Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras – BRAINFØG V

Visual poem with a title that reads: BRAINFØG V. sleep lungs butterfly bone repeats [lame like it wants tongue] slewslit ulna fly bone repeats [tongue like it wants blame] sunken dark small thyroid breath an extra limb he is memory it comes from how its pupils are warm of meat against my jaw what's going on cornet repeats bolas orbit [it wants ngue] untwist wing it wants to eat [ants tong] gnats tango cord [nts ue] unset tune eyeballs repeat i am somewhere & where some i am i see her mouth she wants to pull in to chew decadent verve breast an outside fist no one takes her i watch time reverse a fog two blanks warp wasp mud turns insidious witness a figment peripheral ink link it spreads residence light traverses inside the doorwav elbow room where does she shift where do i pull landscape mindwall manipulates he touches her i know an invasive olvido seadrownsdilutes ferris wheel ocean witness dimvortices of mountains blackholes hold no exit my mind cassettes i pull she swirls into a whisper a head rests on her dress large black extensions she is midpoint i wonder if she's my aunt or friend cricket passenger seat hook inside my earhazvelectric pulse infests both covet femur both women i displace in her eves i find a woman in need of comfort in her sorrow she strokes my bed oxygen pores vessels cavern every face i wear confronts my father becomes my weight

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Artist’s Statement: For The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon, I used 15 Rorschach I made by dabbing a red rose with paint onto paper. This series is an attempt to write on brain fog: forgetfulness, incoherent thoughts, mental fatigue, lack of clarity, and more. Each day became a challenge: the strings attached within me were reluctant to push, create, and pull; memory became a mass of confusion to frame. Luckily, these 15 days were possible due to persistence and help from my mentor, Anthony Cody, author of The Rendering. Lastly, this series is one step forward toward my future poetic work.

David Campos – Discipline

On top of a charcoal art piece of 4 young black boys is the broken apart map of Fresno Unified’s High School Boundaries. Over the piece of art is the word “Discipline” repeated over and over in different sizes and opacity levels. There is a small epigraph “Black students are 2.5 times more likely to be suspended as White students [in Fresno Unified]” Each high school boundary has its suspension rates as follows. Top Left: Race/Ethnicity Pop. Rate of Suspension Asian 149 2.5% Black 271 16.9% Latinx 1398 9.2% Pacific Islander 17 9.5% Two+ 57 12.5% White 683 5.2% Top Right: Race/Ethnicity Pop. Rate of Suspension Asian 223 1.7% Black 202 19.3% Latinx 1051 8.7% Pacific Islander 14 0% Two+ 46 8.8% White 255 9.5% Middle left: Race/Ethnicity Pop. Rate of Suspension Asian 149 0% Black 271 27.2% Latinx 1398 11.3% Pacific Islander 17 Redacted Two+ 57 18.4% White 683 13.3% Middle Right: Race/Ethnicity Pop. Rate of Suspension Asian 329 4.7% Black 87 27.1% Latinx 1298 7.9% Pacific Islander 8 9.1% Two+ 19 23.8% White 61 9.6% Bottom Left: Race/Ethnicity Pop. Rate of Suspension Asian 267 1.8% Black 327 16.7% Latinx 1 694 6.2% Pacific Islander 7 Redacted Two+ 28 12.1% White 251 1.9 Bottom center: Race/Ethnicity Pop. Rate of Suspension Asian 176 3.7% Black 114 20.9% Latinx 1756 6.9% Pacific Islander 1 Redacted Two+ 19 20% White 77 11.4% Bottom right: Race/Ethnicity Pop. Rate of Suspension Asian 587 3.2% Black 194 18.3% Latinx 1973 8.4% Pacific Islander 7 Redacted Two+ 21 17.4% White 85 10.9%

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Artist’s Statement: In the article “The Resegregation of Jefferson County,” Nikole Hannah-Jones writes that “since 2000, at least 71 communities across the country, most of them white and wealthy, have sought to break away from their public-school districts to form smaller, more exclusive ones.” This led to research into my state’s segregation and integration efforts. The rhetoric, the maps, and the data were all there—coded language, school boundaries, and even diversity statements covered the stagnant “struggle” toward integration. As an educator, this project provided context for my experience and those of the students in the classroom. Notes and citations will appear at the end of the project. 

Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras – BRAINFØG IV

Visual poem with a title that reads: BRAINFØG IV. There is a light gray, scattered image behind the words. The poem’s orientation is landscape. On the left-hand side of the poem, the text reads: was it a drive shooting? was it gang related? was he walking home from school? I remember his mother crying gun — man with a — knife approaches poaches school gets quietquiet forest tranquilized Also on the left-hand side of the poem, toward the bottom, there’s a small circle of words with the single word “gaslight” in the center, and the text reads: world is flat is global warming is ‘good’ ‘kay’ is Afterwards another small text reads: / tiny / its / bones / stuck out On the right-hand side of the poem, the text reads: faces fall like domi -noes blood spirals stream he swears he is going to come at night at rapebeat me the police says we are going to investigate it they give me a pamphlet of sexual assault the officer calls me there is nothing to worry about the officer explains I have two daughters so I know how you feel he assumes [my stalker] is a nice man who mis- understood field shrouded with trees rustling man? coyote? horse? I push my feet I push my feet field ends loud tracks disappear Text sprawls across the entire poem, in multiple directions. A reader can start or stop in multiple directions or orders. The sprawling text, roughly left to right, reads: air flows south / a *cough a * sneeze tiny moments gather lung inside a sheet air flows in the mucous of my nostrils / I hold its tight constriction air agua men rain deathsink agua sombrero berenjenas 106 degreesol air composed of smoke/ swirls grease-respiratory rot decrease bladder dissipates a giant organ pumping large gasps of breath a lifespan always argues out of breath a burst of wild breath opens its arms pumping debris the extinct humanintestines bleached shadows veins crawling anthropomorphic flies solo swim shaped animals anthropomorphic flies with intense focus goat horn swim woman shark platypus tunnels underneath shaped marsupial reptile eats animals ram on black bears? polar bears? In the center of the poem, near the bottom, there are 9 concentric circles of words, with the font getting smaller as they close toward the center, making the diagram look like a spiral downward. The text reads: water smoketer smoke water smoke wateroke water smoke water smoketer smoke water smoke wateroke water smoke

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Artist’s Statement: For The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon, I used 15 Rorschach I made by dabbing a red rose with paint onto paper. This series is an attempt to write on brain fog: forgetfulness, incoherent thoughts, mental fatigue, lack of clarity, and more. Each day became a challenge: the strings attached within me were reluctant to push, create, and pull; memory became a mass of confusion to frame. Luckily, these 15 days were possible due to persistence and help from my mentor, Anthony Cody, author of The Rendering. Lastly, this series is one step forward toward my future poetic work.

David Campos – failure to stop

failure to stop On a white background are graphics in black ink composed of periods of differing size. Small periods create dotted lines across the background. On top of those, different-sized periods in different opacity levels highlight the white text in each LARGE period. There are 7 large periods with text. The first contains the title “failure to stop.” The following is each “Period” with a text. There is no punctuation in these. i failed every english class in high school saying that my sentences kept running and my commas were told too often i thought of forrest gump breaking out of those leg braces i thought of the soccer practices i went to as a youth playing for rec teams and competitive teams and feeling my lungs yelling at me that they couldn’t take it any more i thought of the way I spoke back to all of my teachers never really accepting their authority what did they know about dreams they ended here with me stuck with me what is a period but an ending a forced ending a detention am i being detained or am i free to go what is a comma but a pause a hiccup a slow down a get your act together a stop racing everywhere stop stop think before you act before you act like you will that’s not necessarily the way we expect you to act don’t talk back young man i’m here to help you succeed don’t you see that do you see that your future depends on your control of the sentence i loved reading still i loved writing still but they didn’t like my cuts and dribbles my saggin pants my combs back and slick hair they said speak english right write english right now i’m all about write english write write write until my legs cramp up and all the breath is out of my fingers

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Artist’s Statement: In the article “The Resegregation of Jefferson County,” Nikole Hannah-Jones writes that “since 2000, at least 71 communities across the country, most of them white and wealthy, have sought to break away from their public-school districts to form smaller, more exclusive ones.” This led to research into my state’s segregation and integration efforts. The rhetoric, the maps, and the data were all there—coded language, school boundaries, and even diversity statements covered the stagnant “struggle” toward integration. As an educator, this project provided context for my experience and those of the students in the classroom. Notes and citations will appear at the end of the project. 

Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras – BRAINFØG III

Visual poem with a title that reads: BRAINFØG III. There is a light gray image behind the words, possibly an object crumpled. The poem’s orientation is landscape. On the left-hand side of the poem, the text reads: she saw me walk inside the room she saw me emerge from the kitchen she said I was screaming inside the house she said I told her I had no cousin a split second later she saw me doubling a split second later she saw me doubling in the kitchen in the room -> ecosystem -> of order Mujer -> memory -> extinct vibrations -> plates of bones -> crack in the nous -> ifract -> estuary formed as lagoon -> crack in objecttrauma I turn and toss a clicking sound shuffles sleepmuscle / twitches I drift in the hotel my legs get pulled/ not sure if it’s in my head or if it’s a medical condition On the middle of the poem at the top, the text reads: I feel someone near I’m asleep on the couch the edge of my bed it’s humid with mosquitos a sick man enters I stare at the light my room I hear a thud in the hallway a strange man comes the light switches off through my window my heart escalates and watches me sleep someone sneaks on me There are ruled lines in this middle top section that connect across lines of poetry. When rearranged according to the lines, they read: I feel someone near my heart escalates the edge of my bed it’s humid with mosquitos a sick man enters I’m asleep on the couch my room I stare at the light a strange man comes I hear a thud in the hallway through my window the light switches off and watches me sleep someone sneaks on me On the middle of the poem at the bottom, the text reads: in Seattle I enter inside a restroom I find strange inscriptions plastered on the walls I find corneas satanic symbols and images at night my bed and desk experience a small earthquake ImshoutingatamanItellhimtoleavemealoneIwakeupIhavezerorecollectionrupture On the right-hand side of the poem, there’s a triangle diagram with an a in the bottom left angle, a b at the top angle, a d at the bottom right angle, and a c inside the triangle where there’s a 90 degree angle. The text below the triangle diagram reads: a. he sees me talking to a man b. the man is wearing business casual clothes c. when he enters the room d. he sees me alone staring off into space On the right-hand side of the poem, a line starts across the page, runs down the page, and then continues sideways at the bottom, and text reads: workdepressess littlittlpeople & speeaeech stress trestress vitamin deficicienciencyy short attentiontion spansleep skeletons distorted figures & a large bed of females stems of open wounds opaque outer crests tree women shrouded in snowy ash roots grow faces or beluga heads curled bodies rest on the trunks liquid bodies with large pits of cocoons the whole damn cave is made of eyes the whole damn cave is a volcano inside a skull

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Artist’s Statement: For The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon, I used 15 Rorschach I made by dabbing a red rose with paint onto paper. This series is an attempt to write on brain fog: forgetfulness, incoherent thoughts, mental fatigue, lack of clarity, and more. Each day became a challenge: the strings attached within me were reluctant to push, create, and pull; memory became a mass of confusion to frame. Luckily, these 15 days were possible due to persistence and help from my mentor, Anthony Cody, author of The Rendering. Lastly, this series is one step forward toward my future poetic work.