Skip to Main Content
The student news site of Delta State University

The Delta Statement

The student news site of Delta State University

The Delta Statement

The student news site of Delta State University

The Delta Statement

In the sudden gloom there was the thick, metallic, rosy stench...

She Baptized Herself in His Blood

Naia Marie Loper, Co-Editor-In-Chief April 9, 2024

Brother Tedwell  fell–  He winced at the sudden pain that shot up from his knees and palms. The asphalt dug into his flesh causing small white shreds to stand up on end. He gritted his teeth and...

...you sang metallic water through 
 / your lungs...

Ball Gown Scars

Naia Marie Loper, Co-Editor-In-Chief March 28, 2024

Ball gown scars itch with the memory of liquid pain spilled across your stage I followed your midnight summon to suicidal promises broken by broken glass  No car could drive fast enough, and you...

"Ten enthusiastic eyes stare back at me, gawking at the eyebags that pollute my sea of misery."

Wasted Youth

Canderrian Brown, Da Contest Winner March 28, 2024

I hate it. I hate every second of this “fortunate” experience. Every night is the same with the boys and their coked-up one-night stands in the state we perform in. Red cups filled with expensive liquor...

"contagion devours tender networks"

Cocoa Cortex

Canderrian Brown, Da Contest Winner March 26, 2024

There's something growing.  There's something growing in this fudge.  Danger sporing, lurking about this soil.  Planting its hypha throughout the hemisphere.     In the garden, these...

Jamelia Mason

Allure

Jamelia Mason, Da Contest Winner March 19, 2024

Hot and cold brings sudden storms   A whirlwind of rage  A shattered space   Moving forward - Moving backwards I'm moving constant Lee, awakens my sea but I don't speak I...

Paring Knife

Paring Knife

Emily Saucier, Co-Editor-In-Chief March 7, 2024

I'm not skilled at wielding a paring knife. Never have been. My mother always has been, though-  Snatching the blade and its victim deftly From my hands to slice through Quicker and cleaner...

Self-Reflections

Self-Reflections

Lauren Harvey, Da Contest Winner February 27, 2024

I tried to avoid mirrors. I would pass them and instantly look away. My eyes were always cast down as I brushed my teeth, and my back turned as I changed clothes. Don’t get me started on the moments...

The Sweatshirt

The Sweatshirt

Lauren Harvey, Da Contest Winner February 27, 2024

Mom thrusts it into my arms out of a dust-covered storage bin. A smile graces her face as her fingers run over the embroidered letters: OLE MISS. That wasn’t an expression I saw on Mom’s face often....

Girl standing in burning lavender garden (Design by Naia)

Calling a Storm Cloud Shelter

Naia Marie Loper, Co-Editor-In-Chief February 22, 2024

I will survive you as I had before you, and will continue on after. I will remember who I was before we met, and resurrect her ashes from all the gardens that I burned. I cleared my lungs of all the pollen...

If I’m possessed by a demon, a single solitary demon, that demon’s name is Naia–she’s me.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Demons

Naia M. Lanton, Columnist/Da Editor April 24, 2023

I am, I have come to think, chronically possessed. I have had a non-zero number of exorcisms performed on me at this point.  Unfortunately, I can’t say that I’ve ever puked snakes or crawled up...

Poets will sing from the tatters of old books, until we listen to them, and then they will go on singing.

Southern Literary Festival, More or Less

Kelly Foster, Co-Editor in Chief April 19, 2023
Some polite clapping for Whitman, of course. He was perfectly sensibly senseless; everybody said so, at least everybody that was there, and if you were a person and you were there, then you were allowed to be right about poetry, some of the time. Whitman seems mildly disgruntled as he steps away from the podium. 
The Bloody Lollipop

I Knew Her: Blood and Sugar

Naia Marie Loper, Columnist/Da Editor March 20, 2023

By the smell of iron and roses By the taste of sugar and blood  By the sound of her voice laced  with kudzu blossoms and honey suckle, nectar dripping against  my neck.  I knew her...