OCCASUS
  • Home
  • Thesis Day 2020
    • Erin Anderson
    • Chantelle Ing
    • Olivia Smit
    • Shauna Valchuk
  • Archives
    • Boomerang >
      • The Art >
        • Alisha Ansems "Tangled Memories"
        • Lindsay Athoe "Study I" and "Study II"
        • Melissa Bareham "Suspension"
        • Ronnie Clarke "It Is Hard to Say"
        • Nick Cote "City Parks"
        • Liam Creed "Untitled"
        • Gwen Hovey "Jelly"
        • Marissa Martin "Childhood Wonder"
        • Alexa McKinnon "The Feminine Uncanny"
        • Amy Ngo "Untitled"
        • Jill Smith "Shelf Self String Thing" and "things a, b and c"
        • Rebecca Sun "Untitled 1" and "Untitled 2"
        • Gabriele Tyson (Andrew Fraser) "Strong Strides"
        • Val Vallejo "Digital Scaring"
        • Kewen Yan "Time Traveller"
      • The Art/The Poems >
        • Marissa Martin/Mary McDonald
        • Amy Ngo/Jill O'Craven
        • Rebecca Sun/Mary McDonald
        • Gabriele Tyson (Andrew Fraser)/Hashini Puwakgolle Mudiyanselage
        • Val Vallejo/Elizabeth Sak
        • Kewen Yan/Megan Gerret
      • The Poems >
        • Megan Gerrett "Traveller"
        • Mary McDonald "Beyond"
        • Mary McDonald "Blink Back"
        • Hashini Puwakgolle Mudiyanselage "Silent Battles"
        • Jill O'Craven "She is an Ocean"
        • Elizabeth Sak "Stalemate"
    • Issue 1
    • Issue 2
    • Issue 3 >
      • Judges: Issue 3
      • Contributors: Issue 3
    • Issue 4 >
      • Judges: Issue 4
      • Contributors: Issue 4
      • Poetry: Krista Bell
      • Poetry: Josh Garrett
      • Poetry: Erica McKeen
      • Poetry: Katharine O'Reilly
      • Poetry: Victoria Wiebe
      • Poetry: Eric Zadrozny
      • Creative Nonfiction: Ryan Bates
      • Creative Nonfiction: Devin Golets
      • Creative Nonfiction: Jonas Trottier
      • Experimental Writing, Film Sound: Rachel Ganzewinkel
      • Creative Nonfiction: Victoria Wiebe
      • Fiction: Raquel Farrington
      • Fiction: Yulia Lobacheva
      • Fiction: Alexander Martin
      • Fiction: Tiffany Shepherd
      • Fiction: Jonas Trottier
      • On the Night Before Your Father's Funeral, By Katharine O'Reilly
      • Market Blooms By Robyn Obermeyer
      • All That Glitters By Julia Cutt
      • Mosaic By Evan Pebesma
      • love song 2 By Joy Zhiqian Xian
      • Student Writer in Residence: Steve Slowka
    • Issue 5 >
      • Judges: Issue 5
      • Contributors: Issue 5
      • Poetry: Rayna Abernethy
      • Poetry: Chelsea Brimstin
      • Poetry: Natalie Franke
      • Poetry: Kevin Heslop
      • Poetry: Katarina Huellemann
      • Poetry: Cara Leung
      • Poetry: Tamara Spencer
      • Poetry: Travis Welowsky
      • Poetry: Victoria Wiebe
      • Creative Nonfiction: Lyndsay Fearnall
      • Creative Nonfiction: Gary Jackson
      • Fiction: Patricia Arhinson
      • Fiction: Lyndsay Fearnall
      • Fiction: Levi Hord
      • Fiction: Richard Joseph
      • Fiction: Erica McKeen
      • Experimental Writing: Laura McKinstry
      • Experimental Writing: Brittany Renaud
      • Short Film: Ethan Radomski
      • ALFRED R. POYNT AWARD IN POETRY >
        • Poynt Award: Emma Croll-Baehre
        • Poynt Award: Robyn Obermeyer
        • Poynt Award: David Witmer
    • Issue 6 >
      • Judges: Issue 6
      • Contributors: Issue 6
      • Ficton: Sam Boer
      • Ficton: Sydney Brooman
      • Ficton: Erica McKeen
      • Ficton: Esther Van Galen
      • Creative Nonficton: Erica McKeen
      • Creative Nonficton: Brittany Tilstra
      • Creative Nonficton: Nathan Wright-Edwards
      • Poetry: Miriam Ahmed-Gawel
      • Poetry: Chelsea Brimstin
      • Poetry: Rachael Hofford
      • Poetry: Elana Katz
      • Poetry: Erica McKeen
      • Poetry: R. A. Robinson
      • Poetry: Elizabeth Sak
      • Experimental Writing: Sydney Brooman
      • Experimental Writing: Erica McKeen
      • Experimental Writing: Brittany Renaud
      • Experimental Writing: Brittany Renaud
      • Short Film: Dejvi Dashi
      • Short Film: Matthew Carr
    • Issue 7 >
      • Contributors: Issue 7
      • Judges: Issue 7
      • Poetry: Michelle Baleka
      • Poetry: Jenny Berkel
      • Poetry: Kevin Heslop
      • Poetry: Katarina Huellemann
      • Poetry: Nathan Little
      • Poetry: Erica McKeen
      • Poetry: Kaela Morin
      • Poetry: Elizabeth Sak
      • Poetry: Kate Zahnow
      • Experimental Writing and Film: Erica McKeen
      • Experimental Writing and Film: Shauna Ruby Valchuk
      • Fiction: James Gagnon
      • Fiction: Megan Levine
      • Fiction: Erica McKeen
      • Fiction: Cassia Pelton
      • Fiction: Julia Rooth
      • Creative NonFiction: Noa Rapaport
      • Screenplays: Sydney Brooman
      • Screenplays: Nathan Wright-Edwards
    • Issue 8 >
      • Judges: Issue 8
      • Contributors: Issue 8
      • Poetry 8: Danielle Bryl-Dam
      • Poetry 8: Leah Kuiack
      • Poetry 8: Jameson Lawson
      • Poetry 8: Maxwell Lucas
      • Poetry 8: Kaela Morin
      • Poetry 8: Joanna Shepherd
      • Fiction 8: Mason Frankel
      • Fiction 8: Rylee Loucks
      • Fiction 8: Celia Kate Shapcott
      • Fiction 8: Amy Wang
      • Fiction 8: Blake Zigrossi
      • Screenplays 8: Naomi Barghel
      • Screenplays 8: Amanda Inglese
      • Screenplays 8: Jeff Simpson
      • Creative Nonfiction 8: Tiffany Austin
      • Creative Nonfiction 8: Jenny Berkel
      • Creative Nonfiction 8: Carolina Jung
      • Creative Nonfiction 8: Leah Kuiack
      • Creative Nonfiction 8: Li-elle Rapaport
      • Creative Nonfiction 8: Amy Wang
      • Experimental 8: Lauren Lee
      • Experimental 8: Kirah Ougniwi
      • Experimental 8: Carlie Thompson-Bockus
      • Plays 8: Camille Inston
    • Issue 9 >
      • Contributors: Issue 9
      • Fiction 9: Chris Chang
      • Fiction 9: Tegan Wilder
      • Fiction 9: Hyacinth Zia
      • Creastive Nonfiction 9: Aidan Gugula
      • Poetry 9: Rachel Fawcett
      • Poetry 9: Matthew Simic
      • Experimental Writing 9: Shauna Ruby Valchuk
      • Screenplays 9: Naomi Barghiel
      • Screenplays 9: Alicia Johnson
      • Screenplays 9: Keaton Olsen
      • Screenplays 9: Rachel Yan
    • Issue 10 >
      • Contributors: Issue 10
      • Experimental Writing 10: Akshi Chadha
      • Experimental Writing 10: Adelphi Eden
      • Experimental Writing 10: Nicole Feutl
      • Experimental Writing 10: Isabella Kennedy
      • Experimental Writing 10: Christopher Paul
      • Poetry 10: Meaghan Furlano
      • Poetry 10: Li-elle Rapaport
      • Fiction 10: Meaghan Furlano
      • Fiction 10: Carly Pews
      • Creative Noniction 10: Nicole Feutl
      • Creative Noniction 10: Courtney WZ
      • Screenplay 10: Margaret Huntley
  • Issue 11.1
    • Contributors: Issue 11.1
    • Fiction 11.1: Tega Aror
    • Fiction 11.1: Chloe Bachert
    • Fiction 11.1: Kelly Ge
    • Fiction 11.1: Asia Porcu
    • Fiction 11.1: Taryn Rollins
    • Fiction 11.1: Pauline Shen
    • Poetry 11.1: Jennifer Adamou
    • Poetry 11.1: Katherine Barbour
    • Poetry 11.1: Akshi Chadha
    • Poetry 11.1: Emma Graham
    • Poetry 11.1: Li-elle Rapaport
  • Submissions
  • About
    • Mission
    • Masthead
    • Writing Studies at Western
    • Contact
  • Writing Studies

Amy Ngo/Jill O'Craven

Picture
Childhood Wonder
Amy Ngo
Year of study: 3rd
Major: BFA, Honors Specialization in Studio Arts
Graduating:  Incomplete
Remained in her hometown, London, ON to study in Visual Arts, Western University.

"She is an Ocean"

She is an ocean
Wider than you can see
Deeper than you can imagine.
You think her a drop of water
But that drop contains infinities
Life and nourishment and multitudes
 
She is the warmth of a salty Florida breeze
And the biting chill of a winter storm
But the heat grows heavy and oppressive
While the cold wakes you up.
 
She is the gentle lap of wavelets, rocking you to sleep
And she is towering mountains of angry water
Crushing everything in her path.
You say you want to drown in her
But you do not believe she will actually drown you.
 
She is ethereal, intangible,
Insubstantial, uncontainable,
Slipping through your fingers
Sand and saltwater
Something that could never belong to anyone
But herself.
 
She is pure and new
Unsullied by mortal fingers
But she is made of starlight and sundust
Older than the heavens themselves.
She has seen more than you can imagine.
She has been more than you can dream.
 
She hides within herself
Turns away
You think it is for her sake, for her safety, and it is
But she is as dangerous as she is vulnerable
And though her song seems sweet
It bodes no good to anyone who hears it.
 
She is the softness of seafoam
Mixed with the sharpness of glass
Not the smooth edges of seaglass            
Worn down by time and tides
But freshly shattered.
 
She is a double-edged sword
Slicing both ways.
You think her soft and gentle
Fragile, even
But she will leave you bleeding
       – If you could catch her.
Jill O'Craven is a second year student in the School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities, pursuing an Honors Specialization in Creative Writing and English Language and Literature. She has been drawn to writing since she was very young, and has tried her hand at most forms of writing – poetry, theatre, short or long stories, even songs. She hopes to one day harness her love of writing to become a published author, but intends to pursue writing on her own time wherever her path may lead.

Western University
Department of English and Writing Studies
© Copyright 2021 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Picture