STIRRING
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
ERIN SCHALK
Wheels rumble across
cracks splitting sidewalks
as cornfields fade
like mirages.
I’m eleven, you’re twelve.
Mismatched allowance jingles,
crushing the baby-sitting dollars
shoved into our shorts pockets, saved
for a summer afternoon of opportunity,
After school's looseleaf letters,
first-cursive scrawls and stabs
at expressionist drawings,
whirl of ballpoint pens across pages,
with and beyond words.
Today is not self-conscious.
It’s a feast of comics and scented stickers,
slapping down quarters for Cokes
with every syrup flavor,
as our rollerblades propel us home
for an evening with leftover sparklers
and finishing each other’s sentences —
No trace
of next year,
when you will run
across the field to new friends,
looking through me
like a glass pane.
But we had today.
Erin Schalk is a visual artist, writer, and educator based in Southern California. She earned her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Schalk's writing has appeared in various national and international journals, earning awards from Writer's Digest in 2023 and a Best of the Net nomination in 2024.
