The Crucible
The Crucible has been a space for creative voices and visions in the Earlham community since the 1950s. Though the publication has transformed over the years and changed direction many times, The Crucible has always been put together by student editors and is deeply rooted in the Earlham community.
Today, The Crucible strives to reflect the diversity of voices in the Earlham student body and to publish work that speaks to the current moment as it is experienced from the individual level to the global.
Tangibility is at the core of our mission at The Crucible. Our magazine persists as a physical artifact of voices and visions in our community because we believe that holding a book in your hands, printed and bound, gives a unique kind of value to the work inside. In this era of uncertainty and erasure, we believe in the power of physical presence to uplift ideas and the people who create them.
Latest Issue
2023-24
Welcome to our 2024 Issue featuring the best of Fiction, Poetry and Visual Art from Earlham students.
Featured Poem
I’m an alien
Princess Igoma
Oh, I’m an alien
I’m a legal alien
I’m an African in Richmond
Richmond, more like roots lost
Sent halfway across the world, lost in thoughts
My accent, too strong, very hard to miss
Repeat, repeat, repeat my professors say
Thank God I don’t get pissed
On the tv, Africa is depicted as green, wildlife green.
But no, those pastures aren’t green enough for me.
I’m optimistic, I want to be clad in a white coat cutting and
stitching.
So I thank God, the coat he cut up for me is not too big.
Cause there are other brown-skinned aliens, exploring this galaxy, I
am not alone.
But some may contest, no romantic love means loneliness.
But they seem to forget, I’m an alien in space.
Even gravity fights each day but I still have my way.
It’s impossible to dismiss that there are less opportunities for aliens
of my skin.
But at least I’m in space, a green-pastured space.
I’m an alien in space,
I have a choice to look at the sun and moon each day.
A million, billion, trillion, things could go wrong but I still choose
the look of the sun.
