Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Amy Saul-Zerby

@amysz.bsky.social

370 followers 360 following 54 posts

author: Choose Your Own Beginning, Deep Camouflage, & Paper Flowers, Imaginary Birds eic: @voicemailpoems.bsky.social marketing + development: @FreeBooksProject.bsky.social amysaulzerby.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Amy Saul-Zerby @amysz.bsky.social · Nov 15

a quick intro 'cause i'm new here! 🤓

I'm a poet with two collections published by Be About It Press 💜 & one with the late CCM ☠️😬

I write about mental health, generational trauma & love

I've been working on @voicemailpoems.bsky.social for ten years & been E.I.C. for six

more at amysaulzerby.com!

1 7

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · 10d

last call for submissions for our fall issue! ⌛️ call & send in a poem by midnight pacific time to be considered ✨

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Sep 4

we are currently accepting submissions for our FALL 2025 issue, & we'd love to hear from you! ✨🍁✨

voicemailpoems.org/submit

🧡 deadline october 1st 🧡

2 3

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · 16d

one week left to submit! ⌛️ send us a poem 👻

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Sep 4

we are currently accepting submissions for our FALL 2025 issue, & we'd love to hear from you! ✨🍁✨

voicemailpoems.org/submit

🧡 deadline october 1st 🧡

4 5

Amy Saul-Zerby @amysz.bsky.social · 18d

hosting for @moonstonearts.bsky.social tomorrow at Fergie's Pub! ✍️🎉 thrilled that our featured poets are Michael Joseph Walsh & Ebs Sanders 🙌

come hang 🤙 bring a poem for the open mic if you want! 🩷

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

The Free Books Project @freebooksproject.bsky.social · 18d

Through our Pop-Up Libraries, Book Arks, and Free Book Shelves, we’ve been distributing between eight to ten thousand (!) books per month 📚✨

Due to the overwhelming demand for books, we are seeking donations to help us continue to stock our arks, shelves, and tables.

1 1

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · 19d

“I dreamed of a canoe, and of the two of us”

- Devan Murphy

voicemailpoems.org/2025/08/14/t...

1 4 4

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · 24d

“But dawn,
Because you hid behind the horizon
torches blazed, blinding,
breaking sleep and families
as parents were taken from screaming kids
to be jailed then charged then sent back to the islands

Dawn,
because you were silent,
because all murmurings were silenced.”

- @kakapowhakatoi.bsky.social

1 2 2

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · 24d

two more weeks to submit! ⌛️ send us a poem 🎃

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Sep 4

we are currently accepting submissions for our FALL 2025 issue, & we'd love to hear from you! ✨🍁✨

voicemailpoems.org/submit

🧡 deadline october 1st 🧡

1 1

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · 25d

“My neighbor listens patiently, amused by my young life.
We’re the only Black gay men in our building,
so he has me over for Sunday tea. I fill our cups.
For the heart, he says, adding whiskey to his.”

- Derrick Austin (@paradiselaust.bsky.social)

voicemailpoems.org/2025/08/14/s...

3 4

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Sep 9

“sometimes at 10:37pm you need to change your life / so you do the next best thing / and you cut your hair”

- Sarena Brown

voicemailpoems.org/2025/08/14/s...

1 1

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Sep 4

we are currently accepting submissions for our FALL 2025 issue, & we'd love to hear from you! ✨🍁✨

voicemailpoems.org/submit

🧡 deadline october 1st 🧡

1 2 3

Amy Saul-Zerby @amysz.bsky.social · Aug 31

one sweet thing about my job is that sometimes i get to give free books to lovely families at a backpack giveaway in a local church, and it warms my heart

The Free Books Project @freebooksproject.bsky.social · Aug 31

We had a great time giving away books at the Historic Macedonia AME Church’s “Back 2 School Event”! 📚✨

Thank you so much to Reverend Dr. Tiffany Malone for the invitation, and to the kind folks who stopped by our table 🙏

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Aug 31

“There was happiness in 1930s Germany and at the end of Rome, too."

- Jill McLaughlin

voicemailpoems.org/2025/08/14/p...

1 1

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Aug 26

“we talked about the final moment
and how I might not make it
(I did, he waited)

we talked about how a summer would never
be enough time, as the days stretched out
my son, his namesake, waited in the cherry tree”

- Annie Powell Stone

voicemailpoems.org/2025/08/14/m...

1 2

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Aug 24

"Let's say,
This is for me.
This is because I want.
This is because I exist.
This is because I take up space,
as much as I want, & more,
& I survive despite your best efforts
to tamp me down,
& I will fucking wear my defiance
like a punch to the gut"

- Maia Brown-Jackson (@andyetpoetry.bsky.social)

1 2 1

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Aug 21

“On Fridays, management makes movie popcorn
to celebrate the end of the week.
Why are we always so hungry?
The smell of fake butter is rich.
We follow it. We eat.”

- Jaime Jacques

voicemailpoems.org/2025/08/14/k...

1 1

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Aug 20

“the olive jar says you should take only nine, yet seventeen have passed through your teeth. it is okay. it will all, one day, be okay.”

- Annabelle Chen

voicemailpoems.org/2025/08/14/g...

1 2

Amy Saul-Zerby @amysz.bsky.social · Aug 19

any presses accepting full-length poetry manuscript submissions?

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Aug 19

“Lake Berryessa, azure at our backs / the man from / Toluca slips me / lozenges from under his tongue / Spanish alive / in my mouth”

- Tatiana Chaterji

voicemailpoems.org/2025/08/14/f...

1 1

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

The Free Books Project @freebooksproject.bsky.social · Aug 18

We had a wonderful time giving away books at DJ Wagner’s Annual Community Drive over the weekend 🙌

Many thanks to Keyann’a at City of Camden Government for inviting us to be part of such a great event! 🙏

1 1

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Aug 18

"b/c one day i will want for nothing
b/c one day i will not want"

- Diandra Williams

voicemailpoems.org/2025/08/14/d...

1 3

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Aug 15

"What song do you serve your ears
the morning after your mom sends you home
with a peace flower
and you say goodbye in the dark
because it hurts to see?"

- @marissadesantis.bsky.social

voicemailpoems.org/2025/08/14/b...

3 3

Amy Saul-Zerby @amysz.bsky.social · Aug 14

Publishing Voicemail Poems continues to be one of the great joys of my life (after more than a decade!)

I am consistently impressed by the quality of the submissions we receive, & grateful as always for my wonderful team of editors.

Check out our new issue!

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · Aug 14

🌊 summer issue's up! 🌊

ft. @marissadesantis.bsky.social, @paradiselaust.bsky.social, @kakapowhakatoi.bsky.social, @darkwebtofu.bsky.social‬, @andyetpoetry.bsky.social‬, & more!

voicemailpoems.org/2025/08/14/s...

1 8

Amy Saul-Zerby @amysz.bsky.social · Jul 23

Thanks!!

Reposted by Amy Saul-Zerby

Forgotten Poets @forgottenpoets.bsky.social · Jul 22

From ‘Erratic Facts’ (2015)
—Kay Ryan

#poetry #poem #booksky

Eggs

We turn out
As tippy as
Eggs. Legs
Are an illusion.
We are held
As in a carton
If someone
Loves us.
It’s a pity
Only loss
Proves this.

3 27

Amy Saul-Zerby @amysz.bsky.social · Jul 22

one year sober today 🙌

1 7