Roaring Voices Review
Tamanend Middle School's Literary Magazine
Happy January!
Below you can find RVR members' artwork, photography, short stories, and more! Enjoy!
Under the White Willow by Olivia Cao
The wind blew softly, whispering along the panes of Everly Francis’ bedroom window. Silent as a summer breeze, she crept to look out at the picturesque view of her neighborhood, covered in a perfectly light layer of morning frost, and pressed her nose to the cool glass. Her breath clouded in front of her eyes as she let out a long breath. Outside her door, she could already hear her grandmother and mother fussing in the kitchen, her little sister dashing about the house. Picking up her phone, she saw the screen covered in a sequence of messages from the one and only Kay(la) Christiansen. They’d been dating for a little over a year, and Everly still couldn’t help the grin that broke out across her face whenever she saw the little heart next to Kay’s name in her contacts, wouldn’t ever get used to tasting the words my girlfriend on her tongue when she introduced Kay to other people. It was unreal. Her heart tingled a little more when she read the messages that streamed across the screen.
Hey :)
MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU IDIOT
Yk Christmas cookies and binge-watching movies as we stuff our faces is def still on table
Like I’ve actually just piled all of the cookbooks on the table right now
my mom is going to kill me
but ur totally worth it ;)
Or if u have any other plans that’s ok 2
Missing you 💕
Shoot me a text when u wake up?
Finish reading this short story here:
Photography by Genevieve Peranteau
A Dimly Bright Light by Mya Weiskopf
Excerpt:
Once upon a time in a world that was eons ago, Christmastime was a time of joy. It used to be a time of hope and giving and happiness. It was a time when lights were strung up to buildings and houses. When trees where places by the roaring fireplace and were adorned with ornaments of red and green and garlands of gold and popcorn. It was a time of gifts and family and giant feasts.
At least, that’s what Leo had read in the books he found. He dreamed of a Christmas like those. Because now, in his mucky town, and really, the entire continent, maybe even the entire world, Christmas was a time of starvation and fighting.
On the streets there were no lights and decorations but muddy snow and torn down bushes. At Christmas, the people fought over food, as there was only a limited supply left. The one thing that had carried on was the giant feasts. Except only the people who had money and were fast enough to get the food had the feasts.
Each time Leo stepped out of his house, there was someone on the street. “It’s my turkey, I paid for it, give it here!” A person would yell as they played a game of tug a war with another citizen that called out,
“Well I have no money, would it be terrible to give some donations, huh?!” It was hectic and crazy.
Finish reading this short story here: https://cbsd.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/TamanendLiteraryMagazine/EVJ2kNhbDPNDnc_Ls87Ck94BBg2gK7Qmo70BR_czmFQg_A?e=k3EY2G
RVR Book Recommendations by Deanna Salerno
More Than Maybe
I’m only half-way through this book, and yet I am already in love with it. Just like eighteen-year-old Luke Greenly and his feelings for Vada Careswell, a girl who has been dreaming to go to a school in California for a Rolling Stone internship. I can already tell I would give this book a 5/5 stars before I even reach the end. (Side note: this book is a bit of an older read, and not so much middle grade)
Book Blurb:
Growing up under his punk rocker dad's spotlight, eighteen- old Luke Greenly knows fame and wants nothing to do with it. His real love is not in front of a crowd, it's on the page. Hiding his gift and secretly hoarding songs in his bedroom at night, he prefers the anonymous comfort of the podcast he cohosts with Cullen’s outgoing and meddling twin, who's in fairy-tale -perfect relationship with Luke's best friend Zack. But that's not Luke's only secret. He also has a major unrequited crush on music blogger Vada Carsewell.
Vada's got a five -year plant secure job at the Loud Lizard to learn from local legend (and her mom's boyfriend) Phil Josephs (check), take over Phil's music blog (double check), get accepted into Berkeley's prestigious music journalism program (check, check, check, manage Ann Arbor's summer concert series, and secure a Rolling Stone internship. Luke Greenly is most definitely NOT on the list. So, what if his self - deprecating charm and out -of-this - world music knowledge makes her dizzy? Or that his brother just released a bootleg recording of Luke singing about some mystery girl on their podcast and she really really wishes it was her?
Finish reading this list here: https://cbsd.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/TamanendLiteraryMagazine/Ee6wKXSKzo5GmoUaUFLbFK4Bl5bWIye2n6XSZa1t4hckdw?e=NjnXem
Selfies with Alpacas & Goats ~ Charlotte Brock
Winter's Web ~ Olivia Cao
The flame in the fire twists and twirls
As if it were a storm
And each curl of hair dances on
And helps to keep me warm
From the claws of snow
That bite with fervor and kill me blow by blow
And the haunting ghosts
That wind blasts bring
To set my fears aglow
Time slows down as branches claw
At the moonbeams in the sky
As shivers dance down
Wooden bodies
And leave them shaking sighs
The gales, they groan
Among the mounds
Of crystal, powdered ice
Without the dread of freezing death,
A perfect paradise
Winter, love, you come so fast
To weave the cold you’ve spun
Yet leave so quickly as you change
From moonlight into sun
Ice Sculptures @ Valley Square ~ Shrinithaa E.
Of Frozen Winds ~ Olivia Cao
Snowflakes melt on the tip of my tongue
And lend my breath a breeze
That clouds along a frosted wind
Until the branches freeze
And nature’s course becomes clutched
In a frozen, bitter hand
Whose skin as pale as freshened snow
Yet marked by Sorrow’s brand
And I hear the howls of winter wolves
In harmony with blows (of wind)
That prowl through broken-hearted woods
To claw at Gaea’s toes
The world I know, it crawls away
Bears and men alike
Before the sunlight melts away
And Nighttime monsters strike
But each head pokes out
Another time
To see what day will bring
To hold its breath another turn
Till Winter kisses Spring
Photo by Keira Kelly
Time Lapse by Angel Giron Camacho
On Winter Wings ~ Olivia Cao
Sunlight dances on the tips of its wings
And plays a tune on frozen strings
It glides above a winter’s ball
To shake its head
And chirp its call
It rustles past the warmth-lit houses
And freshly coated trees
It crumples down to finally fall
On nature’s heavy knees
World’s creatures lie in endless sleep
Icicles from their hands
Around it, deadened bushes weep
Among their lifeless stands
But it breathes rebirth
On earthen arms and smiles at the sun
And it spears below to feed the flames
For when the day is done
It blesses families with happiness
With joy, and laughter, and light
To yet overshadow all of grief
And the shadows of the night
Summer’s wings have flown away
But still, this one’s endure
And if snow were but the winter’s bird
I’d think it to be sure
Pictures by Shrinithaa Elangovan
Lord of Winter Storms ~ Olivia Cao
Jack Frost nips at the tip of my nose
And covers the ground with white
The moon beams rays on his faded clothes
And bathes the hills in light
He dips his finger in the tears of stars
To line the clouds in chrome
A shine among the slated skies
Where wayward flurries roam
The air he paints in whimsical strokes
Each storm and bird a whirl
Sketches of ice across the roof
An art of spark and swirl
A kiss sighs wind on hardened ice
Once satin blue and bright
Highlights fractures in the waves
The ripples poised mid flight
And as frost creeps along the windowpanes
I dance among the flakes
Of snow that shakes in crystal rain
To freeze on frozen lakes
Picture by Victoria Donovan
Northern Dreams ~ Olivia Cao
The Northern Dancer pirouettes
To the sound of the mountains’ cry
As she dances with her ribboned dreams
Across a velvet sky
The stars I see are bright tonight
And I swear they’re winking too
But the Aurora’s tail sweeps them away
In colors that adieu
My northern dream, my dancer
She plays with gasping still
That seems to cover the snow-white night
In a muted, silent spill
Even the birds have ceased their songs
Though I swear their feathers fly
But I think my dreams are souring too
In the colors of the sky
And even if they were never to learn
to dance truly with the light
I would be happier still
knowing my dreams
were comforted by the night.