The Music Carries Me Like The Wind Carries My Voice Vallie McGallion, High School Contest Winner __________ As if the sunlight, warm on my skin Seeped below, trickled within I feel the melody within me, visceral Metaphorical, and all the while, literal The beach’s breeze, blowing in my hair Carries…

On Becoming a Country Music Song Jenny Yang Cropp __________ That first night, I traced invisible letters  in the shower, water carving their song into my skin. A mother-no-mother girl could have a new mother if only she changed  her middle name to Lynn. L – Y – N –…

Three Songs Mike Wilson __________ I A bird untucks her head from her wing. measures the spaciousness of sky. Clutching the branch, she feels the tree drinking earth with the beak of its roots. Without thought, she sings I am happy this morning before fighting for food begins. II King’s…

The Circle Game Gerard Sarnat __________ I recall all my being as an isolated youngster,   can’t go outside cause of bad ragweed allergies,   wrapped by Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives’ mournful   sweet  croons+twangy twinkly banjo tunes— stuck watching 10” vinyl discs go round and round   78 times per minute…

Shadows & Jazz Tony O’Dwyer __________ The sound of a clarinet can seduce Even the most careless of hearts As the short pumping kisses of breath, The deft curving of fingers, Transform to hot melting notes. We danced, holding our hands low, The music swaying on our bodies, Twined in…

The Stars—They Shine Just for Us Jill Michelle __________ Mission Impossible was the movie your dad and I watched the Evening before your birth, bars of its theme song, labor’s Anthem: dun, dun, dun, dun, dun-nun, a rhythmic hum beneath Nurse Peggy’s pink-capped reminders to breathe while she Deciphers the…

Songs of the Past Amanda Meyer __________ She used to scratch lyrics into her flesh, afraid she’d forget them, the way her brain wears rose-colored glasses when she tries to remember the past.  Before that she’d write songs on the thigh of her jeans  instead of keeping her eyes on…