Calliope is a weekly (mostly) session in Journalism where we gather to write and share pieces based on the selected topic! This week, we have many more submissions!! Including those from our new Y1 members! Start off this journey with an extra special video, before enjoying some poetry as well as some short stories.
“Voyager”, a person who goes on a long and sometimes dangerous journey. Fittingly, it’s also the name of some space probes.
Elgin
A video piece! Go here to watch it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gadMRePaZ2RCIGtVBmblN6XsvHx2S2rz/view?usp=sharing
Le En
The vast wide unknown
Of this hidden world
They are hidden
Behind this metal door
Should I venture out?
Into the unexplored, into the mystery?
My hand rests on the doorknob
Yet something holds me back
Tendrils of darkness claw at me,
Holding me back
They whisper, “Stay”
If I walked out
Who knows what is out there
I stare at the door
It grows darker
What is behind the door?
It seems to promise pain
I shake the cold iron bars
My hands sting
“No” I protest
I want to go
A utopia could be there
I could find happiness
I could find joy
I could be the first
To venture into the darkness
I struggle
Doubts swarm my brain
Flooding my every cell
Yet I know I must
I grasp frantically for the door
The door creaks open
I lunge forward
The dark shadow screeches
I shrug off my cloak
I stepped out
And walked into the unending void
Exploring the unknown
The world embraced me
And showed me all it had
Chains no longer shackled me
To my prison of safety
I tried new things
I opened the door
And voyaged
Kyan
we could not go that far
but they could
they could capture a glimpse
of other worlds
from here we could only
see that much
as there is no replacement
for being there
we could only go so far
there might be
those who will go further
yet ignore us
and the disks we released
our hope fades
with every passing second
we remain alone
Kai
A Future We Are In
An adventurer in today’s age,
On a voyage
travelling around
The world round
The first day, he found the jungle
Navigation was like a boggle
Sights foretold in stories
Ended blown up in the quarries
One day, he came across the sea
But the old wildlife failed to plea
For forgiveness, to survive
Never there was a sight of greenery live.
Sometime later he discovered the deep freeze
Blowing wildly, the air blew up a sneeze
An old empire he could once look
Was now where the ocean overtook
Finally, he ended up in the jungle again
But the sight he saw was just a pain
Greyish material brought down beauty
Disembellishing nature’s duty.
Danyson
Fantastic Voyagers I
Drifting minds
Leaps of faith
The North Wind whines
They conquered the ocean swathe
Their hearts were tight
Their hopes in the breeze
Nevertheless, the stars shone bright
They crossed the seven seas
Dreams set free
They ended safely in the foliage
The world celebrated their jubilee
It was their fantastic voyage
Fantastic Voyagers II
This shall be my fantastic voyage!
I’ll explore the sea, don’t care the soliage!
I’ll fight the sharks, stomp on the waves,
I’ll send all those pirates to their graves!
No matter how tough it may be,
I’ll travel across the sea!
It was going to be my fantastic voyage!
Cheng Jie
The boat drifts, its sail small but proud
In this never-ending journey
He begins to think out loud
Prim and proper all his life
Raised in a mansion, no chance to be free
His desire for knowledge was a knife
Expand his horizons, gain more wisdom
Trapped by life, he shall not be
The ruler, he was to be in charge of his kingdom
The knife pressed, the wound grew
There was nothing more he wanted
Unquenchable was his thirst to do more than he knew
He ran away, went out to sea
To fulfil his dreams and be the best he could be
The path ahead is daunting
But if he never left, his regret would be as haunting
The stars illuminate the dark sky
Glimmers of hope to get him by
Though not everyone’s cup of tea
The voyager he shall be
Janani
amidst the starry night sky,
a bright flash soared by
avid eyes watched, trying to follow,
for a distant dream could keep from their sorrows
as a little boy dared to reach for the skies,
the others watched, tears glistening in their eyes
were they tears of pride? or fear?
joy for his adventure? or worry his demise was near?
the little boyed leapt, soaring into the blue
the little voyager, seeking something anew
did he soar? or did he crash?
the others would never know,
for they stayed on the ground as he disappeared in a flash.
Cheng Jie
A poem accompanied by drawings! Go here to see it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qUqXTVIHx12Qq42gzJXHqRqjztX2l_7t/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104245353489125082917&rtpof=true&sd=true
Renee
For the World Is Marshmallows and I Have Touched the Sky
He uses his blade to slice another entrance. Carrying his bag, he steps into the next realm. A bird floats past, doing breaststrokes in the air. It’s singing. Literally, it’s singing Friday by Rebecca Black. Weird, he thinks.
Of course, he was used to weird things. It was part of the job.
He sets his bag down onto the ground. It’s made of marshmallows. The ground, not the bag.
Oh wait, the bag is as well. Must have been warped by the surroundings. That’s one thing that he always had to look out for. Never know when a warp can mess up your whole haul.
Using the same knife, he bent down and cut off a bit of the marshmallow floor. Sorry, I mean, he uses his spoon to scoop up some of the… water?
Suddenly, he was sinking.
Down
And
D
O
W
N
.
.
.
He landed on a dry bed of seashells. The shells opened and eyes stared back at him.
Yikes. What a nightmare.
He slices an exit and dashes out, not forgetting his bag of infinite space, ready to collect the next bit of dream he ventures into.
Zachary
The Lonely Ship
Through the stars a lonely ship sailed, a ship of the matter of which the universe was born, a ship beyond time and space. It sailed through places our language is too primitive to describe, and regions our language is too sophisticated to consider.
It sailed the fine line, the route it had sailed before, the line between reality and fantasy. The line between a world we think of as real and the millions of others existing in the collective consciousness of the universe.
It travelled through all history, myth, and the unknown truth that has always existed but never been thought of. It travelled through all consciousness and reality, transcending the very boundaries of everything and anything. It was there, and it was not.
It sailed through the doors and the windows of the house of the legends of the cosmos, yearning for something more. To go beyond the house and explore the greater world in an already great world, to delve further between layers and layers of worlds and universes and places.
It was a ship unlike any other. A ship below, above, and equal to all. The smallest particle. The smallest spark of life. The mortals that walked the observable universe. The beings beyond, be they fictional, real, or somewhere in between. The things that were, between the fabric and fibres from which realities within realities were constructed.
It followed a pattern. A program. A program as old as the universe itself, with code written not in a language, not in an idea, not in thoughts, but in something beyond them all, pure, raw, unfocused communication and discourse.
It served the needs of all who needed a ride. A ride away from whatever they needed to escape, and a ride to wherever they wanted to go. The ship did not have any sense of good or evil, or right or wrong. It just understood, comprehended on a deeper and more ancient level than the universe itself, that someone, somewhere, somewhen, needed a ride.
The ship did not speak. It enjoyed the silent presence, the silent company, of its passengers. It nearly always had company, for it had no perception or idea of the concept of time, but sometimes it was still lonely.
It had a few rooms. A broad, open deck and a few closed ones below deck. How it moved was unknown, something greater than energy, matter, and any of their similarities across the universe. Passengers would stroll across the deck, up and down the stairs, and into the rooms.
It existed in a lawless, boundless, null state, between what was, what was not, and what could never have been. It was nothing and everything. It was the universe, and it was the smallest speck of cosmic dust. It was the lonely ship beyond time and space, and it was there.
The lonely ship quietly sailed on through the infinitesimal planes and dimensions of existence. After all, someone needed to go somewhere.
nushpress 