Heartstring Lover : Chris Anderson

Heartstring Lover

Chris Anderson

My insanity reads as a desperate rage To the child once encaged by the sun The rising tides, moon, solarifies days mist Faces, question, red string tied laces, wild breaths entangle The myth that we all used to hate; The grand quest of finding truth in us, paced footsteps on a pointless chase, the search of faith or fate or the vase of my heart or the space in between us, the gap that never closed, the clear case of thoughtful crime of translucent skin of mine and yours, friend or foe or slow dancing lovers, always on your tip toes, take or borrow, my ego of a sculptor’s make Low rides and high rise for safe and sound Shake my hands and sow my lungs I have prayed and pondered on lonesome nights and let our fingertips dance away, my insanity is now seen as vain, darling, rage on, rage on, rage on, rage on…

Peculiar, Uncommon, and Perfect Reflections

Maya Libraro I like to believe I find poetry in the world's most unique parts I find it in the day that we painted my walls It was my idea, but you helped We painted my doorway, we painted my floor, we painted the ceiling and soon our hands and faces were covered in paint, but we didn’t care because every time I looked at the paintings, I would think of you I find it in the way the sun hits my wall at a certain time in the afternoon It's usually around 4:30 when the sun is that golden color and sometimes the window makes small rainbows scatter everywhere When the glow is soft like honey on the tile I find it in the collection of seashells I have stowed away under my bed Safely stored in my mom's hat box, my assortment of mother of pearl and Argonaut shells grew over the years, thanks to my Nonna who picked the best shells in Betty's Bay Some days I think about choosing a lucky few of the shells and stringing them along as if they were beads, so I could wear them like a necklace

I would never do that, though I find it in the night my father was taken from me When my soul was carried away with him by men in tinted sunglasses and dark suits, and with them a part of my heart and a piece of my mind tucked in his pocket The way my heart shattered like a wine glass on a hardwood floor when I heard the news

We can’t fix him this time I find it in the way those words mocked me with their sweet giggles And suffocated me with their shards dipped in defeat, and made me bleed I remember the night dad read us that story, I could have sworn it was about a unicorn but I'm having some trouble remembering right now In the way that I now wish I could go back and say to my dad all the things a 5-year-old should not ever know or ever say or ever think The more I think about it though, I am pretty sure it was it was about a unicorn The memory of you is my paper doll that I have brought into this world Made from scraps I pieced together desperately make something tangible You are like gripping sand, until eventually the sand slips through your fingers, and is gone, and you are only clutching dirt and air and grit

You are always there, and always will be, but never really were I find it in a clementine

Who knew there were so many unknown parts to an orange fruit You bit down, peel and all, and the blood dripped from your chin and stained your teeth Your saucer eyes looked at me in despair and love I never loved you more than I did at that moment I find it in my mother

In the way she listens to me yell and doesn’t yell back In the way that year after year, I blow out my birthday candles and wish I could look in the mirror and see her She is the moon, the strongest, greatest, and bravest woman I know What other force of nature would be able to move oceans?

I find it in my sister, the most beautiful girl I have ever seen I remember the sticky night we tried to catch fireflies in some college town in New Jersey That night I decided that the one thing I wanted in life was to never lose you You are the wildest ocean, an untamable river, and the most breathtaking of sunsets all at once When one of the fireflies whispered in my ear love can never die Because you are my sister, I know this is true I find it in the souls of my best friends The kindest people I will ever know I find it in the days when snowflakes catch on your eyelashes The way the corners of your mouth turn up into a grin, even when you try and stop it I find it in the trees, the sun, the planets, and even in the stars too I find it in every single excruciatingly beautiful moment of my life I find it on the writing on the walls, the writing on the ceiling, the writing on the floor, and after all of this, after poetry and inspiration and words are flowing out of my eyes and my ears That is the day when I can finally call myself A poet.