The tall, old tree towers over us. Its branches fan out overhead, protecting, filtering sunlight. Heads are bowed. Hands scribble furiously. Pencils scratch lightly. Soft murmurs break out among students.   To our right, workers in their bright excavators rumble down the dark road. Disrupting. On the side of life, time flows, people pass […]

Butterflies in my stomach, hands shaking like my phone when it vibrates, my head is swirling with thoughts that consume my mind: Did they do him justice? Is this going to make me think of him? Is this what he would’ve wanted?   Saltwater clouds my senses as I walk in. The wind kisses me, […]

  White on white aligned as one rows and rows with all names carved in between.   Each footstep leads to another tear another flower another “thank you.”   So much is said in the silence.   I hear your name for what feels like the thousandth time.   Although now, it is different.   […]

The gravel crunches beneath my feet as I walk up to Dana’s bench and feel my heart fall.   She was then the age of my sister now, only three years old, on a plane never arriving at her destination.   The age of my sister– can’t read, can’t write, can’t even ride a bike. […]