“Somewhere” by Kai Ryan
February 8, 2021
Somewhere, deep in the valley, I sit in the darkness.
I am reading; it is intriguing.
As I sit reading, the words seem to fly off the page
and into the night sky.
The words seem to illuminate the meadow,
illuminate the meadow in which I sit.
The words seem to dig down deep inside of me
and find their place in my heart.
All my thoughts are washed away as…
All the fiery sensations fill me with joy.
As soon as the sensation dies down and…
I am left feeling empty.
As the words disappear into the night sky…
everything seems to fade away and soon…
I will fade away, too.
The sensation has gone.
Somewhere deep in the valley I sit in the darkness,
waiting for the dream to end.
Kai Ryan created this piece during a 2019/20 Writers in the Schools residency at Blue Heron Middle School with WITS Writer-in-Residence Samar Abulhassan. Read before Lawrence Wright’s 2020/21 Journalism Series event on Tuesday, February 9, 2021.