Words by David Bolotin | Pictures by Robin Echo Young

Time tells no tales at times like these

It lingers like a vulture,

among these grayed-out walls,

It lingers, knowing I’m mere prey

The cellar door glares,

pleading for me to take the padlock off of it,

but the quiet tells me all I need to know,

there is

nothing beyond—

nothing of mine

One way or another,

Desperateness seems to kill

both men like me

wandering victims of war

and the long forgotten idea of

hope

Those laughs I hear upstairs are not mine,

not ours, not anyone’s who can be trusted

The only cards dealt below the cellar door

are mine, and I’ve

never been one for

luck, nor roulette

But my child,

Dolores

if your sorrow is reading this

if your lips haven’t partched yet

if the men upstairs haven’t decided they are bored

if they haven’t grown tired of waiting for you to play

your move into their trap

and if I haven’t returned by dawn—I’m afraid, I died last Thursday

Though, I suppose,

even if I’m still here,

just contemplating about the idea

that I could have possibly stepped

outside

means I was never truly here

already gone weeks ago

David Bolotin is a high schooler, currently 16, who was born and raised in Chicago, IL. His family comes from Belarus, but immigrated to the United States in the early 2000s–where he was born and quickly found a passion for writing and poetry. He typically focuses on themes of triumph and nature while exploring our past and what makes us human. At the current moment, he has not been published elsewhere.

Based in Borrego Springs, California Robin Echo Young works in mixed media focusing mostly on collage and contemporary art making. Using magazine clippings, masking tape, wallpaper, jewelry, etc allows her to develop deep into the whimsical and intuitive. Repurposing a variety of materials into lighthearted and sometimes disquieting messages, Robin's artistic universe is strange, funky, and sometimes perverse. She lives in the California desert with her creative husband John and lazy dog, Comet.