Author: Christina's Words

“The darkness around us is deep.” ~ William Stafford

“Snow, Aldo” by Kate DiCamillo

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry4 Comments

Once, I was in New York,
in Central Park, and I saw
an old man in a black overcoat walking
a black dog. This was springtime
and the trees were still
bare and the sky was
gray and low and it began, suddenly,
to snow:
big fat flakes
that twirled and landed on the
black of the man’s overcoat and
the black dog’s fur. The dog
lifted his face and stared
up at the sky. The man looked
up, too. “Snow, Aldo,” he said to the dog,
“snow.” And he laughed.
The dog looked
at him and wagged his tail.

If I was in charge of making
snow globes, this is what I would put inside:
the old man in the black overcoat,
the black dog,
two friends with their faces turned up to the sky
as if they were receiving a blessing,
as if they were being blessed together
by something
as simple as snow
in March.

“Snow, Aldo” by Kate DiCamillo. © Kate DiCamillo.

“A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours… (Grogan)

On By Christina's WordsIn Quote

“A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours. Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things-a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty.”

~ John Grogan, Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog

“Ten Thousand Flowers in Spring” by Wu-Men

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry3 Comments

Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn,
a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter.
If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things,
this is the best season of your life.

“Ten Thousand Flowers in Spring” by Wu-Men, The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry. © Harper Perennial, 1993.

“Static Electricity” by Neil Hilborn

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry, Spoken Word1 Comment

In second grade we did an experiment with static electricity,
We rubbed balloons on our heads
And stuck them to walls.
And kissing you is kinda like that.
My hair stands on end,
I get shocked when I touch things
And I want to tell you stupid stuff like
Kissing you is a bundle of kittens
Colliding with my face at .5 miles an hour
It’s like being shot with a dart gun made of hummingbirds
That shoots darts made of hummingbirds
And your lips are so soft I can’t actually tell when we are touching
Like braiding hair underwater
Like napping under a blanket filled with rainbows and clouds
And your favorite books
When you kiss me the cartoon devil and angel on my shoulder
Climb into my ears
Lick all of my neurons
And start fucking on my brainstem
If you were a 300 pound professional weight lifter
And I were a Kia Sorento
You could drag me anywhere
Kissing you is patient and impossibly slow
Like peeling paint off the wall with glittery stickers
Or cooking a turkey with a lighter
You remind me of the time in second grade
When Bethany Hopkirk
Called me a freak face and stabbed me in the arm with a pencil
Cause Kissing you is kinda like that
Unhealthy and will probably result in disfigurement
But baby, bring on the facial scars and lead poisoning
Cause when you kiss me you are dangling me off a bridge by a belt
You are the screen door of my childhood
All taste and swinging
So full of holes you could never keep anything in
You are every black eye
You’re a semitruck and I’m a turtle with two broken legs
And a broken heart
You are illegal fireworks falling down stairs together
Driving on four flat tires
Playing Frisbee at night with a saw blade
Kissing you is like falling out of a 37 story window
Exploding into a cloud of robins and reappearing on the ground with my mouth full of feathers
And when I can’t kiss you
I try to find the static electricity in my apartment
I dig around in light sockets
Change lightbulbs with my teeth
And make out with the toaster
And I know we’ve only been seeing each other for a couple weeks
But baby when you kiss me
I can’t remember my middle name
Or which one is my left foot.
So come over tonight
We’ll shuffle around the apartment in our socks
And we’ll let our lips drift toward each other
Like tectonic plates made…
Out of kittens.

Neil Hilborn, (facebook) (twitter @Neilicorn); video via Button Poetry.

“[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” by E.E. Cummings

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry7 Comments
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
                                                      i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

 

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

 

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

.

 

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“[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” Copyright 1952, © 1980, 1991 by the Trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust, from Complete Poems: 1904-1962 by E. E. Cummings, edited by George J. Firmage.

Source: Poetry (June 1952).