‘I hate poetry’

I’d say before you told me

You love poetry

-Ardent Poetry Admirer

A few sips of some bubbly

And I’m dancing on my toes

champagne glasses chinking

A toast I must suppose

‘Cheers! Be Merry!’—as those salutations go

To all my friends, I love you!

Through my giggles they must know

A plastic cup marked solo

Winked at me below

As my eyes searched throughout the party

For a friend here who I know

And I found but one

She was the one

In the dress red like maraschino.

Normally I hate warm beer

But for her I let that go

I sit at home

I’m all alone

Until I call my friends

we hab such fUn

all togethher at lest

Martin really luvs a drik

As dus Toni too

I never fail too indulge dem

And givme a small taste to

my friends

they’re my company up in that room

the cupboard is packed

i open the doors so the gloom

doesn’t get to those poor tenants too soon

you know i suppose drinks must get lonely too.

But after a while

All my friends left

Their bottles were emptied

And all I still had

Were headaches, no memories

Of the times that we spent

Together on my birthday,

Christmas, New Years Eve—

And for them to just get up and leave

Didn’t leave me quite merry

I felt deceived indeed.

Thud-Thud.

My feet crunch the gravel

Thud-Thud.

My heart pounds in my chest

Thud-Thud.

My lungs grasp for air

Thud-Thud.

No need for rest

I ran and she laughed

“How could that be fun”

I laughed along too

rubbing blisters on one

of my toes which was bleeding

from the miles which were

painful and long,

yet none could deter

me from taking, no one,

Not even her

Thud-Thud.

My feet are now sore

Thud-Thud.

My heart quickens its pace

Thud-Thud

My lungs have a harder time running this race

Thud-Thud.

She loved to walk

and walk yes she did

I’d slow down my pace

we’d match strides, it is

a bit silly, I know, to lessen your speed

but she’d smile and I’d tell

Myself it was worth it, her love was all I need

Thud-Thud.

My feet are now bleeding.

Thud-Thud.

My heart pumps blood to my ears.

Thud-Thud.

My lungs and their gasps are all that I hear.

Thud-Thud.

I told her I’d like to run a race

and I swear, you should’ve seen the look on her face

a laugh and a smile took the place

of her grimace that had recently filled up that space

Thud-Thud.

I can’t feel my feet

Thud-Thud.

My chest is numb

Thud-Thud.

My breathes come in wheezes

Thud-Thud.

I see the finish line, it’s almost done

I won! I won!

I crossed the finish line

and looked around to see

if that friend, who was mine

was waiting for me

at the end of my race

but I see no one

not even her

no smile on her face

--

My feet stopped their pounding of gravel beneath

--

My heart ached as a muscle that’s hurt

--

My lungs let out sighs that escaped as I breathed

--

All of this lasted until the day I saw her

walking besides a new, slower girl

shortening her paces and looking to see,

if the girl was smiling, the one who wasn’t me.

Thud-Thud.

My feet still have blisters and continue to bleed

Thud-Thud.

My heart loves to run, or so says my heartbeats

Thud-Thud.

My lungs catch my breath sometimes when I see

Thud-Thud.

Myself in the mirror, with a smile on me.

The city is an ugly place

I saw a rat in Central Park

And what’s worse is

There’s a man next to me on the subway

Who rejects deodorant from his repertoire.

There is piss on the corners

In the streets

On the plants

But in the city’s defense

I see a man

With a baby

And the baby’s cute face

Which upon closer observation

Is caked over with snot

—a disgrace.

I close my eyes

Imagining a meadow or some place

Better than the city

And I wait and I wait

My thoughts are disrupted

With a honk and a yell

“Man I’m driving—what the hell?’

After all

The rats in the park were just trying to smell

The small flowers that grow in the shapes of a bell

and the man on the subway just had to tell

me of the time that he just about fell

in love with a woman who he met in the street

after she stepped in urine—and with that on their feet

they danced all night to their loving heart beats

After dating and marriage, they did what lovers do

And had not just one child, but two

It was this very day the first babe slept in

Keeping her mother up in their apartment

And the father with the second

Took him

On the subway for the very first time

Where he cried and he cried

Until his eyes

Rested on his mother’s again

And let out a sigh.

At least this is what I imagine to be true

It explains the ugly, but it gives me hope

That beauty exists in this city too.

"And Wendy looked out her window to see Peter's shadow, in the distance, approaching the second star on the right—straight on 'til morning."

Mother kissed Sarah on the forehead, carefully as not to wake her. Yet, with her eyes squeezed shut, feigning sleep Sarah inhaled deeply and caught the fleeting scents of sweet, chocolate cookies intertwined with those of delicate rose petals. As her mother left she shut the door, leaving but a small sliver of light spilling out onto the floor. Following several airy footsteps and a click, a thick blanket of darkness covered the room. Sarah's thoughts were intertwined with mermaid, and pirate, and Peter Pan—Clunk. 

Her hooded eyes, drunk with sleep, opened just a crack. She shivered as the cool London air was creeped into her room. Motionless, Sarah watched as moonlight danced with shadows across her bedroom floor—Creak. 

The shadows became one and came closer and closer to her bed, until she could nearly reach out and touch it. 

This poor shadow is lost, she thought, her concern mounting, maybe it belongs to Peter!

Sarah reached out her small hand tentatively, as not to scare Peter's shadow. 

"Hello my Darling."

It thinks I'm Wendy, Sarah's heart beat fast as she thought of all the adventures she was about to embark upon in Neverland. It seemed strange thought—If Peter was meant to be a child, just like her, then why were his hands so big and rough? But her concerns disappeared as those hands placed a damp rag over her mouth, containing what could only reasonably be pixie dust. 

That night Sarah flew high above the streets of London, past Big Ben, and into the clear night sky—you can still see her, with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, in the shadows just past the second star to the right.