literature

Anthology: Strange Beauty

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Literature Text

Tidepools

I saw my soul in a tidepool
of the Adriatic Sea – turban
snails and purple-spiked urchins
hid their soft undersides as sea
stars inched from one pool
to the next. My fingers grazed
tubeworms and anemones,
scared a mollusk, flipped
a struggling sand dollar.
I saw the future in strewn
sea shells and crab tracks,
dug up clams to whisper
my secrets between their hinges
before tossing them back
like a message in a bottle.
I wanted to hold this tiny world
in my hands like a mirror
and plunge its shallow depths
until I knew everything
there was to know. But when
the moon pulled closer,
my tidepool was lost in the surge;
the mirror shattered, left
to the relentless urgency
of the rising tide.



Clutter

She cleaned my room while
I was gone. Picked up the floor,
vacuumed the rug, made
the bed. The mess makes her
grouchy, twitchy. But my mess
and her mess are different
creatures; hers are monsters
to be conquered; mine are
companions to be loved.
A perfectly smooth river
stone; ticket scraps to each
concert; a woven basket
crafted in Mexico. My bookshelves
overflow and my floor is scuffed
and my desk is covered in paint
stains and each flaw is a memory
and each mess is an experience.
My rumpled bedsheets know
the curve of my body; my shoes
are always ready to walk
out the door; the bottom left
drawer of my desk gets stuck,
and I’m okay with that.
It’s fine. It’s secondhand, worn
and loved, and does its job faithfully.
And when it gets stuck, I only need
to pull a little harder.



Spiral Staircase

I am a spiral staircase -
a spine twisted into itself,
existing only in between
spaces, neither here
nor there, going up
and going down. I am
called by basements
to descend their dark
depths; I am summoned
by attics, longing to reveal
their secrets. Wisteria vines
twist around iron; lighthouses
flash Morse code messages;
-.-. .-.. .. -- -…-.-. .-.. .. -- -…
climb; climb. Follow my
linear, crooked helix path;
adventure awaits
in either direction.



Playground Philosophy

Perfect balance must be earned; strength is built
up step by step. Climb your geodesic
domes like trees; dig your hands into the silt
of knowledge; learn by being kinetic
whippoorwills, flying from slide to swing set.
Roar like tigers; run like werewolves under
full moons setting fast. You’ve monkey bars yet
to cross, entire worlds of small wonder
to excavate like diamond mines. Seesaw
jousting, chalk scribbling, soccer-grass-stained knees
give way to new pursuits – medicine, law,
botany – adults have no time for these
treasures you leave behind unknowingly.
In your play, there is still yet poetry.



Momentary

My favorite mug
is a shiny, glazed
turquoise, wide
and deep. Its weight
fits solidly in my hand,
radiating warmth
on winter nights
spent in books
and under blankets.
Amber ripples of tea
glimmer in the soft
lamplight, droplets
clinging to the lip
of my cup like flecks
of liquid glitter.
A breath of steam
fogs the window;
I trace a flower.



Strange Beauty

I want to love you the way
smoke loves sunshine -
an entanglement that leaves
both glowing with a warmth
that makes the intangible
observable.

I want to love you the way
encyclopedias love wildflowers -
swallowed whole, a carmine heart
left between dusty spines,
crushed by weight and time
into one.

I want to love you the way
verdigris loves copper -
a natural patina that grows,
envelops and protects,
hiding the soft, shining underside
that only we know.
MagicalJoey hosts anthology contests with some regularity, and I finally got in on the action. Learn more over here if you're interested in entering.

I chose my theme with the help of a poll; thankfully, my watchers chose the one I wanted to do anyway :XD: I keep a list of things I find lovely in unusual ways - things that aren't typically on the forefront of anyone's mind when presented with the word "beauty." Things like staircases, driftwood, crepuscular rays, playgrounds, keys, routine, in-between places.

I don't know yet if I'll keep these as a collection - I may resubmit them as individual poems later.
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Malintra-Shadowmoon's avatar
Congratulations on winning second place in the anthology contest :)