{"id":11008,"date":"2023-04-24T07:58:19","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T13:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rctc.edu\/echo\/?page_id=11008"},"modified":"2025-09-24T13:11:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T19:11:14","slug":"poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gentle Grey<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>By <\/strong>Zoe Mckinzie<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now imagine a world in specific black and white,<\/p>\n

No grey, just ink and light.<\/p>\n

Can you picture it?<\/p>\n

No?<\/p>\n

Why? I politely inquire,<\/p>\n

why is it that we so desire,<\/p>\n

Ivory skin, with eyes of coal?<\/p>\n

Why not the gentle grey contour of a cheekbone?<\/p>\n

Certainly not because we do prefer,<\/p>\n

One color to another,<\/p>\n

Or that we prefer the beauty of a bottle,<\/p>\n

Over the raw individual beauty we carry.<\/p>\n

Because as we have grown,<\/p>\n

We have fallen short,<\/p>\n

no longer admiring individuality.<\/p>\n

no longer seeing unity.<\/p>\n

We see what is on our feed,<\/p>\n

Nothing more, black, or white.<\/p>\n

We see those bodies on magazines and feeds,<\/p>\n

And decide that, maybe, we aren\u2019t good enough<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s why we don\u2019t have friends,<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s why we don\u2019t have a partner,<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s why we don\u2019t talk with anyone<\/p>\n

Or maybe.<\/p>\n

Just maybe the reason you don\u2019t have those things,<\/p>\n

Is because you don\u2019t get off the black and white screen,<\/p>\n

Long enough to see,<\/p>\n

All the beautiful greys the world has to offer.<\/p>\n

Maybe we should admire the gentle and raw power,<\/p>\n

Each individual possesses<\/p>\n

The sheer magnitude and intellect<\/p>\n

Each person provides.<\/p>\n

Maybe, we should admire one another, rather than our screens.<\/p>\n

Sonder<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

A person, among billions of others.<\/p>\n

A nameless face, a person with no identity,<\/p>\n

What can you see in me?<\/p>\n

Projections of insanity?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been told I look less than Friendly.<\/p>\n

But among the ceaseless flow of time,<\/p>\n

I wish for happy moments strung on telephone wire.<\/p>\n

What moments will my mind retire?<\/p>\n

Which ones will leave something to be desired?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been thinking I shouldn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

And in the daily bustle and chatter,<\/p>\n

I hope for some quiet,<\/p>\n

a moment of serenity.<\/p>\n

Will I find a moment to simply lay?<\/p>\n

Are you someone who will stay?<\/p>\n

Because my days are long and dreary.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s not much I will or can say,<\/p>\n

on the topic of yesterday or tomorrow,<\/p>\n

Quiet or loud.<\/p>\n

Or people, even.<\/p>\n

Because we all experienced yesterday,<\/p>\n

And we could experience tomorrow.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all been loud, in some manner of speaking,<\/p>\n

And We\u2019ve all been quiet, in some definition.<\/p>\n

But something many of us lack is the warm beat,<\/p>\n

The quiet contentment, and subtle calm,<\/p>\n

From the most human of things,<\/p>\n

A basic connection.<\/p>\n

Poured over coffee or tea,<\/p>\n

Fending off days so bleak,<\/p>\n

We search for a human heartbeat.<\/p>\n

Zoe Mckinzie is a sophomore considering a career in nursing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Honestly\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

By Mathew Clemens<\/strong><\/p>\n

Honestly,<\/p>\n

I ought to be<\/p>\n

honest with myself.<\/p>\n

Lying,<\/p>\n

about where I\u2019m at<\/p>\n

is a hard thing to sell.<\/p>\n

Once I get past<\/p>\n

that fact<\/p>\n

look myself in the mirror.<\/p>\n

Realize<\/p>\n

happiness<\/p>\n

is already here.<\/p>\n

Mathew Clemens is a returning student studying laboratory science.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gentle Grey \u00a0By Zoe Mckinzie Now imagine a world in specific black and white, No grey, just ink and light. Can you picture it? No? Why? I politely inquire, why is it that we so desire, Ivory skin, with eyes of coal? Why not the gentle grey contour of a cheekbone? Certainly not because we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1015,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1015"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}