Winter 2016: Young Voices

Submerged

Nonfiction by Raimy Khalife Hamdan

The heat tangles between us, clinging onto our skin in syrupy droplets. My cousin presses into my side, fanning herself with an old newspaper. Arabic clouds together, and I try not to lose myself in the cursive writing, knotted with stories of bombs and deaths. The cries haunt me, bleeding every time I see another one of those blurry pictures.

“How much longer?” I groan to my aunt, who sits on my other side. It’s been ten minutes that we’ve been waiting in this small car. The driver, a thin teenage boy with wild curls, hums random notes to a song. He glances back, frowning, as I groan once more.

The cars tail behind each other, honking endlessly. There’s some shouting, a couple of greetings. The brick buildings that line the side of the road are painted cream, peeling from the decades. Some kids, dressed in shorts and soccer jerseys, climb around the cars, squealing as they chase each other through the burning thickness.

I shut my eyes, hoping for the car to move. The unknown lady who sits in front, wearing a purple headscarf and painted lips, keeps complaining to our driver, who just ignores her. I lean into my cousin’s shoulder, the heaviness weighing me.

Soft rapping at the half-open window wakens me. I turn, and suddenly face a pair of chocolate eyes. That’s all I can think, for a moment. I swim in their waves, awed at the beauty. Then I see the face: bronzed and smooth, smudged with scarlet and dirt. Tiny round nose, dried lips. Purple staining one cheek, a faint scar on the other. Frizzy curls matted with dirt spiral around the young face.

I rub my eyes, as she raps once more on the window. I hear her pleading in imperfect Arabic, pleading for a couple coins. For anything. Our driver just continues humming. I look back to my aunt, who doesn’t say anything. Dazed, I pull some crinkled bills from my bag and slide them through the window. The girl pulls them from me eagerly, willing God to bless me countlessly, and limps away to another car.

“A Syrian refugee,” My cousin whispers to me sadly. I don’t say anything back, watching the little girl beg in zigzags.

Finally, the cars ahead of us begin to move, and the woman in the purple scarf lets out an annoyingly long sigh. We drive past the brick buildings until they’re nothing but smudges of peach. I fall asleep with the sticky wind blowing into my face.

Hours later, when we get to our apartment, I sit beside my grandfather, watching him read the newspaper while I chew on dried dates. I read the headlines blindly, following the words as they hiss right back at me. My grandfather turns a page, folding it backwards, and I see a picture of a small boy. No older than the girl from before. Skinny. Blackened cheeks and a torn shirt. And then … the eyes. They’re everywhere. I’m drowning in these chocolate oceans.

Poetry Celebrating nature, home and the cycles of life – twenty poets light the winter night.		Prose Six stories use magic to explore loss, grief and healing.		Artwork With imagery of flora and fauna, four artists animate the winter landscape.		Young Voices Five young women dig deep to each speak their individual truth .		Contributors From emerging to established writers – meet the women behind our eighth issue’s voices and visions.

LETTER FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR POETRY         Northwest Equinox by Kris Demien         Gradations of Gray by Wendy Thompson         With Gladness by Sara Graves         Home by Leora Marialicia González         For a Grade School Classmate by Joan Maiers         Canning Factory Road by Elizabeth Stoessl         To Make a Prairie by Carolyn Martin         At Home by Suzy Harris         Family Disagreement by Tricia Knoll         The Bullfrogs by Katherine Boyer         Cows by Rebecca Jamieson         Lesson by Stacey Vallas         Stardust by Erin Iwata         Perspective by Carolyn Martin         Lacrosse Season by Elizabeth Harlan-Ferlo         The Tangled Path by Suzanne LaGrande         Matched Set by Tanya Jarvik         False Bus Stop by Elizabeth Harlan-Ferlo         Last Visit by Erin Iwata         October Walk with My Mother by Ann Sinclair         First Rothko Exercise by Elizabeth McLagan         Fractions by Susan Blackaby         Tea by Melineh Yemenidjian         Return by Stacey Vallas PROSE         Scarab Man by Cynthia McGean         Planetary Influences by Alida Thacher         Bone of the Past by Burky Achilles         Teachings: A Buddhist Ghost Story by Ann Sihler         Wrangler by Desiree Wright         A Nicaraguan Spring by Pamela Russell Bejerano FEATURED ART         Into the Wonder by Annamieka Hopps Davidson         Deep Blue Meditation by Annamieka Hopps Davidson         Weave Me Into the Sea by Annamieka Hopps Davidson         Crassula 2 by Alison Foshee         Crassula 5 by Alison Foshee         Crassula 6 by Alison Foshee         Warm Autumn by Tamar Hammer         Girl with Conch by Tamar Hammer         With Her Dog by Tamar Hammer YOUNG VOICES         Love Beyond Loss by Isabel Lickey         Submerged by Raimy Khalife Hamdan         Which Way? by Alli Rodenbaugh         To Autumn by Sara Barkouli         The Storm by Elie Doubleday CONTRIBUTORS