Literary Contributions

Elise Stuart

Elise Stuart is a writer of poetry and short stories. When she was Poet Laureate of Silver City, she began facilitating numerous poetry workshops for students in schools around the county, feeling how important it is to give voice to youth. Her belief is activism stems from the belief that if one of us is not free, then none of us are free.

Infrasounds

Elephants communicate through infrasounds. Scientists are not sure how. Extremely low in frequency, they’re produced by vibrations of the vocal cords. Learn more from The Elephant Listening Project.

Passing through forest and grassland,
roaring like a river,
beneath sandy arroyos,
underneath concrete streets,
runs a message.

The children, in deep distress,
are calling.
Locked
in metal cages,
away from parents' arms.

A thin blanket on cement floors
no windows to look out.
Bird song,
kiss of breeze,
has also been taken from them.

The plea ripples out,
help us,
bring us back to our families.
You, who walk in the world,
raise your voice, tell everyone.
We must be free.

— Elise Stuart

After the immigration fundraising event is over

Will we just go home,
turn on the TV,
keep changing the channel?
The kids aren’t still being separated from their parents,
are they?
It’s just not as bad as they say.
They don’t really put the kids
on buses with blacked-out windows
and drive them north,
so they can be adopted by white families,
do they?
And the children aren’t really sent back alone to countries
they’ve escaped from?
Are they?

In New York harbor,
the Statue of Liberty
is in a state of decay.
Her crown,
slipping sideways.
Her face, melting.
Did she ever
watch over us?
She has become blind
and deaf.
Just a statue,
a myth.
Her shoulder crumbles,
the one immigrants dreamed
they could lean on.
Her unlit torch
breaks off—
and falls into the dark water.

— Elise Stuart