Arkansas State University Literary Society
from Locust Creek Relief
The Arkansas State literary magazine prior to the current publication was entitled Locust Creek Relief. The magazine stopped publication in 1994. Here are selections of poetry from that publication.
Unsent Message
| Yesterday I watched, |
| while the engine cooled |
| on the side of a dusty |
| farm road, as a little |
| boy kicked an empty can |
| to the cheers of an imaginary crowd. I noticed |
| a distant glint in his eyes |
| and thought about his |
| mother. For some reason I |
| imagined her hanging cotton |
| sheets in the dry breeze or |
| relaxing on the porch swing |
| with long bronzed legs |
| propped on a peach crate. |
| I wondered if she was thinking |
| about her husband in the field |
| of her memory's lover |
| that she could feel even now |
| tracing the curves of her body |
| until they were as familiar |
| as the tool of his trade. |
| I wanted her to know I watched |
| as her son kicked an empty can |
| to the cheers of an imaginary crowd |
| and one stranded traveler. |
| by Steven Campbell |
Untitled
| I met the carnival, |
| lying in the street |
| pretending to be awake |
| witht the misfit lightbulbs |
| that make up the gaping community |
| of convicts and liars |
| An unblinking rabbit |
| stared at me |
| like a redlight. |
And though I wanted her |
| I knew that she would die |
by tomorrow. |
| And a colored man asked me |
| once and again, wouldn't I |
| like to throw his four |
| blue rubber rings |
| around an antique Royal Crown |
| bottle and win some winsome |
| prodigies? |
| A chick peeping? |
| A rabbit dying? |
| A carnival lying |
| in the street |
| pretending to be awake? |
And throughout the tattooed |
| geometric farmland |
| where bison once roamed |
| free like water |
| and wild bliss grew |
| so high that it was |
| suffocating to the |
| Great White heart, |
| I can dream the |
| carnivals: |
| Graceful stiltwalkers selling |
| dust |
| laughing like Christmas trees |
| orbiting hynotically |
| through space, |
| the same space |
| that held Even and the Adder. |
| By Kate Norris |