Teardrops

It’s delicate as hand-blown glass,

Intricately constructed

And refracting joy,

White as pure sunshine.

You squint in the honest radiance

With which it beams.

My ribs know better

and tightly cocoon that fragile vessel

In strong warm bindings.

But with childish trust

I cast their protection aside.

Open wide,

Eyes closed,

Arms outstretched,

Like some bird of freedom

I present it to you.

Yours for the taking

And breaking.

I watch it drain

Drop by drop,

That empty hole

With a tired body slumped around it.

Patiently I will stand

As this forsaken chalice

Slowly mends

And you refill it

Each word

And touch

And promise fulfilled,

Drop by drop.

Origami

i'll show you my love
with red construction paper
origami of my soul
as my heart steams to vapor

when i see your smile
of colors so warm
twisty sweet inside my stomach
adoration takes form.
 
watch tiny parchment hearts
like confetti rain down
 
as you kiss me in the sunshine
as you kiss me in the rain
as you kiss me under covers
as i'm safe, and happy and sane
 
folded up inside your arms
i'm a delicate crepe-paper crane
floating on your breath
like a child's toy airplane.
 
as i crease that single sheet
with both our names on lines
concealed within those pages
i'm so thankful you are mine

Promises

Must be harvest time.

Green turned to gold

Plants bleached of their chlorophyll,

Panting in auspicious rays of afternoon sun.

 

Brittle cocoons nest

Tiny seeds; keepsakes,

 That murmur and sigh

Promises.

 

So I cradle

Your vow. Plant it.

In my Chest; folded in safe to keep.  

A seed, a token,

Pressed into damp soil,

Budding with all the potential

Of earth’s most intricate flower.

 

I am starting my own literary journal

I have no idea exactly how I’m going to go about starting this, but…. I’m doing it!!!

Twelve

There are
Fifty-three
Muscles in my face.
Twelve
Are relevant
To you.

Eyes meeting mine,
Dissolving the expanse
Of this room,
Affection unspoken.

Four
Catch the corners
Of my mouth,
Tug my lips
Up toward my cheeks.

Smell sweet air
Through the sunroof.
Feel golden beams of luster
Cascading on our shoulders.
Music in the rhythm of the freeway.
We’ll go anywhere together.

Two
Loop around my eyes
Crinkling with my squint.

I find you
In a mountain of our pillows,
Folds of down filled quilts
Incubating us.
Sleep slows each breath
As we dream together.

Two
Pull from the center
Of my upper lip;
Draw my nose up with them.

Your coffee cup
Left on the counter
Next to mine
Exactly where it belongs.
A lukewarm inch
Of our sweet morning
In the bottom
Reminds me of this home we share.

Two
Elevate the angle of my mouth-
Crooked at times.

Waves push foamy salt
To our toes
Lapping at the tiny fists
Of our child
Who tests the ocean
This first time
With fearless elation.

And those last
Two
Muscles
Stretch my mouth out
Side to side

Finally,
With all twelve,

You make me smile.

So discouraged. Rejected again…

Over the past few months I’ve submitted tons and TONS of my poetry to literary magazines. Every SINGLE one has been rejected. Just got my last rejection in the mail yesterday. It’s SO discouraging. When I see the stuff that does get published I can see that it’s good and interesting…but not SO much better than mine. Sometimes different, but not better… I feel like I must be submitting to the wrong publications.

Who would my writing appeal to? Emotional teenage girls probably… haha. I need to find a literary magazine that specializes in mush… and then I’d be golden.

I currently have NO followers, so I assume no one is actually reading any of this, but if anyone does read this, and has any suggestions, kindly post some comments. I’d love to get something published.

Maybe I should just start my OWN literary magazine. hmmm.

Really getting tired of seeing these messages...

I’m feeling Inspired

I feel so inspired lately! I think it must be the weather. Springtime always makes me feel SO happy.

Sometimes I think about how my parents named me April and how fitting that is for me. The literal meaning of the Latin word is “opening” as in the blooming of a flower, new life. Spring is such a beautiful time of year. So much birth and life and color.

It makes me happy and it makes me want to be outside and it makes me want to write a million poems about everything because my heart just feels swollen with joy and love and emotion.

You Put Poems in My Head

You are the last day of summer

Your hands a September breeze

Tangling knots in a cascade of my hair

As we hide beneath its curtain

Of brown and sun-touched gold.

Your lips taste of salted air.

The ocean’s breath

Which hovers just above that tepid water

And I breathe it in just the same

Our limbs immersed

In its gentle bath.

Those amber fireflies

Gleaming in your eyes

Tell Tales

Of Scorching afternoons

Hot as steam

Levitating from the downpour.

Vapors from your smile

Torrid against my skin,

And Lingering with hope,

That melts away

Across the horizon

In all the brilliant orange

Of that last sunset.

You leave me shining

Bright as autumn’s first stars.

Adeline

You swelled my belly

Round with Renaissance curves

Angles softened and voluptuous with fertility

That rhythmic hummingbird flutter

Extension of my own heart

Each beat growing you stronger

Each day a part of me

Growing independent from my body

Could you feel my ribs relinquishing

Against your feet,

Skin conceding to your limbs’

Demands to stretch?

I felt the mathematics

Against my chest each night

My breath repressed

With your multiplication and division.

Cell by cell I felt you become mine.

Re-Discovery

In these shadows

Cast Against our skin

By Candle light

I re-discover you.

The taste of your skin

Against my lips

Strangely Unfamiliar

In this bed

Which contours to our curves

And sheets that whisper

Our intimate secrets

As they rustle against our skin.

I know your mouth.

I know your hands.

It’s this passion

Pulling through my hair

Tangling my limbs

With yours

Weaving us into a rope

Of heartache

Which we untwine

Breath by breath

Secret by secret

Lie by lie

Soul by soul

Until our naked hearts

Beat side by side

Together as they always were

Amid the chaos

We created around us.

I see now

What was lost

My hands find it in the dark

A friendship

Laced with passion

A cord

That cannot be torn in two.