Joyce Young ’75
Alumnae Poet
Joyce Young’s chapbook, How it Happens, Nomadic Press (2018), was nominated for a California Book Award. Her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and recently appeared in West Trestle Review, Essential Truths: The Bay Area in Color, Poem of the Day at The San Francisco Public Library, and The Bloom. Her prose has been published in Smith Alumnae Quarterly. She is currently writing a memoir. She has received fellowships at Hedgebrook, Vermont Studio Center, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Smith College and a master’s degree in interdisciplinary consciousness studies from JFK University.
Select Poems
Why worry my spleen, my mad?
I deserve a better gig
than holding these cinders
Fire has a purpose, but
not one I am always
able to understand.
I love to hold a torch,
which is not the same
as carrying a torch.
My mind swirls orange, red,
yellow, flame-like.
80 mph winds sweep through.
Fire’s wake requires tearing down
or rebuilding. Your choice.
I’ll wait; hold a cup of water.
Drink it slowly as you consider
my offer. Your hair is gray,
You don’t have much time.
Published in the January/February 2023 issue of West Trestle Review.