The Eckleburg Project

Texas A&M's Official Literary Journal

The Eckleburg Project is the official undergraduate literary journal of Texas A&M University. We are an undergraduate organization featuring student poetry, prose, and art. Now with thirteen issues under our belt, we started with the idea that art should be free and easily accessible to the community.

Our staff is composed of undergraduate students and editors who select pieces to be published semesterly under a process of blind review. For information on how to join, go to our apply page. For information on how to submit, go to our submissions page. For general inquiries, or just to say hello, contact our organizational email at theeckleburgproject@gmail.com.

As always, we thank you for your support as we continue to foster art here at Texas A&M.

Mother by Joan J. Bell

April 05, 2021  /  The Eckleburg Project

I plunge

into the Earth’s icy veins, 

My heartbeat thundering in my ears

as I splutter

Her blue blood stains my lips

like I am a necrophiliac

or worse – 

a parasite on her corpse

left to ponder my own fading lifeforce.

I claw at Her thick skin,

Yearning to break through no matter how much pain it causes

No longer caring if She cries out for me to stop,

to let Her swallow me with darkness and warmth.

My tears are Her ocean

a gentle demise 

rocking me to sleep the way all good mothers do.

My chest cleaves into two,

burning so badly even She cannot quell the fire.

Every trip

I’ve ever taken flutters

past my eyelids

like shooting stars.

I think only of the constellation of scars I have left on Her body

as I wither to sleep in Her arms.


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