Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
The Wax<br />
by Leion De Haro<br />
The wax that wanes from steady burn<br />
Has yet to truly reach what it yearns<br />
So much beauty and so much light<br />
A true beauty for smell and sight<br />
Is this wax everlasting?<br />
2, 4, 7, 8, how many candles have been made<br />
from this tiny little flame?<br />
The scent has started to wear thin again<br />
Who was the wax and who was the stem?<br />
The wax knows not the question within<br />
Leion is an indigenous, two spirited man and abstract artist —<br />
native to the land, but not any single place. They believe that life<br />
is full of exciting challenges that bloom from the reality you make.<br />
They go by the personal philosophy, "There’s no such thing as a low<br />
point, only a new mountain to climb.”<br />
Sequoia<br />
by Salamander Brandy<br />
Another child dies and the sky cries,<br />
Po’ baby being left outside.<br />
Heaven gonna be feelin’ dis heat,<br />
right before Juneteenth.<br />
Send help–rain relief,<br />
We need help in a city where even God cried–<br />
She weeps, “O sweet lord have mercy for the<br />
people of Memphis.”<br />
Salamander Brandy is the Executive Director of the Path of the<br />
Holy Hands church, the co-chair of the Memphis-<strong>Mid</strong><strong>South</strong><br />
DSA, a member of Black Lives Matter Memphis and the New<br />
Black Panther party. She was born and raised in the city of<br />
Memphis and is the descendent of Elwood Higginbottom, a hero<br />
who was lynched by the city of Oxford, Mississippi for trying<br />
to start a union for sharecroppers. She is on a mission to spread<br />
peace on planet Earth and to get justice for her family. Until she<br />
completes her mission, she won’t stop even after her last breath.<br />
Want to see our full collection<br />
of The Prism Pages?<br />
Visit our website.<br />
The Prism Pages is a new literary section in the magazine where original works of poetry and fiction from the<br />
community will be showcased. As a publishing company, we are committed to saving space for up-and-coming<br />
LGBTQ+ writers. Interested in submitting something? Email editor@focusmidsouth.com.<br />
This section is brought to you by the <strong>Focus</strong> Center Foundation 501(c)3. To learn how to support this and become<br />
a sponsor, please email info@focuscenterfoundation.org.<br />
JUL+AUG <strong>2023</strong> | focuslgbt.com | Memphis Green 25
Change language