poetry in motion
I recently updated the poetry section of my website, so I thought I’d share a few of my old poems on the blog today in order to celebrate! Here goes my first poetry blog post… (thx to Taylor for owning a typewriter for this great accompanying image)
Although I’ve been writing poems since forever, I only started submitting to literary magazines and chapbooks in 2015. That year, one of my poems (“An Autobiography”) was quickly shared across Tumblr, and even made it onto PoemsPorn, a popular writing hub that features work on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. It went kind of viral on Instagram, receiving over 19000 likes!
All of my published poetry to date can be found on the poetry page of my site, but I’ve written several other pieces that are near and dear to my heart that have only appeared in school chapbooks, my iPhone notes app, and Google Drive.
Enjoy a few of my all time favourites below…
hellenic myth was written in sophomore year of high school & inspired by The Great Gatsby, becoming brave also has a Greek myth theme going on, and apprehension is a short + sweet haiku:
table of contents
hellenic myth
the kind of Greek hero she was meant to fall for,
all too impulsive & just the slightest bit ironic
considered you kinetic
saw potential energy in your motionless limbs
marvelled at the way you produced something more than static
she heard you laughing
frothing underneath a milkshake of stars
sipping in a constellation with every turbulent breath
she adored it when you spoke tridents at her shish-kabob heart
worshipped the way you shook her hipbones like San Andreas
& cherished your ribcage with careless hands
You preferred heaviness:
that way, when she tried to use your torso as a lifesaver
both of you started drowning
you knew that was the only way she’d learn how to swim
you wanted to bring her to her darkest
so you could sun chariot a way across her atmosphere,
stunning as Polaris
she became the second coming of Icarus
& you rejoiced when she found a way to keep from plummeting
you strived to keep her city-states safe
attempted to foster patience like Penelope
warded away every suitor that serenaded her
Her hubris used to be hamartia
until you offered up a half and half attitude
now, she’s got one less sin harbouring in her asteroid belt
she swallows Heracles down like guilt,
hoping each of his labours grants her a lifespan
You weren’t sure if she preferred flirting to trigger warnings
but she’s streamlining her streetlight transformations—
astonishing your canvas heart with meteor shower strokes
Years from now, you’ll trace sand back to the Atlas bearing days
when her Spartan reared children warred against your shoulders
like skyfall
she’ll remember the bronzing of her skin
the way bite marks do chapped up lips,
thinking these two tone times are golder than the ichor she always wanted
and as she doubles over rapids to birth children like ships,
your helter-skelter love story becomes her Hellenic myth
becoming brave
whether Icarus knew he would perish
by grasping for the sun too tightly
and I’ve decided that it wouldn’t have made a difference
either way because I reach out to you
even though my hands blister. In this,
I remind myself that Robert Frost was right.
I’m telling you that I will bear the heat in my cheeks
and the dryness of my lips
even though I have always
been afraid of fire. Our love
does not have to flicker. Let it take after
the sunflowers, so that I may follow you
wherever you choose to go.
apprehension
But what is life without fire
dancing in your limbs?
I don’t write as much as I used to, which I suppose is a little sad. 2015 was a year of many changes, and I guess I might just not be as inspired as I used to. But looking through some of my old pieces, I feel tempted to start again…