Victoria

Another poem about one of my students....

Those thick-rimmed glasses
suede fringe boots
and over-sized ear-flap hats
are completely you
unique, unapologetic, unbending
every ounce of you is
pure and true
never wavering from
your selfless beliefs
and attempts to
cure the world
you don't really understand
your own strength
and though I am
twice your age
next to you I pale
and feel I could be broken
by the power of
a single feather

Copyright © Catherine Young, 2008

Her Ring

It was four and a half
years ago that I tried
on her ring
it was weathered and seasoned
- a mirror of her fingers, yet
against my skin
it felt smooth and
soft and
right

but today

I recognize that my eyes
will probably never
settle upon
that ring
and certainly not
those fingers
again

Copyright © Catherine Young, 2008

Perfectly flaw-filled

Your pistachio eyes
are sometimes weary
and broken.
Your tongue is
sometimes biting,
carrying a scorpion's
sting.
Your hands
are sometimes not
soft and young
as I once remember.
But your heart
is always open.
Your flaws are what
render you
perfect...
And what would
this life
be without you?
This is a mystery
I wish to
remain forever unsolved.

Copyright © Catherine Young, 2008

A New Friend

I wish I had a
friend named
Julio
so that I could
correct people
who
improperly pronounced
the name with a
Hard J
rather than the
Soft H

(and also)

Julio sounds like
the name of a person
who could
really handle his drink
and I
am up for that
challenge

Copyright © Catherine Young, 2008.

Six Months

six months is a finite
infinity
in this mind
but I want to suck the
endlessness in
tasting its seconds
and minutes and days
letting each moment
wash over me
immersing my soul
only in thoughts of you
to quench the passing time
and ease my waiting

Copyright © Catherine Young, 2008

October Sky

Yellow dashed lines blur into one
solid and slithering serpent
unwinding in front of me with a speed
and an efficiency
I can't quite comprehend
- unwinding how
- unwinding where
I don't know.
Foot heavy pedal pressure
lean in
lean in
and skuttle across the moraine's trees
red and orange and yellow and brown
and some
an indignant green.
The sky above them
menacing and a million shades of grey
- in the brisk October wind it moves
and moves
and draws me in
encapsulated by the
chagrin and overwhelming
sadness
weighing down on my chest.
My glass pane headache beats
to some old
Neil Young song
about the Southern man, as
the wistfulness
of this October sky
grazes my cheek with
its deft palm,
and I fall under the spell again
of the dashed yellow lines
cavalier
against the black tar road
- unwinding how
- unwinding where
I don't know.

Copyright © Catherine Young, 2007.

Simple Math

GAH! So little writing done lately....so little motivation! Meh....

Simple Math

I am composed of 1/5
truth and
conviction,
and 4/5 confusion and
coffee.

Copyright © Catherine Young, 2007.