• 2022 Poetry Collection

    In Loving Memory

    Dear Reader…  For context and as a content and/or trigger warning, my mother passed away a few  years ago. I found solace in reading and writing poetry. It lent a hand in articulating the complex  emotions and nuances of navigating through the past few years after losing someone so  important to me. The creation and collection of these three short, anonymous poems has been  a reflective and therapeutic experience. My hopes are that they can help you reflect on and  articulate similar emotions or feelings if you too have lost a loved one.   TLDR; Content/Trigger Warning:   This collection of poems deals with themes of death, losing a family member, parent, …

  • 2022 Poetry Collection,  Blog

    THE ESA POETRY COLLECTION

    Are you an aspiring poet? Do you want to share your works with the UBC community? Now’s your chance! In response to the growing number of aspiring writers here at UBC, the ESA is excited to host our first ever creative conference, The Poetry Collection. We welcome all aspiring poets to participate in this event and gain some experience having their works presented to an audience and also, to have the opportunity to be featured on our website! The first component of this event is a virtual submission form. Here, we request that poets submit their works using a Word or PDF document in order for their works to be…

  • 2022 Short Story Competition

    Voting is now open!

    Attention all ESA members, All short fiction submissions have been posted to the website. Now it is your time to vote on your favourite work! Please follow the link sent to you by email to make your vote so we can select our winners. If you did not receive an email, please contact either blog@ubcenglish.com or english.ubc@gmail.com so we can send it over again. Voting will conclude of February 14, 2022. Winners will be contacted on February 16 with information on how to collect their prizes shortly after. If you are a participant who notices an error in their post, then please contact Atticus at blog@ubcenglish.com.

  • 2022 Short Story Competition

    The Conversation

    one phone call, unexpected. two faces, mama and dada. three questions, and i am thinking– where is the line between keeping myself whole and stringing out pieces to tie me to my parents? how much do these bindings hold us, how much will i pay for them, what is the cost?  it all happens so quickly that when i look back, i remember only the little pebbles that got caught in my tight throat, triggering an earthquake in my voice. a slight tremor and it’s all do you know who you are yet? my father says he cannot look me in the eye, he says why are you getting defensive,…

  • 2022 Short Story Competition

    Pistachio Meditation

    —–Hymns – i found god in lonesomeness glory in solitude i go hours without speaking and equally as many without shutting up – i pray into my kitchen cabinets as i make myself lunch at four thirty i tell them about my imaginings and have conversations with nobody – i dip my hands in flat diet coke and cross myself i allow myself to give in to the dizziness and listen to the hymn that my blood pumps through my brain. — — —– Red There was a red car. Parked. Red like those cinnamon hearts my grandma used to let me try, the ones that made my tongue burn.…

  • 2022 Short Story Competition

    Serendipity

    when the world has gone crazy and the waltz playing in your head  is too fast  take my hand and lets  dance sway with  me like the roses  in the garden touch my shoulder and smile like i am the warmth and comfort the umbrella that will shield you  from the storm i feel your face because something tells me that everything will be alright if i just kiss you ___ This poem by A. February is posted in submission for the ESA’s 2022 Short Story Competition.

  • 2022 Short Story Competition,  Blog

    i am pretty and i do not long for your approval

    in front of the fruits there stands a girl of sixteen, maybe less. she’s in a pretty blue dress and shiny black boots and she feels like the loveliest thing in the world. powder and ruffles curled, soft sky, buttons shy on pale skin, hair of velvet cream and a pin brooch from grandmother’s glass jewelry bin. sleeves of dream’s crêpe, high collar above champagne silver locket, hung with frail chain. she wonders, standing in the supermarket city, if mother will let her borrow rose blossom blush again. she thinks perhaps she likes this feeling of looking pretty. – but she does not like how they stare, eyes of oil…

  • 2022 Short Story Competition

    A Balcony in Paris

    The postcard was half a decade old and smelled of pomegranates. – A breathing scene, with every tilt and turn, pulsed in tandem with the curtains. – You could tip your head back to the ceiling of the sky. You could spell forgiveness in a dozen make-believe languages. – The mirror is adorned with thumbprints and they hold the paper edges for you, like a solemn kind of promise. – You said, “The neighbours are made of linen and charcoal,” and they laughed as if life was just a miniature in the absurd. – In the streets, the neighbours sing, “Salut,” while they are looking through the looking glass, looking…