I thought as a special treat for the new year I would share two poems I wrote for Creative Writing this last semester.
Curiosity Seduced Reason
Curiosity seduced reason.
Juice dribbled down her chin
as she swallowed to understand evil.
She shared the knowledge, of course,
watched as the juice dribbled down his chin.
They hid at the sound of footsteps.
Adam, of course, shared his warped knowledge
of their joined nakedness, shifting the blame.
Footsteps sounded as they fled from the garden.
God loaded their shoulders with toil.
Joined in nakedness, they shifted and
her labor brought forth blameless life.
Shoulders loaded with lumber, Cain
sacrificed the fruit of his toil while
Abel’s labor brought forth life, destroyed
to appease wrath with blood-stained stones.
One brother sacrificed another, the fruit
of his mother’s womb killed by hands
blood-stained with unappeased wrath
while dust cried out to the maker for justice.
A mother’s womb killed by sinner’s hands,
Sacrificed to clothe the naked wretch
He cried to his maker, shouldering justice
as blood dribbled down his skin.
His sacrifice clothed our transgression
settled the score between good and evil
as blood dribbled down his skin,
red as the fruit which tore us apart.
A score settled between good and evil
of knowledge wrongly obtained.
Red as the fruit which tore us apart
when curiosity seduced reason.
Bittersweet Echo
Goodbye lingers on my tongue as an echo,
bumping shoulders with strangers on crowded streets,
parting before we’ve even said hello.
Novocain greetings numb from overuse—hollow
—addicted to the taste of bittersweet;
goodbye lingers on my tongue as an echo.
Hands touch, eyes meet in unintended limbo.
With mumbled apologies, I look up to see
we’ve parted before we’ve even said hello.
Fixed smiles evade empty conversation; I know
you—I’ve known a hundred faces like yours—repeat.
Goodbye lingers on my tongue as an echo.
Gentle kisses brush my lips like snow
as shortfall affection melts, tracing my cheek.
We’re parting before we’ve even said hello.
Captive to a backward world—I stare through
the looking glass—trapped. Admitting defeat
Goodbye lingers on my tongue as an echo
and we part before you’ve even said hello.
Beautiful