the power of imagination
— Thirteen playful poems explore opposites, paradoxes, wordplay, and environmental concerns through a child's inventive lens, ending with a critique of materialism versus nature.
— In future Orlando sewers, sentient creatures made from garbage attempt to form a government, leading to chaos, tyranny, and one night of freedom above ground.
— A surreal moment in a forest where the speaker's mind becomes a predatory creature that devours a bird without greeting or ceremony.
— When humans sleep, kitchen objects come alive for nightly revelry — dancing in washcloth dresses, gossiping, playing ping-pong, and sneaking cookie crumbs before dawn signals their return to stillness.
— A young poet describes the moment of completing a poem, exploring the paradox of creation—how words become both fragile and eternal, personal and universal.
— Explorers ride metal lions on wheels down a black tongue into a mountain giant's mouth, where teeth drip saliva before darkness engulfs them.
— A family camping trip to Yellowstone becomes a magical adventure as siblings explore forests, witness the Grand Prismatic Spring, and create their own riverside kingdom.
— A girl's birthday wish for a puppy and amazing drawing skills comes true when her drawings literally come to life, creating chaos at school.
— A melodramatic sixth-grader faces her turn at kickball, convinced she'll die of embarrassment, spiraling through existential revelations before being saved by the lunch bell.
— During a word game, a player watches letters transform into words like FISH becoming SHIFT, finding poetry in the randomness of language emerging from tiles.