Between the Roses

Between the Roses

In honor of the lives lost at Columbine High School; April 20, 1999The world grew darker that day.When I grieve losses known only to me,the world carries on, obliviouswhile I stand over an empty field,wilting sunflower in hand, wondering if it was even real.But when...
Five Ways to Craft Believable Poetry

Five Ways to Craft Believable Poetry

Poorly crafted fiction isn’t the only thing that can cause readers to squint in disbelief. Samuel Taylor Coleridge described suspension of disbelief as “poetic faith”—giving over to the author’s vision of the world long enough...
Frozen Candles

Frozen Candles

I always thought that fire and ice could never so much as exchange a nod without one destroying the other. Polar opposites— one frigid, the other flaming. But I’ve found that sometimes a forest fire can befriend a shard of ice and melt deep enough to...
Broken Words

Broken Words

I have a voice— I can hear it in between heartbeats and the clicking of my keyboard, whispering, while the seconds bleed from my ticking timepiece. My soul does not know silence. There are words, I can see them— cracked ceramic, waiting to be fixed,...
Paper Cuts

Paper Cuts

I keep my endings scattered in ink-stained places, in hardcover houses and paper walls— wherever my hands and heart can reach. With the smudge of every conclusion, I can stand a little taller and reach a little further into the little black gardens that string...
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