High Grade

by Mines Magazine | Jul 6, 2017 | Inside Mines, Summer 2017

Engineers and scientists are constantly asked to find creative solutions to many problems and make improvements on systems we use every day. This creativity often extends beyond the technical, manifesting in more artistic mediums. Published each spring, Mines’ literary arts journal, High Grade, showcases the creative talents of Mines students, faculty, staff and alumni and features original art, poetry, fiction, photography and music. Selected by High Grade’s editors, these are some of the works featured in this year’s publication that they felt best represented the journal and Mines’ aptitude for the arts.

To view all pieces published in the latest issue of High Grade and for additional online content, visit highgrade.mines.edu.

Excerpt from “The World Within”

By: Matthew Kowalski (short story)

“It is dusk in Florence, and a man standing on the Ponte Vecchio Bridge wonders how it manages to remain unbroken by the world through so many ages. Through tragedy and triumph. Through wind that howls and rain that bites. Through footfalls of conquering kings and gawping tourists alike. It is a marvel that the bridge remains steady beneath the weight of gazes that seek to outnumber the stars. He looks down at a picture, memorizing the contours of a face that he once knew in exquisite detail. He looks harder, longer, hating his memory for slowly obscuring the face of his twin sister. She is looking into the camera. She is in Sienna, in the Piazza del Campo, but is not smiling. Her eyes are like portals, drawing him in. A familiar sense of dread washes over him— her eyes, eternally frozen in time, lead into a place so unknown that he cannot even see its outlines. A place from which she has not returned.”