DigitalCommons@C.O.D.

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 38 | Number 2 Article 3
Spring 5-1-2016
About This Issue
Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr
This Prefatory Note 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 administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact
koteles@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
(2016) "About This Issue," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 3.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/3
Editorial Team:
Associate Editors
Karen Forslin-Bojnansky
Madeline Jeff eries
Editors
Marisa Judd
Ken Kielar
Michael Perry
Amy Peter
Advisor
Trina Sotirakopulos
Editor-in-Chief
Earnest Bickerstaff 
Production Editor
Alyssa Ahlert
Marketing Editors
Lindsay Flinker
Th ania Hernandez
Humans of DuCo Editor
Shailesh Patel
Trina R. Sotirakopulos, 
Advisor
sotirakopulost@cod.edu
630.942.2177
Questions:
How to Join:
To join the PLR editorial team, enroll in English 2210. Find more informa-
tion about the course at: www.cod.edu/plr.
Prairie Light Review, the Liberal Arts Magazine of College of DuP-
age, has been published for over 20 years. Th is free publication, 
funded by Student Activities fees, is the venue for creative work in 
District 502. It is a partnership between Student Life and the Liberal 
Arts Division. 
Prairie Light Review can be picked up in the Library, the McAnnich 
Arts Building, and outside the PLR offi  ce at SSC 1227.
About:
Want more?
~ Take a peek at our online magazine at www.prairielightreview.org
~ Connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/plrmagazine
~ Check out our twitter at twitter.com/plr_cod
Prairie Light Review2 1
et al.: About This Issue
Published by Di italCommons@COD, 2015


English

About This Issue

Laning, Lael

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 38 | Number 2 Article 11
Spring 5-1-2016
Press Play
Lael Laning
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 administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact koteles@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
Laning, Lael (2016) "Press Play," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 11.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/11
Music fills the tank’s refueling 
rises, to the heights possessed 
scars sing stories of the schooling 
dance until your sweat is pooling
Scars sing stories of the schooling 
muscle and sinew seams confessed 
dance until your sweat is pooling
Deafening sounds of techno ruling 
movement’s choreographer obsessed 
scars sing stories of the schooling 
Again and again the music grueling 
and again the pleading arms outstretched 
dance until your sweat is pooling 
Two by two and four are dueling 
who can now survive the test 
dance until your sweat is pooling
Ringing stopped, dead air is cooling 
balls of feet allowed to rest 
scars sing stories of the schooling 
Press Play
Lael Laning
Through
Photoshop
Alissa Cichelli
Prairie Light Review8 1
Laning: Press Play
Published by Di italCommons@COD, 2015


Press Play

Parker, Rachael

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 38 | Number 2 Article 32
Spring 5-1-2016
Three Horses
Rachael Parker
College of DuPage
Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr
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 administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact koteles@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
Parker, Rachael (2016) "Three Horses," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 32.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/32
My own eyes do deceive me, for when I 
dream, and my eyes continue to be wide 
I lie awake thinking that I should try.
Many thoughts in my head race like the tide.
I need to clean my mind to see clearly
that I have dreams that are worth achieving. 
I hold those and more in my heart dearly, 
if I truly just keep on believing. 
But I know that there are those who say no.
Yet I know in my heart that I am right.
I do also know that it goes to show 
I never let my passion out of sight. 
Whoever follows in their heart and soul
can be completely full and as a whole.
Wandering Heart
Denise Calma
Denise Calma’s “Wandering Heart” is the 
winner of the College of DuPage 2016 Sonnet 
Writing Contest, held in honor of the 400th 
anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
Th ree Horses
Rachael Parker
Spring 2016 271
Parker: Three Horses
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2015


Three Horses

Kotyuk, Ida

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 38 | Number 2 Article 50
Spring 5-1-2016
The Embrace
Ida Kotyuk
College of DuPage
Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr
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 administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact koteles@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
Kotyuk, Ida (2016) "The Embrace," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 50.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/50
The Embrace
Gouache
Ida Kotyuk
Prairie Light Review44 1
Kotyuk: The Embrace
Published by Di italCommons@COD, 2015


The Embrace

Melara, Candy

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 38 | Number 2 Article 62
Spring 5-1-2016
Iris
Candy Melara
College of DuPage
Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr
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 administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact koteles@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
Melara, Candy (2016) "Iris," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 62.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/62
Dona Mariana Violante de Carvajal would be among 
the many women destroyed for being other, 
reduced to firewood for adherence to her truth. 
She was a crypto-Jew, so accused 
and thus set ablaze in the very place 
where we now buy grilled elotes 
and absorb the gentle warmth of sub-tropic sun.
Iris
Acrylic and ink painting
Candy Melara
Spring 2016 531
Melara: Iris
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2015


Iris

Alford Hinde, Bonniejean

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 38 | Number 2 Article 64
Spring 5-1-2016
Grovel, I shall never
Bonniejean Alford Hinde
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 administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact koteles@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
Alford Hinde, Bonniejean (2016) "Grovel, I shall never," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 64.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/64
Grovel, I shall never
a Shakespearean ‘ode de plume’ (ish) 
  
All that glitters is not gold, ‘twas not gold, 
as my bloodstained life hath provided evidence to which. 
  
My birth, it seems, was immoment for mine parents; 
a fracted future awaited me, 
even as moonbeam after moonbeam stole my wished upon stars, 
leaving my very being with discontent beyond measurement, 
with sleep of nightmare rather than dreams tranquil. 
  
Countless nights I prayed, I sought escape 
from the prison that held me captive and left me jaded 
by an imaginary promise of a monumental future. 
  
Cold-blooded I must have seemed, 
as critic after critic called attention to my ever-focused endeavours, 
whether in academe or something else all together career intended. 
  
Yet, the attempted assassination of my early spirit, 
the child within near murdered in mine own bedroom; 
On life support, it seemed, seeking a champion to my plight. 
  
Addiction to the torment of mine youth, unlived though it was. 
A bandit of love, for love is what I always sought, am seeking still. 
Love, indeed, is a needly aspect of life immortal. 
  
But for the ever flawed, as I most assuredly am, 
merely a laughable experiment in life, or so it would seem. 
  
Truth must prevail in the dawn of each new day. 
Equivocal is the truth I must share: 
I shant compromise my integrity, 
even as the scoundrel does torture mine deepest soul. 
Exposure to temptation has been a near fatal defect to our entanglement. 
  
Majestic hope remains in my mind’s eye, 
as I undress my heart to thee. 
  
On the precipice of amazement we stand indeed, 
most ready to arouse our very existence as one united entity. 
But first, we must unpack the luggage that is our past, 
lest we not metamorphasized into the butterfly that is our future.
Bonniejean 
Alford
Spring 2016 551
Alford Hinde: Grovel, I shall never
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2015


Grovel, I shall never

Tolman Flannery, Maureen

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 38 | Number 2 Article 71
Spring 5-1-2016
Cleaning with Impediments
Maureen Tolman Flannery
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 administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact koteles@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
Tolman Flannery, Maureen (2016) "Cleaning with Impediments," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 71.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/71
Another baby will arrive any day.  Together 
we are making the space worthy of its entry. 
I furiously arrange, vacuum, dust, put away 
 
on one side of the room while she, 
on the other side, in a more systematic 
and orderly fashion, clutters and dislocates. 
 
All the tchotchkes are now part of her farm 
and nothing is where it might otherwise belong. 
She has discovered a tiny blue willow tea service 
 
and has set up her table on a hankie. 
Come joy me, I hear among her pleasantries 
on both sides of the on-going conversation. 
 
When she says it again 
I realize she means me, is emphatic 
and not to be kept waiting. 
 
As I switch off the vacuum I hear her 
dismiss other tea party guests.  Haba goo day. 
I decide to just let the dust settle and joy her.
Cleaning with 
Impediments
Maureen Tolman 
Flannery
My sweetheart loved her pretty earrings 
With radiant sparkle seldom seen 
Those colorful stones cast rainbow hues 
But the posts turned her ears a vile green 
  
I rushed her to the neighborhood clinic 
Prayed the infection had not yet spread 
The doctor approached in somber tones said 
The earrings did it:  I’m afraid she’s dead 
  
I anguished until the moral emerged 
When gifting don’t overemphasize thrift 
I’ll keep that in mind at a dollar store 
As I lovingly choose my new girlfriend’s gift
It's the Thought...
John Gordon
Spring 2016 631
Tolman Flannery: Cleaning with Impediments
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2015


Cleaning with Impediments

Jackson, Tonia

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 38 | Number 2 Article 78
Spring 5-1-2016
The Things We Left Behind 3
Tonia Jackson
College of DuPage
Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr
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 administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact koteles@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
Jackson, Tonia (2016) "The Things We Left Behind 3," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 78.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/78
The Things We Left Behind 3
Color photography
Tonia Jackson
Spring 2016 691
Jackson: The Things We Left Behind 3
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2015


The Things We Left Behind 3

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 38 | Number 2 Article 84
Spring 5-1-2016
The Bride's Father Mixes Their Dance CD
Maureen Tolman Flannery
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 administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact koteles@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
Tolman Flannery, Maureen (2016) "The Bride's Father Mixes Their Dance CD," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 84.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/84
The Bride’s Father Mixes Their Dance CD
Maureen Tolman Flannery
He knows how to keep quiet and pay the bills 
but he’s going for frills in this father-daughter dance, 
his chance to say it all with a schmaltzy waltz 
and a honky-tonk, overused Texas two-step 
about how recently she was his girl 
and who knows where the time goes
but I loved her first and may she always walk in sunshine. 
Johnny Cash, Elvis, Paul Simon can all serenade her day. 
He wants their dance to say they’re in sync, 
show they can adjust to the whim of the drummer, 
let everyone see how she follows his lead, 
each complex disco turn, 
rudiments learned with her small feet on his huge boots.
Too much to pack into one three-minute track, 
it had to be a medley to include every 
you’re-going-on-but-I-hope-life-is-kind 
kind of lyric he could find. 
He’s put together a string of five or six songs to span the 
gamut 
of agile motion, ballroom steps, and paternal devotion. 
 
She drags her feet about scheduling practice 
while quietly obsessing over what has become, 
for her, the wedding preparations’ ultimate stressor— 
how to express what she thinks of this overblown exhibition 
that threatens to bore all the guests in the room 
after she’s had the floor with her groom—
the frenetic abuse of too many styles 
with cheesy, schlock lyrics oozing of sap.
Prairie Light Review74 1
Tolman Flannery: The Bride's Father Mixes Their Dance CD
Published by Di italCommons@COD, 2015
Stirring Music
Mary Yezek
Her lack of enthusiasm for their dance 
calls up all her bridal ambivalence 
about seeming a nay-sayer to his every “good idea” 
showering acid rain on his parade. 
It accentuates her basic fear of sounding 
like bitch-bride about things she doesn’t like. 
Where goes her intention to grab each moment with gusto? 
What’s worse, it reminds her that his mortality looms 
like a raptor with designs on blessings of her succulent life. 
Every time she hears, 
“I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,”
she’ll weep over his overwhelming desire 
to have brightened the light in her life.
Spring 2016 752
The Prairie Light Review, Vol. 38 [2015], No. 2, Art. 84
http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/84


The Bride\u27s Father Mixes Their Dance CD

Salgado, Elizabeth

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 38 | Number 2 Article 91
Spring 5-1-2016
Blossoming in Bliss
Elizabeth Salgado
College of DuPage
Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr
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 administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact koteles@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
Salgado, Elizabeth (2016) "Blossoming in Bliss," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 91.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/91
Blossoming in 
Bliss
Color photography
Elizabeth Salgado
Prairie Light Review is a juried magazine that is produced twice a year in December and 
May by a class of student editors enrolled in English 2210 at the College of DuPage. The 
magazine features the creative works of students, faculty, and residents of our College 
District 502. 
Student editors evaluate blind entries and strive to bring to the magazine’s readers the 
most engaging and creative work being produced in District 502. 
The magazine welcomes original fiction, nonfiction, essays, and drama of 1,600 words 
or less; poetry of 62 lines or less; graphic essays of 12 panels or less; black and white and 
color photography; and 2D and 3D artwork of any medium. 
Colophon:
Special thanks to:
Chuck Steele and the Office of Student Life, Dr. Sheldon Walcher, Dr. Daniel Lloyd, Dr. 
Jean Kartje, and Dr. Joe Collins for their ongoing support of the journal. Thanks to Tim 
Wayman and Bailey Kovac for their printing service at Alphagraphics in Lisle.
Prairie Light Review80 1
Salgado: Blossoming in Bliss
Published by Di italCommons@COD, 2015


College of DuPage

Not a member yet