Andrea's Poetry

Ballad of a Sunflower | Defenestration | Ephemeral Puddles | Grease Stains | Lioness | All's Fair in Love and War
Thermodynamics | Snow Pixie | Birds of a Feather | Molly

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Ballad of a Sunflower

Dedicated to Atashi no Wesley-chan

I fell in love first
With a sunflower seed

Its potential enticed me
Sweet aroma allured me
Simple goodness assured me

I kept it in a box, on my window sill
And watched it, for many days.
The more I watched, I loved.
But a seed
Could not give me what I need
And I could not then give a seed
What it needed to live.

One day it was gone,
after I left the window open,
And I worried.
For days, it did not return;
I made myself
Love less.

Weeks, and I planted a garden, but in
Sparkling sun my flowers died.
Fridays and Sundays
I would think of that seed.
I wished it well, but
Slapped myself into knowing it was gone forever.

One day I picked up
My trowel, and watering can
To listlessly salvage my old garden.
No sweet peas, no columbine greeted my eyes.
No lavender, no lupine did sweeten the air.

But how could I miss the tall, straight sunflower
Who now smiled for my peace and comfort
Who now shined for my joy and delight
Who now labored for my love and smile.

I dug up the weeds around it
And watered and tended it.
Until I found myself loving again.
And loved again.
But this time
We both could
Give.

Defenestration

NOTE: This is actually a song, MIDI of which is coming soon!

Verse 1: High in the 13th story
Doorless building
In a window I saw your face
With a laugh and a smile
You beckoned me upward
Then vanished leaving no trace--

Chorus: Defenestration
Your specialty
Lifting me up
Only to shove me down again
Defenestration
With such subtlety
You pushed me over the sill
Into a cement garden of weeds.

Verse 2: I climbed the fire escape
Opened the screen
Pulled aside the blinds for you
But when I tried to enter
I found cast-iron bars
Which I could not reach you through--

Bridge: Defenestration
Flung out the window with ease
No safety ropes catch me
No fall-breaking trees--

Verse 3: The metal fire escape creasked
I watched in horror
As you slowly turned the gears.
Stepping forward, one last
Pleading motion,
Then fell, fulfilling my fears--

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Ephemeral Puddles

Dedicated to Atashi no Kawazu

Fingers brushing, timid, at my elbow:
I submerge into a real of ephemeral wishes
A shadowy figure leads me into insubstantial mist
But I've been here before . . .
Hands clasp in desperate admiration:
A golden path illuminates,
winds, through flower buds and saplings;
I drift slowly through viscosity
Arms pulling away for sake of prying eyes:
I surface, but no ocean or lake greets my gasping surprise--
Only a mud-clouded puddle
In which I am face-down sprawled.

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Grease Stains

If you merely watched her grease-covered hands
You might guess she worked on cars, or with guns, or in a factory
Perhaps you'd be struck with surprised admiration
Or disbelieving displeasure.
But if you scrutinized more closely you might discover
Oily vertical stripes on the inside of her pant leg
and cog-wheel teeth marks on the inside of her arm.
Though she still might work with planes or assemble parts
She's really a student, biking
whose chain often derails just
as she's beginning
to gain speed
down steep
hills.

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Lioness

Dedicated to Atashi no Hikyuu

It is Easy to see my
Lemon Grin
And always in sight is my
Dull, Stubby hair.
My tree-like torso
Forever holds me in thrall
Too gangly for
Hunters like You.

You will never see
My Sinuous, Stalking movements
And you will never spy
My slow, Stealthy smile
My Golden eyes
Only shine in the moonlight
Far from
Hunters like you.

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All's Fair in Love and War

Creeping
Branches clinging
Slipping, scraping
Mud sucking
Peering, tensing, cocking
Sight aiming
Firing, ducking
Fingers twitching

Waiting

Silence screaming
Slinking, scanning
Ball streaking
Dodging, shaking, breathing
Tree blocking
Smiling, sighing
Insult teasing
Creeping

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Thermodynamics

Dedicated to Atashi no IshiKuma

Frothy hot chocolate
immerses
5 icicles
melting swiftly
yielding 1 lukewarm vessel
and five stumps where fingers had been.

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Snow Pixie

Dedicated to Atashi no IshiKuma

1 cold snowflake
Gently brushes his cheek
Timid yet inevitable
Swirling, Teasing
until the Strike
of her Hypothermic heart.

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Birds of a Feather

Dedicated to Atashi no IshiKuma

Red, blue green feathers
Smiling curved beak
5 sharp yellow talons
Gripped by fingers weak.

Pure white soft feathers
Serene shining eyes
Arching, slender, fragile neck
An elusive, teasing prize.

Gentle small brown feathers
Tinkling dancing song
Delicate, plain, fluttering wings
Outstretched arms long.

Oily black skinny feathers
Dirty bony feet
Cracking screaming coarse cackle
A veritable horror to meet --

why do i have to be a Vulture
instead of a Toucan, a Swan,
or even a Sparrow?
beak tearing rotting flesh;
shuffling, not Soaring;
parasitic, not Noble;
scraggly not Sleek.
not even Vultures
like other
vultures.

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Molly

Dedicated to Atashi no DT no Bouya

Even though I play the piano
and cook
and wear my hair long
proper dresses on Sundays
smile at everyone
and love kids
I like learning math and science
and using computers
and playing paintball
wearing men's shoes
joking obscurely and dryly.
Not the kind of girl
You brag to your roommates about; a
Friend, not a date.

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