Shannon Azzato Stephens
Jade leaves puffy, shining, just
dusted off, their stems hardened,
age lines winding down
into the soil. Grandfather’s hands
in the work: each branch held
by a bamboo reed, velcro
wrapped around their tips to catch
any sagging arm. These plants
don’t rustle. They hold the light
at their tips.
–
Shannon Azzato Stephens is a Creative Writing and Visual Arts student at Carnegie Mellon University, where she is Editor-in-Chief of The Oakland Review. Past adventures include a stint in Americorps, a series of bike tours on the Northeast Coast, living everywhere from New York City to Biloxi, Mississippi and attending the Southampton Writers Conference, where she studied with Billy Collins.
