Skip to main content

Secondary Menu

  • Hotline
  • Give Now

Call to Action Menu

  • Contact Us
  • Visit Us
  • Apply Now
Enter the terms you wish to search for.
Search type:
Information for:

Information Menu

  • Future Students
  • Current Students
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Alumni
  • Donors & Friends
  • Business & Industry
  • Visitors
Penn State Behrend mark Home
Penn State Behrend mark Home
Penn State Behrend
Search

Information Menu

  • Future Students
  • Current Students
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Alumni
  • Donors & Friends
  • Business & Industry
  • Visitors

Secondary Menu

  • Hotline
  • Give Now

Call to Action Menu

  • Contact Us
  • Visit Us
  • Apply Now

Main navigation

  • This is Penn State
  • Academics
  • Admission
  • Tuition and Financial Aid
  • Student Life
  • Athletics
  • Research and Outreach
Information for:

Information Menu

  • Future Students
  • Current Students
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Alumni
  • Donors & Friends
  • Business & Industry
  • Visitors

Main navigation

  • This is Penn State
  • Academics
  • Admission
  • Tuition and Financial Aid
  • Student Life
  • Athletics
  • Research and Outreach
  1. Home
  2. School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Lake Effect, Spring 2019, Volume 23: "January Halo"

January Halo

by Alyssa Jewell

 

The rice fields glint back toward the cold

copper moon,

so full and heavy

along the Sacramento highway that an unbroken figure shines out:

concentric circles overlapping in the frost.

 

I have lived too much of this life

with one foot in another world.

I don’t recognize my hands on the steering wheel

where the sunrises in my fingernails

fade from my line of vision. Today my voice belongs

to no one

and this frightens me,

even as my friend in Michigan

calls to say

 

it’s happening again: her cupboard doors swung open wide as if a hurricane

barreled through her breezeway—

kitchen chairs scattered about the

linoleum floor, the morning

newspaper unfolded on its own.

 

When she comes home, this quiet chaos,

a reliable haunting, hollows her out in the loneliest hours.

No one believes it

she says, and all our afternoons in our own

separate spaces

 

have grown so very cold.

I light a match down by the boiler blown out

and consider how no one wants to keep company with a spirit holding

to all that will not last.

 

 

See Also

  • Lake Effect, Volume 23

Penn State Behrend

4701 College Drive
Erie, PA 16563
814-898-6000
Pennsylvania map showing Penn State's campuses with Penn State Behrend highlighted

Secondary Menu

  • Hotline
  • Give Now

Call to Action Menu

  • Contact Us
  • Visit Us
  • Apply Now
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, offers the learning opportunities of a major research university in a welcoming, student-centered campus environment.
Information for:

Information Menu

  • Future Students
  • Current Students
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Alumni
  • Donors & Friends
  • Business & Industry
  • Visitors

Footer Menu

  • +This is Penn State
    • Behrend At A Glance
    • College History
    • College Leadership
    • College Strategy
    • Employment
    • People & Departments
  • +Academics
    • Majors & Minors
    • Graduate Programs
    • Academic Advising
    • Bookstore
    • Career Planning
    • College Registrar
    • Learning Resource Center
    • Lilley Library
    • Study Abroad
  • +Admission
    • Undergraduate
    • Graduate
    • Adult Learners
    • International Students
    • Veterans
    • Visit Us
  • +Research/Outreach
    • Faculty Research
    • Student Research
    • Community & Workforce Programs
    • Innovation Commons
    • Knowledge Park
    • Pennsylvania Sea Grant
    • Plastics Training Academy
    • WPSE Radio
    • Yahn Planetarium
    • Youth Outreach
  • +Student Life
    • Student Leadership and Involvement
    • Athletics & Intramurals
    • Equity & Diversity
    • Housing & Residence Life
    • International Student Services
    • Student Services
  • +Academic Schools
    • Black School of Business
    • School of Engineering
    • School of Humanities & Social Sciences
    • School of Science
    • Nursing Program
  • +Tuition & Aid
    • Tuition & Costs
    • Financial Aid
    • Grants
    • Scholarships
    • Veterans Benefits
  • +Resources
    • Behrend Blog
    • Calendars
    • Campus Map
    • Directions
    • Parking
    • Safety on Campus
    • Virtual Tour

Connect with Us

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • instagram
  • youtube
Penn State University
Penn State University

Footer Info Menu

  • Employment
  • Hotline
  • Website Feedback
  • Map
  • Search
4701 College Drive, Erie, PA 16563 | 814-898-6000

Footer Legal Menu

  • Privacy
  • Non-discrimination
  • Equal Opportunity
  • Accessibility
  • Copyright
The Pennsylvania State University © 2022