The Voice
July 2024
Cover art: "Lingering Lilies" by bradee_traverse
From The Porch
One of my favorite pastimes is people-watching on the porch. I will have my tea or lemonade in hand, Book resting on my propped-up knees. Julia from down the street will wave and ask how I'm doing....
Sadie
Sadie St. Claire stood on the top porch step, a purple backpack in her hand and a smile on her face. She looked exactly like she had six years ago: same long red hair, scattered freckles, and gray-blu...
Everything Fades
The ocean is swallowing the sun. She watches it sink down, feels the rays graze her legs then slip away. Goosebumps begin to form as the darkness trails along the beach and leaves shadows instead of f...
To Wield Both a Pen and a Sword
I want to hold Both a pen and a sword, To find struggle within my words, To make pain drip from the ink, Trickling onto my palms, Embedding scars along the creases In the shape of stories and verses T...
Last Day of School
I wrote this poem about a month ago, and I recited it at Fifth Grade Night on Wednesday, June 12, and just this morning at my graduation. It is very special to me because I wrote it while crying, tryi...
The Paper Sailboat
Regret has many meanings, and this time I feel it strong For "love" can be the right word, and yet so very wrong. I've kept all boats tethered, left none to sail away Kept all the little memories, for...
Human
To be human is a complex web of emotion, of trial and error, of experience without knowing what lies ahead but still turning one's face towards the sun, accepting the burns from the UV rays and the fi...
A Fork In The Road
When you see a fork in the road what do you do? Go left? Go right? Or ruin the story by standing there and thinking about which way to go then turning around and going home? In this story we get to se...
Box of Memories
You can find me inside the flower-patterned shoe box, where I hide the tokens of my memories. The birthday cards, polaroid photos, and even bottle caps represent my life and relationships. Each item c...
Fragile
Spring is a blossom crushed Unbeknownst to you, in your clammy palm. It’s a season made of glass, Fragile, disintegrating Like the April showers filling Cracks in the pavement. Spring deludes you With...
Who I Was Isn't Who I Am
I am a 17-year-old girl who has jumped through several hoops to get to where I am today in life. I have spent my teenage years healing the younger me. The little girl who wasn’t protected. The girl wh...
I Miss a Place That Doesn't Exist
For a long time I'd have vivid dreams, bursts of REM that gave me the illusive bliss of being wherever and the closest return to the mind of a child so I'd store these treasures like real-life memo...
Please Remember
"Please remember the milk from the store," that's what the note says. But it doesn't matter anyway because his mind, his memory, stays sharp as a tack. He doesn't bring the note with him to the store....
The Little Moments
The little moments Are the best kind of moments Walking through the soccer field Finishing off my ice cream sandwich The wind in my face. It’s the little moments That make the day even brighter.
Alone But Not Lonely
A tundra desert stretches as far as the eye can see: far away, one might glimpse a wandering soul a little fox, fur white as the snow eyes blue as the coldest mountain creek he wanders through the lan...
Empty Nests
Tell me we'll be ten forever and I'll ride my scooter to your house every day, and never learn not to trip over the crack on your driveway. painting my nails every afternoon in your sunroom, the passa...
Watching
I am up with the sun, an ancient plate in danger of breaking holds pancakes and fruit. I wait I watch. The earliest wakers all have dogs. Later, large gaggles of kids meander towards the bus stop whi...
A Slice of Summer
The first bite of watermelon brings back the crash of the tides waves of sweet, cold sea foam spraying onto gleaming skin patted dry by sunny hours sitting on the shoreline The second bite is the bre...