find cos, find cause or another word for strange, bizarre
cinnamon synonym, crucible’s
sin-you’re-in, word for “odd”

Learn the effect
of wrapping yourself in a technicolor polyester cocoon
at a formal with no forests, you see suspended lavish lepidoptera

Next you, yes, that is only step one
Google whatever ‘discourse’ means
Wouldn’t you like to know, weatherboy?
prismed rain makes muddy puddles
tracking in other hate, so watch
the blare of a punch buggy, watch your wings

Step three
roll in the mud, to know, to be better
metamorphosis, yes sis
make a pie for the hungry butterfly, protect it
get the cheapest Dollar Tree plastic banner you can

Making clarity in a kaleidoscope
is worth every tangent, every rainy day
the bittersweet taste of rainbow lemonade


owl city
by Jillian Scocca

Saturn has gone insane atop time’s throne
His kingdom mutinied by entropy, a feral racehorse
No amount of spinning discs of gas, hula hoops, and
Museless turntables can rein in by the bit or sum

The comfort of a sure revolution
Firmer set than stone by Medusa’s edict is as contrary
and blasphemous as fireflies bursting from glass jars to ask
Galavanting guppies for a light

The devil Saturn knows is the certain cremation of time
Dust to dust, sand in an hourglass on a desk or an urn on a mantle
with unnamed mourners

He’ll tell those fireflies, wait for the next rotation
Where we will face the sun and then the stars
Silver-streaked fish, peering upward for the first time
Wondering which glowing spark inquired?

~

Jillian Scocca (she/her) is an aspiring interpretive park ranger or manager and current senior at SUNY ESF majoring in Environmental Education and Interpretation. She can often be found on campus doing work or at a SEEC, BMC, or MOSA meeting. Jillian has a Chihuahua-Yorkie mix named Chewbarka and recently spent the summer catching herps while working with NYS Parks. With her co-director, they nicknamed a turtle “Basking Robbins.”

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Artist Statement: These poems were inspired by the idea of “nourishment” as being anything that sustains, recharges, or spurs growth in an individual. “Nourishment” implies there is a lack or shortage of something. In my opinion, this does not always mean that something must be learned or made brand new. That usually requires an excess, which the everyday rarely has time for. To keep a bellyful of emotional, physical, and psychological well-being, sometimes all we need to be nourished by is the certainty of a playlist, the surprise of a good drink, and the closure that your friends will always be there in fair or stormy weather.
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Featured image: Photo of a field with fireflies by Akin Cakiner, 2019.