rain & i – Elena Barrera-Waters

it’s 5:56 in the morning

(on a weekend)

and the rain is pounding

and it’s loud

and the windows are shaking, even if only a little.

it’s funny because

i’m always so eager to go to sleep,

to stop the world for just a while,

to escape the noise of yesterday

and today

and even tomorrow.

but right now,

i’m up

and alive

and my heart pounds with life

to the same beat as the rain pounding against the pane of my window

Something Like Freedom – Brooke Safferman

Hope in a bottle

Spilling out loudly

The sound crashes in our ears

No regrets, never regrets.

Shouting from rooftops, from birds’ backs, from the skies

Liberty is a thing that can be purchased

With determination and strength

We have things inside of us we never even knew we had to begin with.

Lean on back and close your eyes

The smells wander on in: fresh cut grass and gasoline;

Balloon animals and your dog peeing on the fence

Hey, it’s alright now. Hey.

That beautiful moment where you’re at a loss of words

Because you don’t have a thesaurus with you

That could give you another option, another choice for the word that means

Something like freedom.S