not all heroes are loud
perhaps, the hero they're looking for,
isn't dripping in sweat and blood
raging in a voice louder than a crow;
perhaps they're in fields of sunflowers
as they reckon with the gods that again
they must use their sword—
maybe they have a voice soft as spring's blooms,
and carry an essence of sunshine that can
burn through any winter;
perhaps the hero they're looking for has the ability
to cut through their enemies by making them
friends
only slashing through those that cannot be kind
and those all too happy to add onto the suffering
that already spills into this world.
Linda M. Crate (she/her) is a Pennsylvanian writer whose works have been published widely both online and in print. She has twelve published chapbooks the latest being: Searching Stained Glass Windows for An Answer (Alien Buddha Press, December 2022), four full length poetry collections, four micro-poetry collections, and two novellas. Her debut photography collection Songs of the Creek is forthcoming in April 2023.