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Tides Rise, by Kelsey Flynn

Updated: Oct 26, 2021

Tides rise and walls fall


A system built to keep muddy water from collapsing white walls

Infrastructure made to keep fish in their barrel

Fight among yourselves

While the wolves play another game


Tides rise and trees fall


Time was a redwood, tall and constant

Now it burns and only ash remains

Will something else grow?

Will we have enough time?


Tides rise and empires fall


Policing a pale blue dot to maintain power

Stretched abroad Atlas’ shoulders

Inequality, at its finest hour

Values, like sand, slipping through our fingers


Tides rise and people fall


Ice shaken in a drink almost empty

Hot summer melting man’s luxuries

Nature does not concern itself with who holds the talking stick

Wait too long and wind whipped no one will carry it on


Tides rise and we all fall


Elder woman's hands folded in her lap over her tan purse
Rivers Flow in You, Hannah Baiye's hands, by Ebiere Orusa
 

Kelsey Flynn is a public librarian who has written poetry for over a decade, but she is just beginning to dip her toes into publication. She is a cat aunt as she is not yet mature enough to have cat children. She apologizes if your grocery store ran out of flour a few months ago, she had three sourdough starters and they were very hungry.

 

Ebiere Orusa has always had an eye for photography, but she didn't start taking herself serious and really fine tuning to figure out what her niche was until around the age of 16. She was a writer before she got into photography. Through both crafts, she manifested the pursuit for a career in documentary photography/photojournalism. She recently received a BFA in documentary photography along with an MA in writing. She's been able to perfect both crafts even more in her years at university. A lot of her personal work deals with cultural identity and representation. It's her way of nurturing the child in her that had to navigate early years through the lens of a minority in a predominantly white society. She always felt like something was wrong with her, but she now realizes that it's her differences that make her strong. She explores that through the lens so that other people who have had a similar experience can also feel seen in these tough times. This photo is from her series “The Elders in their Sacred Spaces.”

 

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