Poet, Writer, Photographer,
Ally for LGBTQ+, Mental Health,
Poverty, Addiction
Poem Excerpts
I followed you up the sandy path
between pines and spruce that summer,
the burning sun our only witness. I was seven,
and my worry kept pace behind you.
— from Kildeer, by Debra Franke
James Wright calls it a blessing,
how in those heightened moments we might
step out of ourselves and into blossom.
Was my blessing the chestnut horses?
Or was it my heart rising like the morning?
— from Three Horses, by Debra Franke
How do we bear witness when our compass is spinning, when our maps make us lost,
when the sun and moon disappear?
How to bear witness, when we cannot bear to look, because the river is everywhere, everywhere in this city?
Because we see her everywhere.
Like two eagles that came out of the drums at the rally, she is the wind.
— for JB, from Bearing Witness, by Debra Franke