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 Dec 2014 Sofia Paderes
Jedd Ong
There is a pathway to the stars
Mapped out for us by
Tiny cherubs—faint, pulsating
Trail of constellations scattered:
The universe is

Vast

And I’m out here,
Stuttering to find the words
By which to capture
The very ends
Of our corner of the world

Lost

In this sea of light,
Transmissions,
Pulsars beating its heavenly
Drum as a sign that maybe

God

Has not left us for dead
Yet. God has not left
Us for dead

Yet

This noise we run away from:
These nauseating horns
And screams of
Wounded children
Have a heaven, God bless you.

Have a heaven
Transmitting
Its “love yous”
And “miss yous”
And “thank yous”

Singing

To a sky beyond our corner of
I’m looking for this girl
I didn’t hold her tight enough

She wore adventures on tattered jeans
And broken-in leather boots

She bore the sparkle of her mother’s eyes
And the intensity of her father’s gaze

Her skin the color of afternoons in soft haze
Softly scarred by summers and swings

The girl who suspended hours in moments
Whose touch only I am familiar
Whose embrace calmed my spirit

The girl with the perfectly crooked smile
That smelled of cinnamon and dandelions

She enchanted me with beautiful thoughts
Why didn’t I hold her tighter
 Dec 2014 Sofia Paderes
brooke
no, I'm not
l o o k i n g
not a single
peep, eye or
                                                     o u t s t r e t c h e d
hand, but I
do imagine
the crook of
your elbow
and a dozen
steel lanterns
hung from your
branches, strings
of cream colored
Christmas lights
framing your
shoulders
swung
around
your feet
and each
step you
take that
brings
you

clo        ser
to
me
(c)Brooke Otto 2014
 Dec 2014 Sofia Paderes
Jedd Ong
They flex slowly.

Come up tails.

Coin flips floating down the
Riverbanks,
Past the fountain pens
Dripping with fresh
Ink and short-armed knives.

Laughing hard
At their ridiculous leather jackets,
Brandishing bug eyed grins
Above all other
Deadly weapons,
Just as disarming.

Souped up
Vintage cars and hats
And stowed away
Overcoats and canes
Somehow soaked
By the groundwater rain.

Coming up
Aces,

Breaking through the sea
These

Kids,

They'll be alright.
for my grandfather. may you rebel without a cause.
"Handle it with care"
That, I would always say.
To you, I give my heart so fragile;
A risk that I would never dare
To let another hold
Such a thing so rare,
Which you always seem to break
With your trembling hands.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident"
That, you would always say.
So I always have ****** palms,
And marred fingers,
From always picking up
The sharp fragments
Of my once called heart,
That you so fearfully handle.

Mind that I don't blame you
And your frail hands.
I pick up every blood-stained piece,
With a warm smile.
Every tear and sweat
That ran from my face,
Would wash away the stains,
Restoring its brilliance.

Now I realize that rarity
Does not come in fragile form.
It comes in the form of beauty
That endures. Once healed,
The pieces brought together
Illuminate into a colorful mosaic,
Dedicated to you.

Let its splendor captivate you.
A masterpiece that will drive
All the fears and worries away,
As it makes the trembling end.
For they are not just fragments,
But mementos that will last;
Images that will forever gleam,
**Of you and me.
Love is painful, yet beautiful.
 Nov 2014 Sofia Paderes
Jedd Ong
has died

And tomorrow brings
Forth a helping
Of ham sandwiches
And chorizo rice,

And a cold glass of milk,
And vitamin pills,
And sleepy morning sunlight
Clinging to baby eyelids.

The world unraveling,
Yarn by yarn to reveal
A cracked expanse:

Dingy suburbs alternating
With shiny metal subways,
Flimsy straw huts,
And highways,

Schoolbooks once mandatory
Depicting every one of them.

The bell rings and
Suddenly footsteps seem
To linger if but for a second,
Encasing its victims
In a universe where time stops—
Stood—still

Still enough to wrinkle,
And feel the soft nudging

Of naked wrist against
Wrist-watched wrists,

Breakfast crumbs against
Crumpled lips,

Rotting umbrellas against
Sweating hips,

Oxen straining against
Grass-strewn rifts,

Coal dust against
Swollen lids—

So tolls the bell
And ends
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