#musicsaveslives
as in every orchestra field trip
is a day your child
does not die at school
as in the way a hard cello case
might absorb an impact
the way a cymbal
if frisbeed across the room
would probably not slice skin
but might buy seconds
the way a tuba locker
can also hold
a curled seventh grader
like how the ribcage
cradles the metronome
Julia Ross (she/her) is an emerging poet and educator living in Austin, TX. She writes about parenthood, agnosticism, art & music, and the sociopolitical hellscape known as Texas. Recently, her writing has appeared in The New Verse News, The Marbled Sigh, About Place Journal, and elsewhere.
The Marbled Sigh 