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Thompson, Dana

Dana Thompson reads selected poems from Nikki Giovanni

diLiberti, Julia

Julia diLiberti reads selections from November 16, 2019 speech by Stacey Abrams

Jefferies, Madeline

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 42 Number 1 Article 37 
Fall 12-1-2019 
Sugar Me Down 
Madeline Jefferies 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
Jefferies, Madeline (2019) "Sugar Me Down," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 42 : No. 1 , Article 37. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol42/iss1/37 
This Selection is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at DigitalCommons@COD. It 
has been accepted for inclusion in The Prairie Light Review by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@COD. For 
more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu. 
Sugar Me Down
Candy between my fingers, sticking to
my skin. Snaps in my ear, surface kissing
surface. Even when I scrub it clean, there
you will always linger. We are a lot
alike, two tasty toys. Come get a piece
of  me, honey. I’ll swim in your viscosity.
I want that cotton candy mane in my
face, sugar melting on my tongue. Sweet breath
of  yours I breathe. In this dry desert, it
might rain. You’ve got me soaked, you’re like syrup
on me. I try to wash my skin, but sweetie,
you’re stuck to me. Your caramel voice,
I can’t resist, the savory have left me
unsatisfied, and I want something sweet,
sugar. I’ll stick to you and you’ll stick to
me, skin on skin, surface kissing surface.
Madeline Jefferies
1
Jefferies: Sugar Me Down
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2019


English

Sugar Me Down

Hurley Kuchar, Karen

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 42 Number 1 Article 40 
Fall 12-1-2019 
Writer's Block 
Karen Hurley Kuchar 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
Hurley Kuchar, Karen (2019) "Writer's Block," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 42 : No. 1 , Article 40. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol42/iss1/40 
This Selection is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at DigitalCommons@COD. It 
has been accepted for inclusion in The Prairie Light Review by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@COD. For 
more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu. 
Writer’s Block 
The Kankakee River
froze over this winter,
a seven-mile ice jam
tall enough to touch
the bottom of  a bridge.
Water with nowhere to go
poured over banks
into backyards and basements.
Under the ice a relentless push.
A river is not meant
to stay
solid
in
a
narrow
bend
even if  invited to stop,
and rest a while from the constant
primordial flow.
The weather turned
warm enough to cause
loud cracks in the ice.
A channel snaked through,
floes pushed by the river
piled up on each other.
Restored,
the river
resumed
its way south.
Trust.
The river has carved
a path in solid rock,
traveled in this bed
for ages.
A dam of  ice
sooner or later
will surrender
to its creative force.
Karen Hurley Kuchar
34
1
Hurley Kuchar: Writer's Block
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2019


Writer\u27s Block

Hu, Shelly

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 42 Number 1 Article 52 
Fall 12-1-2019 
This Land I Love - In memory of Peter Wang 
Shelly Hu 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
Hu, Shelly (2019) "This Land I Love - In memory of Peter Wang," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 42 : No. 1 , 
Article 52. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol42/iss1/52 
This Selection is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at DigitalCommons@COD. It 
has been accepted for inclusion in The Prairie Light Review by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@COD. For 
more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu. 
This Land I Love
In memory of  Peter Wang 1
February snow…
All saints in his kingdom. 
The lives taken away by the gunshots
are another kind of  white. 
Snow is falling…
When you held the door to let
the others get out of  the classroom, a dream
was shattered to death. But the sun
from another galaxy lighted up the cosmos.
You never left us.
Not gone at all---
When the snow slides down the hill in a toddler’s sleigh,
the Olympians fly down the alpine skiing,
the homeless curl up by the street corner,
O, February snow…
The agent in Louis Vuitton makes cold calls on the phone.
Like a dose of  Amoxicillin, it calms down anxieties.
When the gigantic whiteness
bandages this blue planet, wounds
began healing, and certain belief  is reborn
in silence.
 
February snow…
on my hair, eyes, and the tip of  my tongue.
Black leather gloves and red cashmere coat are so excessive,
I unload them. At this moment the snow is
part of  me, with the unspoken promise
falling into this land
I love.
1 Fifteen-year-old Pete Wang was killed on February 14, 2018, while trying to help classmates escape from a 
gunman shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He was posthumously accepted to the U.S. Mili-
tary Academy at West Point and then buried in his Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) uniform.
Shelly Hu
44
1
Hu: This Land I Love - In memory of Peter Wang
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2019


This Land I Love - In memory of Peter Wang

Mandani, Abdul

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 42 Number 1 Article 55 
Fall 12-1-2019 
Who's At Fault 
Abdul Mandani 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
Mandani, Abdul (2019) "Who's At Fault," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 42 : No. 1 , Article 55. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol42/iss1/55 
This Selection is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at DigitalCommons@COD. It 
has been accepted for inclusion in The Prairie Light Review by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@COD. For 
more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu. 
Who’s at fault 
Mayhem, pandemonium  
total chaos, bedlam, devastation.
A soft, soothing breeze turns
into a whirlwind, a tornado causing
death, destruction and unimagined misery…
Is it the fault of  the fair wind?
The life-giving rainfall
cool, refreshing, revitalizing, 
turns into a rainstorm, a fierce 
thundershower and lightning
spawning flash flood, landslide
with catastrophic consequences… 
Is it the fault of  the water?
A common man
good, God-fearing,
eking out a simple livelihood,
living a frugal life sparingly,
thrifty and weak-willed.
When politicians and priests
wreak havoc in his life and
he turns violent, causing terror…
Is this the fault of  a mere man?  
Abdul Mandani
46
1
Mandani: Who's At Fault
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2019


Who\u27s At Fault

Nugent, Colin

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 42 Number 1 Article 64 
Fall 12-1-2019 
Light Spectrum 
Colin Nugent 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
Nugent, Colin (2019) "Light Spectrum," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 42 : No. 1 , Article 64. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol42/iss1/64 
This Artwork is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at DigitalCommons@COD. It 
has been accepted for inclusion in The Prairie Light Review by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@COD. For 
more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu. 
1Nugent: Light Spectrum
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2019


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