Home
Young Writers Project

Search form

  • Login
  • DONATE
  • CREATE
    • RECENT POSTS
    • THE DAILY READ
    • RECENT VISUAL ART
  • COMMUNITY
    • TINY WRITES
    • BOOK CLUB
    • ARTSPACE
    • LINE BREAK: Podcast archive
    • YWP MENTORS
    • YWP ALUMNI ADVISORS
  • CHALLENGES
    • WEEKLY CHALLENGES 22-23
    • JOURNALISM CHALLENGES
    • THE GREAT ARTISTS CHALLENGE
    • THE GREAT POETS CHALLENGE
  • CONTESTS & EVENTS
    • TEENAGER: See contest results in The Voice!
    • TRANSATLANTIC WORKSHOP! Reuben & Alex April 8
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • THE VOICE
    • ANTHOLOGIES
      • ANTHOLOGY 13 VIDEO
    • MEDIA PARTNERS
    • SPECIAL ISSUES: The ELM 2021-22
      • The ELM 2020-21
      • The ELM 2019-20
  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT YWP
    • QUICK FAQs
    • YWP NEWSLETTER
    • HOW THE SITE WORKS
    • RECENT HIGHLIGHTS
    • ANNUAL REPORT 21-22
    • PERMISSION FORM
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS OF USE
    • CONTACT US
  • Donate
  • LOG IN/JOIN
Previous Post
Next Post
Jul 27
poetry
Alessandra G.

Ode to Lovely

Sometimes it’s nice to see a familiar face.
Even if it belongs to the wirey greyhound, who traipses around the neighboring backyard.
An old friend I’ve hardly seen, but where she leads me is coated in cognizance.
Despite hopes of feeling her warm snout, the motor of her travels, I keep in my hiddenness.
I watch her old body of that
Peculiar red-gray, paw itself upon the Granite Step.

The one where I jumped and my ankle didn’t cooperate.
Where I lay in pain, in the yard of a stranger and their strange dog.
Where I was helped up by my mother, and that weekend’s dance recital chaînéd itself
Into a trip to the orthopedist.

Often I have admired the dog, in all her foreign entity.
Partially obscured by the untamed bushes and gnarled bark, I let my eyes search for more of her.
But I found some beauty in the forever search,
The game we have between us.
Drawn in and ignited by her endless exploration, consisting of something far beyond my knowledge.

My ears strain to hear the owner cry out her name, and to my delight, they ring: Lovely.
Immediately my teeth are bare to the sky, as a smile spreads on my face. Lovely, I repeat in my own voice.
A string of letters to put to the pacing friend.

I like to believe she spends her hazy days in her well-trodden backyard, scouting for treasures already found. But more than anything,
that she truly knows I see her, and her lovingly lopsided dance because
sometimes it’s nice to see a familiar face.
  • Alessandra G.'s blog
  • Sprout
  • Log in or register to post comments
Posted: 07.27.20
About the Author: Alessandra G.
Alessandra Giragos
MSG / CONTACT
RECENT LOVES
  • Wrestling the restless (it’s time to hide away again)
  • Black, White, and Red All Over
  • Linocut
  • To the person who has stolen my words without it hurting...I know you
  • I look pretty today,
RECENT COMMENTS
  • This is amazing! I absolutely
  • This is so wonderful. I
  • This is a moving poem. I
  • This is wonderful. This poem
  • I completely agree with

Other Posts

  • 17
    Your Little Bear has sat in your closet since you were nine and  Read more
    in poetry 0 Comments
  • Berceuse (Lullaby)
    It was he who fought for it to stay upstairs, disrupting the ‘nice’ furniture. Read more
    in poetry 2 Comments
  • The Life that Grows on the Rocks
    She stood by the sea, expecting to say nothing more Read more
    in poetry 0 Comments

Discussion

Comments

  1. Cloudkitty
    Aug 06, 2020

    In 3rd grade I had an obsession with Greyhounds and their sleek bodies and fast feet. You've brought that back to me :P

    "Meet me
    where the end begins,
    in echoes,
    where your world is me,
    and my world is yours."

    • Log in or register to post comments
  1. Alessandra G.
    Aug 06, 2020

    Aww I'm glad! They are beautiful :)

    Alessandra Giragos

    • Log in or register to post comments
  • ABOUT
  • DONATE
  • PUBLICATIONS
  • SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER
  • JOIN/LOGIN
YWP is a creative, online community of teen writers and visual artists. We're based in Burlington, VT, and we welcome young creators from anywhere!
Young Writers Project | 47 Maple St., Suite 216 | Burlington, VT 05401
501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 2006
Contact: Susan Reid, Executive Director: [email protected]; (802) 324-9538