Category: Member Poetry

if you stand between me and the shore, i shall never get wet.

i will never feel the sand pulse under my feet.

i will never allow the sea breeze to treat my face like a wounded animal

and hold it tenderly in its hand

i will say goodbye to the tide pools,

and the deep sea societies i’ll never meet,

because in your wake there is a heart shaped island

that is lost in an apartment complex of Green Rooms

and instrumental crescendos that flood and build homes of their own

in the stone they eroded.

the tide pools will dry up, leaving the fish in crosswalks,

the coral in coffee shops, the seaweed wrapped around sushi rice.

it all recycles, whether i touch the sea or not.

the waves crash against packed sand regardless of if you watch them or

leave them behind. water rises and falls, burying shells and unearthing treasures.

the salt lingers on my face like a good kiss,

the Green Paint drying on my clothes as your heart pulses beneath my ear

to the tune of a soft wind

beckoning me to sleep.

If Venna could choose,

She’d be a fairy of food

By the witch’s side, bubbling cauldron

Some roots, some vine, the flesh of the fruit

Cravings, mystical, unique.

A broken heart, she seeps in the cracks;

To do what she was formed for

Yet this broken heart has new strings

Sings a new tune by another’s side

“I believe in myself,” the refreshened heart sings

Reprimanded, Venna must turn to

A more desperate source of glum,

He rejected more times than

The grains of flour in a baker’s dozen,

Yet he symbolized uncorrupted hope.

So Venna finds herself trying to thwart

The innocent attempts of a young man

In chasing after a man his age,

When your strength upon depressed emotions does feed,

The unformed couple’s Venna’s new fodder.

The delicacies of a just-chilled dessert,

The piping-hot crust of a slice straight from the oven,

Menus upon menus Venna wishes were enough

But her instincts to which she must abide

Delegate to her a more brittle, aching chow.

A cracked sidewalk, flickering streetlights

Small glowing orbs dance in your periphery.

This is not a place where magic is thought to be.

And yet, here it is.

A small globe of light falls from the air,

Landing directly in front of your feet.

Crouching down, you hear a chittering sound.

The light before you brightens and grows.

You are kneeling eye to eye

With what appears to be a fairy.

A winged girl of impossible beauty.

With wings made of stardust.

Sitting on a cracked sidewalk

Under flickering streetlights

You meet a fairy.

She speaks in melodic tones

Asking for a favor, a task for a task.

She seems trustworthy and kind,

But many folks before have seemed that way as well

To trust or not to trust

A question you grapple with all too often.

Eyes of shifting purples and blues

Meet your own steady eyes

She asks again, more pleading

She is hopeful you will help

On a cracked sidewalk, under flickering streetlights

You leave a fairy behind and go home

To a place where magic isn’t found

And doesn’t ask for more

Than you are willing to give.