By Julie Cadwallader Staub

When Florence Price discovered notes, measures, key signatures
when El Anatsui signed up for a sculpture class
when Mary Oliver read Walt Whitman

the message was the same
as the one Anne Sullivan
tapped into her young charge’s palm

this is the way to live in your body
this is your way to reach the world.

This poem appeared in the California Quarterly in their Spring 2023 issue.