Ignite

Ember West

I lost my way, little ember, I left you

in the shadows, I plaster-smiled my

way through a world with no words

for the monsters you found though

you knew they had names, I

wanted you safe, little ember, I

did what was asked and I

did it so well they never knew I

was lost

I see you, little ember, Christmas time grumpy

clutching ears to keep out too much jingle jolly

hot chocolate too hot and eggs gone cold and

all of the wrapping and all of the bows and

all of the tape stuck to the socks

on your toes

I see you, little ember, in a world all your own

between the long, heavy drapes and the window beyond

A face, suspended, is just out of reach there

and what do you know? there she is, reaching

back through the yellow-gold sunbeams that

pierce you right through, but

your fingers collide against cold solid

glass

I see you, little ember, hiding out there

in the plum-ripened shade where

the wolf-teeth shadows and the closet-dark monsters and

the nightmares from under your bed are

the friends you befriend, where

no one else knows, but I, that this

darkness is the only place

you are safe

Oh, ember, one day, you

will open your mouth and roar vowels

of truth from the bowels

of a belly dragon hot, you

will spew fire-rage that will

lick the edge of their shame and

on that day, little ember,

you will watch them squirm

Hold fast, little ember, your light

is not out yet, someday (I promise)

I’ll put the other e on breath, and

breathe

such a sigh of relief that

your flames will play with the

stars once again

Ella Ciffone

Biography: I love to create and play with different mediums. I make bad art until sometimes it turns out good. It’s about how it makes you feel while you make it and how it makes others feel when you share it.

Artist Statement: If I were a fairy, I would build myself an art studio just like this one. Open and airy, the floor just the earth. There may be a whole fairy village but you’d find me here.

Ember West

Biography: Ember has always been a writer but she learned how to be many other things first: mother, lover, bird watcher, teacher, doula. She loves hiking, especially trails that end in the sea, and her favorite part of gardening is tending her compost piles. Her latest project is renovating an old lean-to shed into the perfect hut in which to practice literary witchcraft.

Artist Statement: This one’s for the children who didn’t fit in and had to build their own worlds in search of belonging. May we build a world where children don’t have to hid in the shadows to feel safe.