LORETTA

Loretta

She feels close to depth,

Like a necklace, you notice after looking for a while.

She changes the feeling of the room without meaning to,

Grey suits her.

Her smile is small and unforced, like it’s just where her face settles.

Arched eyebrows, not to impress anyone.

Eyes with softness, not emptiness.

She doesn’t remind you of anyone else.

No earrings, no necklace, the crashing waves of her hair,

Not trying to be seen,

And doesn’t demand attention

Silence is her language,

She understands it as well as speech.

Thin oval-shaped lips, bottling up words of wisdom

Forehead showing experience more than worry

If she were part of a story,

She wouldn’t be the center of it.

She’d be the depth underneath,

The part that connects things

And make everything else feel real.

Like a bluer story, if present.

Umbrella for Two

Standing in the rain

Beneath the sky that weeps

An elegy for one

Holding an unopened umbrella

A silent companion

to the storm

A quiet witness

The rain speaks gently

The way a mother may

Standing still

The air and rain learns my shape

Each drop a promise

That breaks apart before it reaches me

Still, I look up

Just in case the clouds might remember

The child they left behind

Diamond in the Rough

From Within

Plastic green trees

Green Snow that never escapes

A glass dome,

Holding a tiny world

Foggy glass

No cracks, no scratches

Just a wall

That separates their world from ours

On the bedside table for years

A mere shape

Brand new once,

Now a diamond in the rough

Serena Park is a high school student who writes poetry and creates visual art in the quiet corners of her day. When she’s not working on a piece, she’s usually listening to music—especially rock, with a special place in her heart for Kurt Cobain.