Great Plains Review 2023

Violence

By Johanna Beck (‘22)

Violence is a creature born
Over and over again
Rising from the birthing bed
In bloody, gory…

The Thing with Feathers

By Johanna Beck (‘22)

Oh, how I longed for the dirt of the grave
For atheism to be true
For rest to be found in dust
And the unwinding of the soul

Instruments

By James Easter

But which sensation may roar the loudest in your presence? 
Which instrument may you thump to the march of your step?

Perhaps the thrash of drums will sound so rhythmically And in 
such perfect unison

44 Cat Years

By Shaylee Gibbs

Seven years earlier. You hide in a bush.
Darkness outside — the broken porchlight glows
Your tail, no longer than my pinky. 
Your cry is high-pitched. I call back.

Stone Lovers on the Beach

By Shaylee Gibbs

Greek god jealousy, stories of affairs
lies, cut throats, curses and envious tides
never could compare to stone lovers

Happy Thoughts

By Sophia Godfrey

I wake up
Get ready
Eat breakfast
And remember that you are gone

Holy Week

By Sophia Godfrey

I have felt the wrath of your sins
Experienced why the divine pointed to his wrist
And showed the soldier where to put the nail

Eve

Sophia Godfrey

Sometimes
I wonder why you did it 
What knowldge did you hunger for?
What secrets would’ve silenced 
the rumblings wracking your body?
Was the one bite enough to satiate it?
Now I am filled with a dull ache
And my body is wracked
And still we are not god

Bathroom Stall

By Sophia Godfrey

The poster on the bathroom stall says
Don’t let your friends get raped
And it makes me wonder
What I have to do with it