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 Jun 2013 Chrys Pages
Emmaline E
Tendrils of hair caress your cheeks
And you sigh, in a manner not quite forlorn,
But wearied.
Yesterday you picked up the red icing from
Your birthday cake and smeared it on your lips.
Your eyes contain a light that seems to dance
In their pools of relentless curiosity,
And you blink, for a moment,
A reprise from your absorption of
The Way Things Are.

Last week you were covered in dirt and
Blue on your eyelids that stretched to
Your browbones and made your
Stare look menacing.
I watched as you came home and
Scrubbed it off, allowing yourself
The small kindness of an easy cry
As you muttered and cursed, scaring me.

Today you are buying fake nails
And your makeup covers the
Oily tear-tracks on your cheeks.
And, for a moment, I am proud
Because your eyes light up ferociously
When someone calls your name.
So I say it over and over, reminding you you’re real.
A 5-minute poem based upon a conversation based upon reinventing yourself based upon self-hatred based upon losing someone very close to me whom I adore
 Jun 2013 Chrys Pages
Emmaline E
Mud puddles
Seeping
Is that mud?
Nah, prob’ly jus’ …
Just what?
He thought for a while,
Adjusting the stance
Of his cigar between his thin lips,
Barely covering the hole in his face.
In the dank silence,
I stared, and began to wonder…
How could he stand it?
The noisome smoke,
Right under his nose-
The rough texture
On lips that could not quite afford anymore sand-papering…
He took a drag, finally looked back down, and answered.
It’s mud.
We both knew it wasn’t mud,
But the foulness that seems to follow
The human wherever he
Would wander….
As I contemplated, he spat,
And added his own contribution.
the first poem I wrote this year for a creative writing class
 Jun 2013 Chrys Pages
Emmaline E
Last night the moon
Wept her warm tears
For me, and they burned
Dime-sized holes in my
Coverlets. This did not
Concern me, as I knew
That the laborious breaths
Creaking through my
Ivory-wrought sternum
Will soon overturn
In substance.

Strip mines line my
Stomach, and the little
Traffic director inside
Me has declared that
No substance should fill
The hole that should
Hold, wishing to gnaw

The profound depths
That paralyze have
Tunneled to my core again
I was never ready to go
Spelunking, but then
Again, no one is ever ready
For the darker side of the light.
 Jun 2013 Chrys Pages
Emmaline E
He danced in light, son of the Wind,
And colored the minds below.
She was too deep, locked in herself,
But he still had inarticulately tried
To convey his longing in light.

When he asked the girl
What her name was, she replied,
"I am the Marianas Trench,"
And he blinked, smashing lashes
In a vain effort
To extract an answer not forthcoming.
She gazed blankly, concealing
Three million dying hopes
Faintly sparkling within her depths.
He bashfully cast his eyes
Downward to conceal his own
Inner turmoil.
"I am the Aurora Borealis,"
He finally yelped as his fingers drummed
Notes in the tension between them.
A light flickered across her
Black eyes, flitting to his own.
Quickly extinguished, it
Carried within it her slipped
Composure and raw yearning.
He drew breath, and the coronas
Of his eyes slid to meet hers,
Blank once more.
Before she could bolster
Her dwindling courage,
He was leaving, taking with
Him all her color.
"Don't!" She pleaded.
Her cheeks flushed magenta.
He blanched, his eyes dark.
But he was far from her,
Shrouded in light
That could never color
The stone walls she built.
Miles high, she hoped
They touched his sky someday.
Until then, she was hidden,
Sound, and he was brilliant, lost.
 Jun 2013 Chrys Pages
Emmaline E
i know that i am on the cusp of something
the graceful lip
and with each passing second
i am leaving the person i once was

my fingertips dwell on hers,
clammy- i liked her very much
and i try to shake my views
of myself as a battered frisk upon
the roiling waves of circumstance
beneath my quaking keel

i'm behind glass,
enclosed with condensation
with each of my ragged inhalations
and with chipped nails
i sketch pictures of who it is
that i want to be
but, still, i cannot quite make her out-
the lines are blurred and
my breath erases her
i am unable to see the future clearly
if i truly live
 Jun 2013 Chrys Pages
Micah
Refill your coffee cup.
Copy and cut
—the pieces that fit.
It’s hard to break habit.
The message was clear
—it’s what we held dear.
The shadows and fear
—were just an illusion anyway.
It’s the price we pay… the things we say:
the adjectives, the verbs,
—but not the nouns.
We’re not that profound
—not yet.
Light a cigarette.
Take a pull and take a sip.
It’s hard to hit home when
—you’re still alone.
Just another reminder
—of the time spent beside her.
But it’s running out.
And these cliche sayings
won’t refill the hour glass.
As the memories pass…
The sound of her voice
—and the choices we made.
We’ve paid our dues
—and went our separate ways.
Light another cigarette.
Take another pull and
—take another sip.
Put down your broken coffee cup.
Copy and cut.
These pieces no longer fit.
 Jun 2013 Chrys Pages
Erica Baker
I

Now I have been you
walking indifferent
with you walking
opposite.
I haven't noticed
that you haven't
noticed me.
I didn't return
your glance,
I was checking traffic,
crossing the street,
and dissapearing.

II

Now I have been you,
holding
the hand-blown glass sphere
in my hands.
Were you conscious,
as I should be,
of the necessary delicacy?
Did you notice
the intricate composition,
or have we both grown
too familiar
with our object?
I pick up the skirt,
I pick up the sparkling beads
in black,
this thing that moved once
around flesh,
and I call God a liar,
I say anything that moved
like that
or knew
my name
could never die
in the common verity of dying,
and I pick
up her lovely
dress,
all her loveliness gone,
and I speak to all the gods,
Jewish gods, Christ-gods,
chips of blinking things,
idols, pills, bread,
fathoms, risks,
knowledgeable surrender,
rats in the gravy of 2 gone quite mad
without a chance,
hummingbird knowledge, hummingbird chance,
I lean upon this,
I lean on all of this
and I know:
her dress upon my arm:
but
they will not
give her back to me.
 Jun 2013 Chrys Pages
Chin-ok
They told me it was metal,
but I didn't believe a word.
But now I find it's iron
of the strongest, finest kind.
Ah! Here is my little bellows,
I think I'll melt it down.
Set aside that woman,
The one I use to be,
the girl with twisted smiles,
and wild eyes and loud laughter.
Replaced her with a stranger,
serving supper like a servant.
In search of that glass slipper,
the one that is suppose to fit.
Losing confidence in what made me, me.
Thinking that this stranger was the better woman to be.
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