About
As the leading creative writing journal for UC Merced undergraduate students, The Vernal Pool provides an edited expressive space for the student body to publish original work and an open, accessible venue for audiences to read, appreciate, celebrate and respond. Current issues can now be found at: https://thevernalpool.ucmerced.edu.
Volume 5, Issue 2, 2019
The Vernal Pool
Articles
Letter by The Editor in Chief
The Vernal Pool is a literary journal that provides undergraduate students from the University of California, Merced the opportunity to showcase their creativity through the power of literature and art.
Cover Art
Art by Stephanie Ross.
Poetry
Watch it go by
Dream
Breathing
I think I am finally breathing, for many days, the earth was spinning.
Full Throttle
Slow down. They tell the clown but he can’t hear you. He’s almost out of gas
and he’s already past the point of no return.
Mentally Ill: Society's Kill
“Mental Health needs a great deal of attention.
It’s the final taboo and it needs to be faced and dealt with.”
-Adam Ant
Poems of mental health issues with use of imagery and rythmEtymologies
Why should I bother--
the words, lying on
a blanket of still snow
like tree branches?
Our Community Garden
We tend our community garden for our seedlings to sprout.
Proud, high sunflowers, nurturing fruit trees.
Balloon
A person realizes the reason to why their relationship failed.
No Feelings
Feelings can change just how seasons can change.
Thoughts and Feelings
Sometimes...
Where is he now?
My poem is about a a coup;e who split. The girl moved on faster than he did. Now he is feeling remorse.
Sweet Summer Boy
From the moment that Columbus reached the Americas, brown people have been subject to oppression through systematic racism, microagressions and outright hostility. The rich history of the pre-Columbian peoples of this continent was almost completely eradicated by the European invaders. Brown skin came to be synonymous to poverty, filth, and unattractiveness. This is an ode to my people. A reminder that our existence is an act of resilience, that we are beautifully brown, beloved by the Sun.
These Children
The audience sits in their seats
BPD
My therapist tells me to stop thinking in black and white.
But I can’t help only seeing
right or wrong
De Mi Mama
I come from hard earth and clay walls.
I come from early Sunday mornings-
the smell of myrrh and frankincense clouding my eyes.
I come from the mango trees that did not belong to me,
But still scaled up high to escape a life that was not mine.
The Rose and The Poppy
I am not a rose.
I am not a ravishing ruby red,
or even a semblance of purity white.
Under the Dim Night Sky
Under the Dim Night Sky
Scorpion Grasses
Blooming like no other,
Parched
My tongue is dry.
Widow
And so, she walks like the awakening of light.
Creative Non-Fiction
Black Water
A story of a dream turned into a nightmare.
Henrietta
It concerns my relationship to animals and how that has tied into my childhood relationships.
Define My Eyes
A collection of three seperate pieces, led by the creative non-fiction piece "Define My Eyes". The following pieces, "The Difference Between a Bastard and an Orphan" and "Psy-co-existence" are fiction works. The three pieces are their own stories and are not dependent on one another.
A Split Second
Is graduation really the beginning? Kelvin discusses his attitude towards the seemingly brief experience that is high school and college commencement.
Miles Away
The experience of a young child who is about to leave his home found miles away to another country, where the culture and traditions are much different.
Fiction
Snipped Love
A short story about the troubles of finding a soulmate.
Consequences
A short tale of a lover who has learned of self-love through the grief of her broken relationship.
Visual Art
Lonely Bird
"Free yet so far away from home"
photo taken by Uriel E. Angelino.
The Sun (XIX)
Block printing on a vintage music sheet. This piece depicts the artist's rendition of the tarot card, "The Sun", in the medium of a block print. This piece emphasizes femininity and self.
BBQ Remains
On a sunny Sunday, only one thing can be done and that is a BBQ! A moment shared with the family and without much thought, you bond through careless laughs and good food. After the feast is over, the space filled with sizzles and giggles is now empty noise. But there in a box lies a reminder of that sunny Sunday.
Single Crystal Diffraction Distraction
There is a possibility this illustrates electron diffraction through the (1 1 2) diagonal direction in of the tetragonal crystal structure of Bismoclite. I also think it looks neat.
Curious Cow
A curious cow observed us as we studied the place it calls home. All of its friends ran in fear of the intruders, but this cow wasn’t afraid.