Willa Fahrbach; “Ex-believer” and “Tossed by the Breeze”

Artist Feature: Willa Fahrbach / Writing / Class of 2024

By Madison Alexander

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Ex-believer

From our earliest we are treasured and tracked

Through the years and our reckless exiles and entrances

The press of lips on our twirling ivy staircases

Hands cupped around us for warmth, we are pulled along

Then we begin to wonder the outcome of pulling free

If we ripped out the braids in our hair and took scissors to the strands.

Like the coughs bubbling from our throats, aching

We can’t help but strive to trade safety for solitude, for secrecy

So we climb trees for fresher air, we extend our arms skyward

And we have no greater desire than to be rid of the hands below

Waiting to catch us, waiting for us to fall.

Tossed by the Breeze

The wind’s swirled away now, she’s tucked herself in between two tall trees

And I miss her presence, but I make up for it by spinning down the sidewalk,

It’s been the kind of November that’s swallowed away without thought, and

Only missed once December’s crept up with its spiderweb wings and icy frosted fingers to wrap

around your skull and stay pressed there.

I feel effortlessly beautiful in the darkness of 5:34 pm

A croissant still warm in my hands, an open backpack with such heaviness that I’m

In constant motion, propelled forward and around and about

Tossed by the breeze as my dance teacher suggested in the morning,

And I winced and flitted away because the breeze and I are one and the same.

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Willa Fahrbach is a current junior at St. Mary's Academy. Her poems, featured above, were published in the 2021-22 issue of Escribe Maria. She says, "I would say my inspiration comes from everything I witness or feel around me. Sometimes my writing pours directly from waves of my own emotion, right in the moment. Other times I think back on my past experiences and memories, so nostalgia moves my pen. Often though, I am directly inspired by the people in my life—friends, family, acquaintances, strangers—or the nature I try to often surround myself with."

Fahrbach emphasizes her love for "the catharsis I feel when expressing myself in such a raw way." She finds poetry to be a key tool of communication: "I’m sometimes uncomfortable with talking about my feelings out loud, so written words are the most natural way for me to get everything out. Poetry helps me to work through my emotions, preserve moments of joy or wonder, and sometimes even come to realizations about certain things. I like to communicate my own observations about the world and hope that they land with anyone I share them with. Mostly my writing aims to communicate full truth and honesty. Sometimes I try to capture a certain moment, feeling, or atmosphere."

Fahrbach composed “Tossed by the Breeze" to preserve the experience of "a certain November evening in sophomore year—how I felt, what was going on in my life, the details of my day." She explains that she appreciates how it "allows [her] to call back the exact feeling of that night, which would have otherwise been lost among other memories."

“Ex-believer" is grounded in another specific moment, which Fahrbach identifies as "a summer afternoon I spent sitting on the edge of a river observing the forest around me. A dragonfly landed on my thumb, I listened to the breeze rustling the trees, and I started thinking about past afternoons I’d spent there, watching the inanimate world come alive around me. This poem echoes steadfast beliefs I’ve held since childhood, and a wondering way of looking at the world that I’d like to preserve."

Willa Fahrbach