Poem: The Process
Poem: Blue Flame
Story: Aspects of the Universe
Slam Poem: Yukon's Cherry Coke Phobia Experiment
Slam Poem: 13 Steps to Successfully Kidnap Someone
Group Poem: Melting Into Beauty
Screenplay: The Junebugs' Night Out
THE PROCESS
The process by which one creates
Mixing different ideas and ingredients together
To make something new for this surreal world
The spherical figure of the globe
Confined to the shape of a small apple
An apple to be mixed with others
Like a soup or stew of our universe
Bringing bits and pieces in an order
Until something is made up of it
As the sun blends the planets
Combining them until something new is made
Like the life of our world
With cities and people
Animals and plants
Parts of this jumbled mess we have created
To call ourselves a piece to the puzzle
And lock the place that holds us
Within a world that has millions upon millions
Of species that connect us all together like parts of a story
Pieces to a puzzle
Ingredients of the cake that our world has become
To bake is to make and to make is to live
BLUE FLAME
In Loving Memory of Izabella Phoenix Eckhardt
the flame of a burning candle
no– a light shining from within:
a light flowing through those around…
blue flame—
the hottest,
the warmest one in a room—
blue like the ocean,
and all of its colorful creatures,
swimming throughout the waters.
water puts out the fire,
the flame
but not yours.
the flames of your candle will not go out—
they will burn,
burn from the wick, the wax,
burn from the ashes it creates.
the ashes fuel the fire:
the fire raises from the ashes.
like a phoenix, a blue phoenix.
burning from what it has lost.
when you are away,
the blue flame shines brighter.
ASPECTS OF THE UNIVERSE
“This meeting is in session!”
“Order, order!!”
Up in the sky, a cave shadows the white, fluffy clouds. In that cave, a circle room holds a
meeting of the aspects of the universe. A smooth black figure stood at the end of a long table. Alongside him, seven other figures sat around the table. These seven formed the aspects of the universe. Six of these aspects are coordinated with a certain color; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. One of these, however, shows the shape of a regular human, without a distinct color, but just as important.
“Minutes?”
With the voice of the black figure echoing throughout the room, the blue figure stands to read the minutes of their last meeting. Going minute, by minute, the blue form finished every step of their last meeting within seconds. She had each thing she was planning on saying written down on a singular piece of paper.
“Thank you, Octavia.”
Octavia, blue, is the aspect of order. They left her in charge of anything that has to do with being organized and clean. Octavia makes sure that each meeting goes as planned and doesn’t go off the rails. Her job, however, becomes difficult with her counterpart, Christopher a.k.a. Chaos. He takes the form of an orange figure. Chaos sits across from Order on the long table of aspects. Sitting beside the pair were two other figures. Yellow and red. The red, known as Evaline Evil, contrasts her opposite, Grant Good.
The black figure continued on with his announcements while Good was trying to stop Evil from destroying the entire meeting room. She started with simple misfortune, such as folding the “Important Papers” into paper airplanes and throwing them towards the black figure. Luckily, Good was able to maneuver the airplanes to dodge the head figure. Grant moved each and every one that Evaline threw. He knew that if one of the makeshift airplanes hit the black figure, both of the pair would be terminated from the aspects. Meanwhile, the final couple had their focus on something completely different than what was going on around them. The green figure sat across from the purple figure on the long table of aspects. Dylan Death pulled his focus onto a small circle placed right in front of him. This circle played the part of a portal to the world below that we know as, Earth. Watching intently at his opening, Death scrolled through the people walking the streets below, the people laying in hospital and their own beds, or just people sitting in their school rooms. Dylan swiped past most, but some, he clicked on. Watching from above, the chosen people fell from where they were and their heartbeats stopped immediately. Those people faced his job, they face death. On the other hand, Lillian Life watched a similar portal that held the ability to scroll through some of the same people as Death, but she only scrolled through those who are expecting. Life chose special people to birth children into the new world.
“Finally, can I have last meeting’s data?”
The black figure’s voice belowed in the quiet room. The final aspect, at the end of the table, stood to read the data logged from the last meeting. He, the human figure, does not have a specific purpose towards the universe, but he, still, is the head figure’s favorite of the seven. Order, Chaos, Good, Evil, Life, and Death all found their seventh counterpart as odd and useless, but without him, the universe wouldn’t be able to function.
“Thank you. Dismissed!”
Each aspect left the room.
Octavia Order: Blue
Universe dismissed us all. This was meeting #1163, counted myself. It was, interesting, to say the least. Everything would have gone just fine if it weren’t for Chaos. He’s the one who told Evil to make those stupid paper airplanes and throw them at Universe anyway. He even took some of MY papers! Chaos doesn’t even need to be there. It’s not like he listens anyway. All he does is play games and mess around with Evil.
Not to be rude to Universe, but he’s really stupid for sitting those two by each other. Poor Good would have been terminated if he wasn’t able to stop one of the airplanes from hitting them. They are asking to get their jobs revoked.
It’s better now, though. I get to sit here in my peaceful library organizing all the minute books from the last 1162 meetings. I have them arranged by size, shape, meeting number, what happened, and who all showed up to each meeting so I can read that aloud to the following meetings. All my books are blue, of course, because it brings a calming mindset and makes it much easier to live in rather than having and whole mess of orange lying around.
Christopher Chaos: Orange
I don’t get what Octavia’s problem is. I am just having fun. Not everything has to be “clean” or “calm.” I personally like orange. It brings character and energy. Not just blue that is used everywhere. Orange is unique and fun. Most people don’t like it, including Octavia, but it is just as good as any other color.
I like Evaline, she knows how to bring the life of the party. She comes up with new fun ideas for each meeting. If it weren’t for us the entire meeting would be flat out boring.
Evaline Evil: Red
Christopher is great. He’ll listen to anything I tell him. It's nice to have a break from the bright, happy yellow smog that hovers Grant everywhere he goes. He is way too “good” all the time. It’s not fair! Everyone praises him and thinks he is higher than everyone else. Every single person I talk to is all like; “Grant is so nice,” “I wish everyone was like Mr. Good!” “Life would be so much better if Grant was the only one there!!!” It is so annoying!! I could be good too ya know! It’s just more fun to do something different for a change. And the yellow, it’s too bright and happy. Red is cooler, more original, and makes you look badass!
Grant Good: Yellow
Evaline needs to relax! It’s not that big of a deal! All I did was make sure that we didn’t get terminated. She should be grateful for me being there or she would lose her job! Also, if she calls my yellow light “smog” again, I will— ugh! It’s just called being nice and fun with everyone. And not like the “fun” Evil has. The fun that makes people happy and enjoy living.
It’s not like I’m always happy but I’m literally here for the good of the world. Like Lillian, we work together to bring happiness and health into this living world. Honestly, if it were just us two and Order, things would be so much easier!
Lillian Life: Green
I am so thankful for Grant and Octavia! Without them, we would not be able to hold these meetings. Besides we need them, the meetings. It’s the only time I can actually work on my job. Don’t get me wrong, I love green, it represents life. However, it can be distracting at times.
Also, being able to see what Dylan is doing across from me makes my choices a lot easier. Most of the other pairs in the room hate each other, but in my opinion, Death makes it easier for me to do my job. Instead of seeing that he is destroying what I have created, I see it as a new opportunity to create something new. I get it, I know it’s not normal to not hate your counterpart, but I don’t, I promise.
Dylan Death: Purple
Sitting in my purple home makes everything so much better. It’s cool, deep, and comforting. Most importantly, it’s not distracting like it is at all those stupid meetings. With Grant’s yellow glow and Lillian’s leaves spreading all the way across the table. It is just so annoying! My job is so much easier when it is just me because I can do what I want when I want. For Pete’s sake if I get one more judgeful look from that, that HUMAN!! I might actually lose it. With pure honesty it’s not Lillian, Grant, Order, Chaos, or Evaline that annoys me the most during those meetings, it’s him. The human! How could he be an aspect? Exactly, he’s not. That idiot just sits there and stares at Universe like a stupid puppy. And then he goes back to Earth and lives his happy, little, stupid life! And the worst part is, that guy has a shield on him that prevents me from being able to kill him!!! It’s ridiculous, it is literally my job to kill people, and the person who I want to– who deserves it most, I can’t.
Dave from Accounting: Human
I’m honestly scared of Dylan. He glares at me while he kills people. I’m just lucky Universe gave me that infinite shield. Going to these meetings once a month is way better than my old job at accounting anyway. I don’t know, I think Universe actually is happy that I’m there. I give him first-hand information about the real world. I give him, and the other aspects, data and advice, even if it may seem like they don’t really want it. And with the job, I get so many benefits. Obviously, I can’t die, I get a free house, infinite food, and many other things. Besides, I get to see what goes on beyond our atmosphere and why it all happens. I actually enjoy this job.
—
“Meeting #1164 is in session!”
As usual, Universe’s voice bellowed through the office room.
“So, something new is going to happen. I am already aware that most of you will not like this, but it is a change that I have decided will make the Earth a better place.”
Mumbling scattered throughout the room, starting from Life and Death, spreading to Good and Evil, before it reaches its way Order and Chaos. Quiet, however, sat Dave at the clear end of the table. Perplexed by what Universe had in mind for the human race.
“Okay, settle down. Now, what I have decided, is there are too many aspects to control the world, Earth.”
The muttering continued with the shutter of Universe’s words. Confusion spread from one chair to another. Voices could be broken from the incoherent murmur of the crowd.
“What does he ‘too many’?”
“Is he gonna terminate someone?”
“I have nowhere to go if I get let off!”
“SILENCE!”
Universe’s scream muted the room immediately.
“No one is being terminated, but no one is keeping their original job either.”
Puzzled complections were shared through each aspect.
“Each counterpart will be joined together. Order, Chaos, you will become Placement and
take the form of Umber. Good, Evil, you will become Advice and take the form of Coral.
And finally, Life, Death, you will become Cycle and take the form of Turquoise.”
As Universe listed off each part, he forced them together to create the new figure that he mentioned. At the same time, the long, grand table shortened to a round table with four chairs sitting around it. The new aspects sat in their chairs. Placement and Advice held their heads from the headache the opposites created among themselves. Cycle, on the other hand, worked together and got twice as much work done in the same amount of time. Dave, still confused, sat at the opposite end of the table looking around at his new colleagues wondering if something was going to happen to him.
“Each new aspect, attention! While I have a chat with our human coworker, I would like you all to choose your Aspect Name.”
As Universe and Dave left the room, the other three chose their names, some quicker than others.
“Our new name will be Celia Cycle!” exclaimed the only working pair.
Next was Placement, “Parker Placement, everybody.”
“And finally, we will be known as Adalynn Advice!”
After each announced their name, a name card appeared in front of their seats.
Immediately once the final card appeared, Dave and Universe entered the room. However, Dave wasn’t a human anymore. Instead, he had a new form, a white figure.
“Aspects, this is Galaxy.”
Shock filled the room. Disgust, as well. Celia, in particular, was overtaken by Death’s thoughts of anger at the shutter of these words.
“Why does he get an upgrade, while the actual aspects get literally cut off?!”
“CYCLE! This is enough!”
Universe bellowed across the room at the recent figure, fury building up inside of him. After a few moments, some of his anger subsided, but not all.
“If any of you does not settle down, I will have no choice but to terminate you.”
All the chatter was silenced almost immediately. It remained this way for about seven minutes until a whisper erupted from the dead air.
“He can’t afford to terminate any of us.”
As these words broke from Advice, the lights started to flicker. Everything in the room started shaking, and the figure fell through the steam floor. The events of termination have begun.
“Anyone else?”