Photo by Alexis Harrison
i wake to the timbre of your father’s laughter
still thinking of real magic… how a thousand
tons of water rush around us on the cliffside
wrapping around the rocks, how the yellow
sun caresses the sky to create new colors,
reflecting prisms in your powder blue eyes
you offer your letter to a golden brass lock
and i write it out carefully, like calligraphy,
and we walk further down to watch all the
bright red leaves and the glistening water
cascading. we hold hands under the mist,
we hold hands on the way to the car and
we hold hands while we’re falling asleep
Niagara is 3 separate waterfalls, we threw
2 keys into the river under Rainbow Bridge;
1 day we’ll make our way back to the spot
where you squeezed on my arm and said
“thank you”
i know Time is a perfect spiral,
i know Love is a beautiful view
Source: Rylan Hoffman, 2026
Rylan Hoffman is a transgender poet based in Columbus, OH whose writing covers themes of
nature, resilience, safe love, and recovery. While living with his cat, two reptiles, and tight-knit
community, he is currently polishing up his second full-length book of poetry.