Student poetry: Lend a Jacket

A zap 

of an electrical outlet.

A faithful mutt

at the same faded gravesite. 

A clock ticking

to warn a maiden of midnight. 

A silent face 

as red as a rose. 

A cloud full

of torrential downpour.

A trek in worn tennis shoes

circling a dirt track. 

An empty tissue box

on a professional’s table.

A musician that can read

but cannot play. 

A mirror

slanted in a funhouse.

A bleak January

without a jacket.

A strand of lights

with a burnt-out bulb. 

A round melon 

full of moldy rot. 

An invisible illness, incurable, 

but treatable, with honey-sweet kindness. 

Grace Mitchell is a Sophomore at Hope College studying English. She enjoys reading and writing, particularly stories about people caring for one another and making the world a better place. She also enjoys her job on campus at the Outreach Caller Center. Grace is passionate about issues of mental health and encourages us all to be a little kinder because we never know what someone is going through.