jamie A. hughes

Jamie A. Hughes is a writer/editor who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, sons, and a trio of needy cats. Her essays and poetry have been published in Ink & Letters, The Bitter Southerner, Barren Magazine, Change Seven Magazine, and You Are Here Stories. You can find more of her work and other ramblings at tousledapostle.com.

hope that is seen is not hope

Each winter, crepe myrtle trees are brutalized

after the whiplong branches

sacrifice their blooms. 

Naked and pale barked, their branches forking 

like crooked arms. Gnarled fingers,

hands open to heaven morning and night. 

Prayers without ceasing. 

Are they lifted in praise to their leafy creator, a lipless

hosanna? Is it a plea for release as they groan 

with all creation? Perhaps they, subjected in hope, 

inch skyward—lamenting and pleading the case 

of our shattered world, 

cut short of glory and screaming. 

Read more of Jamie’s work in Solum Journal Volume II.