The Voice
June 2025
Cover art: "♡ - soul" by AutumnSkyes
The Road that Remembers
I live for these moments. Moments that make you forget anything but remember everything all at once. The dirt road crunches beneath the car tires. With windows down I am serenaded by the gentle sounds...
Dew-drop
In a dew-drop, a little world exists A place turned blue and silver by the light That lingers well beyond the morning mist. In a dew-drop, a little world exists But melts into the grass long before ni...
As I Soon Leave
we can run fast run forever until we lose ourselves our spirit but it doesn't matter as we sit in the grass and breathe in as the air grows sweet and the sod is covered in green and as we walk throug...
Ode to The Elephant
Under the green jungle crown you silently go, Shimmers of light pattering down onto your soft, worn skin. With kind eyes, you observe, all the beauty surrounding you. I hope you know the beauty tha...
Lenses
We need more joy in this world, we need less of this depressing sense of life, when everything around us is so beautiful. But we only look through a gray lens to see it. Sometimes we see our reflecti...
Life Plans, In The Style of Fredrik Backman
Rori Acher is eighteen years old and dying. Any licensed medical professional would pronounce her perfectly healthy. But there are many ways to be dying that are not physical. Rori knows exactly what ...
Dear Canada
Dear Canada, You do not belong to us. You never have. And I really, really hope you never will. You are your own country, but I know I don’t have to tell you that. You already know it. On behalf of ma...
The Garden Prince's Freckles
Spring is blooming around me, the trees flushing pink, the wildflower-shaped freckles scattered throughout the grass growing darker, brighter with the sun; The little boy next door, our Garden Prince...
One Saturday Night
On the windowsill He sat, Staring at the sky, Writing words Known only in his head, Leaning against a reflection, Watching the moon, Listening to the wind Drifting through the trees, Hearing the faint...
A Sestina
Somewhere in the summer sun, Where dandelions dance and sing Along with the bluebird’s lonesome cry, Alone, you’ll find me, lying there Between the grass seed and maple leaves, Among the lilacs and ri...
Written in The Notes App While Listening to Sad Songs
I don’t know if I’m pretty enough for this world, I’ve got scars from every adventure I’ve ever had. I’ve got acne and spots no matter what I do and what I eat. I’ve got eczema from anxiety that found...
Sleeping In The New House
Old shadows break in the brand new walls The dirt projected by the naked winter giants of trees Stains bare wooden flesh with familiar rusty bandages All the old calloused front porches Welcome the n...
Out of Tune
What used to be my everything has now turned into what feels almost like a burden. But I don't quit because of that small ounce of enjoyment I still get out of it. Whether or not it's actually enjoyme...
Dinner With You
I only ever came here for the fortune cookies I don't know if you can tell when I stare at the menu under shiny plastic with a red rim when I glance up I can tell you're reading the Mandarin in the me...
And What Must They Think of Our Golden Door Now?
the statue of liberty was brown once, an unprepared American girl blistering in the sun as if our Constitution has torn sharp green papercuts into her skin. the statue of liberty does not speak, a sil...
Grandma's Lemonade
Grandma used to make lemonade. She would squeeze the fruit by hand, letting the sour juice drip down into the pitcher below, pouring in sugar, allowing it to settle to the bottom before handing me the...
Can You Hear It?
Can you hear the roar of the crowd? The thousands of people, Kids, teens, adults and seniors. All screaming at the corrupt administration that we call a government. We will not be silenced. No matter ...
A Tree
I talked to a tree just the other day, I was walking past and it did say, Well, what are you? Just a traveler. But what are you? Why, a human, of course, you didn’t know? I’ve never seen one before. ...
The Gift of Insight
Candle light– Flickering in– the night. Wisps of the dark– A dreaded freight. Whispered words– said out of spite, You told me, “All– ...
In Between The Lines
Give me your tired, your poor, we say. We will return them overworked and underpaid. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, we say. Our air...
Static
These days I sip on the light from the window. Sometimes the walls are dark, and they swallow it up, and there's none left to reach me in my seat by the door. And when the light’s too dim I swallow sm...