Zenith Issue 4

Growth and Guilt

Tess Kamradt

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Birdsong

Emmylane Linh Palmersheim

foraging for field flowers in-between brick and mortar
where there’s only fingerfuls of moss nestled into cement caulking.
the birds no longer feast here.
this ground is no longer meals for the masses.
no more worms to wrap beak around.

time shows itself.
evidence,
statistics,
logistics.
it makes perfect sense if one lets it.
flowers die and birds starve and
bars are torn down and apartment buildings are built
and the birds migrate or die before they leave
or make it somewhere better and come back again.

why doesn’t the dirt settle?
why doesn’t the digging decelerate?

these seeds won’t sprout.
there may be no seeds here ever again.
but birds, loyal to their ground keep trying
to find food where their feathers cannot reach
anything but dust and death and decay and doom.
persistence is romantic, but it cannot feed you, one-winged dove.

stop looking for love in the wrong places.
stop planting seeds where water can’t reach them.

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Reform

Tess Kamradt

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Komorebi

milo

Would you look for me at the end of the world?
I will have built us a log cabin,
With its pine-sap smell
And brown wood walls
To ensure us that everything will end up–
Well, once we know that
We can start a garden,
And during the warm months,
When the sun comes through the trees
At the right angle,
And lights up the world in
Green and gold
We can gather tomatoes,
Ripe enough to burst in our hands
Red juice staining our fingers,
Running down our wrists
And eat them in the grass
As bugs float around us like dust motes,
Like the best Sunday mornings in our memories.
Then in the cold months,
When our garden sleeps under its snow-blanket,
We’ll build fires in our log cabin,
And huddle under our own blankets with cups
Of something warm and comforting,
Something like childhood.
We can watch the fire throw off sparks,
Carry the scent of smoke with us
Let it stain our maple walls.
We can hibernate,
Wait for the sun to rise early and set late
And we’ll know that the world is–
Well, this is only if
You look for me at the end of the world.

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Painted Feathers

Sydney Smithgall

We find it difficult to start healing again
when the creeping frost lets go, the bitter winds
releasing their grip on gray skies to free the downpour
straining against months of feeble silver linings.
Aren’t flowers supposed to bloom in sunlight?
Yet petals unfurling only fertilize a heavy heart
with insult, for fear of not keeping up with an array
of new beginnings the season has forced upon you.
Promises of growth packed into dirt thaw and turn to mud
under webbed feet, taunting freshly opened eyes
with flight and flowers and a hunger for recovery
previously satiated by full winter moons.

We found it easy to pause healing, to take seasonal
comfort tucked inside a nest of silky down feathers
that made even the sting of silence feel soft and
sweet in its familiarity. It would be safe, to
stay. Healing is blooming and blooming is messy,
an unruly riot of color so violent it paints the underside
of the swan swooping low over blossoms. Healing is more
than pure white wings; we have learned that pristine snow
is only loved from a distance. That cry of color
from a healing swan is the wail of a winter wraith
at last relinquishing its haunt, handing us over
to the invitation of spring songbirds.

We let go now. Our final notes propel us
into open air as we leave the frost behind
to creep through memory instead.

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Contributors

Abby Blamowski
Abby Blamowski (she/her) is a junior at SUNY Oswego, double
majoring in creative writing and communications. When she’s
not writing, she enjoys film photography and spending time
with friends.

Kate Bradley
Kate (they/them) is a 19-year-old artist from Newcastle, now
based in Glasgow. Their work engages with sensitivity, spiritu-
ality, and loss, encompassed in poetry, songwriting, and perfor-
mance, rooting into a folk-style of storytelling. To see more of
their work, follow them on Instagram @createbradley.

Noelle Franzone
Noelle Franzone (she/her) is a freshman at the University of
Iowa studying English and creative writing. She enjoys writing,
reading, and writing poetry in science classes. She continuously
draws inspiration from nature and life experiences (even though
she has very little experience.)

Josephine Geiger-Lee
Josephine Geiger-Lee (she/her) is a freshman at the Universi-
ty of Iowa studying English and creative writing. She grew up
in Omaha, NE, and, as a result, is trying desperately to write
anything more interesting than that. If she is not writing, she
can be found listening to Billy Joel or Taylor Swift.

Antionette Rose Goodrich
Antionette Rose Goodrich (she/her) is a third year student at
the University of Iowa majoring in English and creative writing
as well as Spanish. Her hometown is Boiling Springs, Pennsyl-
vania, and she is very excited to be studying abroad in Uruguay
next year. When she is not studying or writing, she loves playing

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board games with friends, choreographing color guard routines,
and hugging her dog.

Tess Kamradt
Tess Kamradt is a second year student at the University of
Iowa studying to double major in graphic design and art educa-
tion. She loves cartoons and nature, and often spends her time
drawing her own cartoon characters and listening to music.

Kelli Lage
Kelli Lage is earning her degree in secondary English educa-
tion and works as a substitute teacher. She is a poetry reader for
Bracken Magazine. Lage’s work has appeared in The Lumiere
Review, Welter Journal, Watershed Review, and elsewhere.
Website: KelliLage.com.

Cheyenne Mann
Cheyenne Mann is a third year student studying chemistry and
creative writing at the University of Iowa. They are likely asleep
at this very moment.

Precious McKenzie
Precious McKenzie has a PhD in British literature from the Uni-
versity of South Florida and an MFA in writing from Spalding
University. She is a 2022 Fulbright Scholar in Ireland. She is an
associate professor of English at Rocky Mountain College.

Meg Mechelke
Meg Mechelke is a third year student at the University of Iowa.
They are studying theatre and creative writing. Their favorite
color is yellow :)

milo
milo is a first year student at the University of Iowa, majoring
in English and creative writing. In her free time, milo enjoys
delving far too deep into the etymology of fantasy languages

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and over-analyzing the plot points of children’s shows.
Occasionally, she will even write her own pieces.

Signe Nettum
Signe Nettum is a fourth year student at the University of Iowa,
double majoring in English and creative writing and Journal-
ism and mass communication (though it sometimes feels like
four). She is pulled across campus in many directions thanks to
her extracurriculars: radio DJ, swim instructor, English Society
Captain, and Editor-in-Chief of Horizon Magazine. She’s cur-
rently navigating her future toward a multi-movie deal on her
amazing (not-yet-written) book series.

B.A. O’Connell
When a pivotal moment in B.A’s youth caused them to turn to
poetry with serious intent, it changed their life. Today, they
often pen four to eight poems a day. B.A’s poetry and their blog
(https://hellishrebukesystem.tumblr.com) focuses on poems
and art centring around trauma, recovery, and mental health.
B.A also touches on themes of abusive, obsessive, and unhealthy
relationships, and the pain of moving on from them. Find out
more on their Twitter @OnceIateataco.

Emmylane Linh Palmersheim
Emmylane Linh Palmersheim is an Iowa City based learning
scientist, educational practitioner, creative writer, and perform-
ing artist. A gossip by nature and Buddhist by choice, ELP has
been featured, published, and performed in countless creative
endeavors in the corridor since their childhood in Cedar Rapids.
ELP is a queer, trans, disabled, Việt person and likes it that way,
baby!

Cassidy Pekarek
Cassidy Pekarek (she/her) is a fourth year student at the Uni-
versity of Iowa, graduating this spring with a double major in
English & creative writing and art history. She also found time

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to sneak a minor in studio art into her schedule. She’ll be leaving
Iowa City soon after the semester comes to an end, but hopes to
continue making the most of her time left here by creating new
memories and finding more ways to preserve them through art
and writing.

Charlie Pettigrew
Irish born, now living in Barcelona, Charlie Pettigrew began
writing poetry in late 2010. He has had numerous poems
accepted by literary magazines in Ireland, Scotland, and
England.

Sydney Smithgall
Sydney is a first year English and creative writing major from
Illinois pursuing music and psychology minors. In her free time,
Sydney likes to read fantasy and sci-fi books, write poetry, go
hiking, and play tennis. She is currently on staff for two literary
magazines on campus and loves talking with other writers.

Alexandria Wyckoff
Alexandria Wyckoff is currently a junior at SUNY Oswego,
majoring in creative writing. Once graduated she plans to work
in the publishing industry and free write in her spare time. She
lives in Gilboa, New York with her family and loves reading
books on rainy days.

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Fin.

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