Grackles Mourning
Mara Popa ‘26
About a year ago, I was waiting for my mom in the parking lot when we spotted a group of grackles on the ground in a circle. There was a dead bird squarely in the middle. I'd never seen anything like a "crow funeral" before, but seeing a crowd collectively screaming out over a body made me realize why people tell those stories. It seemed so alarmingly human to me that I've been making art about it since then. This painting explores the attachment between humanity and animality as well as our tendency to pin our human ideals onto nonhuman forms. After all, it is entirely possible I'll never know what it really was that I saw.
Evergreen Ecstasy
An Evergreen gives shade,
much like the shade from an outreaching Oak,
it’s willowy limbs embracing its leaves in dark hues of green.
A tree is a symbol, its Evergreen aura
holding comfort, a haven, a reminder
of better times, of simpler lives,
clear skies & joyful cries, times blinded by nostalgia.
Times valued yet forgotten.
Memories held under the thought of an Evergreen’s shade.
Christian Nemes ‘28
I originally wrote this piece for my creative writing class, but enjoyed the topic and my initial work so much I chose to experiment with it outside of school. I varied different language and poetic aspects within the piece and tried to encapsulate the feeling of nostalgia. I felt mostly inspired by the class and wanted to see what I could accomplish with what I had learned.