"barnard" poems
One of the world's worst opening lines, ever
Darkness, three or four of them crossing the street to me
My eyes down, trying to ignore
Figures looming, coming closer
My hometown downtown
This doesn't happen here
Wanna get with me? Hey!
Other things: gross and ******
They're closer and he, who I don't look at
reaches out and tries to grab my thigh
Like he's tearing off a piece of bread
But I'm solid milk chocolate not fudge
His hand hits and grabs
It feels like a wrench as he grips
Digs for a hand hold,
But there is none, just bone and solid me
They walk past asking why I don't say hello
Yelling as I shut them out
And I remember when I was jumped
Carrying a pizza home in NYC at night
Pizza floated down in slow motion
steam in the air
A pile of eggplant and cheese
freezing in the winter cold
And the kid grabbed my jacket
held an exacto knife and demanded my wallet
As the rest stood around
like watching a demonstration
And I pulled free because a puffy jacket doesn't make a good hand hold
And ran away, kids do that, the guard at Barnard said
But this grip was different
Had it caught hold
Had they surrounded
I would have feared for my life
I walked away quickly, from them, from memory
Nov 13, 2012
Nov 13, 2012 at 11:02 PM UTC
to henry, love elana:
i miss you because i know the most action you’re getting these days is slipping an extra big tip into the delivery girl(who forgot the napkins again)’s hands, and i know her hands feel nothing like mine. so i’m sorry because we always had eggplant pizza together which everyone else thought was strange, because i miss you, because sometimes – i hint at you to our delivery girl so she’ll tell me how you’re doing (i hear you have the flu, drink some fluids other than dr. pepper, okay?).
To Elana, Love Henry:
I feel guilty for the time I asked our delivery girl if you were still ordering from our place. I miss you because I give her a bigger tip than usual now and sometimes I get pizza even if I’m not in the mood, just to hear from her that you had bags under your eyes tonight or your cousin got her acceptance letter from Barnard (Congratulations to her, by the way). The eggplant isn’t as satisfying as it used to be, so I turn the TV on. It helps drown out the quiet.
May 19, 2012
May 19, 2012 at 10:57 PM UTC
My Response to Ember Evanescent's 10 Poets Challenge (incase you're incapable of reading titles I'll be momentarily redundant)
These are some of my favourite poets on the site, some of whom I know in real life (from B.H.P) others who I have discovered and come to know through the site these past few months (A.H.P.).
In alphabetical order, I'd like to pay tribute to:
A Sickening Love ~ skilled poetess and my extraordinary friend who writes heartbreakingly relatable poems. She gives me strength, always.
>> http://hellopoetry.com/ASickeningLove/
Andy ~ my first ever like and follow, I may be somewhat bias towards you, putting you here. He has such a beautiful, independent style.
>> http://hellopoetry.com/Hp/
Deafening Silence ~ the reason I joined this site. I've been poem-stalking them for years on Poem Hunter, and when I saw them on here... well, I felt prompted to join, so here I am. I am 100% in love with their work, and am also 100% frustrated because they've not been on since I joined so I haven't been able to tell them they inspire me so. (Sorry this is way longer than the others, I rambled some.)
>> http://hellopoetry.com/deafening-silence/
Gavin Barnard ~ posts work that I can relate to. He has a very passionate writing style and I highly recommend reading him.
>> http://hellopoetry.com/gavin-barnard/
Kay ~ is the love of my life. Just kidding. But Kay is my rose, she has been the peer-writer I have looked up to for as long as I can remember. She is so talented, I hope to be half the writer she is.
>> http://hellopoetry.com/dearestdarling/
konr ~ I get so excited when I see a new piece from konr. He has such a way with words that he leaves me breathless. Every. **** Time.
>> http://hellopoetry.com/konr/
Layla Thurman ~ writes my thoughts most days. I'm not joking, she's incredible.
>> http://hellopoetry.com/walrusfaces/
Thomas King ~ is someone who, like konr, I look for his pieces and get completely wrapped up in his artistry. Utterly addicting.
>> http://hellopoetry.com/deplorability/
True Courage ~ makes a statement with each piece he writes. I am a huge fan, highly recommend.
>> http://hellopoetry.com/justin-devitt/
WM ~ is a genius. Please go read Walter's work, he is so talented. Huge fan of him.
>> http://hellopoetry.com/walter-m/
(Also, if you care, two of my favorite classics:
Christina Rossetti & W. H. Auden)
Nov 17, 2014
Nov 17, 2014 at 8:50 PM UTC
*Sitting in my room,
staring at my phone,
Looking at our texts.
My heart melts seeing
those little heart emojis.
I’m staying awake
for hopes to fall for you.*
Deep in the black of the night,
Laying in bed, staying awake for you.
This feeling I cannot begin to ponder
Marks this unending wonder.
*I’m falling, and this time it’s not so scary.
It’s fast as hell, But I’m ready to take a chance.
At school I wait to talk to you,
Getting butterflies that you might feel this way too.*
The highlight of my day
Isn't just that someone talks to me,
But someone I can understand.
Someone that loves my poetry.
Maybe someday, we can be free.
*We met through poetry, my first love,
And now it’s setting me free, to be with you.
Lets run away together, We can be
star-crossed-poets, Not just lovers.*
If I told you that I wanted to take your hand
And fly away with you, would you believe me?
So many times I’ve been crushed from society,
Being lifted back up from you is unfathomable.
*I’m falling in love,
I’m sending you love,
Upload my hug,
I love you “yet”.*
This feeling called “love”
I have mistakened before
Is now stronger than ever.
I never wanted to tell you
With these barriers in our way,
But I can’t hold it back forever.
Oct 6, 2014
Oct 6, 2014 at 10:16 PM UTC
You've got it, kid!
(That thing you've got).
The world is yours!
(Bad things are not).
Put on your hat,
Zip up your coat.
Those things will keep
Your ship afloat.
You've got your dreams
All packed up tight.
And never fear
Bumps in the night.
But you will find
The things you fear:
Those Huffs and Puffs
That laugh and jeer.
You might get sad
(Oh yes, you might)
And that is when
You'll take your flight.
You'll run away
(Oh yes, you will).
Those things that huff
Will chase you still.
Your flights, you'll find,
Will take you far.
About as far
As Barnard's Star.
Those Huffs will fall,
And you'll be free!
The day is yours!
(I guarantee)
Yet don't forget
When you've grown tall,
The dreams you dreamt
When you were small.
Sep 8, 2013
Sep 8, 2013 at 9:16 PM UTC
Please explain to me how I always seem to fall so hard but I never come back up
It’s like I’ve fallen to the bottom of the ocean
And I can’t seem to surface
I want to be your beauty
But you are certainly no beast
Last nights late thoughts lead me to think I could be Anna and you we’re wonderful Kristof
I just hope you don’t turn into Hans
I lost my glass slipper
Would you search your kingdom for me?
If my name was Ariel I would change the story line to be with you
Nov 21, 2014
Nov 21, 2014 at 11:52 AM UTC
I have always dated beautiful, and bright, women. I never married,
probably because of the trauma of growing up with a father and
mother who were so desperarately unhappy, but never divorced.
When I was a freshman at Columbia, I dated a Barnard freshman
named Stephani Cook. When Stephani was a senior, she entered a
nationwide contest sponsored by Glamour Magazine for the best
dressed coed in America. In effect, it was a contest for the most
beautiful coed in America. Stephani won, a win that launched her
on a multi-year career with the most prominent modeling agency
in the world, the Ford Agency in New York City. Thus, she graced
the covers of the most famous women's magazines such as Seventeen
and others. In the early 1980s, she authored the book "Second Life,"
which was an incredibly well crafted account of her years growing
up and her excruciatingly painful early years of adulthood. And
though I dated beautiful and bright women throughout my life,
really one of the happiest facets of my life, the most beautiful
woman I ever encountered I saw in the film "Casablanca" made
in the early 1940s starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
Ingrid Bergman, simply put, is the most mesmerizing, transcendently
beautiful woman I have ever seen. And I really cannot put into
words why she is, by far, the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.
When she came to Hollywood in the late 1930s, the studio moguls
said she needed to change her name, that she was too tall, and
that her nose was too big. Ingrid's riposte, an important part of her
exquisite beauty, I believe, was she was not going to change her
name, that her height did not bother her, and that she would not
undergo any plastic surgery. In "Casablanca," Ingrid first appears
as she enters Rick's Cafe Americain with her husband. I click at
that moment to freeze that frame so I can gaze, for as long as I
wish, at Ingrid's face (she never wore make-up), even from a
distance. It is iridescent, and every time I do this, I am transfixed
for minutes. That scene, that one scene, is the most extraordinary
moment of all the scenes of all the great movies I have ever watched.
I wish Ingrid were still alive so I could tell her what I've just shared
with you.
Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks
every time I do this,
her h
May 4, 2020
May 4, 2020 at 7:57 PM UTC