the 21st portfolio

musings of creatives and literary critics of the 21st century.

  • Prophecy (a short story)

    There once was hope, if heeded my word, You chose to keep my message unheard. The fire you cast my work into, Will “Godly” flesh and bone undo.

  • Nostalgia

    A long-form poem and reflection that I wrote about loneliness, loss and yearning.

  • Wounded Commute

    I originally wrote this poem after reflecting on many train journeys that I took in recent times. Trains are depressing; so many sad-looking strangers making a commute to their sad-looking jobs – or in some cases, moving steadily away from a happy place. We all tend to see strangers in the street as background characters,…

  • keyboard warrior

    So this is a poem I wrote last night because I got verbally attacked by a League of Legends player (we all know how good that community is 🙂 ) your screen is your shield and your keyboard your sword bravest knight of this rectangular table in this lonely room hurling cries of war and…

  • Adaptation of Sonnet 130

    Yes my lady your eyes are blue Yes you have lips dripping in blood White ash glazed over and black roots grew from your temple Your roses wilt White and red turned to coal Cheeks so soft cold to the touch Yes my lady you disgust me But to confirm don’t speak yet Your words…

  • Something Fishy?

    Hey all, thought I’d provide my first upload with a short piece of poetry that I wrote when my dating life was….n’t. People kept telling me there was “plenty of fish in the sea”, or “just try x dating app”, and this was the result. Please enjoy <3 Dating Plenty of fish in the sea…

  • Brit Lit Cut Content

    Just wanted to share a little tit-bit of some cut content I was planning to use for the Brit Lit creative assignment and some of my reasoning for not having included it in my final works. For the creative assignment, I wanted to really hammer in on my home town and experiences with displacement and…

  • Why is it called “Open Water”?

    Why is it called “Open Water”?

    In this short analysis I explore why the title of C.A. Nelson’s 2021 novel has a deep meaning within the text. What exactly does “Open Water” mean as a metaphor, and how is it used for effect? And perhaps more importantly, where are those damned sharks I was promised?

  • astrology poem

    bunni and i were on a mad one earlier and wrote a collaborative poem about how much we love and value eachother and how we’ve healed our connection with other women through eachother and. here’s the spawn of the mad one // meelo, milo, miles – conjoined twin heart tremor pressed between our own throat…

  • post content

    still shaky at using wordpress, but whatever its poem time!! this one goes out to all my babygirls – i originally wanted to write it about social media/how we create a fictional identity online, but ended up making it about the difficulties of being an artist in the current state of the creative industry!! idk…