Paper Shadows - Madeline Delaney

Warped reflections
of eyelashes,
of pupils,
and time calloused hearts
Stick to the bent heads of nails,
Catching the sugar in sap
Sweetness frozen to concave tin
While honey reads life as a bible
Pollen ink on petal parchment
Written by the worker bees
Returning from the hive of God
Where the drones die free of their sins
And the failing queen follows the current to salvation.

So now, in this theatre of war,
The Armageddon of souls,
I pray to paper shadows
And watch through the lens of inhibited vanity
As the sunlight taxes the touch of gold
Casting candied reflections
of eyelashes,
of pupils,
and time calloused hearts

Oil - Max Kinlund

If a painting is worth a thousand words,

Then I give a thousand apologies to all the poems I have spurned.

And I give a thousand thanks to all the inks of this earth.

I have squandered all the paintings of my mind,

Replaced by curly Q's and dotted I's,

But since the imagination is desperate to die,

It has puked up it's innards across these lines.

And despite my perfect eyes, I can not see.

Despite the perfect lines, I can not read.

I try and try. These symbols, what do they mean?

Even as I write them, I try and listen in;

To this beating in my chest,

To this hammer made of tin;

Screaming through my fingers,

Pounding out my soul,

Onto tree bark,

Onto paper,

Where it all just turns to mold.

Writing "why?" in my tears,

Scratching "Anger" in my blood.

I paint a thousand pictures a day,

Drawn out in ash and mud.

But the pounding never stops,

The ink just comes in floods,

And I'm left with an empty pen,

Writing ethereal words to be blown away by the wind.

Stolen by the zephyr of my empty canvas,

A single word picture of the things I miss.

You Can't Take It With You

Today Walden enjoyed the UVM department of theater's production of, You Can't Take It With You at The Kennedy Center. The play was written in 1936 by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It ran 838 performances on Broadway and was given the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. You Can't Take It With You is based around a crazy but lovable family who believes that you shouldn't do anything unless it makes you happy.

The boys dress up for a Tuesday in the city.

North - Ivy Sienkiewycz

Through this lens I see the world in color.

His bold eyes stare back through to me.

"You don't belong this far north," his lips move.

Click.

"I don't belong this far north."

Color captured in black & white

warm brown eyes turn a cold shade of grey.

Click.

His red wool coat pasted in front of

orange, yellow, red, brown, foliage.

All translated in one two hundredth of a second

from life to grey scale.

Confirming that,

"I don't belong this far north.

Dirty with Heroin - Jake Thompson

A harp in his hand
Is he in a band?
As I stare at the curls on his chin
We wait for him to begin
Is he gay is he straight?
He listens to us debate
As we wait for him to begin
He sits in a refined position
But I still need to make a decision
Why is he so happy?
The glee on his face
Could enlighten the whole human race

Finally he began to pick
And something in my mind clicked
He loves to play
This explains it all
The smile on his face
And why he was happy
So he begins to play
His music filled with passion, beauty, and bliss
But I couldn’t dismiss the fact
He was happy
He finishes

The next day
The man we debated whether he was gay
Was found on the street
He had met his defeat
For his blood was as mud
Dirty with heroine
For drugs was his demon
And he wasn’t a heathen
He was far from it

As I reach my conclusion
It was no illusion
The music in my head
Was certainly not dead
But it full of passion, beauty, and bliss
Until he left our world
Due to heroins deadly kiss.

My emotions rendered
My soul i surrender
"Despite all my rage
I am still just a rat in a cage"

But its time to turn the page
As I listen to the band
I wish to hold anothers hand
But to dance will not change the fact
I'm still a rat in a cage

To go big or go home
On this im not alone
To give this dog a bone
Or to fake it
I am alone and will not make it

To give the dog the bone
To go big or go home

Little New York Bastard

Walden was very excited to have Dylan Raskin, the author of "Little New York Bastard," visit us in Monkton as he does very few public readings. Dylan gave us the chance to ask questions about his book, writing, the publishing world, and life in general. Dylan was excited to answer our questions, entertain us with stories, and help us consume our specialty, krispy kale.