The house my parents designed
—a big box in the middle of a blank field—
is maybe as much their child
as I, formed in the womb

of the world. Of the many papers
I’ve filled—in imitation
of all the blueprints I saw rolled
and carried around—none of them

have taken root. The sycamore they planted
outside the living room is almost
two stories tall—at some point,
I must have stopped trying.

I am an artist, writer, and educator from San Luis Obispo, California. I am former editor of Biola University's literary magazine, Inkslinger. My work has been published there and in a youth literary magazine, Hanging Lantern Review. My visual work has appeared at Biola University, Indiana Wesleyan University, and the Others Imagining Initiative. You can find my visual work, including a self-published book of found poetry and photographs, at sageboven.com.