IR online 2016 | Indiana Review

IR Online: Table of Contents

Indiana Review Online 2016: An Undergraduate Project

Lost or Found

To read the introduction to the issue and view the masthead, click here.

S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Purow-Ruderman

Portrait of a Boy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katarina Merlini

Lake Winnebago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hannah-Marie Nelson

Wuthering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Indigo Baloch

Hay Fire
Public Gardens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nora Sullivan

A Hundred Magnificent Shades of Red . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Navid Saedi

stain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bria Goeller

Magnitude 7.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Czyzyk

Two Blankees and a Pillow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anastasia McCray

The Only Thing You Can’t Undo Is Knowing . . . . . . . . . . Mallory Hasty

Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlee R. Moseley

IR Online: Masthead and Letter from the Editor

Dear reader,

Here it is. The 2016 edition of Indiana Review Undergraduate Online! The W280 Literary Editing and Publishing class at Indiana University-Bloomington is proud to have found these literary gems hidden within “under-bed altars” in order to create something more than just a literary journal or a “book of nonsense with dynamite attached.” We wanted to compile works that evoked the sense of loss and discovery that all undergraduate students face as they move on from the “temple of childhood” to discover who they are and who they want to be.

We encouraged writing that looked beyond the literal interpretation of the theme of Lost or Found, and happily, we were rewarded. Before us were works ranging from the loss of crushed beer cans or the loss of a single, yellowed suicide note, to works about discovery, whether that was gaining newfound trust or learning how to mother “fearsome,” infant-shaped “creatures.”

Just as we stood witness to a man, who thought he could no longer trust another, look into his lover’s eyes and see “truth in them,” we found poetry and short fiction that dove into deeper meanings, tested boundaries, and challenged traditional forms and ideas. Thus, this issue represents a wide range of contemporary undergraduate writing under the umbrella of a unifying theme.

We hope you enjoy reading this collection of works, and that you end up either lost or found – or perhaps both – between its pages.

IR Online

IR Online Fiction: “S” by Sarah Purow-Ruderman

In the deep grotto behind the house, S was blowing on my wrists and scalp and in between my toes where it tickled. S that tickles, I whispered. When the words came out of my mouth, they were eaten by the bat that swooped down and then settled under S’s armpit. Shh, S said. Shhhhhhhhh, S said. Her shh went rushing through my ears and down into the catacombs where the people lay, and it moved their chests up and down like bellows blowing on a flame.

IR Online Poetry: “Portrait of a Boy” by Katarina Merlini

for MP

The ruined illusion of a body held
together by threads: dark grey T-shirts would catch
on black metal surface bars. Forced removal,
a night spent on prescription Xanax, twin
scars sit just on top of well-defined pectorals.
Edges sharp as sullen swords, a two-winged
collarbone flows into an unremarkable neck
(neither elegant nor plain). Then, an unassuming
jawline, overly full lips—I say feminine,
he will insist shapely. A rounded nose, snub,
the septum piercing would catch on my nostril
and hold our faces close. Eyes, disappointing
in color and shape. Hair kept long to shelter
soft cheeks. The portrait of a boy lost in transition.

*

Katarina Merlini is a poet, writer, and alleged human being who studies English and Psychology at the University of Michigan. When she’s not dressing her dog up in thrifted sweaters or tending to her windowsill cactus collection, she enjoys working as a mentor for local LGBTQ+ and at-risk youth.

IR Online Poetry: “Lake Winnebago” by Hannah-Marie Nelson

I see boats with solid anchor roots
hovering awkward on swaying ripples
like feet tethered to graves of their own souls.

I see a drained woman
not watching a bright-eyed boy
who is watching the boats rock
as he walks towards the shore.

I see people floating pressed against ground.
A little to the left, a little to the right.
And back again as if leaving were
sinking.

So I’m sinking, swaying,
broken beneath boat bottoms
to see what you last saw
before false air betrayed your body.

I wonder what water-air feels like.
Did lake water overfilling his lungs
feel the same since he’s autistic?
Either way, drowning must feel so
lonesome.

Either way, she was supposed to be watching him.
Then he wouldn’t be dead.

*

Hannah-Marie Nelson is currently a sophomore at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities who is majoring in English and minoring in creative writing. Writing poetry and fiction is her greatest passion, and she aspires to continue on to get her MFA in creative writing after graduation and become a creative writing professor and professional writer someday. She’s originally from Neenah, Wisconsin where her wonderful and supportive family lives. Her family and the amazing teachers and professors she’s had throughout her time as a student have helped her get as far as she is today in her writing journey which she greatly appreciates. She’s had poetry published in Dream Quest One, the Belleville Park Pages, and the Blue Heron Review and always appreciates publishing opportunities such as this one that give her the opportunity to share her work.

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