Predator Vs. Prey - Jules Acosta ‘24

The message of this piece is that all organisms are, at the end of the day, composed of the same building blocks as each other. So, I created a diptych of me, as the hunter, and a rabbit, both surrounded by their muscle and veinous tissues. Both types of tissue appear incredibly similar, yet they are not the same. If so, then the only thing separating them, making one inferior to the other is our consciousness as human beings— the awareness that we are, in fact, both flesh and blood.

envy - Gabriella Escobar ‘26

I decided to write this poem about the feeling of envy, which, in some cases, can turn to fantasies of violence to be like someone. I believe that envy and jealousy are two very closely knit sisters. Envy can harm someone's way of thinking about themselves and the people around them. Envy is a parasite.

ENVY

do you remember

when i called you the

poison ivy of the forest?

where your vines

echoed through the trees

and twisted into bark,

the light flaking off like

dust onto your tainted

leaves, and

all i ever wanted was

to sting like you did,

beautiful and green

and knitted between

the cracks, all i could

do was itch myself

of a rash that bled

blue because the air

could not sing to it

in time.

i wanted you to feel

the itching of the gray skies,

i wanted to cut your head off

until the snakes heaped on,

hissed it into their grave,

pitless eyes so leaden that they turned

everything you saw and loved to

stone. 

i wanted to be you and have you dead,

with everything and nothing at all.

i wanted to be your golden nails

shrouded in silk, to rip them

out of the cuticles until the tips

of your fingers were unrecognizable.