The Bluestone Review 2025

Children’s Section

The Comfort of Cotton Addison Billings Cotton like a soft pillow Pinched between fingers, I realize that we never get to experience, The softness that our labor creates.

Back to work is as imprinted into my head As scars are lashed into noncompliant skin How is the pink of my brain, just as teeming with thought, Manipulate me all you want I will one day be out of the fields,

sitting in my home, reading my books, and eating all the food

you have never blessed us with. The fruits from our labored bodies Will be as dark and beautiful From one day to the next. I will feel the soft pillow. I will feel the comfort of cotton.

Thunder Skies Grace Williams

I am a sky before the storm, someone who everyone fears not knowing how much chaos will come their way if they stay in my presence for too long. They run in horror thinking I will tear down buildings and cause floods when really I want to make it rain so the flowers bloom again after everyone picks them. But I understand why they pick them. The flowers have beauty, something I can only wish for, but there’s always that one person who isn’t afraid of the clouds but more curious about me. They come closer and once they finally see the sun my thunder strikes through and scares even the bravest souls away. So how do I get people to stop running even when life gets messy and I fall apart. I begin

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