Fall 2017

Vantage Point Volume 3 | Issue 2 Article 1 2017 Fall 2017 Vantage Point Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/vantagepoint Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Point, Vantage (2017) "Fall 2017," Vantage Point: Vol. 3 : Iss. 2 , Article 1. Available at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/vantagepoint/vol3/iss2/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts and Sciences at ScholarWorks @ UVM. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vantage Point by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks @ UVM. For more information, please contact . Point: FAll 2017 vantage point fall 2017 Published by ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2017 1 Vantage Point, Vol. 3 [2017], Iss. 2, Art. 1 Vantage Point Volume XVIV Fall 2017 Caroline Shea, Ali Wood Journal Directors Caroline Shea, Ali Wood, Seth Wade, Lauren Poslensky, Jake Mooney, Emily Johnston, Nicholas Bowles, Christian Soychak, Jesse Keel, Annie Hayes, Lauren Chapman Copy Editors Seth Wade Layout Stephen Cramer Faculty Advisor Dominique Boccanfuso Cover Artist “I love you more than my own skin” Submit to Vantage Point! facebook.com/vantagepointuvm https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/vantagepoint/vol3/iss2/1 2 Point: FAll 2017 Letter From the Editors “They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.” — Frida Kahlo Reality is subjective. Through passive and active moments, choices, and actions, we warp the liminal borders of our experience like an empty bathtub or swollen eye. Writers and artists: create space. Fill it up thigh-deep with grit, dust, and milk-thick pulsing of lungs. Be active. - The Editors Published by ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2017 3 Vantage Point, Vol. 3 [2017], Iss. 2, Art. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Waltz, Anonymous page 5 Dollar Bill Mouths, Emilee Conroe page 6-7 Kleptomania, Eli Karren page 8 Conversation in Silence: Reflected, Winter Seyfer page 9-10 Ink-Stained, Lydia Moreman page 11 Learning How to Take, Mackenzie Baker page 12-13 Nobody Ever Does the Dishes, Calum Buchanan page 14 The New North End, Seth Wade page 15-18 Faces, Erin Kelly page 19 Don’t Throw the Ball, Emilee Conroe page 20-21 Baby Teeth, Izzy Siedman page 22 Alone Time, Riley Hoff page 23 Half of One, Mackenzie Baker page 24-25 Amnesia, Lauren Murdock page 26 our lady of the bridge, Emily Johnston page 27 A Quiet Morning, Christian Soychak page 28-29 Castle, Sky page 30-31 Seyon, Alex Woodward page 32 American Horror Story, Eli Karren page 33-34 the lion tamer, Emily Johnston page 35 This Time, Emilee Conroe page 36-37 Wednesday, Emily Johnston page 38 wrapped in the drifts (february children), Anonymous page 39 question|process, Dominique Boccanfuso page 40 4 Months and a Couple of Years and 24 Hours or so, Calum Buchanan https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/vantagepoint/vol3/iss2/1 page 41-42 4 Point: FAll 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS “I love you more than my own skin”, Dominique Boccanfuso page 43 Senseless, Seth Wade page 44 Peaches, Autumn Lee page 45 Portrait of a Small Town where the Flower Shop has Committed Suicide ,Eli Karren page 46 Choose your own adventure, Jake Mooney page 47-48 Masturbation Dance, Dominique Boccanfuso page 49 Fireflies, Eli Karren page 50-52 Grandpa, Emilee Conroe page 53 Untitled, part of Gurrl series, Dominique Boccanfuso page 54 denim creature (blackened blue-jean), Anonymous page 55 Covered/Uncovered, Autumn Lee page 56 Trappings of Teal and Rust, Emilee Conroe page 57 Landscape with Capricious Colors, Sedona, AZ, glitter on sandstone, 64 x 34 inches, Eli Karren Published by ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2017 page 58 5 Vantage Point, Vol. 3 [2017], Iss. 2, Art. 1 waltz By Anonymous oh broken instrument we name the spine laughs and stiffens and heaves throws itself out in the cold, in the dead trees it dances on fractured ice molding vertebrae with snow to lengthen up to the void of sky and be chipped by the stars to return as flakes of bone, of sore eyes for sight of height, sleight of hand-eye twitches and trembling through withdrawal — the vibrating edges of strings and keys out of tune as if this body could sing -5https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/vantagepoint/vol3/iss2/1 6 Point: FAll 2017 Dollar Bill Mouths By Emilee Conroe At 23:00 hours: she looked down at her hands, disbelieving that they had gotten her here. Squeezed into her private room at the County Jail, complete with complimentary sink, toilet, and moth-eaten blanket, she cried silently, her nametag still pinned to her cherry red shirt. She could feel the mascara globbing on her face, smearing all over her hands, tattooing her shame. At 21:00 hours: the nice police officer with the gentle eyes and stern mouth took her into the booking room, twisting her fingertips over a half sheet of paper until a full ten fingerprints stared back at her, a sick version of Picassos. Precious art. She didn’t smile in her mug shot. A single tear reflected in the flash, hanging off of her chin by its fingertips. At 17:00 hours: the officer’s eyes met hers in the rearview, vaguely piteous. “Do you have children?” He asked, taking a sip of his diet coke. “Two,” Her voice was fragile. “Dan and Thomas.” “How old are they?” “Four and Six.” She looked out the window. “Are you close?” “Extremely.” Dissected by the bars separating their two bodies, she looked oddly delicate in the backseat of his patrol car, like a fawn, lost and confused. Unable to figure out how it had wandered into this part of town. At 16:30 hours: She sat at the scene of the crime, waiting for the police to arrive and take her away, surrounded by her former co-workers, bosses. Holding her head in her hands, she couldn’t muster a tear, a sigh, any reaction of merit. Her mind was blank, a void. Her cherry red uniform slouched around her knees, her visor lying haphazardly at her feet. It all matched her chipped, painted nails. At 15:45 hours: She collected her things from her station in slow motion, on autopilot. She unlocked her register, final count. Her fingers reached into the cash drawer, thumbing the bills one by one. Against her skin they were tantalizing, raising goose bumps on her arms. She drew one out, then another, slipping them into her pockets, leaving swirls of dust to float in the air where they had been. -6Published by ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2017 7 Vantage Point, Vol. 3 [2017], Iss. 2, Art. 1 She felt hope - suddenly, the sensation of her throat closing with adrenaline. The faces on the bills were ones she recognized, but not presidential. Young, wide-eyed, too skinny, too cold. An alarm sounded far away -- someone shouting. But she wasn’t sure where it all came from (...truncated)