What Happens in Spring Rain

Elizabeth Biller Chapman M.A. ’78 pursued her passion for poetry at age 43.

Grass, like green fire, lifts
her inward heat from the earth,
high enough to scythe.
A nighthawk circles our slope.
He is a wave. I’m planting

Rock-Rose and Fragrant
Plum. My daughters dream of names,
infants sprinkling their
future. Day and season float:
a heart shape, a mock-orange leaf.

Kneedeep, I’m hearing

Kneedeep, the bullfrogs

from winter mud, pulse
upward to couple and dunk,
each throat puffing out
yellow-green as the iris
blossom kneedeep all around
this reflecting pond.

From Candlefish, by Elizabeth Biller Chapman M.A. ’78 (2004, the University of Arkansas Press, $16). Chapman, who spent 17 years as a psychotherapist, wrote her first poem at the age of 43. Her work has been published in many literary journals, and her poem “On the Screened Porch” was included in the Best American Poetry 2002. Creekwalk, her 1995 chapbook, won the (M)other Tongue Press international competition. Poem reprinted with the permission of the University of Arkansas Press.

Long Time in the Making

Marina Iatomase ’14 married her high school sweetheart in the same place her parents wed nearly 30 years earlier: the Mission Church.

A Bilingual Storyteller

Producer Griselda Ramirez ’08 shares her experience producing Rihanna’s NFL halftime show interview and how studying Spanish at SCU impacted her career.

How to Dress to Save the World

Innovation analyst Jyotsna Gopinath ’19 discusses small steps to addressing a big fashion problem.

Keeping Current

Alexis Loera ’21, M.S. ’21 signed a new three-year contract with the Kansas City Current getting her one step closer to the U.S. Women’s National Team.