DigitalCommons@C.O.D.

Kotyuk, Ida

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 39 | Number 2 Article 50
Spring 5-1-2017
Puff
Ida Kotyuk
College of DuPage
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Recommended Citation
Kotyuk, Ida (2017) "Puff," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 39 : No. 2 , Article 50.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol39/iss2/50
Puff 
  
Under the Gallery's 100' ceiling 
Calder's one-ton, motorless mobile, 
twists and turns, manipulated 
by an endless stream of visitors 
as they pulse from nearby revolving doors. 
  
Tourists idly chatter under his mobile, 
their words a barrage of indifferent air, 
with puffs here and puffs there, unaware. 
Unaware of their puffs of influence. 
  
It, like my small plastic imitation at home, 
shifts its shape, helpless to the events around it; 
no different from all the dandelion puffs in my backyard. 
  
Gazing up, I sit as witness to sounds of air and watch 
until, finally, I recognize—me 
reacting to society's whims who tell me how to live. 
  
Their indistinguishable voices filled my air 
with puffs of: 
"do this," 
"do that,"
"you should,"
"you shouldn’t,"
  
and I understood— 
unlike Calder's involuntary mobile, 
unlike the dandelions in my backyard, 
I have always had a choice. 
Ida Kotyuk
48    Prairie Light Review 1
Kotyuk: Puff
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English

Puff

Camp, Amy

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 39 | Number 2 Article 55
Spring 5-1-2017
Nana's Birdnest
Amy Camp
College of DuPage
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Recommended Citation
Camp, Amy (2017) "Nana's Birdnest," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 39 : No. 2 , Article 55.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol39/iss2/55
'Cuz I'm the mom now. 
 
The pain where happiness was 
is part of me. 
Defines me. 
I wasn't ready to watch her die. 
'still unwilling to say goodbye. 
 
But I'll try. 
Because that's what she would've expected 
And that's what my family deserves 
It's my turn to take the wheel 
God intends the circle of life to go on... 
Because the greatest reality is 
I'm Mom now and always. 
 
Which is the most important part of me. 
N
an
a’s
 B
ird
ne
st
A
m
y 
C
am
p
Gina Farella Howley
Spring  2017    55 1
Camp: Nana's Birdnest
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Nana\u27s Birdnest

Godbold, Karly

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 39 | Number 2 Article 60
Spring 5-1-2017
Off to War
Karly Godbold
College of DuPage
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Recommended Citation
Godbold, Karly (2017) "Off to War," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 39 : No. 2 , Article 60.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol39/iss2/60
Off to War 
            He sighed as he fumbled his dirty fingers down the long 
drapes. They were so delicate and white; the emulation of purity 
and beauty—much like she who remains sleeping on the bed. She 
was so cute. Yes, pretty, as all the heartbreakers are, but her persona. 
Her personality that leaked out through every sentence her pink 
mouth spilled; it was impossible not to catch her contagious smile. 
My pretty sleeper. 
            She would never let him go -he was sure of it. So many had 
died in the war already, she would pitch every fit to keep him home, 
as if her determination to keep him home would cloud the need for 
men. The need for fighters. The need for him. 
            She would try to protect him. A one-woman army blocking 
his path and thus keeping him safe, and she would succeed. How-
ever it would be temporary and fruitless, they would come for him 
eventually. She will have conquered him, but she was no match for 
her biggest enemy—the army. 
            He thought this the best way as he placed the parchment 
on his pillow. He couldn’t bear to think about her waking to rough 
edges of this paper heartbreak, stained from his worked hands, 
instead of him assuring her that for another day he would be alive. 
He pushed her pain out of his head. 
            The walk to their bedroom door felt like he had stones 
strapped to his ankles, each step heavier than the last. He felt so 
torn, a rope tied to each arm, one to his woman and one to his duty. 
He was taught that his duty was to his woman, yet he had to leave 
to ensure her safety. 
            I’m sorry. 
            I’ll keep you safe. I promise. 
            All he could do was silently plead that she would under-
stand, his hand on the doorknob, his heart in his throat, he quietly 
opened the door to his choice.            
            Softly, just loud enough for him to hear, she crooned to him 
as the door was closing. “Goodbye, my love, until you return.” 
Karly Godbold
58    Prairie Light Review 1
Godbold: Off to War
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Off to War

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 40 | Number 1 Article 5
Fall 12-1-2017
Editorial Team
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Recommended Citation
(2017) "Editorial Team," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 40 : No. 1 , Article 5.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol40/iss1/5
IIIPrairie Light Review  Fall 2017
 Our Editorial Team:
 
 Associate Editors:
 Derek Plate is a long-time reader and writer, three-semester 
PLR editor. He had the first act of a ridiculous play he loved writing 
published in the first annual Iowa Summer Writing Festival Anthol-
ogy. He has previous work experience writing for a PR firm. (The 
third time around, we are pretty sure that Derek still wants every 
piece to get in.) 
 
 Erin McCreadie is a first-time PLR editor with high hopes 
of becoming a copyeditor for a large publishing house (clearly, she’s 
a bit of a dreamer). She’s pursuing a degree in Communications, and 
never plans on taking another math class as long as she lives. She 
spends her free time stalking her favorite authors on Twitter, cooing 
at her dog, or re-watching The Big Bang Theory – often times all at 
once.  
 
 Eleanor Zilius is PLR’s coolest, or rather newest, PLR edi-
tor. She is in pursuit of an English degree, which will work as a great 
tissue to wipe her tears when she’s still working at everyone’s favorite 
coffee shop after graduation. When she isn’t being crushed by exis-
tential dread and piles of homework, she finds solace in video games 
and Youtube videos.  
 
 Amy Peter is thriving in her fourth semester with PLR. 
When she’s not performing at White House dinners or concert halls, 
she spends her time [REDACTED]. With her music education major, 
she is not yet a music teacher, but Amy hopes to eventually give up 
her job at Goodwill. Amy still has a dog and a lazy reptile.
PLR F2017 FINAL.indd   3 11/1/2017   4:51:15 PM
1
et al.: Editorial Team
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2017
IVPrairie Light Review  Fall 2017
 Officers:
 --Marketing Editor--
 Ronda L. Crawford: 
Partly truth, partly fiction, with the superpower of  straddling worlds 
and bending phrases, but my friends call me the PLR Oprah (inside 
joke). A Beyonce enthusiast with a $20 a week movie habit who still 
reads books on paper, drinks brown liquor on occasion and knows 
lots of things. My spirit is guided by a stuffed pig named Piggie, my 
best friend is a Duck named The Management, and my greatest love 
is a Potato named Rae (who also happens to be my daughter). You can 
find me on any given day writing and binging series on Netflix. Ref-
erences available only by request. I thank you for your consideration.
 --Editor in Chief--
 Hannah Fisher is a two-time editor for PLR and the new 
Editor-In-Chief! As “Magazine Mom,” she uses her outrageous or-
ganization skills, extraordinary emails, and comprehensive campus 
connections to get stuff done. Her skills will not be with PLR forever 
though; She will be off to China in Summer 2018 and then transfer-
ring to a new university to do who knows what. 请 享受，谢谢。
 
 --Production Editor--
 Alice Ventura is a second semester editor, and the maga-
zine’s Production Editor this time around. She is an avid introvert 
with a nauseating collection of videogames.  In her spare time, she 
builds computers and studies up on the latest advancements in Nvid-
ia’s GPU architecture, and rambles incessantly about parts no one 
understands (like EK Acrylic hardline coolant loops!!! Omg!).  She 
has a pet Build-A-Bear called Freya (because they are less work than 
real snow leopards) and writes almost as much as she sleeps. It is her 
dream to become a master painter!
 --Advisor--
Trina Sotirakopulos is PLR’s infamous advisor. Mic drop.  
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The Prairie Light Review, Vol. 40, No. 1 [2017], Art. 5
http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol40/iss1/5


Editorial Team

Skibbie., Thomas

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 40 | Number 1 Article 21
Fall 12-1-2017
Bridge Over the Mississippi
Thomas Skibbie.
College of DuPage
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The Prairie Light Review by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
Skibbie., Thomas (2017) "Bridge Over the Mississippi," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 40 : No. 1 , Article 21.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol40/iss1/21
1Skibbie.: Bridge Over the Mississippi
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Bridge Over the Mississippi

Bailey, Matthew

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 40 | Number 1 Article 29
Fall 12-1-2017
Heartland
Matthew Bailey
College of DuPage
Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr
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.
Recommended Citation
Bailey, Matthew (2017) "Heartland," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 40 : No. 1 , Article 29.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol40/iss1/29
25Prairie Light Review  Fall 2017
Heartland
Matthew Bailey
There’s an old road that traces
what’s left of 66 and crosses the Red Sea
of the plains, lost to the ever moving
traffic of the great interstate veins
crisscrossing America’s breasts.
Kicking up rusty plumes in my wake,
I once left the well-trodden lines of the contemporary
map and drifted to this all but forgotten place lost
amongst the relics of yesteryear, tucked away
with worn technicolor postcards
and the American dream.
 
Remnants of the Roman roads, the desolate
ruins of asphalt stretched to the horizon
and led the way to an ancient place
housed at the center of bygone years.
A loan winking stoplight illuminated my path and
the skeletal remains of something I couldn’t quite place
my finger on, lingering in the brick and mortar of
abandoned storefronts and just beneath the worn lines that
guided the way.
 
As dusk settled, I couldn’t help
but feel the closing of the eye, the dying
of a town whose looming buildings
have been abandoned by everyone
save a handful of hermits cleaving to
an all-consuming ideology
faltering in the hands of Modernity.
 
Hesitating at the light, I saw a figure
moving in the stillness of the lonely
intersection, breathing life
into the lifeless for a transitory moment so brief
I would have missed it had I blinked.
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Bailey: Heartland
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26Prairie Light Review  Fall 2017
In the shadows cast by the rural dangling lighthouse,
I slowly made out an elderly gentleman
clad in a plaid shirt tucked into
a tattered pair of Wranglers spilling
over worn brown boots resting on the soles of
feet that had been everywhere.
 
In that darkened, dilapidated expanse, we
caught each other’s eye and I traced
the sunbaked wrinkles carved into
his neon face
glowing orange in the intermittent
flashing at a nexus between nostalgia and death.
In the midst of that moment,
shared between travelers from different worlds,
the man raised his arm in a gesturing wave,
his limb remaining outstretched, gingerly prodding
the fragile amber atmosphere,
beckoning for a reply.
I returned the motion, but the mirror image rang hollow
and I could see a soft frown form on the visage
of the keeper of this town.
Reflecting on that instant, strange and shared, I am left
with the image of a man who seemed to be
offering less of a greeting
than an unspoken question.
 
But the world forgets and the engine starts,
taking us far away from the forgotten,
slowly erasing their lines
for the cityscapes of anonymity.
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The Prairie Light Review, Vol. 40, No. 1 [2017], Art. 29
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Heartland

Varga, Edward

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 40 | Number 1 Article 39
Fall 12-1-2017
On the Worship of Money
Edward Varga
College of DuPage
Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr
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.
Recommended Citation
Varga, Edward (2017) "On the Worship of Money," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 40 : No. 1 , Article 39.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol40/iss1/39
39Prairie Light Review  Fall 2017
 On the Worship of Money
 Edward Varga
 Dinner party guests can make or break an evening. It’s a uni-
versal truth that at least one of those people you offered a free meal 
to in return for pleasant conversation will turn into a kracken-sized 
money braggartpure.  
 Usually it happens during that part of the evening where 
someone starts talking about the two-week long vacation they just 
took in Belize, where it was sunny every day and the bronzed and 
toned, half-naked locals brought fresh mangoes to their bedsides ever 
hour on the hour and delicately slipped the dripping pieces of fruit 
into their waiting mouths. Then they will laugh and flap a hand at 
the air and say, “Oh! It was to die for!” 
 Do they even have mangoes in Belize? Who knows? Who 
cares? It’s bad form to fact-check your guests in the middle of their, 
“the ocean there is bluer than anything I’ve ever seen before,” story, 
so don’t do it, even though you know they would if you had said such 
an outlandish thing.  
 As the host of that hypothetical dinner party, you want to be 
able to top their story but it’s hard to when your guests are sitting 
on the best couch you could afford at the Goodwill and drinking tap 
water out of a set of Star Wars glasses you collected when you were in 
high school.  
 For most, money is validation, pure and simple. It’s a yardstick 
we wear on our backs and drive to the grocery store. Right now my 
yardstick is fourteen years old, has 285,000 miles on it and I drive it 
to WalMart. 
PLR F2017 FINAL.indd   39 11/1/2017   4:51:18 PM
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Varga: On the Worship of Money
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2017
40Prairie Light Review  Fall 2017
 Gone for me are the days when I cared about proving myself 
monetarily. I just turned fifty. I’ve got one son from my first mar-
riage in college, and the other son from my second entering fifth 
grade. All I do is spend what I make, mostly on the people whom I 
cherish. What good is collecting it? 
 I have a friend on Facebook whom I went to high school with 
who just posted about the $15,000 gas grill they just had delivered to 
their pristine backyard. In the mean time, I’m burning my wieners 
on a charcoal fired Weber with a wobbly leg. That sort of thing used 
to bother me. Then I turned fifty.  
 From this vantage point on the collective “hill” which I am 
now over, I can see forward to the bottom and notice there isn’t much 
there. Money will not cushion my fall into the grave. Nope. In fact, I 
feel sure that if I did have an enormous pile of cash beckoning me to-
ward retirement, all it would leave me with is more to complain about, 
dollar bills glued together into three sirens seducing me to crash my 
ship into the rocks.  
 The value of money, it turns out, is a matter of perspective. 
Some use it to rate how much they think of themselves. Others use it 
to gauge how they want others to think of them. I used to be guilty 
of both of those crimes. Maybe once in a while I still am, but my goal 
is to leave behind more than credit card receipts after I’m gone. 
 I look at my eldest son who is studying film-making and hope 
I can pass my perspective on disregarding the importance of money 
to him. I am not instructing him to actively pursue poverty (the ma-
jor in film-making will probably take care of that) but I want him to 
know there are so many more important things in this world to focus 
on. Find someone with a great deal more money than they will ever 
need in one life, and I bet you’ve found the most vapid and boring 
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The Prairie Light Review, Vol. 40, No. 1 [2017], Art. 39
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41Prairie Light Review  Fall 2017
person in the room. Don’t be that person. 
 What sort of person would I like you to be? Allow me to sum 
up my essay in one sentence to answer your question. Ready? Here it 
comes. 
 Do not educate yourself so that you make money, educate 
yourself so you may deserve the money you make. 
  Boo-ya! Nothing but net! He shoots, he scores! Fifty years of 
sucking oxygen on this planet and that’s what I’ve learned, and that’s 
what I want you to know. Earn your right to exist! Volunteer. Make 
sacrifices. Marry for love. Walk to the store instead of driving. Go to 
Church. Spend time with your family. Help someone less fortunate. 
Read books. Get a good night’s sleep. But above all, be grateful for 
whatever you end up having. 
 If I was a little handier, instead of writing this essay I’d be 
rendering lye soap over the fire and churning butter right now. It 
wouldn’t be so I could save money, or because I can’t afford to buy 
soap or butter, but because those are the kinds of stories I want to 
hear at a dinner party. Don’t tell me how you just purchased a mar-
ble dog house with leather trim and a memory foam dog bed for your 
purebred, five digit price tag, Juilliard School  educated, toilet drink-
er, because I will only think less of you, not more. Money can’t make 
you intelligent; it can only make you sad. 
Perhaps Benjamin Franklin’s, Poor Richard, was speaking of the 
worship of money when he said,  “Wise men learn by others’ harms, 
fools by their own.” I trust Ben’s wisdom, since he dressed like the 
Quaker Oats guy. It’s like having a British accent. You get automat-
ic intelligence points. In fact, picture me dressed like Ben Franklin, 
then go back to the top of this essay and read it again. Then you’ll 
know I’m right for sure.
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Varga: On the Worship of Money
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2017


On the Worship of Money

Ziemer, Raymond

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 40 | Number 1 Article 40
Fall 12-1-2017
For Steve Kirchen
Raymond Ziemer
College of DuPage
Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr
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.
Recommended Citation
Ziemer, Raymond (2017) "For Steve Kirchen," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 40 : No. 1 , Article 40.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol40/iss1/40
42Prairie Light Review  Fall 2017
For Steve Kirchen
Raymond Ziemer
They think you cannot lose your way 
just floating downstream with the current, 
but we know how channels 
split and weave and 
slow sometimes to steaming backwaters 
thick with duckweed. 
So mired in sluggish oxbows of indecision 
I remember all the times 
you paddled through. 
From blue-spring deeps 
your memory will lift me out 
and carry me for one mile more, 
replenish me for one more hopeful after. 
As a paddle slips below 
sculling smoothly with the flow, 
liquid as a dream, 
your voice will whisper 
riffles in the river 
when I hesitate to draw. 
Your kindly spirit will come to me 
with cries of conscience 
chirping on the verges of my soul. 
And I count on you to 
always keep me honest with the earth.
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Ziemer: For Steve Kirchen
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For Steve Kirchen

Sikorski, Mary

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 40 | Number 1 Article 45
Fall 12-1-2017
Stuck In Red
Mary Sikorski
College of DuPage
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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
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Recommended Citation
Sikorski, Mary (2017) "Stuck In Red," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 40 : No. 1 , Article 45.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol40/iss1/45
49Prairie Light Review  Fall 2017
Stuck in Red,
Mary Sikorski
Photocomposition
PLR F2017 FINAL.indd   49 11/1/2017   4:51:19 PM
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Sikorski: Stuck In Red
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Stuck In Red

Roylance, Taylor

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 40 | Number 1 Article 57
Fall 12-1-2017
Moonglow
Taylor Roylance
College of DuPage
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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
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Recommended Citation
Roylance, Taylor (2017) "Moonglow," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 40 : No. 1 , Article 57.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol40/iss1/57
66Prairie Light Review  Fall 2017
Moonglow
Taylor Roylance
Acrylic on canvas
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Roylance: Moonglow
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2017


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