Like its namesake, “Quiver” Flathead High School’s literary magazine, is a repository for the written word. 

After 34 years, Flathead High School’s Poetry Club relaunched "The Quiver,” retaining its physical form.  

“I was on the literary magazine when I was in high school, and it was just a really rewarding experience and I thought that we should bring it back,” Poetry Club advisor and English teacher Alison Kreiss said. “For students to see their work published is a very meaningful experience for them. It’s a good outlet we didn’t really have elsewhere in the school.” 

Her sentiment echoes that of editor Helen Gudgel's foreword in the first volume of “The Quiver,” dated Feb. 8, 1924, still tucked away in the school library. Librarians retrieved a couple more vintage volumes that Kreiss made available during a June interview about reviving the literary magazine in her classroom at Flathead. 

The more than century-old content reveals themes and subjects of the time yet lead student editors Sophie Herbert and Wynn Olson agreed there is a thread of commonality shared between young writers through the decades. The introduction to the 2023 edition (Hannah Davidson is listed as editor) noted how traditional forms of writing continue to endure. 

“Though our worlds might seem far apart, the concerns of high school students haven’t changed significantly in the past century. From expressions of love and longing and grief and loss, to the wonders of a Flathead Lake sunset and the peaks of Glacier Park, student writers today share much with their literary predecessors, some of whom might actually be their great-grandparents.” 

The third edition of “The Quiver,” since restarting the high school literary magazine, was released at the end of the 2024-25 school year and features poetry, short stories, artwork, photos under the theme “Dark Side Under the Moon,” a follow up to the 2024 theme, “Rage Against the Machine.”  

It is evident that art begins to play a more prominent role alongside the printed word over time. On the cover of the 2025 edition, a girl looks up at a black orb in the dark sky. The purplish-black-blue hues of the sky give way to red, orange and brilliant yellow, cradled by the silhouette of mountains. The digital art, is titled “Moon” by student Atlas Jaques.  

This is juxtaposed by the simple design of the yellowing 1924 copy, which is expressive in an understated way. A hand drawn title with an oversized “Q,” tail sweeping underneath the rest of the letters. The main imagery is a lit candle in a candlestick flanked by two large quills in a dynamic way that imparts sense of the power of the written word, or perhaps its symbolic, that what’s written inside will illuminate readers. 

“It’s really cool to look back at that one [volume] from 1924,” Hebert said, pointing out her enjoyment of four parodies of Hamlet’s famous soliloquy. 

But rather than contemplating life as the central character in Shakespeare’s tragedy, the 1924 students contemplate bob haircuts and eating. 

Students continue writing imitation poems today to learn about style and structure. 

“Some of these [poems] are also from my students that were studying the poetry of Joy Harjo so they wrote imitation poems,” Kreiss said. “There are a number that are kind of similar in structure because they were writing in response to her poetry.”   

When the students set out to bring back the literary magazine, they made few constraints for the types of submissions, outside of limiting it to three per student, according to Herbert and Olson. This was done to allow for the literary magazine to represent “a variety of voices” Kreiss said.  

“We try to get a variety of genres, nonfiction, memoir,” Kreiss said, adding that people have also submitted comics too. 

Hebert said she would choose an excerpt she thought encapsulated the vision of the piece if it was too long to publish during the editing process. 

“We had to cut down that one story, wasn’t it like 14 pages?” Kreiss asked. 

To get the word out about the submission period, editors such as Hebert said she would go to her classmates, which included an acting class, to encourage writers and non-writer creatives to try writing a piece to submit. Other teachers also encouraged writing and art students to submit work created in class or for assignments. 

The Poetry Club also awarded a $50 monetary prize for the best literary and best art submissions and $25 for honorable mentions.  The first-place literary award went to Gavin Adcox for his poem, “Leaving.” The art award to Syler Huerta’s mixed-media piece, “Space Junk Galaxy." 

When copies were distributed, student writers were excited to see their work in print. 

“People who submitted any pieces that were included in the final copy, they got their own free copy of 'The Quiver.’ And it was really cool, just in my English class, to see people flipping through and first looking at their own work and then making sure their artist statement was correct, but then also flipping through and seeing other people’s work,” Olson said. 

Herbert, Olson and Kreiss agreed that having a place to showcase creative writing is important. While artwork may hang on a wall, music may hang in the air, the printed word can hang between the pages of a literary magazine to be read by others. 

“It’s our voices. I mean, you’re not going to be heard through time if you don’t have written accounts of what happened and what you feel about things,” Hebert said. 

Between busy schedules and classes, writing for personal enjoyment or creatively can be relaxing. 

“I think it’s kind of a nice bit of respite from all the schoolwork to just do something artistic that you don’t necessarily have to get a grade on,” Olson said. 

The literary magazine was made possible through a $1,000 Kalispell Education Foundation Great Opportunities Grant. 

Copies of current and past editions are still available for purchase in the main office, 644 Fourth Ave. W. in Kalispell. Cost is $5 and proceeds go back to the Poetry Club and literary magazine. 

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or [email protected]. 

    The Flathead High School Poetry Club relaunched "The Quiver" literary magazine in 2023. "The Quiver" made its debut Feb. 8, 1924. (Hilary Matheson/Daily Inter Lake).