Selections for PLU's literary magazine, Saxifrage

Still Sundays

By Stephanie Takase ’05

I watch each week as the sermon starts
and they bow their heads and ask me to be still.
They press their palms together,
driving salt and sweat
deep into the divining lines
that crease their cracking skin and buckled brows.
Their eyes, pinched tight as pages
read by rote their prayers
before them, the incessant typing
of their tongues,
printing each word across their teeth.
With questioning spines they lean
against the facing pews,
all faces to the floor, and
want and wait and wake
into the bustling stillness.

Coping

By JP Kemmick ’07

To drown out the noise
of his fighting parents
he would put in the
“How to mime like a pro”
video he bought on eBay for $19.99
(plus $2.00 shipping and handling)
And while doors slammed
and voices reached a deafening pitch,
he would build an invisible soundproof box
and simply sit there
and ignoring the video’s instructions,
would make no effort to get out.