"Stuck in a Rut"
By Justine Specht
I'm trying to fly away
But I'm stuck in a rut
I'm trying to spread my wings
But they've been cut
I'm trying to leave this place
But the door's pulled shut
I'm trying to gain some faith
But I'm stuck in a rut
Let go
Unlock my chains
Open up the cage
Let me out
Of this house
Take down the barbwire
Let down
That wall
That guards your feelings
Because I'm not going to let
Myself take this
Anymore
"I have been in the University Transfer Program for two and a half years and will be transferring to UWSP in the fall semester of 2011. In the long run I hope to achieve a Master's Degree in Counseling to become a mental health counselor or a counselor for teenagers and young adults. Poetry has been a wonderful way for me in the past to express my feelings, and I plan to encourage my clients to incorporate poetry in their life as well."
* * * * * * * * * *
By Janet Neurauter
sinking back
back
into where they wanted to thrust him
he felt the tingle of his flesh
and the vision.
yellow sand
and heat waves coming up
above
Christ
in his flowing robes,
crown of thorns,
blood dripping
Christ quivering in the desert heat
coming up from Tucson.
"This poem is the result of an exercise in a poetry class in the mid 1970s. We were to take a paragraph from a favorite book and keep eliminating words until all that was left was the essence. We were not allowed to change any words or change their order. This is from Johnny Got His Gun, an anti-war novel written by Dalton Trumbo in 1938."
