After a dark year, the star on the mountain shines again. Detours and closings. The hikers climb their way to the top without the challenge of dodging vehicles. Laughter echoes into the night air.

Light breaks through 

Into our nights 
into our hearts 

unmasking 
the hope 
we have hidden 

deb y felio

lives and writes as a witness poet in the hills of Boulder, Colorado. She is active in the Denver Lighthouse for Writers and the Boulder poetry community, and a regular at several national open mics (now on Zoom). Her work is published in multiple online venues including Writing In a Woman’s Voice, Tuck Magazine, The Poet by Day, Right Hand Pointing, Quatrain.Fish, and With Painted Words.

Her writing is also anthologized in print: Hay(na)ku 15: A Commemorative Anthology (2018; edited by Eileen R. Tabios, inventor of the hay(na)ku form); Minnie’s Diary: A Southern Literary Review (2018); Startled by Joy 2019 and Startled by Nature 2020, volumes one and two of the annual Gabriel’s Horn Anthology, New Poetry in Traditional Forms; and Refuse to Stay Silent: A Collection of Verse + Visuals From Colorado Creators (Pink Progression, 2020).

Ms. felio has worked for 30 years in underserved communities providing mental health services to individuals and families with trauma histories.