The Web Journal of Chris Coke

Hey Guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates. I still plan on using this page more — hopefully a lot more in the near future. This semester has me fairly well bogged down and I’m actively trying to substitute teach, too.

I’m going to spend more time writing, though. I have a creative itch that I can only scratch by putting words down on paper. Well, computer. Whatever. Anyways, I’m sure most of that will find its way here in time.

In short, thanks for stopping by and stay tuned!

Hi Everyone,

I’d like to share a poem I wrote in a workshop this semester but haven’t shared with anyone. It’s called “Changeling.”

Changeling

This is the second where times change,

The moment of clarity before sleep’s rapture,

The pinnacle of a dream before dawn,

The peace before the fire

Of dry wild tides.

This is a time for believing,

For fighting up,

For knowing in your heart

That faith will hold,

That life will breathe,

The night will never, ever, come

Until it’s what we want to see.

This is the second wind

For the winded,

Breath for the breathless,

Love for the loveless,

Friend for the friendless,

And a country for

All the country’s men.

We are a beginning,

The birth without end.

And, we have hope.

This story follows Bradley, a young middle-schooler over four days. His home life is troubled and, past the orchard behind the town park, something happens that changes him forever. This story is set in Lyndonville. Every place is based on where I used to spend time as a kid. The events are all fiction though, don’t worry

Past the Orchard

By Chris Coke

Years later, I still find myself thinking back to that year with Bradley McQuaid. He was a good kid, and strong. I know that more now than ever. It’s been so long, I find myself wondering whether I remember everything the way it actually happened. And I think I do. I remember what happened to him, and the things he told me, anyways. Like when he first told me, “Simon, you’re my only friend, you know that? My only real friend anyways.” I’ll remember that forever, I think. Maybe it’s better that I wonder about myself back then. Hindsight is 20/20, right? It all began in our 4^th period science class.

***

“Do you think you’re standing still? What would you say if I told you that you were actually traveling at over a thousand miles per hour, spinning around and around the entire time?” Such were the words of Mr. Robinson as he spoke to our eighth grade science class. He was a young teacher, and full of enthusiasm, but my attention was mainly on Bradley, two rows ahead of me to the left.

He was playing with his pens, pretending they were airplanes by the looks of it. It was just an act while he stole sidelong glances at Savalie, the girl sitting two rows to his right. She was taking notes, studious as we knew she was, but when she’d look up, he’d look down to keep from being seen, his curly brown hair falling to hide his face. He’d told me he liked her a good two weeks beforehand but I couldn’t convince him to talk to her. Bradley was nothing if he wasn’t quiet. As I look back now, I don’t think it was Savalie that made him nervous. I think it’s what she meant to him.

Continue reading "Past the Orchard [Short Story]" »

You know, usually finals don’t bother me. In truth, however, that’s because, as an English major, usually I don’t have to take them. Except, this semester a couple teachers decided to throw the much loved “here, do this final paper instead” idea right out the window. Thankfully, the workload is still pretty light compared to other majors.

I have to take two tests, both next Wednesday. The first one is at 8AM for British Lit. Okay, good. I’ve done well in that class, so it shouldn’t be much of a problem. The second one, however, is Critical Approaches to Literature (CA for short). Both tests are going to have passage ID and short answer segments.

Now, again, usually I wouldn’t be too stressed, except for the fact that CA features some of the most dense, monotonous reading every to grace the pages of an overpriced book. I’ve got by so far because I do the reading, then take notes in class to make sure I understand it. God help me if I can remember half of the stuff in certain of those essays though. It’s rough and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried about how it’ll turn out. Thankfully, I’m running with an A- right now, so I have some room for play with that grade before I’ll be in the danger zone for my major.

I’m not the kind of student where big blocks of lecture do a whole lot for my learning *cough* CA *cough*, so, before Wednesday, I need to get in memorization mode. I find the best way for me to engrain things into my memory is to write them down, by hand, as many times as it takes for me to repeat them without looking. Between doing that and reviewing my notes (and listening to the audio book version of Gulliver’s Travels, thank you Libravox!), I should be okay. The stress this time of the semester is a pain though.

Anyways, that’s the thought on that particular topic. Finishing out this week, though, I submitted my short story Past the Orchard and the poem The New Labor into the college Jigsaw. It’s a college published book, but still counts for resume purposes. Hopefully, I make the cut. Both went over very well in their workshop sessions, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

That’s it for now,  until next time!

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to my blog! I’ve been writing online for some time, through a gaming blog called Game by Night. As an aspiring teacher and writer, I thought it was about time to create an outlet for my personal updates and creative stuff works, so here I am.

If you’re here, you probably know who I am but, just in case, here’s the rundown. I’m a 23 year old college student and happily married since this past June of 2009. My wife is a pediatric nurse and we have two cats together. I finished the Childhood Education program last year and am currently nine short credit hours away from getting my Bachelor’s Degree in English – Creative Writing. Once that’s done, I’ll be picking up my teaching certificate and, hopefully, finding a nice school to start at.

I love to read and write. In my spare time, I maintain the blog I mentioned before but I also write poetry about every day. Most of it’s bad but I like to think something decent comes out every now and then. My real love is prose, though, and really enjoy developing short stories. Since they take so much longer to write, however, I find myself writing more poems than stories.

I also really enjoy playing guitar and writing my own songs. I don’t have time to play in a band, so when inspiration strikes, I multi-track songs on my computer. I’ll probably post some of that here sometime.

That’s about it though. I hope you enjoy stopping by and taking a peek into my life.

Until next time!

PS: You’ll have the option to subscribe soon, setting up the RSS feed tomorrow.