"Ode to Scout"
Your eyes are a pool of beautiful things,
Swirls of understanding and naivete.
Inside their depths I see what’s deep in me,
Your eyes are a pool of beautiful things,
Swirls of understanding and naivete.
Inside their depths I see what’s deep in me,
You're laying siege on me
with your dimples and your crooked teeth
with your hair, wet from the shower
with the way your voice sounds when you're speaking Italian
with the way you make me feel, both like crushed gravel
I don't want the cold hallways,
their chill seeping underneath
my thin regulation gown and settling in my bones.
I don't want the nurses,
with their tight, sympathetic smiles
A gentle reminder of love,
the snow falls around like a hug,
one I’ve come to appreciate so much.
The chill in the air sweeps around us,
as spring dances with winter.
The two almost inseparable.
Finally, I am setting off on the path of my dream
My black rain boots made contact with the muddy dirt
Leave behind footprints as I strolled further away from my home
Lilly is a weird human being
In a world filled with fake smiles and greetings
Her genuine smile seems out of place
We were rising.
With every thread tied together, by those who wanted to catch hold—
Those with knotted breath and clasped hands
Weaving together a dream, cast out into a sea of stars—
(Inspired by Wallace Stevens's poem 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird', which is one of my favorites.)
Ⅰ
Among the deathly pale hills
I remember she smelled like cheap canned beer and Ajax dish soap;
Like that industrial elevator onto McClure 4, with the rainbow carpet walls sticking to its skeleton.
Alice’s porcelain-white fingers,
stark against the chestnut wood of the door,
trembled
Don’t worry, my queen
No one is betraying you
Don’t worry, my queen
Nobody hates you
Don’t worry, my queen
Your subjects are loyal
Daytime is my favorite time
as the tree's delicate boughs dance in the soft breeze
and their shadows tickle the window
and the sweet cardinal sings a song
to its loved ones