Jay Young Gerard and Lisa Nielsen

Jay Young Gerard

Shadows Cool

Inspiration Piece

Lisa Nielsen

The air we breathe

Response

The air we breathe calculates wind patterns
While the dust of twilight and
the remains of sunrise
coexist between the slats

i worry over ruin

Trees shove sidewalks
and the road hesitates.
Avoidance becomes the cornerstone
of a carefully tuned universe.

Shadows can conceal loneliness for only so long
before a slap punctuates a heated debate,
stealing away the silence of a mother’s miserly offering.

let that settle in, let that be the memory that haunts you