RIO's August E-Zine
Part One
So this happened at WORDSWORTH
by Alexis Kelly
Art by the RIOites
My Suitcase A Spoken Word poem by Mary Innes
I am a suitcase of nerves, jumbled and confused, coiled, ready to spring open and shut. Of life and love and hope and fear. Of names in foreign tongues, places beyond the horizon. A bucket list: China, Russia, India, Nigeria, and other places ending in A. Of stars and skies, distant planets and far off worlds. Of travelers and minstrels and journeymen and thieves.
I am holding in me magicians and pirates, airships and birds. Knives, swords, guns and steel all bound up in a hardcover book.
There are wishes and dreams, lands beyond conscious imaginings, cat’s cradles, and spider’s webs. Stairs and steps and cliffs and ladders.
I am bursting with desires, like pins and needles in my mind. Mad optimism and deluded sadness. Crazy, crazy notions dreamed up half asleep.
Hidden inside me there are tunnels, burrowing deep into my core. Wells of icy black water and fallen starlight. The most brilliant ideas and most precious secrets hidden in the labyrinth of my being. A shapeless nameless endless thing and the turn of the universe. Great lords and small gods. Shame and rage and hatred, ships in the night.
I dream of trolls and countries. Of detectives and fezzes and angels. Of ghosts from my past that vanish as soon as I focus on them. Demons and heavenly war and things that are far greater than I will ever be. Of rain, rain, rain, and ruin. Floods that shake mountains and drown unicorns.
Deep within me there are hammers and spears and eight-legged horses. Stiches and flesh wounds and bargains with jotuns. There are trees made of lighting and million to one chances.
And I am bursting, flying, tearing, running, and thinking with, for, and of these things. Yes, these incredible things. Then I sit back and stare at my overstuffed suitcase, I realize that there is not a single thing I’d leave behind.
I am holding in me magicians and pirates, airships and birds. Knives, swords, guns and steel all bound up in a hardcover book.
There are wishes and dreams, lands beyond conscious imaginings, cat’s cradles, and spider’s webs. Stairs and steps and cliffs and ladders.
I am bursting with desires, like pins and needles in my mind. Mad optimism and deluded sadness. Crazy, crazy notions dreamed up half asleep.
Hidden inside me there are tunnels, burrowing deep into my core. Wells of icy black water and fallen starlight. The most brilliant ideas and most precious secrets hidden in the labyrinth of my being. A shapeless nameless endless thing and the turn of the universe. Great lords and small gods. Shame and rage and hatred, ships in the night.
I dream of trolls and countries. Of detectives and fezzes and angels. Of ghosts from my past that vanish as soon as I focus on them. Demons and heavenly war and things that are far greater than I will ever be. Of rain, rain, rain, and ruin. Floods that shake mountains and drown unicorns.
Deep within me there are hammers and spears and eight-legged horses. Stiches and flesh wounds and bargains with jotuns. There are trees made of lighting and million to one chances.
And I am bursting, flying, tearing, running, and thinking with, for, and of these things. Yes, these incredible things. Then I sit back and stare at my overstuffed suitcase, I realize that there is not a single thing I’d leave behind.
Apples Vs Doors - the Movie
by Emily Firmston
black out poetry by Olive DiCintio
The Light by Mary Innes
Lights and crystals, lover’s eyes
Bulbs and lamps and wayward skies
Lightening trees and hope and shame
The reason that we know his name
Piano keys and old church bells
Ends of tunnels and bottoms of wells
Radium clocks and teeth of old
Uranium, astatine, silver, and gold
Then darkness comes from the back of a cave
Below a mountain, the spare room of a rave
There is the light of summer, spring and fall
But who says darkness doesn't trump them all.
Bulbs and lamps and wayward skies
Lightening trees and hope and shame
The reason that we know his name
Piano keys and old church bells
Ends of tunnels and bottoms of wells
Radium clocks and teeth of old
Uranium, astatine, silver, and gold
Then darkness comes from the back of a cave
Below a mountain, the spare room of a rave
There is the light of summer, spring and fall
But who says darkness doesn't trump them all.
by Teighan Jones
Instructions for Surviving the Apocalypse –WordsWorth Group Poem by Mary Pinkoski’s Spoken Word Map class
Some say the world will end in fire
Others in ice
We think it might end in apocalypse
Surviving the Apocalypse:
A Guide!
First of all,
Just take a minute
Trust yourself
You know what’s left and right
What’s moral and unethical
Don’t choose the later unless you have to
Run!
Fast enough that they won’t catch you
Run!
Do what you can to survive
Or end your own life
Run!
No emotional bonds!
Every person for themselves
Run!
As fast as you can
Breath gulping the stale dead air
Run!
Lead them on a wild goose chase
Take a minute to realize what it is that has just happened
It has happened,
The self-righteous twenty-somethings have united!
Take a minute to realize this,
But don’t let yourself go into shock;
If you go into shock,
you will die
and that’s a fact
Know the symptoms:
Rattling breath
Deep thirst
Nightmares
A dizziness you can’t shake
Fragile bruising and
Deep aches in the ribs
Safety is hidden, tangled
in our ideas of reality and survival
robotic mosquito bombs
water
a metal force field
an electric fence
a bazooka
gas mask
knives and guns
underground chamber
decoy house
floating hut
Remember to keep a vast collection of pointless subcultures art and literature to disguise yourself as the enemy
Buildings will fall
People will die
Cities will flood
Landscapes will burn
Find safety,
Find it in the smoke in the air.
the raining ash,
the clouded water in the marsh
Find it in:
the fire extinguisher
the flame
the jet pack
the rocket boots
the restraints
the drugs to stop infection
Find safety
Because the fact is, the world’s just been obliterated by meteors
The fact is, over half the world’s population is dead
and a large portion of that is probably people you know and love
Say goodbye every night
Tell everyone,
“I love you”
“I will remember you”
“Goodbye”
There can be no time lost in the event of apocalypse
So know there is nothing you can do then,
So say goodbye now
Keep hope;
Always return to a group
Other people to help you rebuild
Learn to pray
Learn to sing
If looking for a safer place, go to wherever the twenty-somethings protested against,
as it will hold no more complaining value
Depression
Nightmares and
Solitude
Make you vulnerable
So do not allow them to take over
Your courage will exasperate your soul
Your loyalty will ignite the bravery of others
Your faith in yourself will feed the motivation for a solution
If your cover is blown,
Be sure to have an essay attacking an imagined oppression and
offering a hypocritical solution on hand to quickly provide a
distraction and a
window of escape
Be sure to destroy any art forms in your possession
that even hold the slightest quality and potential
Others in ice
We think it might end in apocalypse
Surviving the Apocalypse:
A Guide!
First of all,
Just take a minute
Trust yourself
You know what’s left and right
What’s moral and unethical
Don’t choose the later unless you have to
Run!
Fast enough that they won’t catch you
Run!
Do what you can to survive
Or end your own life
Run!
No emotional bonds!
Every person for themselves
Run!
As fast as you can
Breath gulping the stale dead air
Run!
Lead them on a wild goose chase
Take a minute to realize what it is that has just happened
It has happened,
The self-righteous twenty-somethings have united!
Take a minute to realize this,
But don’t let yourself go into shock;
If you go into shock,
you will die
and that’s a fact
Know the symptoms:
Rattling breath
Deep thirst
Nightmares
A dizziness you can’t shake
Fragile bruising and
Deep aches in the ribs
Safety is hidden, tangled
in our ideas of reality and survival
robotic mosquito bombs
water
a metal force field
an electric fence
a bazooka
gas mask
knives and guns
underground chamber
decoy house
floating hut
Remember to keep a vast collection of pointless subcultures art and literature to disguise yourself as the enemy
Buildings will fall
People will die
Cities will flood
Landscapes will burn
Find safety,
Find it in the smoke in the air.
the raining ash,
the clouded water in the marsh
Find it in:
the fire extinguisher
the flame
the jet pack
the rocket boots
the restraints
the drugs to stop infection
Find safety
Because the fact is, the world’s just been obliterated by meteors
The fact is, over half the world’s population is dead
and a large portion of that is probably people you know and love
Say goodbye every night
Tell everyone,
“I love you”
“I will remember you”
“Goodbye”
There can be no time lost in the event of apocalypse
So know there is nothing you can do then,
So say goodbye now
Keep hope;
Always return to a group
Other people to help you rebuild
Learn to pray
Learn to sing
If looking for a safer place, go to wherever the twenty-somethings protested against,
as it will hold no more complaining value
Depression
Nightmares and
Solitude
Make you vulnerable
So do not allow them to take over
Your courage will exasperate your soul
Your loyalty will ignite the bravery of others
Your faith in yourself will feed the motivation for a solution
If your cover is blown,
Be sure to have an essay attacking an imagined oppression and
offering a hypocritical solution on hand to quickly provide a
distraction and a
window of escape
Be sure to destroy any art forms in your possession
that even hold the slightest quality and potential
by Alexis Kelly
by Teighan Jones
A History of Light by Mary Innes
The universe started, not with a bang, but a flash, and an expansion outwards at millions of miles a second. All over the newly created space there were more flashes as stars bust into life. Fast forwards to a pace where they are born, they live, and they die in a matter of minutes. Like fireworks across the cosmos. Slow down now, see that little yellow star? The one on the arm on the Milky Way? That is a very important star. Move in closer and see the planets orbiting it, looking like tiny balls of rock and gas in comparison. Yes, that star is our star, out light, our sun. And that blue-green planet, third from the sun, that is us. The Earth.
by Robin Bowering and Jacob Rietze
A R.I.O. Themed Joke... by Alexis Kelly
Q: What starts with C end with N and sits in the corner of the RIO classroom?
A: CHAIRPORN!
A: CHAIRPORN!
by Olive DiCintio
by Alexis Kelly
Life by Olive DiCintio
I’m standing in the middle of the great hall. Hidden among the scent of Hollister cologne and the over-powering amount of Aeropostal tight white shirts. Then there’s Garrison. Garrison with the perfect quiff. Garrison with the endless money. Garrison who gets anything and everything he desires. Stupid perfect Garrison. But I guess I’m the same. That’s just our life. But I want . . . No I NEED more than a crowded ballroom reeking of the stench of cash and over-inflated egos. Yeah, I know I could make it on my own, with a roll of twenties in my pocket, a plastic trophy wife and being the owner of a company that I don’t even understand. I’d never need to. But . . . I want love, not looks. I want effort, not success. I want happiness, not money.
Though in reality, everyone surrounds me in real life in their American Eagle jeans and their Abercrombie body spray, I am invisible. And I know that will never change. All that will be different is the brand names. Transferring from Supras to Armani at some point. Even though these preps have enough money to burn and then buy a new long board afterwards, none of them even have the slightest idea of friendship or the tiniest thought that the world doesn't revolve around the number in their bank accounts. But I do. Yet all I’ll ever be is in a room full of rick kids with no real friends.
Though in reality, everyone surrounds me in real life in their American Eagle jeans and their Abercrombie body spray, I am invisible. And I know that will never change. All that will be different is the brand names. Transferring from Supras to Armani at some point. Even though these preps have enough money to burn and then buy a new long board afterwards, none of them even have the slightest idea of friendship or the tiniest thought that the world doesn't revolve around the number in their bank accounts. But I do. Yet all I’ll ever be is in a room full of rick kids with no real friends.
By Emily Firmston
Unknown. by Alexis Kelly
This unknown fellow,
Well born you are,
An artisan with skill,
To serve the realm.
Or one whose harp and song,
Might give us joy.
All these are sought for,
On the endless earth,
You are a hard man,
And always were,
But this I can forget,
He turned and spoke.
Are we not plagued enough?
With words that promise,
That in truth,
You have such a care at heart,
I pass over,
The boundless earth.
Well born you are,
An artisan with skill,
To serve the realm.
Or one whose harp and song,
Might give us joy.
All these are sought for,
On the endless earth,
You are a hard man,
And always were,
But this I can forget,
He turned and spoke.
Are we not plagued enough?
With words that promise,
That in truth,
You have such a care at heart,
I pass over,
The boundless earth.
Pandora's Box the Movie
Dear Diary by Alexis Kelly
Dear Diary that never existed until now,
This will be my first and last entry, I finally did something for once in my life. So yeah.. Bye!
This will be my first and last entry, I finally did something for once in my life. So yeah.. Bye!
Part Two:
What happened
AFTER
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Post Apocalyptic by Isaac Wilde
So there I was, striding over the Frozen lake, tossing up thousands of white flakes. My face, rosy cheeked and Frosted, was the only thing I dared stick out into the blizzard. Three years after the Freeze grabbed Europe, and I still couldn't get used to the cold.
The storm of Ice and Snow slunk back like a curtain to reveal the cottage for a brief moment, and then swung back down and hid it from my view again. Smoke poured from its charred, brick chimney; a good omen — it meant the crew had found a source of wood, and I would have a fire to warm myself up with.
As I opened the door to the cottage, I was greeted roughly by the Headmaster. “Shut the door, fool. If any of the Freeze gets in here, we’re all dead.”
I shut the door and tugged off my bearskin boots and jacket. The fire in the far wall revealed a small room, the size of the kitchen in my pre-Freeze house. One bookshelf adorned the wall, and next to it was a junky T.V. the crew had nicknamed Midget. I was about to sit down next to the fire when the headmaster stopped me with a gloved hand on my shoulder. My back stiffened, and I prepared myself for the question I knew was coming. “Yes?” I said, as casually as I could muster.
“Where are your water buckets, Skiff?” The Headmaster twirled me around to face him.
“I was attacked by a scavenger. The Freeze had almost destroyed his head, and he attacked me to get my water.” I replied, remembering the blue pallor and appalling lack of limbs of the scavenger. Scavengers had appeared almost immediately once the gulf-stream froze and the Freeze had fallen across Europe. Most had been wiped out by the military, but a few persisted in small colonies.
“You lost your buckets to a half frozen scavenger!?” The Headmaster was incredulous.
Exasperated, I said, “You know that the freeze causes people to be more violent. This one could barely feel pain, and came at me like a berserker.”
“I take it you shot the scavenger,” the Headmaster said. I nodded and produced a 6-shooter with only 5 bullets in its chamber. “A waste,” The Headmaster said, shaking his head and spitting out the words. He took the pistol from my hands, his fingers brushing my palm. I felt an unexplained discomfort, but only for a moment. “You should have knifed him. No matter.” The Headmaster turned his back to me. Rest up, Skiff. Your next assignment is tomorrow.” Then, he left into an adjacent room the crew wasn't allowed into.
I opened my mouth to protest, but decided against it. I and the rest of the crew have had back to back assignments for the past 5 months. This summer has had some of the worst supply shortages since the first days of the Freeze, and the Headmaster had the crew working overtime to make up for it.
Instead, I grabbed a cassette tape off the wall and jammed it into Midget. The archaic T.V. whirred and creaked ominously for a few seconds, and then decided to be agreeable and play the movie. It was a political thriller; I couldn't make out its name on the screen.
The movie was about a president, and a conspiracy against the government. But I wasn't really paying attention to it. I was thinking about Greece, my home country. Its government lasted the longest into the Freeze, before it wiped out all the leaders.
The Freeze is a snow-carried disease that affects the nervous system. It causes humans to be reduced to their primal instincts of hunger and thirst. People in the clutches of the Freeze will go to no end to feed and drink before the disease erodes their brain completely.
The Freeze could also be transmitted through a bite, or blood transfusion, but both were rare occurrences.
The Freeze had no cure, and no infected person had survived longer than ten months. Not a fun thing to catch.
The movie finished quickly, and I clambered up a ladder next to the door into the attic of the Cottage. Most of the crew was already sleeping on makeshift blankets; a few were on night duty, and a couple of men were on guard.
One of the mats, which was usually occupied by a friend of mine, was strangely empty. I gave no thought to it, and settled into my sleeping bag and prepared for a long night’s sleep. Even though it was summer, thanks to the Freeze, the nights are longer than before. The sun simply couldn't penetrate through the dense layers of ice crystals in the sky except at noon, or a rare break in the blizzard.
I woke up suddenly to find the Headmaster staring intently into my face. “You utter fool, Skiff. Did you really think I wouldn't notice a bitten one in my own sanctuary?” His voice was cool and uncompassionate.
A bite! I thought. I didn't remember getting bitten, but I looked at my hand and arms just to make sure. In the dark, it was hard to discern, but I could see the faint outline of a bite mark on the palm of my hand. It must have been the scavenger.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to go.” The Headmaster said in a mock sympathetic voice, and then something pierced my side, and I saw nothing more. I mentioned that the Freeze was always fatal. I didn't say it was the disease that killed.
The storm of Ice and Snow slunk back like a curtain to reveal the cottage for a brief moment, and then swung back down and hid it from my view again. Smoke poured from its charred, brick chimney; a good omen — it meant the crew had found a source of wood, and I would have a fire to warm myself up with.
As I opened the door to the cottage, I was greeted roughly by the Headmaster. “Shut the door, fool. If any of the Freeze gets in here, we’re all dead.”
I shut the door and tugged off my bearskin boots and jacket. The fire in the far wall revealed a small room, the size of the kitchen in my pre-Freeze house. One bookshelf adorned the wall, and next to it was a junky T.V. the crew had nicknamed Midget. I was about to sit down next to the fire when the headmaster stopped me with a gloved hand on my shoulder. My back stiffened, and I prepared myself for the question I knew was coming. “Yes?” I said, as casually as I could muster.
“Where are your water buckets, Skiff?” The Headmaster twirled me around to face him.
“I was attacked by a scavenger. The Freeze had almost destroyed his head, and he attacked me to get my water.” I replied, remembering the blue pallor and appalling lack of limbs of the scavenger. Scavengers had appeared almost immediately once the gulf-stream froze and the Freeze had fallen across Europe. Most had been wiped out by the military, but a few persisted in small colonies.
“You lost your buckets to a half frozen scavenger!?” The Headmaster was incredulous.
Exasperated, I said, “You know that the freeze causes people to be more violent. This one could barely feel pain, and came at me like a berserker.”
“I take it you shot the scavenger,” the Headmaster said. I nodded and produced a 6-shooter with only 5 bullets in its chamber. “A waste,” The Headmaster said, shaking his head and spitting out the words. He took the pistol from my hands, his fingers brushing my palm. I felt an unexplained discomfort, but only for a moment. “You should have knifed him. No matter.” The Headmaster turned his back to me. Rest up, Skiff. Your next assignment is tomorrow.” Then, he left into an adjacent room the crew wasn't allowed into.
I opened my mouth to protest, but decided against it. I and the rest of the crew have had back to back assignments for the past 5 months. This summer has had some of the worst supply shortages since the first days of the Freeze, and the Headmaster had the crew working overtime to make up for it.
Instead, I grabbed a cassette tape off the wall and jammed it into Midget. The archaic T.V. whirred and creaked ominously for a few seconds, and then decided to be agreeable and play the movie. It was a political thriller; I couldn't make out its name on the screen.
The movie was about a president, and a conspiracy against the government. But I wasn't really paying attention to it. I was thinking about Greece, my home country. Its government lasted the longest into the Freeze, before it wiped out all the leaders.
The Freeze is a snow-carried disease that affects the nervous system. It causes humans to be reduced to their primal instincts of hunger and thirst. People in the clutches of the Freeze will go to no end to feed and drink before the disease erodes their brain completely.
The Freeze could also be transmitted through a bite, or blood transfusion, but both were rare occurrences.
The Freeze had no cure, and no infected person had survived longer than ten months. Not a fun thing to catch.
The movie finished quickly, and I clambered up a ladder next to the door into the attic of the Cottage. Most of the crew was already sleeping on makeshift blankets; a few were on night duty, and a couple of men were on guard.
One of the mats, which was usually occupied by a friend of mine, was strangely empty. I gave no thought to it, and settled into my sleeping bag and prepared for a long night’s sleep. Even though it was summer, thanks to the Freeze, the nights are longer than before. The sun simply couldn't penetrate through the dense layers of ice crystals in the sky except at noon, or a rare break in the blizzard.
I woke up suddenly to find the Headmaster staring intently into my face. “You utter fool, Skiff. Did you really think I wouldn't notice a bitten one in my own sanctuary?” His voice was cool and uncompassionate.
A bite! I thought. I didn't remember getting bitten, but I looked at my hand and arms just to make sure. In the dark, it was hard to discern, but I could see the faint outline of a bite mark on the palm of my hand. It must have been the scavenger.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to go.” The Headmaster said in a mock sympathetic voice, and then something pierced my side, and I saw nothing more. I mentioned that the Freeze was always fatal. I didn't say it was the disease that killed.