The Voice
February 2025
Cover art: "Franconia in Soft Morning Light" by origami5432, YWP
Love and Community
I remember when I fell in love with eagles and oak trees, with green grass, warm summers, and fireworks. I fell in love with what now is brushwood for a fire that red white and blue decided to ignite....
Introspection: An Ode to Knowing Oneself and Subsequently Confusing Other People
My friend, on New Year’s Eve, learned a new word. And before she makes herself uncomfortable with embarrassment, assuming that I am using this medium as a means to air out her ignorance, no matter how...
Mr. Red
There is a man on the corner of 87th and Amsterdam. I do not know him, and he does not know me. He wears a red tee-shirt with red sweatpants. He wears a red coat with red shoes. He wears a red ski mas...
I Choose Today
Heaven is a state of mind where all your fantasies are actualized. It is the shared recognition of “if only my blanket would arrange itself precisely around my right shoulder so that I don’t have to m...
False Superman
We built a superman. In our heads, we built a superman. Clipped by a speeding bullet, So that false blood, stolen blood, blood that was here first Leaked from the side of that pouting Cold face. We b...
This Year Feels Different
This year feels … different. Like there’s anticipation hanging in the air. This year feels … scary. Like there’s so much uncertainty that we don’t know where to go from here. This year feels … strange...
Those Days
I remember only its ghostly aftermath; my parents' divorce. My dad was cast out without anything, we lived in a rented renovated barn. My bed was in the hay loft, and sometimes it was as if I was an ...
The Sweetest
I wonder what kind of mind lies behind those big brown eyes, behind her laugh, which makes the sweetest souls swoon, behind her smile, infectious and sugar sweet. yet through it all, I do not envy he...
The Library
I took a walk inside the library today, and I noticed everything. Two older women exchanging hellos, kids under piles of toys, and parents taking a breath. 2025 resolutions written by teens, (I add my...
Through Glances at the Sun
Poetry has a silent power In the way that poets don’t need words to communicate With one another; We simply see a wildflower Sprouting from a chip in concrete, Or the sky Smattered with stars, Or a t...
Mermaids and Other Things I Miss About You
The science teacher showed your writing as an example in class today and even though he cut off the name, I knew it was you. The way you make your y's and f's hasn't changed since third grade, since ...
To Say Goodbye
If I had to say goodbye I wouldn't know what to say Would I embrace you Like we used to Or is the tension in the air pulling us away from that If I say goodbye would it leave behind everything As worl...
Travel is a Rather Dangerous Thing
Sometimes there is so much to love that it hurts. Like a hole, waiting to be emptied as it's being filled. That preemptive pain; anticipation of loss. But those words are too big to quite describe thi...
Music
Growing up, music was always a constant. Then, it meant very little to me. It was only background noise, but always there. As I grew older, the meaning of music changed. It was there when I felt desp...
Through the Maze
A wild dream wakes you, tears you out of the spiral you are swimming in, sending you, reeling, into a new reality. Unknowingly, you are prepared, consequently, you are unconfident, reasoning out an ad...
Seasons of Being (Part 3): Winter
Like a gear slowly rusting With feet like cement We are zombies of snow and sleet Brain fog taking control Hands turned to ice at the end of stiff limbs Rigor mortis like a dead soul in warm blood How...
The Eyes Carved in Stone
Staring through eyes of stone at the republic oh, for which it stands one nation like a burning stick a stick that is almost snuffed out the red flames curling up and turning the stick to carbon and a...
Rain
I stand alone as the clouds turn gray. I watch as the rain starts to fall. I hear a roar of thunder in the distance. I see a bolt of lightning a few miles away. And yet ... I feel safe, not scared .....