SAL/ON

A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures

Category: Youth Poet Laureate

“the poet” by Aamina Mughal

the poet this is you on your knees, surreal roses unfurled in a ghastly inversion at your feet. you balled your fists and balled your eyes out while you were patted on the back, like the ancient, quranic rage in your head could be tapped out. you are on your knees. you thought what a […]

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“The Just Compromise” by Adhya Kona

Plato once asserted that justice, in the scheme of morality and goodness, ultimately comes down to compromise. We discussed it in class, so it must be true, but tell me, philosopher, if perhaps I could arrange for a meeting with your dust and bones—   Is it a just compromise, every time the story plays […]

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“Standstill / Stand Still” by Kiana Gladney

At the peak of my anxiety, consumed by emotion, overwhelmed by intrusive thoughts, I’m at a standstill. I don’t know when my home got bigger or I when I simply shrunk, but my house is far too big for me, and lately I feel so small. At a standstill of uncertainty, I’ve found that lately […]

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“Cubism” by Zinnia Hansen

“With your pictures you apparently want to arouse in us a feeling of having to swallow rope or drink kerosene.” – Braque to Picasso Maybe it’s as simple as this: Maybe God’s hundredth name is His face. I try to paint it on the moon, but I can’t reach far enough to fill His craterous, […]

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“Don’t Worry, Ma” by Kyle Gerstel

He sits at the desk beside Teacher, scribbling words on the back of the coloring sheet while the rest of the class enjoys the playground and each other. His mom asks her maternal comrades what to do, if he’s okay, but he knows better. “Don’t worry, ma,” he says. “This is what I have to […]

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“Pesto” & “Toast and Other Things” by Bayla Cohen-Knott

Pesto She dances Whirs and grinds and her arms rise To ragged rocks of sea salt Where she sleeps She puckers up for a kiss Feels lemon when there is bitterness Goes dark when left alone A moldy solitude She duets with the plush Heel toe tapping Kitten heels staunch in their desire to step […]

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“Lorelei” by Keegan York

I can’t tell you how it kills me. …..Song like the bleeding heart of fire ……….breeds the incandescent waver of ……………water rapt in wrapping ‘round ………………..the pearl. Invincible, the stretch and tear of blue on white …..seethes with the spirit of the moon. ……….I have a second sense for hollowness. ……………I receive the buoyant aura […]

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“Lived. Moved. Wanted. Got?” by Zora Sowinska

“Here” feels so lonely. The hands of a ghost who loved another ghost, the space between fingertips, the hall light under the door. Whispers that evaporate into thin air like an August creek. Ferns line the sidewalks and the trails, spores frequenting their undersides. In kindergarten, someone told me that those spores heal cuts, but […]

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“War Zone” by Avni Rao

And as dusk neared, The laughs were replaced with nonchalance, For it was dark and unsafe now One mustn’t do something to provoke— An ill-fated destiny corsets hung from old, battered joints An urge to for slim, slender, small, shrunken Gasping, choking, fighting They were struck by the intonation Of its missed, beautiful dictation of […]

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“Womb” by Zinnia Hansen

Do you remember when that tickling in our stomachs had a name? It was called God. The flowers bloomed to God’s rhythm and we danced in our underwear. Our families burned weed and bras and incense and dollar bills. They used history as kindling and smoked out the stars. But we didn’t need to misinterpret […]

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