By: Emanuelle Welter
November 16th, 2024 

This week's poem is by Jessyarth Lopez.

 “Hi, my name is Jessyarth Lopez, an aspiring poet & actress. It's my 2nd year writing and performing poetry and for me, it's always been used as an act of storytelling. I wrote Helene in order to bring light to what "female rage" is and how it relates to how the hurricane was felt in my area of Central Florida. Sometimes rather than being seen, the desire to be heard is still present and I wanted to show how anger, love, patience & empathy, and all-powerful emotions can be shown through nature as well. All that matters is your perspective. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it!”

Helene, the Hurricane by Jessyarth Lopez

"The calm before the storm"
they say; but what if she was never calm?
What if it depended on the time & place you saw her at 
for you to know how she was feeling?
To some it was rain
To some it was floods 
But to me it was wind
I could not be gone with the wind because I saw her clearly
With her strength, I knew she was angry and she wanted Florida to listen 
I knew that strong winds equal the wrath of an angered woman
As I'm in my room I hear whipsters saying 
"They did this to me"
A broken language I understood
She didn't mean to harm, 
she just wanted to be heard
All the waves, the tears 
All the storms, the tribulations
At heart, Helene was a good person
If only someone told her that the pain she went through 
would only release hell, 
She would've never gone in
Helene, I'm sorry that the world hurt you, 
but I thank you for not causing much harm
Just know that after the storm the flowers do bloom
And tomorrow, I shall rejoice holding you in my arms, 
knowing that even through glass 
we found our eternal peace.