• 0 items$0.00

Alan Squire Publishing

A Small Press With Big Ideas

  • Home
  • Authors
  • Books
  • Events
  • ASP Bulletin
  • Submissions
  • Reviews/Press
    • Legacy Series
  • Staff
  • FB
  • Twitter
  • IG
Home / Bulletin 3 / What It Takes

Jun 25 2021

What It Takes

By Shuly Xóchitl Cawood

Poetry

ASP Bulletin | July 2, 2021

< before next >

The sun does not rise easily. A whole planet must spin

on its axis—take with it warring countries, pull culture

clashes and opposing ideologies round and round—to make 

 

these days begin. The colors, not simple either—all splotches of red

and orange and another hue so hard to name I might call it

bravery—bold enough to smear the sky.

 

There’s a reason such audacious colors strip the heavens

of nightly blue elegance. Boldness requires space

and freedom and takes it all upon morning.

 

Do you have what it takes? You must,

for you’re a girl and no one will hand it

over, just like that. Be the rising sun. Be

 

the hue I cannot name.

The sun does not rise easily. A whole planet must spin

on its axis—take with it warring countries, pull culture

clashes and opposing ideologies round and round—to make 

 

these days begin. The colors, not simple either—all splotches of red

and orange and another hue so hard to name I might call it

bravery—bold enough to smear the sky.

 

There’s a reason such audacious colors strip the heavens

of nightly blue elegance. Boldness requires space

and freedom and takes it all upon morning.

 

Do you have what it takes? You must,

for you’re a girl and no one will hand it

over, just like that. Be the rising sun. Be

 

the hue I cannot name.

shuly10

The sun does not rise easily. A whole planet must spin

on its axis—take with it warring countries, pull culture

clashes and opposing ideologies round and round—to make 

 

these days begin. The colors, not simple either—all splotches of red

and orange and another hue so hard to name I might call it

bravery—bold enough to smear the sky.

 

There’s a reason such audacious colors strip the heavens

of nightly blue elegance. Boldness requires space

and freedom and takes it all upon morning.

 

Do you have what it takes? You must,

for you’re a girl and no one will hand it

over, just like that. Be the rising sun. Be

 

the hue I cannot name.

< before next >

Shuly Xóchitl Cawood has an MFA from Queens University, and her creative writing has been published in places such as The Sun, Brevity, and The Rumpus, among others. Her poetry collection, Trouble Can Be So Beautiful at the Beginning, won the Adrienne Bond Award for Poetry and was just published by Mercer University Press (2021). She is also the author of the short story collection, A Small Thing to Want (Press 53, 2020), as well as the memoir, The Going and Goodbye (Platypus Press, 2017). You can read more about her writing at www.shulycawood.com. 

Written by Alan Squire Publishing · Categorized: Bulletin 3

© Copyright 2023 Alan Squire Publishing. All Rights Reserved. Website by Sara Chandlee. Graphic design by Dewitt Designs