Recent ucm_mwp_thevernalpool items

To Taste (3)

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

To Taste (3)

Letter from the Editor

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A word from the Editor, Daniel Rodriguez.

Eye of the Beholder

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Eye of the Beholder

To Taste (2)

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

To Taste (2)

Abe

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Abe

Nothing Good Happens After 3 A.M.

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Nothing Good Happens After 3 A.M.

The Logic of the Criminal Scientist

Thu, 5 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Logic of the Criminal Scientist

The Betrayal

Thu, 5 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Betrayal

Transitions

Thu, 5 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Transitions

Colossus

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Colosseum

Rome, Italy

July, 2016

To Taste (1)

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

To taste the delicacies from around the world. Oh what a dream it may be. A dream from which I have not risen. I pray I never.

Colours

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Let the light leak in.

Stuck in Time

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Eternally caught in the beauty of a moment.

evening unfold

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The stress is gone. The memories are imminent. Let the evening unfold.

Gathering

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

And as I looked up, Jesus Christ and his twelve Apostles were standing before me.

Tranquility

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

As beauty enters the eyes, anger leaves the mind. Tranquility. Tranquility at last.

worlds collide

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Beauty seeping through the cracks as two worlds collide.

A Day in Fall

Sun, 20 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This photograph features a bird sitting on a tree on the UC Merced campus during the fall 2016 semester.

Weightless

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A creative non-fiction piece about mental health, psychiatry, and the habits of highly effective depressed people. TW: Descriptions of Drug Use, abuse, and depressive episodes

Apart at the Seams

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Personal Narrative

Hidden Love

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

By Randy Posada

If The Shoe Don't Fit, It Ain't for Wearing

Sat, 5 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A psychoanalysis of a deeply deranged Cinderalla from an alternative universe.

Michael Elkins and The Great Slumber

Fri, 4 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Explanations for the origins of the universe are not set in stone. The big bang theory remains for the most part a theory that can be debunked at any moment if sufficient evidence is uncovered. Religious explanations for the universe's origins are also highly dependent on a person's faith, which makes their views subjective. However, an objective truth to the universe's origins may have finally been discovered. Our creator, Michael Elkins is in reality a toddler who has dreamt up the world we live in. The myth presented is a memoir snatched from Michael Elkins when he was not looking. While the person who snatched it may have suffered great harm to his being and is most likely to be no longer living, he did manage to get the memoir out to the greater public. It is time this memoir gets published and for all to be informed on how the universe really came to be.

The Blue Room

Fri, 4 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Backstory:

I recently moved into my apartment and my roommate had some family over that day and while they were nice I felt unusual interacting with them. So, I decided to hide out in my room with my girlfriend. My girlfriend had plans so eventually she left, leaving me alone in my room with my roommates dog. I started to feel this great sense of lonliness as the sun started to set turning my room a darkening shade of blue. It was a familiar feeling, the feeling having to be alone in such an unfamiliar place like it was my first year again.

I felt the need to submit this because I would often limit myself to only submitting peices that were amazing in a techincal sense. Part of me felt even felt like my art was never good enough to submit. That mindset, though, is very limiting.

I hope that more people will be encouraged to show thier artwork even the ones they feel are not as amazing.

Ghosts

Thu, 3 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Short story about personal experiance within loss and foster care.

Boxes

Thu, 3 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Loss, life, and contemplation.

Apple

Wed, 2 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A poem by Andrew Perez

We Are More Than Who He Took Away

Wed, 2 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

All these poems have a hint of longing for an unrequited love, with the exception of the last one. Transitions is about a love blooming from two old but not too close souls. The Difference Between Them is about the switching of the unrequited love and how the two are stuck in the cycle of never wanting one another at the same moment. The Betrayal is about the way a longing can become addictive even when one knows that the person they're longing for is no good for them. Tortured Soul is about finally getting over that person you so desperately wanted. We Are More Than Who He Took Away is a creative poem derived from the poem We Are Seven, by Wordsworth where it is my own families personal experienced on the death of another family member.

A Culture of Two Worlds

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A piece about the identity that I, as well as other students from my home, formed being first generation immigrants. Along with this, an analysis into why that may be, and how to combat the feelings of confusion that come with existing between two different cultures.

Maybe?

Fri, 20 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

These poems came to me so quick, that I had 48 Post-Its floating around on my desk. I decided to put it on an actual document and rejoice in it's completion and white space.

"Where Am I"

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A lone traveler has only their mother's writings and stories to keep them company.

A Letter to Myself

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A fun short letter to myself on my writing capabilities

Balloon

Sat, 11 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A person realizes the reason to why their relationship failed.

Parched

Sat, 11 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

My tongue is dry.

De Mi Mama

Sat, 11 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I come from hard earth and clay walls.

I come from early Sunday mornings-

the smell of myrrh and frankincense clouding my eyes.

I come from the mango trees that did not belong to me,

But still scaled up high to escape a life that was not mine.

BPD

Sat, 11 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

My therapist tells me to stop thinking in black and white.

But I can’t help only seeing

right or wrong

Full Throttle

Sat, 11 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Slow down. They tell the clown but he can’t hear you. He’s almost out of gas

and he’s already past the point of no return.

Widow

Sat, 11 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

And so, she walks like the awakening of light.

Breathing

Sat, 11 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I think I am finally breathing, for many days, the earth was spinning.

The Rose and The Poppy

Sat, 11 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I am not a rose.

I am not a ravishing ruby red,

or even a semblance of purity white.

No Feelings

Sat, 11 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Feelings can change just how seasons can change.

Cover Art

Fri, 10 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Art by Stephanie Ross.

Letter by The Editor in Chief

Wed, 8 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Vernal Pool is a literary journal that provides undergraduate students from the University of California, Merced the opportunity to showcase their creativity through the power of literature and art.

Under the Dim Night Sky

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Under the Dim Night Sky

The Sun (XIX)

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Block printing on a vintage music sheet. This piece depicts the artist's rendition of the tarot card, "The Sun", in the medium of a block print. This piece emphasizes femininity and self.

Curious Cow

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A curious cow observed us as we studied the place it calls home. All of its friends ran in fear of the intruders, but this cow wasn’t afraid.

Black Water

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A story of a dream turned into a nightmare.

Lonely Bird

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

"Free yet so far away from home"

photo taken by Uriel E. Angelino.

A Ghost Story

Mon, 11 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This a letter written by the dearly departed letting their other half, and those close to them know they are okay and that they will be passing on.

Our Community Garden

Mon, 11 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We tend our community garden for our seedlings to sprout.

Proud, high sunflowers, nurturing fruit trees.

Mentally Ill: Society's Kill

Mon, 11 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

“Mental Health needs a great deal of attention.

It’s the final taboo and it needs to be faced and dealt with.”

-Adam Ant

Poems of mental health issues with use of imagery and rythm

La Caperusita Roja

Mon, 11 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A twist on my grandmother's gruesome re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood.

These Children

Mon, 11 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The audience sits in their seats

Etymologies

Mon, 11 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Why should I bother--

the words, lying on

a blanket of still snow

like tree branches?

Where is he now?

Sun, 10 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

My poem is about a a coup;e who split. The girl moved on faster than he did. Now he is feeling remorse.

BBQ Remains

Sat, 9 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

On a sunny Sunday, only one thing can be done and that is a BBQ! A moment shared with the family and without much thought, you bond through careless laughs and good food. After the feast is over, the space filled with sizzles and giggles is now empty noise. But there in a box lies a reminder of that sunny Sunday.

Henrietta

Fri, 8 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

It concerns my relationship to animals and how that has tied into my childhood relationships.

Scorpion Grasses

Wed, 6 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Blooming like no other,

Thoughts and Feelings

Fri, 1 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes...

Snipped Love

Fri, 1 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A short story about the troubles of finding a soulmate.

Miles Away

Tue, 1 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The experience of a young child who is about to leave his home found miles away to another country, where the culture and traditions are much different.

Consequences

Tue, 1 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A short tale of a lover who has learned of self-love through the grief of her broken relationship.

Single Crystal Diffraction Distraction

Tue, 1 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

There is a possibility this illustrates electron diffraction through the (1 1 2) diagonal direction in of the tetragonal crystal structure of Bismoclite. I also think it looks neat.

A Split Second

Tue, 1 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Is graduation really the beginning? Kelvin discusses his attitude towards the seemingly brief experience that is high school and college commencement.

Sweet Summer Boy

Tue, 1 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

From the moment that Columbus reached the Americas, brown people have been subject to oppression through systematic racism, microagressions and outright hostility. The rich history of the pre-Columbian peoples of this continent was almost completely eradicated by the European invaders. Brown skin came to be synonymous to poverty, filth, and unattractiveness. This is an ode to my people. A reminder that our existence is an act of resilience, that we are beautifully brown, beloved by the Sun.

Watch it go by

Tue, 1 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Dream

Define My Eyes

Tue, 1 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A collection of three seperate pieces, led by the creative non-fiction piece "Define My Eyes". The following pieces, "The Difference Between a Bastard and an Orphan" and "Psy-co-existence" are fiction works. The three pieces are their own stories and are not dependent on one another.

Farside Amphibian

Sun, 2 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Upon reflection, I think I finally noticed it when I bit my tongue about three months ago.

Written Test on Osteology

Sun, 2 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

What is osteology?

Falling Down to Earth

Sun, 2 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Ready?

1... 2 ...

Letter By The Editor In Chief

Sun, 2 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Letter for the Fall 2018 Issue

Quarters of a Year

Sun, 2 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

20mg – I’ve been told that when taking lurasidone, the recommended dose range is 20mg to 120mg per day.

Peter

Sun, 2 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I never met Peter, so I don’t know too much about him.

Missing you

Sun, 2 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Up at night flooded with worry and nausea,

thinking something dreadful is about to happen—

Editors' biographies

Sun, 2 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The biographies of The Vernal Pool editorial board.

Woodstock 1969

Sat, 1 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Man playing the guitar.

Cover art

Sat, 1 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Justin Gonzalez.

Untitled

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Picture of bees and flowers

G Portrait

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Close up portrait with left source natural lighting.

Flashbacks: lovely, vibrant, melancholy

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Visual art

Acapulco Baby

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Self Portrait inspired by a picture from an Acapulco Mexico vacation with my family.

Woodstock 1969: Experience

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

One piece of a three piece, inspired by Santanas performance at the 1969 Woodstock music festival. Also inspired by a scence from the movie: The Breakfast Club.

Saltwater

Tue, 27 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

When I realized that I could not trust you...

another poem about long distance relationships

Tue, 27 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

It would be nice to be held by you...

Dear Twenty Something Year Old Guy at The Grocery Store

Tue, 27 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Did you know

that you’re a millennial whose phone

is sticking out of your back pocket?

Slices of Heaven

Mon, 26 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Melodious Mandarin...

The Things Rain Brings

Mon, 26 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

October of last year, there was a lot of rain.

Naturalis Parodiam (Natural Parody)

Mon, 26 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Bark-like and towering—but no tree,

a grotesque metal parody of

nature.

Don't Put Your Labels On Me

Mon, 26 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I am not a California peach--

So please, don't put your labels on me!

There's No Such Thing as Unicorns

Mon, 26 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The American Dream is a unicorn,

shimmering and shining

and just as make-believe.

The Shadow of My Childhood

Mon, 26 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

My father— he was a redwood.

He was closer to the sun.

Kiwi Contemplations

Mon, 26 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Looks don't matter in the

scheme of things...

Black Girl

Fri, 23 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Black Girl Black Girl

Why do you look so sad...

Let's Compare

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Visual art.

Summer Lovin'

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This is the story of how I lost myself to love.

Amphetamines

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Visual art.

Reflecting

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Visual art

Pain

Wed, 14 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

She was a girl with a broad white smile.

Dreams

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The cherry blossom is symbolic for growth and the beauty of life. People admire the beauty of these flowers because they only bloom during a certain period. For myself, this piece represents a period of growth in my life. I also think it's a reminder to appreciate the little things in life.

Melpomene

Mon, 22 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Have I lost my muse...