Collin College: DigitalCommons@Collin

Santamaria, Paola

Forces 
Volume 2025 Article 11 
5-16-2025 
Delicate Surface 
Paola Santamaria 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/forces 
Recommended Citation 
Santamaria, Paola (2025) "Delicate Surface," Forces: Vol. 2025, Article 11. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/forces/vol2025/iss1/11 
This Poem is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Collin. It has been accepted for 
inclusion in Forces by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@Collin. For more information, please contact 
mtomlin@collin.edu. 
2 6
Delicate Surface
Paola Santamaria
Beneath the quivering weight of the pen,
Or maybe the steady, strict words typed on a keyboard 
A canvas of paper, a delicate surface
Unveils countless existences
Whether it is an eviction notice, 
Or a college acceptance letter, 
Maybe even a big paycheck
Or perhaps a breakup letter
Such a vessel for news surrounds us everywhere 
Welcomed or unwelcomed
Good news or bad news
The brewing of emotions lie within that fabric
Through the rough ink and the harsh lines, 
Or maybe the light strokes and gentle writing 
The wrinkly creases and uneven folds
We must honor the paper regardless, 
For it’s an intimate friend.
Gazing Sunsets   I   Dinh Vo


Delicate Surface

Ayers, Beth T.

Forces 
Volume 2025 Article 15 
5-16-2025 
Elusive 
Beth T. Ayers 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/forces 
Recommended Citation 
Ayers, Beth T. (2025) "Elusive," Forces: Vol. 2025, Article 15. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/forces/vol2025/iss1/15 
This Poem is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Collin. It has been accepted for 
inclusion in Forces by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@Collin. For more information, please contact 
mtomlin@collin.edu. 
1 1
F O R C E S    I    2 O 2 5
Dog
Ashtyn Faye
It takes hooking up to a polygraph 
For me to analyze my past
Rooting around for the truth of Me 
Is an autopsy with
No return receipt
The question that seems to haunt everybody:
Who am I really?
My ’03 Chevy took me down to the beach 
Where I built up a castle of make-believes 
Alone at the water with a surgical knife
I opened Me up to see what was inside 
After an agonizing dumpster dive
I only found one truth that mattered in the slightest
Turns out I want my dog from when I was a kid 
I want to take back leaving him
I once gave him half a lemonade
Straight from the cup, he gobbled it up
I gave him half my bed, half the dinners I made
And a stuffed bear I won in a claw machine 
for seventy five cents 
You know, three quarters is a big deal at 10
He died without me and I still feel guilty
It really was only thirty seconds
But the weight of intervals depends on innocence 
So that half a minute must have been
Very heavy indeed
I loved him three quarters worth and half a lemonade 
So essentially
The dissection revealed he was 
Everything
Elusive
Beth T. Ayers
The feeling washes over me, almost bringing 
a sense of panic but not quite because I can
tell myself to think, ask myself 
“What am I forgetting?” and I wait
as the response blows away in the breeze. 
Something is lost. My glasses? My keys?
Nagging questions dangle on a wire 
with answers hanging just out of reach. 
My thoughts swirl and break like waves 
upon the shore, over and over with the
repetitive question. “What am I forgetting?” 
Something is lost. “Is it my mind?”


Elusive

Vo, Dinh

Forces 
Volume 2025 Article 19 
5-16-2025 
Gazing Sunsets 
Dinh Vo 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/forces 
Recommended Citation 
Vo, Dinh (2025) "Gazing Sunsets," Forces: Vol. 2025, Article 19. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/forces/vol2025/iss1/19 
This Photograph is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Collin. It has been accepted for 
inclusion in Forces by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@Collin. For more information, please contact 
mtomlin@collin.edu. 
2 6
Delicate Surface
Paola Santamaria
Beneath the quivering weight of the pen,
Or maybe the steady, strict words typed on a keyboard 
A canvas of paper, a delicate surface
Unveils countless existences
Whether it is an eviction notice, 
Or a college acceptance letter, 
Maybe even a big paycheck
Or perhaps a breakup letter
Such a vessel for news surrounds us everywhere 
Welcomed or unwelcomed
Good news or bad news
The brewing of emotions lie within that fabric
Through the rough ink and the harsh lines, 
Or maybe the light strokes and gentle writing 
The wrinkly creases and uneven folds
We must honor the paper regardless, 
For it’s an intimate friend.
Gazing Sunsets   I   Dinh Vo


Gazing Sunsets

King, Leon D., III

Old Wild West Hotel

Hughes, Jessika

Rice Fields After Rain

Barber, Keira

Where Did the Wind Chimes Go?

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Little Gems - 02

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Little Gems - 01

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Little Gems - 10

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