{"id":4597,"date":"2024-07-03T01:32:40","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T01:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/?page_id=4597"},"modified":"2025-01-01T16:24:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T16:24:05","slug":"the-cicadas","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cicadas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Isabella Apostolides<\/em><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last night I saw the cicadas come out of the ground and they\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>wailed and wailed\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 and wailed<\/span> and before I got annoyed, I took a deep breath and unhooked my ears, hanging them on the rack where I left my nose when I cleaned out my cat\u2019s litter box.<\/span><\/p>\n

I move my hair over where my ears were<\/span> I hate how I look without them but I can\u2019t bring myself to be annoyed, especially with how special tomorrow will be, not for me, but for a lot of others.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Once every 27 years seems special\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Afterwards, I\u2019ll go into the fields, clean it all up. This is the first time I will do it, so I just think that I\u2019ll probably remove my nose beforehand but I\u2019m so tired, so I opt to just go to bed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The vibrations shaking <\/span> my house wake me up earlier than normal. My eyes spin in their sockets<\/span> so I stop them with two index fingers, a little bit of pressure locks them into place. Outside, the first couples are arriving, hovering over the vibrating cicadas.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>They want first picks.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>The more prepared couples hold buckets, standing in large rubber boots, with large rubber gloves on their hands holding small white pieces of paper.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Slowly, the vibrating cicadas group themselves, the expectant couples waiting in between. The next part happens <\/span> so suddenly, and no matter how many times I\u2019ve imagined it,<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 it is still hard to believe as the cicadas<\/span> go still. The wailing and the vibrations, all gone,\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>And then all at once\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>They crack, breaking apart, tearing apart. <\/span><\/p>\n

The first group I see are of eyes,\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>the gooey slime that encases<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 them all over the ground, and it\u2019s the same\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>with the noses and ears, penises and vaginas,\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>sexless torsos and blank heads.<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Parents split up, wading through the goo,<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 sifting through to find the features<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 they want their child to have.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Someone runs too fast and slips, coating their whole body in pinkish goo and soft, rubbery cicada shells\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>The violence of it all is overwhelming. I watch as<\/span> one lady\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>tosses a vagina <\/span> into the bucket her husband is holding <\/span> ten feet away. There is\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 squelching <\/span> I can\u2019t hear, sounds heard for the first time\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>since my own\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>creation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tomorrow I will do my duty and clean the fields, but today I watch as parents fight to create their own version of perfection, each person themselves made in an image.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Isabella Apostolides<\/strong> graduated from Rutgers in 2024 with a degree in English. She\u2019s from Middletown, NJ. She likes to write pieces that might skitter across your brain and give it a little tickle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Isabella wrote this poem in a course taught by Joanna Fuhrman, who selected the piece for inclusion in WHR<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Isabella Apostolides   Last night I saw the cicadas come out of the ground and they\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 wailed and wailed\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 and wailed and before I got annoyed, … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2513,"featured_media":0,"parent":4318,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4597","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Cicadas - Writers House Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Cicadas - Writers House Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Isabella Apostolides   Last night I saw the cicadas come out of the ground and they\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 wailed and wailed\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 and wailed and before I got annoyed, … Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Writers House Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-01T16:24:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/\",\"name\":\"The Cicadas - Writers House Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-03T01:32:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-01T16:24:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Vol. 5 \/ Winter 2024-2025\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The Cicadas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/\",\"name\":\"Writers House Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Cicadas - Writers House Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Cicadas - Writers House Review","og_description":"Isabella Apostolides   Last night I saw the cicadas come out of the ground and they\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 wailed and wailed\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 and wailed and before I got annoyed, … Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/","og_site_name":"Writers House Review","article_modified_time":"2025-01-01T16:24:05+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/","name":"The Cicadas - Writers House Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-07-03T01:32:40+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-01T16:24:05+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/the-cicadas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Vol. 5 \/ Winter 2024-2025","item":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Cicadas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/","name":"Writers House Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4597"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2513"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4597"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4838,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4597\/revisions\/4838"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}