Snowblind

After snow falls, it is covered with cinder

from cars driving past every day.

From far away,

the mountain bleeds.

As we drive past, you say

nothing looks the same up close.

Blood turned to stone.

You say I think I caused this,

your hand on my wrist.

Stone turns to highway.

Our breath froze the lake, the clouds.

Turned drops into flakes when it wasn’t shared.

That’s what happens when I don’t breathe into you, you say.

We’d been talking about ponderosa pines,

searching for the bark’s sweet smell underneath the snow.

You say trees don’t gather cinder ‘cause

they’re too far from the road.

Highway like snowfall.

I say I think it’s odd that pines bleed only in sap, not cinder,

and I wish I bled in snow or stone.

I don’t know why you think that,

but it makes me want to cry, you say.

Highway of black ice.

And I wonder when the sun got so bright.

Canyon Roberts

Biography: Canyon has had a story cooking in his brain since he was very little, and his dream is to one day share it with the world! He’s currently studying mechanical engineering while pursuing art and music as hobbies that could potentially become a side-gig!

Artist Statement: These drawings serve as a way for me to explore my characters and the stories that they live through. Before any artistic decision is made about composition, value, or style, I focus on the scenario that i wish to depict. Digital art as a medium makes this process much more forgiving, as it’s extremely well suited for spitting out ideas rapidly and collaging together the ones that work.

Social Media: @cannnnyart on Instagram

Ellie Ocel

Biography: Ellie Ocel is a poet of the body and of the world. They are a 2nd year student studying environmental science. She is interested in mutual aid and community resilience, and loves playing the guitar with their friends and picking plums from their neighbor’s trees.

Artist Statement: I have found that to be a poet is to take the most rage-filled memories and tell them, “I love you enough to put you into words.” In this translation of memories, I have found poems of rot and of beauty. In these poems, I seek to break down the dichotomy between nature and humanity, and to show that we are nature. In doing this, I discover whole, radical, and authentic love.