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Nkanga, Divine

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 47 
Number 1 Spring 2025 Article 37 
Spring 5-1-2025 
Untitled 
Divine Nkanga 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
Nkanga, Divine (2025) "Untitled," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 47: No. 1, Article 37. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol47/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. 
My consciousness has been ripped from my flesh, 
the transition must have been painless. 
I have felt nothing. 
My meaty remains orchestrated by butcher twine, 
my leather suede shoes clomp toward my chair. 
Each day my march becomes more erratic, whatever bones I have,
 are liquified. 
The spoor of  rot follows wherever I go, 
I ooze into my chair a final time. 
From diseased meat, a heap of  maggots, and finally the grot that stains the floor. 
Someone has to clean that up.
Untitled
Divine Nkanga
Soultry
43
Devona Barnes
Photography42 1
Nkanga: Untitled
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2025


Untitled

Azeez, Noora

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 47 
Number 1 Spring 2025 Article 42 
Spring 5-1-2025 
Pink Drip 
Noora Azeez 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
Azeez, Noora (2025) "Pink Drip," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 47: No. 1, Article 42. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol47/iss1/42 
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. 
Being a girl is
Being catcalled by grown men
And feeling like you did something 
wrong
Even when you’ve done nothing.
The lingering burn of their gaze,
A wound you can’t wash off.
Being a girl is
Being taught to fear the world,
To always look over your shoulder,
To remember the taser in your bag.
Being a girl is
Thinking random hands grabbing your 
body is just something you endure,
Something you’re supposed to shrug off,
As if your body were theirs to claim.
Being a girl is
Being taught that you are less than
The sum of your parts,
That your worth is measured by some-
one else’s eyes,
Not your mind, not your soul, not your 
heart.
Being a girl is
Your body maturing before your mind,
Before you understand what it means to 
feel wanted,
Or what it means to feel safe.
Being a girl is
To be lusted after
And told it’s your fault
They feel that way.
As if your skin is a promise,
Your smile an invitation,
And your silence, a yes.
Being a girl is
Being told that being wanted is being 
loved,
That you should be grateful for atten-
tion,
Even if it’s never what you asked for.
Even if it feels like ownership.
Being a girl is
Losing something each time someone 
takes what isn’t theirs,
But being told you should be flattered.
Being a girl is
To be called a tease or a slut,
Never a person with complex emotions 
or desires,
Only a label that fits what they want 
from you,
Never what you are.
Being a girl is
Being called moody when you stand 
your ground,
When you set a boundary,
When you demand respect.
Being a girl is
An object to possess,
An itch to scratch,
A means to someone else’s end.
Being a girl is a thousand things,
But none of them are easy.
None of them are fair.
And none of them are yours to choose.
Girlhood
Brooklyn Ross
46
Pink Drip
Noora Azeez          Photography
471
Azeez: Pink Drip
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2025


Pink Drip

Carroll, Christine

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 47 
Number 1 Spring 2025 Article 70 
Spring 5-1-2025 
Impact 
Christine Carroll 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
Carroll, Christine (2025) "Impact," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 47: No. 1, Article 70. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol47/iss1/70 
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. 
You can set flame to your apple cinnamon 3 wick,
But you’ll always be left with the tick-tock of  the crystal clock.
Drown yourself  in fumes
(Smells like forever solitude).
Love is not a luxury you want to spend on me? 
Weave your own braids. Sing yourself  a serenade to sleep. 
Mamá won’t kiss you goodnight!
Your call cannot be completed as dialed. 
Drown yourself  in prose
& pose!
Post the pics,
Do it for the clicks,
the boys,
or find a new toy.
                    Meditate. 
          Oh, of  course I wanted to text you back.
                    But I imagined that the scalding faucet water 
                                                  entrenching my corporeal body; 
            illuminated by the beauty of  the Moon, 
                      as instead the warmth I had
                                   been anxiously awaiting to receive
                                                                                        from you.
Meditations
Laura Pineda Impact
Christine Carroll
Mixed Media
In every life, a story is told
Moments woven in threads of  gold
Paths connect and lives entwine
Actions taken, our fates align
Change unfolds in time and space
Together as one, we leave our trace. 
74 751
Carroll: Impact
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