tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89392031894894997632024-03-13T11:51:58.890-07:00Silver InkblotsJust little stories, poems, and blots of ink.Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-67522301884424560372015-07-16T19:48:00.004-07:002015-07-16T19:48:56.721-07:00the rest of the Paint chip poems<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Copper Cloud</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-99ebfde5-99e8-ec2f-aafe-d4b11df918ca" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dying sun catches, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lingering on the fog bank</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">setting worlds aflame.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Periwinkle Dream</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Called “Joy of the Ground”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">flower petals make my bed</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">as I dream, waking.</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline;">Snipped Chive</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">My father always insisted</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">on using what the garden gave,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Rosemary from a busted barrel</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">leaves from the Bay tree that overhangs</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">and brushes my window on windy nights,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">cobblers made from mixed bramble berries.</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">I remember him showing me how to make</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">his breakfast of champions</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">(which was, in no uncertain terms, not pizza.)</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">A flour tortilla, so unlike anything </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">his Italian Mama would have used,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">butter the skillet,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Mom only buys Irish butter now,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">grass fed cows, you know.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Crack an egg, and beat it with a chopstick</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">then add cheese, the good stuff, mozzarella,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> sausage, already cooked, the grease saved for later</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">a little milk but only--just there, that.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Let it pool in the tortilla, and in the moment you cover </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">the steaming pan, add water, let it hiss</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">and turn down the firebright heat.</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Then slip it out, crackling, Dad’s hands on mine</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">onto a plate, folded, the yellow-white </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">oozing out the sides,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">and on top of it, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">snipped chives from the window box</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">This is what home is.</span></div>
<br /><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline;">New York City Winter</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">1909, December.</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">The snow is grey under our</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">rag-wrapped feet</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">boots more hole and newsprint</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">than anything else.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">But we march, anyway,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">sisters besides sisters</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">even if our hair, eyes,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">skin, mother tongue,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">do not match,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">our spirits do.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">We are the fervent girls,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">the Union daughters,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">walking the picketline with hand-lettered signs</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">and no coats, fingers stiff with ice.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">But we are tinder,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">burst into flame,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">and turning to ash.</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">The cold and hunger weigh </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">down on us,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">The bosses and union leaders look </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">down on us,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">what can girls do</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">to change the world?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">What can they do but bleed,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">freeze on the picket line?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">But we remember our oath</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">and the words in so many languages</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">promised us:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">this is the Golden Medine,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">the new Promised Land.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">In America, there is a better life,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">even if our boots are filled with snow</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">even if the winter wind steals our breath.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">We have voices, here, and our lives mean something,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">they must mean something.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">In America, they do not let you burn</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline;">Cathedral Morning</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">The pale rose of dawn</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">filters through art-glass windows</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">figures of Saints and the Madonna and Child</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">centuries old and still</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">glorious.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">This is not my church, but still the spirit</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">of Welcome, of a Holy Father’s arms</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">is here, an ocean away from home.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Tile, cool, glossy with age</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">echoes back my footsteps,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">as silent as a child in wonder can make them, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">staring at niches filled with relics</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">and ivory-colored statues, features worn away</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">by prayerful fingers.</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">There is a peace here, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">in a little known cathedral,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">somewhere in Italy, nothing famous</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">only a few parishioners here this early</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">in the morning.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Sacred has no limits, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">spreading beyond old, solid doors</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">like the sun’s thin morning light.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">I follow.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Canyon Hush</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-99ebfde5-99e9-f6c3-3adc-872e89b9f58d" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If someone shouts “ echo”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One more time</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So help me, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I will leave you here</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to bake like clay </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in the Utah sun,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and you can get your own way back </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">forget about the ice cream</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">forget your feet</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">just look</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and hush.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It took thousands of years to</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> carve this out</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">so you can wait a minute.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Norwegian Night</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are four secret passages </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in the Canadian ambassadorial mansion</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in Norway.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know, because I found three of them</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">poking around in pantries and libraries</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">late in the night--</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A jetlagged five-year old</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">should never be underestimated</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in the best of times.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I held the cookie tin in my lap</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with my new best friend</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and we watched the sun </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">turn the ink-sky grey</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and rose.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</span></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-83747362584636101322015-06-17T08:22:00.002-07:002015-06-17T08:22:35.551-07:00Promises<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Promises</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">For Last Poet Standing round 2</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">February 2015</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Keep
the promises you make yourself,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Because
sometimes they’re the only ones<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">You
can trust.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">By
twelve years old, I was pretty sure promises<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Weren’t
worth the air the words took.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I
promise things will get better,” they said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I
promise I’ll always be there.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
drifting, separate schools, work--<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
promises were only air, and you can’t trust air.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So I
promised myself, age twelve, to keep breathing anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Some
promises are too hard to keep alone,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
was failing, falling, burning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
then I met him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I sat
down on the bench<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Because
he was reading a book, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">After
all the betrayal of flesh and blood and air,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ink
was one thing I could trust.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
we sat and talked and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
had a friend, again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
built up my trust, still wary of words just spoken,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Careful
of my back facing anyone but him,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
only one I could trust to be there<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
I huddled in a high school library corner, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">White-hot
mania pressing into my eyes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Or
the numbing void of depression filling my guts with lead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He’d
hold me, and I’d say, “I’m sorry.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A
shaking head, a hand on my arm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I’m
here, I’m here. I Promise.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">16
is too young for declaring eternal love,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And I
didn’t want to ruin what we had, whatever it was, but<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’d
never felt this way about anyone before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
cliché as it sounds, it was true then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Is
true still,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
I’d promised myself I’d never let a chance at happiness <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Slide
through my fingers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Then
I got the email, fitting that it come in ink not worthless air:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“hey,
anna, do you want to go to that mormon prom thing? with me?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
fingers trembling, I typed back, yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">There
were more promises then, to myself, to him,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">To others.
I learned to trust the air again, the spoken things,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">They
all credited therapy, I credited the one who<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Held
me and listened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
told me I didn’t have to,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> But I promised I’d wait for him,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
I did, faithful letters every week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
he came home, we watched our movie. Up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
one we watched the day I first kissed him<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
he said, “I can see us like that,”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
crossed his heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Take
it slow, we said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Promised.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
was 21 and the world was so much brighter than it had been<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
I promised myself I’d live,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Even
in the rain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
sat on the porch swing in the gardens,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Leaning
against each other and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Speaking
about forever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Will
you marry me?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
asked it when I was laughing and looking away<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So I
didn’t see my grandmother’s ring at first<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
there it was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
promised, I promised, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
ring didn’t even need to be resized<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
every time I was sick or sad I touched it<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Remembered
I was loved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
sat down in December to write a poem to my 12 year old self,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Maybe
the promises made to me were true, it does get better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
was 21, 11 months and 4 days,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
checking my email while Christmas shopping.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
subject line was, Love you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
signed off with, I hope we can still be friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">10
years of friendship and I didn’t even get a phone call to shatter my heart<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Like
a glass ornament falling from a tree.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
had always promised myself I would not fall to pieces over a boy,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Like
some soap opera character too weak to stand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">All
the crossed hearts and promises to be there<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">To
be there<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">To
be there<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Not
worth the air they took.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Keep
the promises you make to yourself<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Because
sometimes they are the only ones you can cling to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I am
22 and my left hand still feels naked,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
I promised myself, keep breathing anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-76898361863036241572015-06-17T08:07:00.002-07:002015-06-17T08:21:33.282-07:00June 29th to December 17th<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’d hate that porch swing,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">where we both sat, laughing as the rain</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">came down around us,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but why waste hate</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">on sunwarmed slats of wood?</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-ae204227-020f-4b37-499e-16499b9d9f2a" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is time to make new memories</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and move on, I know.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know. But it still</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hurts.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That is nothing new.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Swings never go anywhere, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not really.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just back and forth, chained in place.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caught, like me</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">between a diamond and a naked hand</span>Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-13285003022946399402015-06-17T08:04:00.000-07:002015-06-17T08:04:46.063-07:00Petrichor <div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I still love the rain.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I always have, even after so many storms.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember kissing you in the rain</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">during our lunch break</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">somehow both as cold, wet, uncomfortable</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and romantic as it seems.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-943570de-020b-beda-c03e-55b0122683eb" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And the thunderstorm</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the day we sheltered in a porchswing</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and didn’t count it a loss, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a garden walk ruined</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but laughed</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and listened to the lion roar</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and the pattering of rain around us</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You held out a ring</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">my fingers wet, I took it.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And the flood, rain for hours, washing</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">away everything I owned,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but I pulled through.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Things can be replaced.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But that flood was nothing</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">placed against the clear december sky </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">six months later, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">when I lost everything I thought I had with you</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with an email that opened with</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I love you</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and ended with</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">let’s still be friends.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are not “Still Friends.”</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And now the rain comes again, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">thunder rolling in the purpled sky.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Petrichor is in the air, the smell of rain, </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">which is the smell of you.</span>Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-15283770260533314212015-06-15T16:15:00.002-07:002015-06-15T16:15:22.048-07:00Ballroom Slippers<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-be624de4-f981-2529-926b-02636340d26b" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mudspattered and roadworn</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">they are still lovely.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The gold embroidery,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">catching in the candleflicker</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and the mossy grey leather</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">suple as beechbark,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are tarnished by the dust</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of walking miles for this night.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her skirts twitch up, floating </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as she floats, finding her heartbeat </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with the trilling of the oboe d’more</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and the swell of strings.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She is not the most beautiful,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">no belle of the ball,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> not in a hand me down gown</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and old slippers</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but still she dances, and still she is</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">beautiful.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-86869472927430969422015-06-10T12:00:00.000-07:002015-06-10T12:00:01.457-07:00Lark Wing<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Hope is the thing with Feathers”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I read that poem over and over, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">making sense of it in a new way</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">each time.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hope is a bird, that much </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I pieced together without prompting.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And you never could reach out and touch one,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">so it fit. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The birds were always on the other side of glass</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a promise cut off. I reached for that hope</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but you can’t own it,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">open the cage door and it flies away.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And I thought, yes, this</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is true.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hope was like the sparrows my cat caught, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">toyed with, let live just long enough for the light</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in their eyes to die. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hope was like the bushtits, tiny and frail </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">brought down by January wind. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And I wondered, why call Hope a song bird, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">something easily killed,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a lump of feathers and a tiny heart? </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But they come back, too, see?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The wild ones, migrating home, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">following the wind currents and the sun.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maybe, some desperate part of me said,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">things would really get better, if I hung on.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The poem keeps going, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">past what’s written on plaques, speaking of storms. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My own storm, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">full of lightning cuts and salt spray,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">seemed too much, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but in the end I still breathed,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">birdsong echoing in my ears.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hope might be the thing with feathers </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that perches in the soul,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but the poem sits in my heart and mind,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">tiny talons clinging, tangling themselves in wild hair.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hope sings. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sometimes the bird’s muted, far off, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but the tune has no end, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a hermit thrush’s backwards waterfall--</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a chickadee calling her own name. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hope is a songbird mama,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">pulling out her own feathers to cushion my bones</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">scraped against each other, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">nesting there until I am strong enough to stand.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hope is the lark’s wings, beating the wind</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">like a heart against ribs</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">living.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hope is the light of galaxies</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not stuck in the sky but across a starling’s back</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hope is the thing with feathers, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the bird come home, returning to sing </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a song I cannot forget the words to.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-79963287185388715052015-06-09T12:00:00.000-07:002018-05-03T20:56:13.321-07:00Mountain Midnight<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-f91a5a78-d6a7-227c-de6a-cb78687ac08e" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is no such thing as silence</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">or total darkness</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not here, snuggled into a bedroll</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">on Melissa Corey Peak.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am the last awake</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">everyone else (over two hundred of us)</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is worn from the day,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">21st century children </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">walking into the past</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">shirts, skirts, shoes all heavy with dust.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My eyes are fixed on the dome</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">above.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The sky is no flat thing</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">like back home,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a sheet tacked to the ceiling</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">grey with fog and light pollution,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">no.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">it is darkness, lit up</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">blue-black silk reaching down</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in all her speckled splendor,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">past the horizon formed by hill and treeline,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">below my body</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">so that I</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">so small and significant</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">am suspended</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">surrounded by the gleaming.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The wind, with the smell of cold</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sings through our campsite,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sends the summer-dried sagebrush rattling,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and I shiver</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">shudder, but cannot bring myself</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to shield my face</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and stop looking at the stars.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-60002958910707485182015-06-08T21:57:00.003-07:002015-06-08T21:57:31.258-07:00Tempest’s teapot<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-f91a5a78-d6ad-ada9-7971-3345be070f81" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was the smallest in the 8th grade</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4 feet, 10 inches of terrified.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trapped in darkness--</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blinding, literal darkness, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">scored with one slash of light </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">at the bottom of the door</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--a bleeding wrist.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like my body, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the closet was too small for the storm:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fear, sweat, tears, snot, salt on my tongue</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as I bruised my fists on the door and begged</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">for help that I knew</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was. not. coming. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because it was Friday after school,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">before spring break,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and half the class knew where I was.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They let the door lock with a click,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">jackal laughter, and then all that was left was me.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alone in the dark.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trembling, I was a tornado, a hurricane,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of salt spray and the breath ripping</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">from my lungs.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am going to die I don’t want to die. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Please someone please</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Years later, I remember the door opening.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They told me it was only twenty minutes</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but it felt like years,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">like I had forgotten what light was</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and warm and safe.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had forgotten how </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to breathe.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And I forget again, as, for an object lesson</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the teacher shuts the door,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">clicks off the light.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My ears ring with my rescuer’s words</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“It must have been an accident.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8 years and three inches later</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am still too small for this tempest.</span>Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-61557929294936622852015-06-08T21:49:00.002-07:002015-06-08T21:49:26.859-07:00East of the Sun<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I heard a woman say,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I won’t let my daughter read</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fairy tales,”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And other chimed in with,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What do they teach, really</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cinderella let herself </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">be abused, had to be</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rescued.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Belle married a kidnapper</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">gave up her dreams</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sleeping Beauty slept through</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">her own story.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I sat on my hands, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bit my tongue to hold in the words</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">red as blood, white as bone, black as ink.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have you ever sat down with Grimm,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Calvino, Moe, Lang, Perrault in your lap</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and read a fairy tale?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Look at these girls, women,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">spanning centuries</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">passed down over fires</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fire-filled themselves.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With names or without,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">they last, beautiful as the moon </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">inside and out.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Isn’t that what these stories teach?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For a moment, close your eyes</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hold the book in your hands,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fat cracking leather</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cloth binding worn away</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">paper spine bent double,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and listen to the stories.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Older than ink, but younger</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">barely, than imagination.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Listen to the stories of</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Perina, braving three rivers</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">blood, bile, and brine</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">for the sake of her own name</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and oath.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cinderwretch, breaking the cycle</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of cruelty and letting herself</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">love fierce and free</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and be loved again.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gerda, who , seeing a frozen heart</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">melts it with the heat </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of her tears,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">half frozen herself.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beauty, her own antagonist</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but true to her word </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as friendship blooms</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">like little-linda roses.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Lass, who holds her own destiny</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in her hands like a candle dripping wax</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and walks, head high</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">East of the sun.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-23233888106521216522014-12-19T20:41:00.004-08:002014-12-19T20:41:38.939-08:00A Letter to my 14 year old self<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hey—you were in the Lucy-home.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There, that’s it, the password.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You know I’m you. So please </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Listen.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You are hurting. I’m not here to say</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That you’ll forget about all this</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That it won’t matter in the end</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because it does. It shapes us</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But you’ve got to be ivy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can keep these roots, they’ll stay and stay and stay</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But keep growing. Move outward.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not today. Not tomorrow. Over time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No one snapped their fingers for us, Princess.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nothing changed in a single chapter, but—it did</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Change.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It hurts now, and nothing I say promising</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A better tomorrow will change that</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I know. I know. I
know.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cry on my shoulder, let me hold you close</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our heart still beats.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You made it. You will make it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No easy path set before us, but you kept walking.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Darling, don’t throw in the towel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remember how you feel now and know</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It can’t last. It won’t last. And you are not alone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I know you’ve heard this speech from all of them:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mom, Dad, Mrs. Watson, all.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You rolled your eyes but I’m telling you—</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
This will pass, the day to day pain. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hold on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-6516595458324736712014-09-30T14:04:00.001-07:002014-09-30T14:04:54.611-07:00come true<div class="MsoNormal">
For Honeybee</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mella’d always wished for an adventure. Her childhood had been full of wooden swords
and dress-up capes. She’d daydreamed
about finding a genie’s lamp and wishing on it-<i>I want a friend, I want a million dollars, I want an adventure like the
ones in my books.</i> It was funny, really, that so often she’d put a box of
matches or a mirror or an old tape recorder in her backpack, thinking, <i>just in case.</i> She’d stopped doing that
in seventh grade, but she’d never stopped hoping. Dreaming. Wishing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And now it was happening, really happening. Not the way she’d
thought, but details didn’t matter. Yes, it hurt that she wasn’t the Hero, wasn’t
the one Chosen by Fate to save the world. But who was she to complain? Magic
was real. Unicorns were real, other worlds and prophecies and magic swords were
all real, even if she didn’t truly have a place there. Even if it was only luck
that she had been dragged along.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Years of wishing and reading and dreaming had led to this.
She would make the most of it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-73913435878055904482014-09-24T13:11:00.000-07:002014-09-24T13:11:00.067-07:00Cabinfor <a href="http://thehoneybeewrites.blogspot.com/2014/09/quintessential-ideal.html">Honeybee</a><br />
<br />
The Summer sunlight<br />
gleamed on the water<br />
like a sheet of beaten gold<br />
emerald in the shadow of the pines.<br />
<br />
Breathe in the smell of the forest,<br />
the smoke from wildfires<br />
that color the night sky<br />
too far away for evacuation<br />
and the dust of dried pine needles<br />
and the crisp winter of juniper berries<br />
breathe in, and in, and in<br />
<br />
You will have to leave someday<br />
but the birds still sing,<br />
the stream glitters and gurgles<br />
the little cabin in the woods<br />
my retreat from the world<br />
still stands secluded<br />
waiting for a return<br />
<br />
<br />Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-19748436856114449472014-09-13T11:41:00.004-07:002014-09-13T11:42:16.844-07:00Home<div class="MsoNormal">
For <a href="http://thehoneybeewrites.blogspot.com/2014/09/memories.html">Honeybee</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It started as a rainy day attic raid, years after the last one.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a little girl, Reina loved to look through the boxes and trunks with old fashioned locks that lay in her attic, covered in dust. They’d belonged to Gran, who had died when she was six. The whole house had, but when Mom and Daddy had divorced the next year, Daddy had moved into the sprawling house with the huge attic, and Mom hadn’t been there to tell Reina that playing in dusty attics would get her dresses dirty. Reina knew that anyway, but she’d found a costume her first trip up, a long red shirt that she belted at the waist. It was soft and warm, and felt like an embrace. So she wore that and got dust in her hair and eyes, searching out small treasures.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once, she found old books, but the writing was in strange marks she couldn’t read. They weren’t Japanese, like how Daddy’s dad had used to write, but they weren’t in English either. So Reina put them aside. Books were boring, anyway. She loved the dresses in cloth wrappings, silks and velvets in different colors. She loved the jewelry, but after dad caught her wearing a shiny gold necklace that looked like the sun, he said she should wait till she was older.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She loved the paintings best, little ones, big ones, on wood and on canvas. The colors were faded, and blurred, and all felt—odd. Like someone painting from a faded memory, the colors blurring at the edges.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were forests, mountains, a lake that shone with sunlight on the surface. There was a castle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reina remembered the castle, tall and proud, and carrying with it the feeling of home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She remembered it when Dad’s work started taking him on long trips around the world, and she’s had to start living full time with mom.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It because her focus when the attacks started, the despair taking root in her heart. She focused on the serenity, the longing, that the painter had captured. When she was Manic, she drew it, over and over until the image was gouged into her desk and her mind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When she was 17, she found herself on the quest of a lifetime, something out of fairy tales and the fantasy stories she’d never liked reading. She’d gone to another world, another life. She’d gotten dust in her eyes and hair, had fought bandits and wicked kings, had worn a red dress melted at the waist. But it had not been in her attic, a daydream of a bored child. This had been real. She had been someone, more than just a disappointing daughter, more than just herself. And that—that had felt right. She had felt home in the trees of Celravoc. Returning had not felt like returning. It had felt like leaving something behind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She’d been grounded after that—disappearing for a month has consequences, above nightmares. And the rain had cut the power, so she’d gone back to the attic. She did not need a flashlight, not with a globe of light in her hand.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The castle was dimmer than she remembered, as if the painter had seen it through glass fogged over by rain. She had forgotten that turret, the color of the roof tiles, the way it sat over the lake. And seeing it reminded her again of home. She knew the castle now. She would not let if fade in her mind again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She was a year older when she returned. They had Promised, and kept their word, not like mom, not like dad. She’d gone back, her glaive in her hand, her friends at her side.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And on this quest, this journey, she had finally understood.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because just beyond the Linagard mountains, past the forests of Stars and standing watch over the town of Linina, Reina saw a stone house, like a mother watching over her children.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was her Castle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
She was Home.</div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-83805337800702020192014-09-11T09:58:00.000-07:002014-09-11T09:58:38.625-07:00Spring<div class="MsoNormal">
For <a href="http://thehoneybeewrites.blogspot.com/2014/09/gardens.html">Honeybee</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a winter of snow,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Grey and white and brown,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Silver skies high with clouds<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sun bursts free, and with it<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Life, Colour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Buds on bare branches gleam gold<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And flowers push up, scarlet, carmine,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Heliotrope, azure, the orange of a sunset<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The pink of a rabbit’s inner ear,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The world is an oil painting blaze,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Welcome after a life-time <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of watercolors through my window.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
White skirt, the cotton sun-spun and sun-dried<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Silver leaves braided into brittle hair<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sun warms my too pale skin,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As, giddy with the smell of melting snow and growing things<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I dance through the mud and soil<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Putting down roots and titling my face up<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like a flower reaching for the sky.<o:p></o:p></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-19723476071642820052014-08-26T19:59:00.000-07:002014-08-26T19:59:06.728-07:00the HikeFor <a href="http://thehoneybeewrites.blogspot.com/2014/08/rainbows.html">Honeybee</a><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It was a
long hike.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Dust and
sweat turned our legs grey</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And our
clothes were stiff</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
From drying
in the sun</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But it was—worth
that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Worth the
blisters and the sun burn</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In the part
of my hair.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The ache of
my left foot</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The pain in
my right knee</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
To see the
Falls—</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The force of
wind and water </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
working as
one to deafen us</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The mist rising
up from where the rush </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
met
stillness</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
gleaming
like liquid diamond dust</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
the green
and the white,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
the blue and
the grey</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
one wash of
color through blurred glasses</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It was worth
every aching step.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And for one
moment, captured forever in memory</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mine and a
camera’s</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
More colors
glow-gleamed,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A rainbow in
the spray.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It was only
one of thousands of waterfalls, and I know</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There are
longer ones, grander ones--</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But that .</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
does not feel right.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
This one sits on my heart like a pumice stone, present</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
But light as mist</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
Born away by the wind</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
It was beautiful,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
More than any I have only seen in pictures,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
Because I felt the wind, the mist, heard</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
The Roar.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
And, of course, because I walked every step,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
Surrounded by chattering friends, but I stood there</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
On the lip, looking down</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
On my own two feet, even if only one</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 99.75pt;">
Is flesh.</div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-30370356571495853542014-08-12T21:04:00.003-07:002014-08-12T21:04:32.165-07:00Fog: Three Haiku<div class="MsoNormal">
For <a href="http://thehoneybeewrites.blogspot.com/2014/08/prompt-3-endless.html">Honeybee 3</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From where I stand<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The world is gone, a vast sea<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of endless white fog<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nothing remains here<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All is still -- and silently<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Watching the sun rise<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I look out and see<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
White covering the earth<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
But—oh!—not the sky.<o:p></o:p></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-76682594383004498462014-08-10T15:55:00.000-07:002014-08-26T20:11:03.820-07:00Childhood Smells<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For <a href="http://thehoneybeewrites.blogspot.com/2014/08/open-entry.html">Honeybee Open Prompt</a></span><br />
<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Childhood smelled like Dirt.</span></u><br />
<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dirt, not grit or dust, but</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">half rotted oak leaves and moist redwood</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">decay and jungle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the orange plastic bat that</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> warped in the sun</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and hit the fuzz off tennis balls</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">over the fence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">grandma’s chocolate chip cookies</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that came from rolls of dough</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and tasted better than Mom’s anyway.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">broccoli, cooked long in oil</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">till we said it smelled like brownies</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and loved every tree of it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hamsters- fur, bedding, seeds</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">always escaping to roam the house</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and having babies under the stove.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cheap serial novel</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">s</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that came in sets of thirty</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and 80 pages long I read them all.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Daddy’s TR4Triumph</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that belched more gas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">than my brother after tacos.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tin bandaid boxes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">because you can only explore so many
trails</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">before you scrape your knee.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">chlorine and bromine and water</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">before I saw Jaws, at least</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and vowed away from swimming pools.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hamburgers and shake-it salads</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and the mill valley Mcdonalds</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">where dad told stories on the way home.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">vinegar, and wood polish</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">when we’d skate around in our socks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and clean all the floors wrong.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the mothballs that lived</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in the closet where I made a nest</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and hid from dinosaurs.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">brightly colored poster paints</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that came in all the colors, even pink</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and I painted a thousand rainbows.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">reed shavings and violin rosin</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and sounded like an orchestra of two</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mom and dad playing different melodies.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grandpa’s pink roses</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that bloomed into crowns of color</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and didn’t have thorns.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cherry poptarts and hot chocolate</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">covered with pink glaze and creamed froth</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">eaten at the window ledge.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">grass cuttings we threw like snowballs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and snapped off bamboo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">used like hero’s blades.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sidewalk chalk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">even though Cragmont avenue</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">doesn’t have sidewalks to color.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My childhood smelled like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the astroturf field</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">where I learned to ride a bik</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">e </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and crashed into the soccer net- goal.</span>Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-6550565881049702222014-08-07T22:03:00.002-07:002014-08-07T22:07:36.414-07:00Grandad<div class="MsoNormal">
For <a href="http://thehoneybeewrites.blogspot.com/2014/08/beginnings.html">Honeybee</a> 1<br />
<br />
Grandad grew roses<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Peach, yellow, red<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And one bush, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The child bush,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We called it,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of pink buds, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pale in early morning light.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was our favorite because it<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Didn’t have thorns.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They say love is a rose-<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sweet and beautiful<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But fierce<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If that is true, then these roses<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Were Grandad<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All scent and petal silk<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Blooming<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
No thorns<o:p></o:p></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-8550957333100621262014-06-19T18:55:00.000-07:002014-06-19T18:56:55.994-07:00Surviving<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I always thought that, if the
zombie apocalypse happened, it’d be like in the movies. Something that huge and
terrifying, something like that—the world can’t just pick up where it left off,
you know? There’d be years of hiding and fighting and trying to find a cure,
and maybe there wouldn’t be one, and nothing would ever be the same.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I’d day-dream about it, sometimes. Dad
always said I watched too many movies.
But I’d imagine myself, in some ratty, torn up outfit, leading a rag-tag
bunch of orphaned kids, looking for a haven, living on old twinkies and stale
soda that the looters had left behind because who drinks that Shasta stuff
anyway?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I prepared, too, just in case,
which is probably the reason Dad said I was paranoid. I kept a kit by my bed,
with add-water dinners, and pocket knives, and a massive first-aid kit. I even
asked Dad to teach me to shoot a gun, but seeing as how he’s a
vegetarian-ex-hippy living in San Francisco, that didn’t go over too well. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I’m Rosemary, by the way. Rosemary
Rose. What kind of parents name their kid Rosemary when they’ve got Rose for a
last name? Not the point, yeah, yeah, but still, I promise it ties in, a
little.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Back to the Zombie thing. I’d
always imagined it like in the movies, and that show where the grass is always
neat and trim even though there’s this crisis going on? It’d be forever. The end
of the world, lasting years and years and years, and leaving this massive scar
on anyone who witnessed it and lived.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
It didn’t. Last years and years, I
mean. It didn’t even last one. The Zombie Apocalypse, as they’re calling it, lasted
exactly thirteen minutes, and I was smack dab in the middle of it.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Ok, back to my name, just for a
minute. Rose, as in, Clan Rose, of Scotland, which is so tiny it’s a wonder
they weren’t swallowed up, but they weren’t. Dad is huge into family history,
so every year since I can remember, he’s dragged me to the Scottish Games at
the Alameda fairground, an hour away from home. And, since he runs the Clan
Rose tent, we have to get there at six AM. Yeah, yeah, I know, zombies. I’m
getting there, keep your pants on. I’m telling a story here.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The Games are actually pretty cool,
for a couple of reasons. Number one: Meat. Dad’s a vegetarian. I am not, and
the Games have some of the best food, much better than mystery meat at the
school caf. Scotch eggs, meat pies, bangers, turkey legs, even haggis, which is
not that gross. Better than quinoa. Reason 2: if you grow up in SF, the only
way to stand out is to be bizarre, which for me, means costumes and props, and
the Games have great stuff. Bodices, Fairy wings, shoulder mounted robot
dragons, enough buttons and patches to cover a couple tents….It’s kinda hard to
run in a bodice, which was a problem with the whole Zombie thing—I’m getting to
it, what are you, five?—but reason three negated that: weapons. Booths and
booths of ‘em. Swords, maces, morningstars, axes, glaives…it’s sweet. You have
to be eighteen to buy one, though. Still, everyone at the Games either has a weapon,
or is within a few feet of one.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
So anyway, I was at the Games,
looking at earcuffs, already sweating because it was like 90 degrees at 9 AM,
and I was wearing this bodice which was a little too tight, but still looked
awesome. And suddenly there was all this shouting from outside the vendor
building, real shouting. At first I thought that someone was already drunk on whiskey
and had started a fight, but it wasn’t that kind of shouting, not the laughing
kind, but the oh my gosh, earthquake/fire/Godzilla kind of screaming, the
panicked kind, and people were rushing through the Young California Vendor’s
building but not out the other side. They weren’t running from, they were running
to, and they swept me along with ‘em, scattering pretty sparklies on the ground
and I couldn’t even breathe. We ended up at this one booth full of swords, the
kind that have real sharp blades, and the vendor starts shouting at them.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“No, no! Hands off!” he went, and
he was this big scary guy in a bright purple kilt, all tatted up with biceps
like my head. But he didn’t get a chance to ask what was going on as these
people grabbed for swords and moms shoved their kids under tables, because
then, then, they came in.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The Zombies, I mean.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I could tell they were zombies,
even though their clothes weren’t rags and they didn’t have missing limbs (at
first). It was in how they moved, stumbling, and the blood around their mouths
and their skin--waxy and blue, like if they were underwater. And the way they
were shouting for brains and flesh.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Cliché? Maybe, but are you gonna
argue with a zombie?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
So I was right there, next to this
glaive taller than I am, and I ignored the “must be 18 to touch weapons” sign
and grabbed it, and then, bang, the doors burst open and there were more
people, some zombies, followed by Not-Zombies, and it was like in Lord of the
Rings or Narnia, this huge battle, right in the middle of the vendor’s building,
and I was back to back with Purple Kilt. One of the zombies got real close, her
arms all cankerous and blotched, and I swung.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Glaives are heavier than they look,
so I missed her head, but I cut her pretty good, and it smelled sick. She
staggered back and tried to grab me, and then some guy behind her with a sword
took off her head. I’d never seen that happen in real life. Some guys came
running in with a caber, the big telephone pole things that people toss, and used
it like a ram, knocking into zombies so that people like my rescuer and Purple Kilt
could get them. I charged into battle,
my heart like the pipe band’s rattle drum, hardly able to breathe I was so terrified.
The tight bodice didn’t help. It was nothing like what I’d dreamed, there so
much chaos, and blood…<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
It was right about then that I
passed out. So much for glory.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
When I woke up, it was nine
fifteen, there were cops in hazmat suits everywhere, everything was trashed and
I wanted to puke but I didn’t because I hadn’t gotten my scotch egg before all
hell broke loose. They told everyone that no one was allowed to leave the
fairgrounds because of contagion and there had to be a quarantine and stuff, so
I booked it for the Rose tent where I found Dad, and he just looked at me, all
covered in blood and hugged me.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“I told you so,” I said, because I
had told him so, that Zombies were real and someday he’d be glad I was so
prepared. He made this noise, like a laugh and a sob all together, and we just
sat there in the tent with the other Roses who came to be with family.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
They made announcements over the
loudspeaker system, and my cousin's pipe band played Scotland the Brave
while some General or Corporal in the army made a speech, about how this
medical facility two miles down the freeway had been doing tests, and then,
poof, Zombies, and they’d gone after the nearest group of people, us, and how
certainly we had all saved the world by stopping the…yadda yadda yadda. It went
on, and the bagpipes drowned him out a little.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Some soldiers, also in hazmat
suits, came by to get our names to match to the ticket records so they could
see how many people were dead, and told us that if we needed food or blankets,
we could go to the big arena where they did the caber toss, because a plane
would be dumping supplies there pretty soon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“Like in an hour? You mean we aren’t
on our own, left to fight for our lives?” I asked. The guy laughed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“You watch too many movies,” he
said.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The pipe bands competed, and the
sheep dog trials. Life went on. There wasn’t much to do except go on with the Games,
since no one could leave. People called family to assure them everything was
fine, it was all over. I counted six news copters in the air, too, but mostly
people on the ground just tried to pretend it was one of the staged, living
history things. It got hotter, the ice-cream stands sold out, little kids cried….just
like every year. The Young California Vendor’s building was off limits, but
there were still places to shop. I got my meat pie--at twice the normal price,
ugh—and bought a book. Unicorns. I was sick of Zombie stories.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
So there it is, “how I survived the
zombie apocalypse/ helped contain the zombie virus and saved countless lives,
etc, etc, etc.” I got a medal, everyone at the Games did. Some people wrote
books, about how if it’d been any other group of people but Scotsmen/women, the
world’d have been doomed. I’m not sure about that, but it certainly didn’t
hurt. And let me tell you, it made one
heck of a “What I did over my summer vacation” essay.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-57017866216734476352014-04-04T08:10:00.000-07:002014-04-04T08:10:06.768-07:00Whoo!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8RLRh5VmCVlQunLT6fZYwzo2yL5JJOXBSYBWFAhCrYNo4zraTgY9mddfxz0NS9yvab-v2rLh5nKwnJ_0yONMGKRq1vFJGg4BttUVZqrJPxidA7m_iwDDRCL46xrrjrCh2uGNWfL1TbVQ/s1600/10173539_779650232048069_1176671414_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8RLRh5VmCVlQunLT6fZYwzo2yL5JJOXBSYBWFAhCrYNo4zraTgY9mddfxz0NS9yvab-v2rLh5nKwnJ_0yONMGKRq1vFJGg4BttUVZqrJPxidA7m_iwDDRCL46xrrjrCh2uGNWfL1TbVQ/s1600/10173539_779650232048069_1176671414_n.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://silverinkblots.blogspot.com/2014/02/tinder-444.html">Tinder</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://silverinkblots.blogspot.com/2014/01/dancing-on-coals-1911.html">Dancing on Coals</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://silverinkblots.blogspot.com/2014/02/elevators-449.html">At the Elevator</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://silverinkblots.blogspot.com/2014/03/rooftop.html">Sky Stained with Smoke</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://silverinkblots.blogspot.com/2014/02/to-have-been-wed-in-june.html">Identified</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://silverinkblots.blogspot.com/2014/03/sonnet-for-seven-april-3rd-1911.html">Sonnet for the Seven</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://silverinkblots.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-same-name-march-25th-2011.html">Antonietta</a></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-85738747990325026662014-03-26T21:11:00.000-07:002014-03-27T17:01:08.072-07:00To the girl across the aisle<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">How m<span style="font-size: 12pt;">any children of Israel,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">born into the Covenant,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">fell away into Idolatry?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">How many Converts</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">growing up faithless</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">found truth</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and held fast?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Many.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Multitudes.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Knowing this, that the faith</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">of the father influences</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">but does not determine</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">his daughter's,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">how can you sit there,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">across the aisle from me,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and call my mother</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">quote: So, so, so, so dumb?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">How dare you claim</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">that she will fall away</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">into idolatry</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">because she was married</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">in her mother's living room.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">You sit there and insinuate</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">that my faith is worth less</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">than yours,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">is shakier not because</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I have felt abandoned by God,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">but because my father</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">didn't sit next to me at church.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Being Covenant-born does not make</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">a child perfect, free from sin</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">or temptation.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I have seen temple marriages fall apart.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I have seen the children of two</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> devote Members,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Holy as Angels,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">turn to drugs, skip church</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">to smoke, worshiping</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">the Idol of pornography.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And I have seen two people</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">who love and support</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">each other,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">who share values but not religion.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">How dare you say that</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">the children of such</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">people, pure in love,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">are ticking time bombs,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">falling away into Idolatry,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">that I will make all the wrong choices</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and only bring grief?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I am not a miracle, exception to the rule.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My faith is mine, not because of my mother's,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">not in spite of my father's.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It was mine to doubt, mine to choose.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And then, how dare you</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">simper, say you are</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">sorry that I was offended,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">putting all the blame on me.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Because of course,<i> I chose</i> to be offended</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">when you insult who I am,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">who my family is.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">With unchristian ignorance</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>you</i> <i>chose</i> to offend.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">You do not apologize for your words</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">your implications, for calling my mother</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">quote: So, so, so, so <i>dumb</i>.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Call me what you want:</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">faithless, worthless</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">don't hide behind "I don't mean it"s</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">you only add when I stand up.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">you meant it when you spoke about others</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">in my situation.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">but my mother's faith</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">saved me,</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">she is my world</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">my best friend.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Call me what you will, </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.12em; margin-top: 1.12em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">but don't you dare touch my mother.</span></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-4054664579661351302014-03-18T20:03:00.000-07:002014-03-25T22:09:28.568-07:00Sky Stained with Smoke<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">4:52 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">tenth floor and roof </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Blinded
by smoke and tears<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
an Italian
prayer on her lips,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
she
stumbles, catching her shin<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
on the
Green Street stairs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
A rough
hand grabs her arm<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
hauls her
to her feet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
"Tessie,
move!" her rescuer says,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
or she
thinks he says, his words<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
are
nothing like her Papa's.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
He leads
her and others up<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
not down,
to a rooftop<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
where the
sky breaks through grey air,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
blue
stained with smoke.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
At last
she can breathe<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
she looks
at the faces of the others,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
searching
and not finding.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The
next-door building's roof<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
is too
far above this one<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
and
Tessie wonders if<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
they have
come here to die.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Then someone
lowers a ladder<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
over the
side.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Her
burned hands throb as she climbs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
They all
flood into this building, a school,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
with flame
free stairwells,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
but it is not
until NYU students,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
jabbering
in English,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
have led
her to the streets<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
full of
watchers pale with horror<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
that she
realizes. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
She asks,
haltingly,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
"Where
is Vincenzia? Please,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
she was
on the ninth floor."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
No one
answers<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
as
another body,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
shirtwaist
gleaming in the sun,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
falls.<o:p></o:p></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-17810781633782179132014-03-18T19:51:00.000-07:002014-03-25T22:03:51.279-07:00Locked 4:47<br />
Ninth floor<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
"The
doors open in!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Move!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
No one
hears her, just one more voice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The ninth
floor workers throw<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
themselves
at metal doors,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
screaming:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Ratevet! Auidami! Help!</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i>The flames are drawing closer,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
like too
hot blankets<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
and fear-sweat
sticks Kate's shirtwaist<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
to her
back, to her girl's chest<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
too tight
to breathe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Someone
screams in Yiddish<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
and the
crowd, hands trembling,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
moves
back just enough.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The fire
licks at their skirts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
"Hail
Mary," Kate whispers<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
against
the hot air.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The doors
shudder as girls pull,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
the metal
burning their hands.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
They do
not let go<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
but the
door--<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
the door
is locked.<o:p></o:p></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-23911168162468007812014-03-18T19:41:00.003-07:002014-03-25T22:04:41.407-07:00Antonietta, March 25th 2011<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Red ink
on white<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
the
Cornell website's list<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
of
victims,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
not blood
on cloth, but<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
names,
ages.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
I have
known the stories,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
the
numbers, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
one
hundred forty six dead,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
too many
to imagine.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Reading
now for research’s sake<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
I'd tried
to distance myself,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
but my
heart falters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
I read my
own name:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Antonietta.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Sixteen
years old.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Suddenly
these girls are more<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
than
names on a list<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
more than
digital ink.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
I picture
myself at sixteen:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
unable to
tame Italian curls,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Papa
telling me the stories<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
his
Italian Mama told him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Perhaps
she knew those same stories.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Perhaps
she too fought<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
with her
brother,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
but loved
him all the same.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Who might
she have been,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
I wonder.
What dreams did she hold<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
in her
heart,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
and what prayers
did she think<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
as she
leaped?<o:p></o:p></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939203189489499763.post-35291860187536745082014-03-12T22:58:00.002-07:002014-03-25T22:05:16.736-07:00Sonnet for the Seven,<div style="margin-bottom: 13.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
April 3rd 1911
Evergreen Cemetery <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 13.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The rain came down and soaked
the streets too late</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">too late to stop the flames that caused such
pain</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">for our city. And as we walked, the weight</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">upon our hearts did break the floodgate chain.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">"Abide with me, Abide with me," we
sang.</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">Half-million strong we gathered round and cried</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">with Jew and Gentile, all our voices rang,</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">remembering the day our daughters died.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">But for these sev'n I only placed my stone</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">upon the graves, and others did so, too.</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">We could not let them be buried alone,</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">they had no names or faces that we knew.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">So in this April rain, we vigil keep</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">and for their mothers, sisters all, we weep.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Antonietta Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11884427063385952296noreply@blogger.com0