A Short Twenty-First Century Narrative
by Nate Metz
Write a poem about the young boy
who spent his summers waving at purple
God in firm search for the
perfect place to view the sunset, a pilgrimage,
scaling ancestral stones and holy
trees, hopping fences, eyes
tied to the horizon, adventuring towards
a lesson we all can hear
but few listen and fewer learn,
in pursuit of the ruby sun’s
lucid whispers, to hear
some truth, shot dead by the neighbors
for trespassing on private property.
About the Author
Nate Metz (he/his) is an undergraduate writer attending Santa Clara University. He has previously been published in SCU’s The Owl (accepted, pending publication) and won first prize in the Shipsey Poetry Prize. As an avid reader and writer of poetry, he sees poetry as a sincere means for self-expression and a critical way to explore our shared humanity.