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A Leaf on the Pavement
January 11, 2026
For a second,
There is a fleeting sort of love.
There is a touch of faith and
Constant flight that comes with living,
And there is nothing, at least not in this second,
That comes between me and the free air.
I can’t help my floating bounds.
They fly above me like tendrils and vines,
Parading around a stunted form.
There is everything between me and the ground.
Everything holding me up, fatelessly silent,
Tormentingly whole.
There is a crispness that comes with falling.
I am sick and shaking. The air rises above me.
This is fall.
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My name is Ashton. I'm a transgender gay man and I've been writing poetry for 5 years. I've been published quite a bit within my school, but as I near high school graduation I realize I'm losing the spark that accompanies being published as a child.
I've been trying to read all of the near 100 books I have piled in my room as my past three New Year's Resolutions, and it has made me a better poet. My favorite authors and poets are Richard Siken, Gerard Hopkins, Patricia Lockwood, Will Toledo, and William Joseph Martin (who writes under Poppy Z. Brite.)