authentic voice
— A speaker emerges from their skin to discover their multicolored beauty, finding harmony between self and nature in a moment of self-acceptance.
— A speaker rebels against expected questions (what, where, when) and instead asks 'why,' exploring the tension between curiosity and conformity.
— A whimsical recipe poem for making soup from bay water, moon snail shells, urchin spikes, and other seaside ingredients, stirred into a whirlpool under August lightning.
— A hermit crab named Kermit faces school bullies, challenges them to an exoball game, and wins by riding on opponents' shells, transforming his social status.
— After her mother dies in childbirth, a girl defies orders to stay out of the forest and discovers she's inherited magical powers to protect it from shadow creatures.
— A child observes a lime tree through the seasons, noting its winter bareness, spring birdsong, summer growth, and autumn abundance of leaves.
— A girl with a fear of heights jumps off a cliff at her cousins' urging, nearly drowns in panic underwater, then immediately agrees to do it again for a video.
— A young swimmer discovers the underwater world of a Bermuda coral reef, encountering a parrotfish that transforms her understanding of the ocean.
— A young poet observes rivers, leaves, clouds, and birds, concluding with the hope that nature returns their love.
— A playful, energetic poem captures the exhausting joy of endless banter, with words crashing together like the conversation itself until silence finally arrives.