golden gate bridge at dusk via grain
I’ve written a few poems this summer, here I am sharing two. I’ve found a new release for when I just need to get my voice out and feelings down somewhere, in the form of poetry. My technique is still very rough and amateur but I am hoping to find my rhythm and style with practice. I think my voice is strong in them.
Some precedent for the poems: An Ode to the Gatekeepeer is a poem I wrote while riding BART. A man had walked in, and I was very unsuspecting he would make me feel uncomfortable, but he did. He was staring directly at me talking gibberish about any subject his mind wandered too. It looked as if he had something stuffed under his puffy coat, and his fist was balled. I actually felt very threatened, so to calm myself I wrote a poem during this whole ordeal. It’s supposed to be funny, but I have a weird sense of humor so…
It Encloses Me Too, came about at a diversion youth group I attend for work. One of the facilitators was really speaking truth one day, it almost felt as if he was preaching. I felt like I was receiving a sermon. I don’t follow a specific religion, and my God is not the God outlined in the Bible by any means. I am minoring in Liberation Theology, so I am still trying to figure out where my faith lies. But I do believe we find communion in each other and in simple moments/feelings we experience everyday. We become enclosed by them, they are our sermons, and they carry us through.
An Ode to the Gatekeeper
A gatekeeper of sorts
He guarded the door like an outline of the city
Bold and dark
Rigid and unwavering
In his delirium he discussed the smell of rotten eggs and gentlemen
He could pass for one
In my fear I prayed to God one, two, three times
Heart racing rapidly against the rattle of the train
He was the snake and I the culprit in his eyes
Belittled by his presence I pulled my hat down further
Looking out the window as my eyes reflected back to his image
His eyes carving a shadow into me
“Montgomery station is approaching”
A sigh of a relief
as I turn my back away from the piercing of his presence and into the sharp gaze of the city
I guess he is unaware snakes symbolize evil too
It Encloses Me Too
I receive my sermon under open water
Confined by the ceramic that encloses my naked body
Water tinted pink and orange
Lone fingers peaking above the sunset
I receive my sermon across the table from old Mrs. Alva
Tracing her graying locs so dillegently as Jose’s voice fills the room
It echoes;
Across the four corners of the tables
They enclose us too
I receive the sermon when puddles overflow my eyes with tears
I miss him greatly
His mom and I count on these days as the numbers trickle down
Sometimes they mean too much to us
We are enclosed by them too
I receive the sermon when I sense summers coming to an end
My body yearns to be free
To climb the height of the fig tree
And run into the ocean until I am crystallized by salt
Have feasts on the roof;
Snack on fruit
And
Lastly, bake under the sun until my brown skin becomes caramelized
This is the best sermon of all
Because the timing is right
It’s sharp bright rays surround me,
A little differently,
It encloses me too.
