Goddess of the Sun

After Crystal Williams’ “The Voice of God,”
For Aretha Franklin

her voice was the soundtrack
to after-school pick-me-ups
from the trauma
of every reluctant schoolyard memento

uplifting auras that filled the room
accompanying my mother’s cooking
as she shuffled from the kitchen
to the dining room, switching up her vinyl

from Earth, Wind, & Fire
to the Sugar Hill Gang,
to Fiddler on the Roof,
but none shined a beacon

quite  like yours
I didn’t need a synagogue
because my holy place
was constructed through

the echoes of your voice
singing the songs
to wipe away adolescent tears
doing the job a box of Kleenex

and attempts at self-love couldn’t
…so here you go, into a light,
one I hope is there to behold
a paradise in waiting,

void of despair
I’ve never been
a religious man,
but I would say

a thousand little
prayers for you
so any god looking down,
knows you are worthy

of an Eden in the clouds
for if there is a heaven,
it didn’t receive an angel
it has found a goddess

 

 

“Aretha Franklin”by Mel_DJ is licensed under CC PDM 1.0

J.B. Stone

J.B. Stone is a neurodivergent writer from Brooklyn, now residing in Buffalo. Stone is the author of A Place Between Expired Dreams and Renewed Nightmares (Ghost City Press 2018) and the forthcoming Fireflies & Hand Grenades (Stasia Press 2019). His work has appeared in BlazeVOX, Peach Mag, Glass, Empty Mirror, Maudlin House, Crack the Spine, and elsewhere. You can check out more of his work at jaredbenjaminstone.com or his tweets @JB_StoneTruth.

Written by 

J.B. Stone is a neurodivergent writer from Brooklyn, now residing in Buffalo. Stone is the author of A Place Between Expired Dreams and Renewed Nightmares (Ghost City Press 2018) and the forthcoming Fireflies & Hand Grenades (Stasia Press 2019). His work has appeared in BlazeVOX, Peach Mag, Glass, Empty Mirror, Maudlin House, Crack the Spine, and elsewhere. You can check out more of his work at jaredbenjaminstone.com or his tweets @JB_StoneTruth.

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