by Elizabeth McGinn on May 6, 2021

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by Sarah Heavren ’21

From Lil Wit to Tiff and Earl,
From weekly meetings and issues,
It is hard to say farewell
Without needing a few tissues.

The Cowl has been a great space
To share thoughts and feelings,
To craft poems and satire,
Alongside great human beings.

Across my five semesters
Of writing for Portfolio
Making people think and laugh
Has been my main goal and my hope.

The Cowl gave me a voice
When I was quiet, even coy.
Writing for Portfolio
Has been one of my greatest joys.

 

by Elizabeth McGinn on May 6, 2021

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by Marelle Hipolito ’22

the sun is shining
the blades of grass are dancing
your playlist is playing
but you are missing

the flowers are blooming
the birds are flying
your guitar solo is playing
but you are missing

it’s a beautiful day outside
we are all here together, it’s pretty nice
but there’s something not right
you are missing, i’m not alright

you are missing out on the beautiful weather outside
you are missing out on being here with us because there’s something missing in you inside
and i can’t help you fix you because I’m just here outside
let me in let me in let me in, i miss you and i want you to be alright

the sun is shining
but i am crying
you are missed and you are missing
inside and outside

the flowers are blooming
but i am dying
i’m missing you being by my side
let me help you, let me inside

 

by Elizabeth McGinn on May 6, 2021

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by Grace O’Connor ’22

He shimmers in the golden sunlight,
As she looks at his ripples from the light breeze, mesmerized.
The dip in the ripples is a dark blue with a light blue exterior that the sun accentuates,
He cools her feet, welcoming her into his bountiful abyss.
She steps in, and the water wraps her in his silky balminess.
She slowly swims out, guided by his riptide.
The riptide pushes her out further as she looks at the land becoming smaller.
She starts to panic as she slowly looks for the floor he pushed away.

He is a ravenous beast, trying to pull her down to his deep, dark, depths.
He is frigid, forceful, and has fingers that claw at the shore, constantly searching for more.
Grabbing her legs, dragging her down to the darkness that lingers below,
As her arms move in circles to keep her up, his waves consistently rumble her way,
Pushing her down, and tossing her around, like a plastic bag in the wind.
Her lungs are begging for air, as the saltwater screams around her.
Her eyes beg for help as she looks at the people on the land.

He pulls her back as she reaches for land.
He is everywhere, successfully drowning her in his malice.
He is the water keeping her afloat but slowly dehydrating her.
His hand slices through her like a knife when he slaps her with his weight.
Her tears silently melt away in the water as he rumbles,
Marks of his anger are sheared onto her skin from the debris he spews.
Her arms and legs are weak from pain,

As he pulls her away with his foamy arms, grabbing her from all sides.
She stops swimming, looking at the land bobbing in the far distance,
Filled with people smiling as they savor their lives in the warm sun.
Her home, her safety, no longer could be even through persistence.
He pulls her under, blinding her with murky water from the sea,
As quickly as a wave covers up a footprint,
Gone as can be. 

 

by Elizabeth McGinn on April 22, 2021

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by Sam Ward ’21

Doubt clears the brain, let the stains come,
And let the words fabricate themselves.
The slippery slope between hope and certainty,
Muddled by the inbetween.
We get a glimpse of a panoramic view,
What you see says more about the flaws in you
Then it does about reality,
Strength to those who question,
Cursed are those who self-reflect. 

It gets easier to fade to another place,
Why stay?  

Condensed images of buildings collapsing,
With people on the fringes selling matches,
Cracked seed left out,
Who declined the sunshine,
Who lives their life on borrowed time,
Who worries about the perfect rhyme,
And splits it, rather said than wish to say,
So focused, so focused on just getting by,
Chasing bygones with bated breath. 

Peaceful, I am, when the rules of the game,
All remain. 

Picking up a signal, these are
Visions of palette colored by
Doubt. I feel the footsteps coming,
I can feel all my walls just closing in,
Can’t leave the bed, there are ghouls in
The attic and a strange hand pulling all the strings.  

Who would have thought that we all live in fear,
We all just call the brave ones crazy.
Disregard the steps it takes to create
An imperfect lifetime, filled with regrets,
Worrying about inconsequential things,
These schemes, this wisdom. 

 

 

by Elizabeth McGinn on April 22, 2021

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by Mariela Flores ’23

I want to grow and for that I will need sunlight.  

     But I do not know Kinich Ahau, Mayan god of sun.
     I do not know the gold hidden in the skin of my ancestors,
     I do not know what it is like to feel warmth from the sky in a way that does not burn.
     So instead, I stay cold, and my petals do not open.  

I want to live and for this I will need rain.  

     But I do not know Chaac, Mayan god of rain.
     I cannot feel his thunder in this land they say is “ours,”
     I cannot see his lightning in this smog-clouded sky.
     So instead, I wilt, and my stem goes dry.  

I want to be strong and for this I will need air.  

     But I do not know Huracan, Mayan god of wind.
     I do not know the ruined cities that hailed his storms,
     I do not know the fertile earth that was willed from its home in the sea.
     So instead, I wither away, and my leaves fall.  

How can I grow, live, be strong,
when I have nowhere to plant myself, no soil to know as home?
All I know are seeds to a story of who I could have been. 

     Had blood not been shed in a battle of free will,
     had forests not been burned and history not been buried,
     had the roots of los Mayas not been ripped from the earth and smothered by greed.

 

by Elizabeth McGinn on April 22, 2021

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by Marelle Hipolito ’22

i hate the way the rush came all at once and you felt like air when i couldn’t breathe
i hate the way i feel so loved when you look at me
i hate the way you make all my worries and anxieties go away
i hate that i’ve revolved around you ever since the day you came
i hate how open and real i am around you, how i don’t have to put up a front ever at all
i hate how when the nightmares start, it’s you i want to call
i hate how much you are a part of me, how much i have broken down and cried
i hate that every time you’re not around, a piece of me dies 

in all my hate around you, i love how every hate is a lie
because looking back, even though i’m sad, you were the still best time of my life

i love the way you check me when i’m getting out of line
i love the way you know i’m not okay when i say that i’m fine
i love how you play with my hair and tell me what i mean to you
i love how you are proud and support me in all that i do
i love how you learn and listen to the things that are important to me
i love the way i do vice versa, how it’s almost like it’s meant to be
i love the way i didn’t look for you, how you just showed up one day
i love the way we’re everything the other needed, how we’re both here to stay 

in all i love about you, i hate how we could never be more
but if you ever change your mind at any time…you know i’m always yours

 

by Elizabeth McGinn on April 22, 2021

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by Ellie Forster ’24

I haven’t had a scrape in a bit
Haven’t fallen to the pavement and torn my knee
Or slid my elbow across the driveway

I haven’t had a scrape in some time
Felt the burn of the sun on a cut
Or the sting of it being cleaned

I haven’t had to rip off a bandaid recently
The countdown to the tear
The breath when it’s done

I haven’t had to rip off a bandaid in a while
No, these days they come off in time
With much less drama, much less pain

I haven’t felt that much lately
Not in that most real of ways
The scrape of a leg
The ripping off of a bandaid
I haven’t had to deal with any of that for years

 

by Elizabeth McGinn on April 15, 2021

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by Taylor Rogers ’24

Shadows and I become one as the night falls,
The sunset smiling down at me, waving one last goodbye.
Spring’s simplistic desires draw me in,
And I choose to abandon my curfew, deciding to just live. 

As we dance, the stars begin to appear,
Wishing to join our game of hide and seek.
Twilight taunts our once innocent thoughts,
Urging us to leave the world behind, and get lost. 

The stars dance with me as you sing,
Your heavenly voice calming the creatures of the night.
Bright beams of light illuminate our hearts,
And finally, I lose my fear of the dark. 

A full moon guides us back to your car,
And the woods part to form a long, rocky path.
Dark’s desire rises from the shadows,
My eyes find yours, and the wind around us blows. 

Black gives us the illusion of stealth,
Yet I find myself not caring if the two of us get caught.
Soft, soulful music invades our space of silence,
And we let ourselves partake in some violence.  

A few clouds lead us back to my place,
And I look at my house in dread, not wishing to go.
For the last time tonight, you give me a kiss,
And nature says goodbye to me, your taste forever on my lips.

 

by Elizabeth McGinn on April 15, 2021

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by Sarah Heavren ’21

They haunt the present,
The ghosts of the past
A reminder of
Things not meant to last.

Sometimes they are good
Sometimes they are bad
Preserve the happy
And preserve the sad.

The past has shaped us
For better or worse
It has determined
Much of our life’s course.

We can create them
On purpose or not
We might not know why
They matter a lot.

But I do not know
Where I would now be
If it were not for
All my memories. 

 

by Elizabeth McGinn on April 15, 2021

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by Marelle Hipolito ’22

The flashbacks come back in a blur
All the good times, and the ones that hurt
Every phone call and basketball game
Each smile and each touch of pain 

But when the rain starts to pour down hard
I wash myself clean from all the scars
And move on to the next chapter of my life
But I leave you behind, a letter unsigned 

I gave you everything I was
All I had without a pause
It hurts that I’m always the first to make amends
It hurts cause we’re so close to the end

I used to go through photographs of times we laughed
And when we bet on the NBA draft
But I don’t feel the need anymore
To sing that song we sang with the windows down
Cry like when I told you about my hometown because
That’s all behind a closed door

And now when the rain starts to pour down hard
I trust that time will heal all my scars
And move on to the next chapter of my life
But I leave you behind
And your letter, now signed