Mental Note Literary Magazine
Artist: Kendra Larue Perry, Class of 2025
The blue house on Wheelan
by Hazel Bradley
He lives in a blue house
In a busy neighborhood
But his house was a void
Of the bustle that surrounded it
His steps echo
So he wears slippers
He only needs one chair
But he owns many
He never eats pretzels
But he keeps them in the cabinet anyways
He does everything
To make it seem as though
He isn’t alone
But he isn’t fooling himself
Someday soon
He will start fresh
He will spend time
With all sorts of people
They will fill his blue house
Fill it up enough that
that there is no room for echoes
They will sit in chairs
And eat pretzels
And bring new generations
Into the man’s life
Because all the ones he used to know
Left
And the man will be happy
He will have color in his cheeks
And his joints will stop creaking
But for now
He sits in his blue house
A void in a world of chaos
Alone
"Whirlpool" by Mirna Reyes-Hernandez
Highway
Max Chartier
Speeding by,
The townsfolk went.
Merging and blurring
Reality.
Faster they went,
Merging into each other,
Causing traffic,
Grief,
Boredom,
Music.
Riding along,
As tunes of a wide
Variety
Drifted over their
Tired eyes.
Music replaced
By news and podcasts.
Lights of glowing rectangles
Taking away their vision.
Merging with one another,
Unknowing,
Til everybody stopped,
And saw the true horror
They were making.
But still,
They sped by.
Till none were left,
Speeding
bye.
Rain
Drip.
There are many things I hate about rain: the way the gloomy clouds block the bright warm sun, the way the dirt soaks in the water that splashes mud on my shoes, and the way the cold muggy air hits my face.
Drop.
There are many things I like about rain; the green leaves that glisten through round raindrops, the smell of rain falling from the dull blue sky, and the water that pools up and falls through the Earth's cracks and holes.
Rain is a ugly, beautiful mess of dark, cold skies and that familiar song of drops hitting the ground as I walk down the wet street full of strangers who dare not to look up at the world around them. The unappreciated weather soothes the mind but covers the joy of summer heat. Perhaps that is the reason we people hate rain so much, but we must learn that without it, those brightly colored flowers we adore, would be no more.
I love the rain.
- Leena Esquilin