鶹ӰԺ

Giving Voice

Spring/Summer 2019

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Giving Voice Artwork
Witness the River

 

Witness the river,

the way it whispers ancient words

spoken by slithering streams

and vast oceans.

 

Witness the loneliness of the river,

how it longs for you,

but can’t quite reach you.

 

Witness the strange power

flowing through you,

traveling slowly

and brushing against your ankles—

something you can only feel

if you witness the river.

 

Jake Soyars, 7th grade
Wick Juniors Writing Club, 鶹ӰԺ, Ohio

Design: Rachel Slingluff, BFA ’17


This poem appears in Speak a Powerful Magic: Ten Years of the Traveling Stanzas Poetry Project (2019, The 鶹ӰԺ Press), available for purchase online at .

Since July 2018,  the Wick Poetry Center (as part of its River Stanzas: A Collective Dreaming of the Cuyahoga project) has been conducting a series of intergenerational community forums and conversations around the value of the Cuyahoga River in our lives and  shared future.

On June 22, 1969, the Cuyahoga River caught fire. It became a symbol for the environmental movement, and the crisis gave the country an opportunity to examine public environmental policies and our communities’ relationships with our planet.

June 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuyahoga River’s rebirth. In collaboration with the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the City of 鶹ӰԺ, and the Akron and 鶹ӰԺ Public Schools, Wick Poetry Center’s outreach team has been leading field trips and workshops—“river walks” and “river talks”—celebrating its success and  inspiring others to “dream the river” in its next 50 years. 
for more information.


SHARE YOUR VOICE!

In partnership with the Wick Poetry Center鶹ӰԺ State Magazine may feature your poem in a future issue. To submit your poem, visit , click “Submit,” and label it “Magazine Entry.”

Back to Spring/Summer 2019

POSTED: Tuesday, May 14, 2019 03:24 PM
Updated: Thursday, December 8, 2022 08:26 AM