phantastic

J Pandolfi

        can
you
imagine
an
apple, red and shining,
in your mind’s eye? can you see
it so real that you could reach into
your skull and pick it straight from
the tree? hand it to your friend or take
a big juicy bite from it? if you can do
all that, you’re special. you’ve got
hyperphantasia, a movie playing
in your head where you’re
the            director.

i thought we all closed our eyes and vividly saw

                                                                                                                                                                       our dreams,

                                                                                                                  our imaginings,

                                                            our failures.

phantasia is a spectrum though.

we all have different ways of navigating our neuron net.

some of us have aphantasia, where we think of the apple and see nothing.

but

replace the apple with the first tooth you lost,

or the first time you realized the attention of others

could both fill you with breathless joy

and empty you of all belief in yourself.

some things you can’t envision.

the path of our thoughts

is a maze, one each of us

gets to spend our lives

searching.

maybe best that

we never reach its core.

Miles Raschko

Biography: I am an artist from Washington and most of my art is inspired by Pacific Northwest nature. My primary medium is paint – acrylic or gouache – but I love exploring new media and media combinations. I also enjoy messing around with 3D art and crafts. I am currently majoring in botany and minoring in studio art.

Artist Statement: This piece is about appreciating natural beauty on Earth. The eye, with Earth as its iris, sees visions that highlight beauty in nature’s rocks, plants, mountains, sky, and sea.

J Pandolfi

Biography: My name is Joe, and writing is both my purpose and my passion. When I’m procrastinating from writing, I enjoy a mountain bike ride, an old growth forest, or a good movie. I had more trouble writing this biography than writing the pieces below.

Artist Statement: We all have different ways of seeing things inside our minds. Some people, probably a lot of people in this magazine, can vividly imagine an apple or an airpods case or what have you in their ‘minds eye’. This poem is about the spectrum of phantasia, and about the things that we can’t visualize.