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Jones, Anton

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 44 
Number 2 Spring 2022 Article 77 
Spring 5-1-2022 
Cuneiform 
Anton Jones 
College of DuPage 
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Recommended Citation 
Jones, Anton (2022) "Cuneiform," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 44: No. 2, Article 77. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol44/iss2/77 
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. 
Garden Hammock Paul Sikes
     I open the slider leading out to the backyard.  I feel the sun on my face, but 
what I seek is the shade of the garden, the protection of the trees, an intensity of 
green-growing things, and the peace of a swaying hammock.
     If I make the effort to notice, I hear a constant background chatter of cicadas. 
Birds are calling to each other in the trees. As I make my way toward the ham-
mock, these sounds become muffled by the shrubs, trees and gardens that form 
this shadowed haven. Then I spy my two grandchildren on their knees, heads 
together, watching something wriggling on the ground. I say nothing but move 
more slowly, trying not to disturb their investigation.
     Under the trees now, I feel a cool breeze and hear a slight buzzing of bumble-
bees searching for nectar in a flowering berry bramble that circles one of the trees 
supporting the rope hammock.  The grassy ground is a little spongy today due to 
recent rains, so I can move undetected until I am nearly standing on top of my 
grandkids.
     I can see now what they are seeing – a caterpillar.  This fuzzy fellow looks like 
the last two inches of a bottle brush, covered in yellow hairs with extra-long black 
and white bristles at either end.  It looks otherworldly - more like Maurice Sen-
dak’s Where the Wild Things Are than Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 
No wonder the kids are mesmerized (and uncharacteristically still!).
     “You guys know not to touch one of those, right?” I caution.
“Grandpa!” squeaks Isaac with a wide, welcoming grin.  He recently turned two.
“We know, Grandpa. Momma always says ‘look, but don’t touch,’” states Abigail 
sagely, because she just started kindergarten and is incredibly mature for her age.
     “That’s a banded tussock caterpillar,” I state, not to be outdone by their wise 
mother, my oldest daughter. “What do caterpillars turn into?  Do either of you 
know?”
     “Butterflies!” first Abigail, then Isaac repeats.
     “Not this one. What’s like a butterfly, but not exactly?”
Silence, and that ‘give me a hint, please’ look on Abigail’s face. Isaac was back 
looking at the creepy crawler itself, caring less about the science of metamorpho-
sis.
     “It starts with an “m” and looks a lot like a butterfly.”
     “Moth!” proclaims Abigail, pride and self-satisfaction showing on her face.
     “That’s right!” I exclaim, pride and self-satisfaction showing on my face too.
     “Okay, you two, Grandpa is going to take a nap in the hammock. Don’t let me 
bother you.  I’ll be right over here.”
     I grab the near side of the hammock with both hands spread out beside and 
behind me. I gingerly squat until my rear touches rope.  I take a deep breath, say 
a little prayer, tighten my grip on the hammock’s edge and lean back.  I swing my 
legs up and around and recline into the hammock, letting gravity pull me down 
into its embrace.
“Aaaaaahhh,” I may have said out loud as my body sways side-to-side, slowing, 
slowing, slowing.
“Grandpa, can we get on, too?”
Silence, and that ‘can’t I just rest a bit, please’ look on my face.
“Grandpa?”
“Sure, why not?” I smile and open my arms wide.
76
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Jones: Cuneiform
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English

Cuneiform

Harland, Kait

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 45 
Number 1 Fall 2022 Article 11 
Fall 12-1-2022 
Dawn 
Kait Harland 
College of DuPage 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
Harland, Kait (2022) "Dawn," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 45: No. 1, Article 11. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol45/iss1/11 
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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. 
Christine Carroll. And Like A Sunflower, We Rise. Lino Print & Watercolor
Dawn
Kait Harland
What time more fresh and free,
What hour more loving and true,
Than the moment in the morning
When the sun glints off  the dew?
When it seems the air’s unbreathed,
And no one’s awake but you.
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Harland: Dawn
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Dawn

Campbell, Mary

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 45 
Number 1 Fall 2022 Article 20 
Fall 12-1-2022 
A Daughter's Plea 
Mary Campbell 
College of DuPage 
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Recommended Citation 
Campbell, Mary (2022) "A Daughter's Plea," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 45: No. 1, Article 20. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol45/iss1/20 
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. 
A Daughter’s Plea
Mary Campbell
I’m here on my phone
On my computer at home
Yet I still feel alone 
Where are you community
When shots rang out in the neighborhood 
There you stood in silence and in disbelief  
As if  this were the first time 
Yet here you come with teddy bears, flowers, and balloons
It’s a nice gesture but your gifts and concerns are too late
Cause death is now my fate
Where are you community  
When the sick and homeless fall
Community we need you now
 Not after the storm 
When you see people depressed rejected and defeated 
You are nowhere to be found
Too busy 
Too aloof
Too selfish
Too hung up on the “techy stuff ”
A simple hello
But no you’ve always got to go
Where were my teddy bears, flowers and balloons when I was alive 
Did you not love me
Care for me
Think of  me 
Community what did I do to you
Don’t cry for me community
Because clearly there is no unity
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Campbell: A Daughter's Plea
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A Daughter\u27s Plea

Belton, Kristy A.

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 45 
Number 1 Fall 2022 Article 21 
Fall 12-1-2022 
I Yearn For 
Kristy A. Belton 
College of DuPage 
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Recommended Citation 
Belton, Kristy A. (2022) "I Yearn For," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 45: No. 1, Article 21. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol45/iss1/21 
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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. 
I Yearn For
Kristy A. Belton
The freedom of  madness
snarling, spitting, heaving
I want to howl as I speak
paw the earth as I dance
and shit on human artifice
I want to smell rain on fierce wind
feel sunlight on naked skin
and roam in places where
only wild things run free
I want to plant seeds in spaces
roots have been torn out
and breathe buds into blossom
I want to break open like fractured earth
revealing worlds where soul leaps
and sing my madness 
straight through to the center
16
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Belton: I Yearn For
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I Yearn For

Sardina, Linnea

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 45 
Number 1 Fall 2022 Article 30 
Fall 12-1-2022 
Violet 
Linnea Sardina 
College of DuPage 
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Recommended Citation 
Sardina, Linnea (2022) "Violet," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 45: No. 1, Article 30. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol45/iss1/30 
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. 
Linnea Sardina 
Violet
Digital photograph
To My Sister
Kait Harland
When you say, “She’s my little sister,” people assume a lot of  things.
It depends on the person, what they assume, but they all assume just 
the same. Some think of  their own little sister, who they see mostly 
as a nuisance, and they’ll assume you feel the same way about yours. 
Some think of  their friend’s kid sister, who’s always getting in the way, 
and they’ll think, “man, I’m glad I don’t have one of  those.” Others 
are more benevolent, assuming that you love your little sister, but only 
because she’s family, and you’re obligated to love your family, right?
So maybe instead, I should say, “She’s my best friend.”
Because when you say “best friend,” people realize that you’re talking 
about the person who’s seen you at your darkest and said “I love you” 
anyway. They realize that you’re talking about the person you grew 
24
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Sardina: Violet
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Violet

Waters, Jim

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 45 
Number 1 Fall 2022 Article 32 
Fall 12-1-2022 
Egg Rock Lighthouse 
Jim Waters 
College of DuPage 
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Recommended Citation 
Waters, Jim (2022) "Egg Rock Lighthouse," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 45: No. 1, Article 32. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol45/iss1/32 
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. 
Jim Waters. Egg Rock Lighthouse. Digital photograph
Selkies, Shells
Our bodies, Ourselves, Boston Women’s Health Book Collective 1970
Tricia Marcella Cimera
I wave to the selkies sunning
Themselves on ocean rocks
Smooth sleek grey
Their bodies now seal     
Now woman — their own
I pocket the empty shell
That I find on the beach       
Running my finger inside
Smooth grey space 
Inhabited by — no one
26
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Waters: Egg Rock Lighthouse
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Egg Rock Lighthouse

Heil, Nancy

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 45 
Number 1 Fall 2022 Article 39 
Fall 12-1-2022 
Taking a Break 
Nancy Heil 
College of DuPage 
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Recommended Citation 
Heil, Nancy (2022) "Taking a Break," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 45: No. 1, Article 39. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol45/iss1/39 
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. 
Nancy Heil. Taking a Break. Digital photograph
Adam Romanowicz. Thor’s Well At Sunset. Digital photograph
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Heil: Taking a Break
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Taking a Break

Kuchar, Karen

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 45 
Number 1 Fall 2022 Article 42 
Fall 12-1-2022 
Sandhill Cranes 
Karen Kuchar 
College of DuPage 
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Recommended Citation 
Kuchar, Karen (2022) "Sandhill Cranes," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 45: No. 1, Article 42. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol45/iss1/42 
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. 
Sandhill Cranes
Karen Kuchar
For the last few weeks,
the warbling 
 of  the sandhill cranes
  has caught my ear
 I scan the sky to see
their imperfect Vee
 stretched across the blue
  headed southeast
Sometimes stragglers
  form an addendum
A whooping crane
 tags along at the end of  the line
  white wings tinged with black
 she stands out in the gray flock
Easing her migration by mutual agreement
I have heard them before
 In other seasons
But not with this frequency
 Nor with this sense of  awe
I hear more whispers and trills,
 I spot the hawk perched in the tree
  As he scans the yard
  Watches the birdfeeder
I wander the yard
 Cut late fall bouquets
  Of  drying hydrangea blossoms
 And russet leaves.
I am slower,
 And slowed
  by wonder.
34
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Kuchar: Sandhill Cranes
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Sandhill Cranes

Corpora, Syd

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 45 
Number 1 Fall 2022 Article 48 
Fall 12-1-2022 
Aria 
Syd Corpora 
College of DuPage 
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Recommended Citation 
Corpora, Syd (2022) "Aria," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 45: No. 1, Article 48. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol45/iss1/48 
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. 
Aria 
Syd Corpora
I was a child longer than most 
Always observing. 
Enclosed in a home,  
a safety, a softness, 
A warmth. 
Listening to my mother’s voice 
On the phone. 
My father’s heavy gait 
On the carpet 
Listening mostly, 
To the silence between them. 
Gaping silence bubbled under 
The freshly painted walls. 
A thin coating over 
words seldom said. 
Hidden in the laundry piles, 
I listened, 
Small ears perked 
In curiosity, 
hands holding tightly  
On to smallness. 
My home’s warmth 
Burned into hot and sticky, 
Unbearable. 
My family, lobsters– 
Boiling alive, 
Until removing the flame. 
Relief  washed over, 
Cold and unforgiving. 
I could not hear the silence anymore 
Only voices speaking, 
“What would they not do for their children’s well being?”
38
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Corpora: Aria
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Aria

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 45 
Number 1 Fall 2022 Article 83 
Fall 12-1-2022 
Philae Island Boatman, Egypt 
Nancy Heil 
College of DuPage 
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Recommended Citation 
Heil, Nancy (2022) "Philae Island Boatman, Egypt," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 45: No. 1, Article 83. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol45/iss1/83 
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 Write and Let Me Cry
George Karavolos
You write and let me cry—
 let me cry
just write down the reasons
so they don’t think the tears are unjustified
Write about closed windows
that remain unsightly
Write about the iron door 
that once swung open to receive 
good mornings
Write about the noble woman who left 
without seeing the good times knock 
on the door of  gratitude
Write about the noble man who 
built palaces with steadfast sacrifice 
for ignorant and envious heirs
Write about time lost, unlearned lessons
the full moons I ignored—
the moons that were hidden to me behind the clouds
Write about the memories of  good days 
that went unnoticed, lost to time and melancholy
You write, and let me cry
Nancy Heil
Philae Island
 Boatman, Egypt
Digital photograph
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Heil: Philae Island Boatman, Egypt
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2022


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