In memoriam

On April 20, 2025, Collin Garrett Thacker unexpectedly passed away. Known as Skylar to many in the Ohio State Marion community, they were a cheerful and effervescent presence on campus these past several years. Graduating with a bachelor's degree in English this past fall, Skylar was an especially active member of the creative writing community. Here, in addition to printing the several poems Skylar had submitted for this issue, we also showcase a collection of their poems from past issues. We miss our dear, talented friend.

The Boy with Missing Teeth

Sometimes I smile
In the harshest air of the cities
But I do not mind though
Grinning with teeth missing.

Walking on the bricks
My little feet hurting
Grinning with teeth missing
As I return home to mama.

My little feet hurting
I trek on
I know better
It will be night soon.

Walk fast through 9th Ave
Because there's always trouble
It will be dark soon
And I don't want no fight.

Because there's always trouble
So I run, don't walk
It will be dark soon
Always keeping lookout.

So I run, don't walk
Keeping time
Always keeping lookout
But I don't mind though.

—Collin Thacker

Photograph Lewis Hines, In a Children's Home, Pittsburgh, Pa, 1909. (Public domain).

Forbidden Love

What happens when you love someone you cannot have? Do I have to stay suffocated by the "what-ifs" and the "Never-Will-Be's?" bottled up with emotions I don't not understand? It is both physically and mentally taxing. All those times I had the opportunity, but never the courage. Opportunity enough, but when there's a lacking on my part, there's the issue. Coward! I would think to myself, because I was the only one still holding on. ME, user error, I'm the problem. So, I pulled back. I withdrew myself from the situation. Why must we make some decisions that we can never change? Say things that we don't mean? And most of all, lust for things that are unattainable. What is wrong with me? Why is the love I want, forbidden? How do I say "I love you" without words, silently, without a sound?

—Collin Thacker

Oddly Specific #2

The lifeless stool that waits and waits for someone, something, anyone, anything, to rest upon it. In a way such that it must perform its duty and suppress the weight of the beholder that is currently in its presence. Faux leather and metal alloy structure, anxious in waiting for something to do... the stool is not useless, yet full of potential. —Collin Thacker

Untitled

Speak your truth
Your mind
Your curiosity
And don't let things settle.
Activate your fullest potential
By creating the limits
For your life,
Not the other way around.
Silence things that don't bring you justice.
I'll wait. . .

—Collin Thacker

Untitled

Sing to me my beloved!
Sing me a tune from the heavens!
Bring me pleasantries with your blessings
Behold a kiss from your lips unto mine.
Awaken my soul with rejuvenation
And prescribe a remedy for every ailment.
Let your strength be visible
And our hearts synced in tune with the morning doves.
Let us be merry and gay
In our own walks of life
And kind to not only others
But to ourselves as well.

—Collin Thacker

Stolen from Maya Angelou (Originally published in Cornfield Review 2024)

The way her skirt flairs

When the wind jet streams by
Caressing her curves
In the many ways
A man cannot.
(Does my sexiness offend you?
Stolen from Maya Angelou)

The fragrance, the brand, the power...
Has it ever occurred to you,
How females poise themselves
For more than just pleasure
A secret unknown to man
Never to be discovered.
(Does my sassiness upset you?
Stolen from Maya Angelou)

How women drink their soda
Through a straw to avoid
Brown teeth.
Stay skinny but not barf up their burger,
Tan but not orange,
And stay sexy but not a slut.
(Does my haughtiness offend you?
Stolen from Maya Angelou)

—Collin Thacker

Hospital Bed (Originally published in Cornfield Review 2023)

The lights
Oh how they hurt my eyes
And the noise
The sole cause of my headache
Flashes of white
Of what exactly?
I am not sure
I felt as though I were being suffocated
But at least
I was warm
Blurry vision subsiding
And now realizing I was not alone
In this small room
As I come to the conclusion
That I’m in heaven
So why am I handcuffed
To this hospital bed?

—Collin Thacker

Unmindful of the Thorns (Originally published in Cornfield Review 2022)

Why do we so carelessly
Pick the rose
Sweet with all its petals
And not think of the consequences?

But if given the opportunity
To stop and smell the roses
Would you?

Why pluck the rose
For temporary beauty?

Unmindful of the thorns.

—Collin G. Thacker

The Collector (Originally published in Cornfield Review 2021)

I am a collector you see,
A collector of only three things…
I collect tears from the broken
I take all the foul memories
All the hurt and pain
I take all those dreaded thoughts
And I put them to rest.
I turn those salty little tears
Loose into the ocean
Where you can come to the beach
And create new
And happy vacation memories
To splash around in the salty sea
I also collect worried minds
I take the troubling thoughts
And I follow the opposite of
All the “what-ifs”
And create positive outcomes
To give back as happy dreams
But the thing I love to collect most?
I collect broken hearts
I shine and polish them until they are mirrors
I give them back and show their owners that
You do not have to find love in others
You can find beauty within
And loving yourself is the first step
In loving others
Stop worrying, do not cry,
And love yourself… I am here to help you do just that!

—Collin Thacker

My Year (Originally published in Cornfield Review 2020)

This will be my year,
To do something great,
To fill those shoes,
To conquer the unknown,
To complete those expectations,
To heal the wounded,
To prosper through the hardships,
To live on through my life,
To create my legacy,
And most of all,
To write my own story,
This will be my year.

—Collin Thacker