On Being Asked to Write What Everyone Needs to Hear
On Being Asked to Write What Everyone Needs to Hear
I don’t have
what everyone needs to hear
curled under my tongue,
unless it’s curled under yours too.
Unless it’s been shouted so loud
it’s in every atom of air,
knife-sweet and warm
You can’t be someone else’s voice,
can’t raise them from the water.
You can only say, I believe that drowning girl,
that man you disappeared,
that boy you sold a lie to.
You can only say, here’s what I believe.
Here’s where I draw my line.
Here’s who gave me the strength
to lift this chalk. What part of you
refuses that strength
for a false one? What part of you
keeps engining towards horror?
What part of you wants to stop?
- Sarah Vickery
On Being Asked to Write What Everyone Needs to Hear
Ryan Valentine
Watercolor, Ink & Alcohol Markers
About the Creators
Sarah Vickery
Sarah Vickery facilitates the Ipswich Poetry Group and hosts Zumi's Open Mic in Ipswich and Topsfield. A fundraiser by day, she has deep roots in activist and artistic communities in Boston and the North Shore. Ipswich poets including Dorothy Laurence, founder of the Ipswich Poetry Group, have been among her most important teachers in words and life. Sarah believes everyone can be a poet. In addition to holding monthly open mics she is facilitating a series of community poetry writing workshops this year, thanks to support from the Ipswich Cultural Council. If something in this exhibit moved or inspired you, she invites you to reach out to ipswichpoetrygroup@gmail.com and join the workshops in September and November.
Ryan Valentine
Ryan Valentine is a cartoonist living in Salem, Massachusetts. He is the main creator behind Poetry Comix, an ongoing webcomic dedicated to the intersection of illustration and lyricism. Poetry Comix can be found on Instagram, Webtoon, BlueSky, Cara, and in a print collection published by Source Point Press in 2020.