Contents

Crossword Puzzles
Elizabeth Schoppelrei

Another Restless Night in My Apartment
Charles Childers

A Dark and Early Breakfast
Kara Wellman

I Speak of
Lindsay Hansard

Self Portrait as a Ghost
Jenna Citrus

Pocket Watch
Andrea Ruffier

Allison
Katy Knight

Listening In
Elizabeth Schoppelrei

Priceless Advice
Erin Amschlinger

Make Me Like Autumn
Emily Sirko

What I Want to Know About You
Emily Sirko

Time Lines
RoseMary Klein

Danger of Devotion
Jennevie Stephenson

Lies We Tell Our Children
Paige Thulin

Priceless Advice

I want you to go
to preschool
and mash the Crayola crayons
into tiny shards of wax
and bulldoze every block tower
with your sticky-fingered fist

I want you to use your
Outdoor Voice
during silent reading time,
and if you want permission
to get a drink or pee
march right out of that room.
And if your teacher asks
about raising hands,
raise your finger for her instead

I want you to smoke
in the girls room,
and the boys room for that matter,
and decorate your spray-painted
locker door
with every detention slip

I want you to move away
after trading your cap and gown
for cigarettes
and setting your D- report cards ablaze
to some bohemian city
where you write the book
that changes how people think

And I want you scream
and punch the wall
every time someone claims
“I knew you were gonna be a star”

About the Author

Erin Amschlinger is a senior at Baldwin Wallace University studying economics and creative writing. She has been writing since before she can remember, and she plans to do so until she is too old to remember to wear pants.