Shadow

Cooking with my Fantastic Family

Abigail Pepin Where I Am From

I am from an oven, from General Electric and electrical burners I am from the comfortable, homey, and delicious smelling food cooking in the kitchen I am from the avocado and the broccoli I am from cooking and gratitude from Jennifer and Christopher and Hogrefe

I am from the messes in the kitchen and making too much food From “eat more vegetables” and “eat everything on your plate if you want dessert” I’m from Waterbury and Italy, overnight french toast and chicken bean soup

I am from my mom’s computer and scrapbooks with pictures of my brother and I when we were younger, the fun memories of vacations and trips, to the pictures of those who are no longer with us today.

“Teal and Purple” Tyler Lamb/Camera

Tower of Babel

Axel Mitchell Free Verse

First, listen. In our minds and in our hearts On our hearts and on the news We mourn all that we have lost And yet there’s always more to lose

However It’s not just one thing that injures humans Sure, there are cuts, wounds, and bruises But also scarring in our hearts And in our souls there lay contusions

Meanwhile We speak in tongues and with confusion We face the light, we sing to music But the path to restoration Can not be built with any blueprint

Nor can it Be tracked with any map. To understand, we must attempt to start To listen, not just speak, in the language of our souls and hearts

(The arts might be the interpreters But so much is lost in translation Under the Tower of Babel, we must unite The 12 tribes of Israel’s nation.)

I wonder Are the TV screens thinly-veiled screams? They’re only a few letters apart Maybe it’s a cry for help, as fear is keen on silencing the heart. 12