Poetry
Header Image by Alyssa Tregembo
A Painting of Tact
Before you,
in antique frame—
a half-clouded sky
set over the open ocean.
Mundane for a moment—
By Bradley Rist
Bradley Rist (he/they) is an English major transferring from Folsom Lake College to California State University of Sacramento. He has an interest in teaching literature at the community college level, but they maintain an undying passion for film, music, and all other variations of storytelling and character dissection as well. Currently, they work as a tutor in FLC's Reading and Writing Center and as an employee at Regal Cinemas in his hometown of El Dorado Hills. In his spare time, you will find them watching Studio Ghibli movies and collecting inspiration to write their own stories or characters for future projects or Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. He looks back fondly on the fun and learned experiences of working within The Parlay's editorial staff and sends best wishes to the future of Folsom Lake's arts magazine.
Author Bio:
Ignorance is an Illusion
Adolescence makes it hard to understand the phrase “ignorance is bliss”
As a child, nothing was more tantalizing than the concept of knowledge and maturity
By Justin Hite
Justin Hite is a student at Folsom Lake College who is transferring to Sacramento State in the fall. He is currently majoring in English and is pursuing an MA to hopefully become a teacher of higher education. He thanks his friends and family for their support in his endeavors
Author Bio:
Letting Go of You
You were kind at first.
Taught me how to love, the meaning of purity and community
Held my hand and lifted me up as I stumbled through life over and over and over again
The world was scary, but you always gave me a reason to believe
By Justin Hite
Cup Poem
The simple essence of a cup
To be open, mouth agape and waiting
Only meant to hold and to be held
Only want is to be full
By Julia Norris
Julia Norris grew up in the El Dorado Hills area. She is currently a student at Folsom Lake College. She enjoys creating art in various forms and writing about whatever piques her interest. She hopes to continue doing so in the future.
Author Bio:
Nupital Flight
they’re burying me
by the anthill they found
last summer off the 405
the mound swallowed
By Dean Novak Oken
Dean Novak Oken (he/they) is a poet, student, and barista residing in Portland, Oregon. Oken is a trans-masc artist focusing on themes of life, death, love, and loss. His body of work draws heavily from his research and time spent at Lewis & Clark College where he is working on a BA in English with a focus in Poetry writing, and a minor in History.
Author Bio:
Ben and the Nature of Oragami
i am becoming my father
a statement that makes the child in me
laugh / a spirit waking / chest rising
By Dean Novak Oken
Mornings
By Ella Waite
The morning air still feels the same, sometimes.
Its briskness reminds me of youth.
I can still hear the birds in the morning if I listen.
Not as much as a child might,
But maybe, it’s enough?
Ella Waite has lived in the Sacramento area her entire life. She is a student who enjoys creating art and spending time outdoors. While Ella does not write poetry often, she is influenced by social and environmental justice when she does. Her friends, family, and pets are sources of joy that inspire Ella to live her life to the fullest and make life better for those around her.
Author Bio:
Pastoral Visit
By Tom Goff
The Reverend Harold Englund stood
(In my recall, we all stood round);
His pastoral visit, a measured good:
Us three boys, father gone to ground.
Spacewalk
By Tom Goff
Frustrated by the Deep Space emptiness
Of campus, and the hours away from you,
I wonder, will my anxiety progress,
And only hope your whereabouts imbue
Moonchange
By Tom Goff
As moon-drunk poets toy with sleep and wake,
Posing ideal figures in deep trance
Or shaken from that trance, I mean to make
You, demigoddess, lie prone or spring to stance,
Tom Goff has worked in the Los Rios district steadily since 1989, with one previous stint—a “cup of coffee,” as they say in baseball—in 1983. Since 2006, he’s worked in the Reading and Writing Center. Besides having had poems published in Spectral Realms (Hippocampus Press, NY), Sacramento Voices, and other journals, Tom has contributed poetry book reviews to Poetry Flash, Jacket Magazine, the Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter, and the Sacramento Poetry Center’s Poet News.
Author Bio:
Settlement
Let me plant my roots in your brown eyes,
the only earth I have the capacity to know.
Be a witness to my broadening, my heightening, my maturation.
Be a witness to which decays and falls from my limbs,
By Aaliyah Hernandez
Aaliyah Hernandez is a poet and writer local to the Sacramento area. She strives to explore and express the complexities of womanhood and individuality, the art of words being her vessel to do so. Her first collection of poetry, Turning Twenty One, can be found at Barnes and Noble.
Author Bio:
Dernière Danse
Seasons swept in the wind
So imposing yet so fleeting
Staring us down through time
How do we wait it out?
Must we tug on the clock,
And beg her to stop?
So we may taste every day
And not forget
By Mouna Mokeddem
ماني
By Mouna Mokeddem
“God have mercy on her soul”
And like that,
you were gone
Ripped away
Left to me only
as a memory
Mouna Mokeddem was born in Sacramento, but grew up all around France and Algeria. She is currently an English major at Folsom Lake College with much uncertainty about the future. Mouna loves reading and writing, and hopes that whatever future she experiences, it is filled with creativity. Her talent is recommending books she has never read and all recommendations have so far ended in success!
Author Bio:
Yosemite Sky-fall
By Mary Hansen
I was fascinated by the idea that you
could jump off a cliff
without thinking about your imminent demise.
All I could see before you started to run
was that lust for flying in your eyes
I ask myself ... what is our love?
Unconditional, sometimes irrational
Nothing is perfect, we are all subject
To faults and frailties and fears.
By Mary Hansen
My Motives
Mary Hansen has been the FLC College Nurse since 2008, and is retiring in June this year (bittersweet - but exciting). She’s been married for 44 years and has 2 amazing adult sons, a wonderful daughter-in-law, and an adorable granddaughter. After retirement she’s looking forward to many travel adventures as well as exploring all of the creative arts - like writing, painting, drawing and dance.
Author Bio:
Forgiving or Forgetting?
By Eren Bussard
There are pieces of my life that I haven’t forgiven myself for yet, but I only think of them when I don’t want to remember them in the morning.
I don’t remember much anyways, my body won’t let me.
They call this forgetting.
Eren Bussard (they/them) is a student at Folsom Lake Community College. They are in the midst of finishing coursework to eventually transfer to a state college and get their bachelor's degree in English. Eren has a deep passion for writing and is currently working on their first novel. In their downtime, they are usually found watching anime, hanging out with their friends, or working on new stories to write. This is their first time being on the team for The Parlay and looks forward to possibly being on a future edition as well.
Author Bio
Untitled
By Anonymous
I hope some day, to look up, and see the sky is pink.
unforgettable and unimaginable beyond the wishes of a child,
never to be captured,
You Grow Your Hair Long
By Adrian Eriza
You grow your hair long
you speak highly
pitched
Talk deeper
Author Bio:
Adrian Eriza grew up in Anaheim, California, home to the happiest place on Earth. Despite being born five minutes away from Disneyland, they don’t find much to be happy about! What they do find comfort in is being inundated by visceral poetry, music, and friends. When they’re not morose, they find ways to help their community through non-profit organizations. They also enjoy antiquing and jewelry shopping. Their hopes for the future is to be wildly rich and successful, but above all happy.
[jamais vu]
By Petuous
.i’d put the words on paper .
.if the thoughts stayed long enough for me.
.to remember them.
Petuous is a California based writer and visual artist. Petuous enjoys repurposing used birthday cards. When not writing, Petuous is collecting mirrors, currently possessing seven different mirrors. Petuous carries many inspirations, the primary being "lo sono" by Salvatore Garau. If Petuous could do anything with art, it would be the ability to make it.
Author Bio:
Sea, Clearly, Now
By Corri Lobbezoo
I like the way the world blurs when I
take my glasses off.
Soften.
A Few Small Things
By Corri Lobbezoo
Everything is just a few small things.
Salt, pepper, two boiled eggs, toast with crusts cut off, butter, coffee, coconut milk.
Breakfast.
Corri Lobbezoo (they/she) lives on Lekwungen territory in Victoria, British Columbia. Lobbezoo is an English teacher turned sea kayak guide, life coach, and writer. They love spending time in the wild, on the water, and with their cat Bader. Lobbezoo writes about the weirdness of everyday life, neurodiversity, nature, gender, and sexuality, and is working on her debut novel about seven evangelical siblings in Toronto who run a secret vigilante justice gang. You can connect with Lobbezoo at www.corrilobbezoo.com
Author Bio
Bowl of Fruit of Fruit of Fruit
thinking about the way things hurt,
how every time i'm putting this knife in my mouth, tasting the fruit, taking it in,
i’m choosing not to bleed, choosing to hold it in,
By Maria Matsakyan
Hot Pink Slippers
By Maria Matsakyan
hot pink slippers
he made me watch.
today i counted 3 bad things: my sleeping habit, the sound of the bathroom fan, and the
whiteboard full of tasks i haven’t crossed off. i know there's more, but i have to count three. just
three. all perfect things come in three. and i need to be perfect, i need to be loved, or i'll
What Are You, Depressed?
By Maria Matsakyan
Maria Matsakyan was born in the U.S. after her family immigrated from Armenia. She is a Psychology student with a passion for art, writing, and hyper fixating on strange and esoteric topics. Although time mostly eludes her, she enjoys spending whatever doesn't on creating queer games, reading, and playing her ukulele. As someone who has struggled with mental illness her whole life, she is a big advocate of destigmatizing mental health issues. Maria hopes that, one day, she can live a peaceful life in a quaint home somewhere quiet.
Author Bio: