Revolting, on the page

we're doing something here. something.

take a sip from the coffee, the paper petition, the fuel for freedom and oh god, it takes like stagnancy.

there are broken pencils scattered on the floor between desks where bright eyed students sat, their final papers stacked flawlessly on the desk. In each red printed line, lead sinks into the page with a brutal honesty, a shedded skin, like snakes who learned to molt. we're doing something here. people have changed.

where do they go? The scribblers and the screamers. They get on the bus, going home to a loud house and a quiet mother. They go to continue their education, learning and earning

from a man who hurts vulnerable people, who burned old accusations and emerged from a crooked cocoon to be something unscathed. The ‘holds no weight’ on his rotten shoulders.

they go and they live and they love, and they remember her weary stained eyes when they feel the need to fawn or bolt, and I hope they scream instead. I hope no one ends up at the wrong end of the barrel for this.

I hope the pen we were handed wasn’t made for forging the last sentence.

About the Author

Haylie Jarnutowski is a junior Creative Writing and History student. Her main art forms are fiction, poetry, sketch, and textiles. In her fiction work, she explores the reanimation of shrouded history, while her poetry focuses upon observation of the modern world.