This third poetic entry to The Artist Within series is by 11 year old Quinn Peacock Brush, a budding and gifted creative writer. Quinn is a sixth-grader at the Denver School of the Arts. Composed as a class assignment, Quinn’s poem is inspired by one of the same name by one of her favorite poets Barbara Ras.

You Can’t Have It All

— after Barbara Ras

But you can have cozy mornings with the smell of blueberry pancakes drifting through lace covered windows.

The days full of raindrops and rubber frog boots splashing in puddles, with curtains of stringy brown hair falling over a wet smiling face.

You can have the love and comfort of your mother’s smooth hands wrapped around your small tender ones. You can hold the memories of your father’s smile, the one that spreads over his face and crinkles around his eyes. 

You can have the tall oak tree sitting in your grandmother’s backyard standing tall, holding the memories of small heads tucked together, whispering dreams from one sister to the other. 

You can’t have it all but you can have the supple touch of those green oak leaves cascading down over your head. Each one holding a memory of the ones you love and the soft laughter you have shared with them.

Spirituality Guests Poetry Quinn Peacock Brush The Artist Within