Art by Demont Peekaso Pinder

I Wish

By Allysza Castile ● 2019

Last night I woke up out my sleep and I cried for you. I tried to hold it in, but my tears just flowed like an endless river that would

West Saint Paul

By Roberto Sande Carmona ● 2019

Tengo un headache. Maybe it’s the combinación de lenguas en my head, on the billboards (espectaculares, dice mi abi), y en las conversations of people pasando por Cesar Chavez Street.

Art by Demont Peekaso Pinder

Survive These Evil Fates

By Valerie Castile ● 2019

Children are a gift from God, a small, innocent replica of ourselves. Our job as parents is to love, nurture, protect, and teach, to bring forth the great qualities of

Art by Christopher E. Harrison

Pet

By Kurt Schultz ● 2019

Kinda clammy, kinda wet, the goldfish kinda needs a vet. A little pale and looking ill, the doctor thinks she needs some pills. The pills won’t do, get a knife,

Art by Ta-coumba Aiken

When Words Are Not Enough

By Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen ● 2019

For Philando Castile, his family, and our community He was no one to me, but never no body Yet in an instant he became every body Every body sacrificed Every

Art by Moriah Pratt

Philando Castile

By Norita Dittberner-Jax ● 2019

In that Cathedral atop the highest hill in Saint Paul, we gathered for Philando. He came on a white catafalque drawn by horses, his coffin carried up the hill by

Art by Sandra Menefee Taylor

If I Declare the Obvious

By Kayla Gray ● 2019

After Ada Límon’s “The Conditional” What if you stayed a little longer? What if you told the afterlife to shove it? What if I picked up the phone to your

Art by Tom McGregor

Glass Womb

By Rebecca Frost ● 2019

In the crystal hothouse to escape the cold I am here, at last. Wrapped myself in gray wool, blue parka, scarf, mittens, galoshes. Tissue in my pocket. Slipped just once

Art by Susan Solomon

Alzheimer’s Lament

By Georgia Greeley ● 2019

Right this moment, in this place, Mother doesn’t know me, her daughter; yet she is still glad to see me and talks gaily. She is happy and cared for. Right

Art by Ta-coumba Aiken

William Taylor, First Fiddler of Minnesota

By John Heine ● 2019

Who led a band in the Minnesota Territory known as “the favorite of the dancing public”? A Saint Paul resident, barber, and Black man by the name of William Taylor.

Art by Kristi Abbott

Listening

By Tim Nolan ● 2019

I learned about listening from my grandmother Ruth who allowed great silences to live and breathe in a conversation. She then would say the most apt thing, having thought about

Art by Peter Kramer

My Time as an Irvine Park Resident

By Patricia Kester ● 2019

My family once lived in Irvine Park, a community that was developed in the mid-nineteenth century by some of Saint Paul’s most influential families. It was an era of horse-drawn