Writers on the Avenue

Words by WOTA Members (and Friends, too!)

Poetry

On July 19, Annette Hovland led a group of students from ages nine to sixteen in a poetry workshop at Musser Public Library. The poem Shadow Dance incorporates lines each of them wrote.

Shadow Dance

I am the trickster, the blind thief
who prowls with shades of death.
My magic mingles with the night
and dances with the dark.
I am darkness, churning depth cold
black, lapping at your feet.
Tell your secrets, I cannot speak.
Your dreams are safe with me.

My form dissolves in summer storms
reborn in strokes of light.
I darken in foggy ponds and
lighten in clear water.
I grow big in gloomy tunnels
and shrink in midday light.
Watch me glide into an alley
and melt into cold brick.

In the dark, I am all alone
I hear nothing, silence.
I dance around the fire and
flirt with owl, moon and wind.
I sway within the leaves of an
oak and float out of reach.
I reach the moon and kiss the land
and tell fish when sharks come.

I am shadow. I grow and shrink.
I jump and run with you.
I dance, tumble, wiggle and soar.
I'm blind yet watchful.
All that you think, all that you hear
tell me, I'm always near.
I am shadow following you
I will watch over you.

Written by Karri Bassett, Lauri Bassett, Steven Bieber, Rachel Curry, Duffy DeFrance, Ana Garcia, Annette Hovland, Kerstin Hovland, Marissa Meloy, and Ashley Truesdale.

Edited by Annette Hovland and Kerstin Hovland