WRITE ON
SPEAK OUT
Carly 2023 and Amelia 2016
Star Stories
by Carly
I saw the star stories
my eyes read them through my foggy window glass
I should have my eyes closed
My mind takes the stories given
and catalogs them away for another date
The cold night air is calming against my feverish skin
my eyes are blurry from the light of the street lamp outside
The blanket around my shoulders falls to the ground
pooling against the carpet like snow
It’s cold as my mother leads me back to bed
easing my shaking hands and tucking me away
She eases me with stories of her and her sister; her star stories
The star stories are all stories, including this story; my story
I close my eyes
Sleep, the star stories whisper
luring me to bed once more.
Carly loves axolotls.
Night Poem
by Amelia
My eyes stare at ripples
in a milky sea of plaster.
They should be shut.
Disobedient, my mind wanders
tossing and turning.
My sheets implore me to stay
to be swallowed by the cotton sea
yet tonight, the voice of the crack in my curtains
is far sweeter.
The window pulls me to its side
and for a few moments
I am not so solitary after all.
City lights tickle my chin
wink at me from below
and the moonlight caresses my cheek
and verdant fingers reach out
shutting the window again
sending me back to bed.
first published in Write On 2016