SPRING A SECOND EARLY

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A poetry mini-collection composed of seasonal reflections and varied explorations of relatedness and transition.

Josie Valentine

beware her stare

oh, Josie Valentine

an orphan’s grip holds true

with hazel orbits

as revolutionary

as the early molten hue

fear a kinship

so unwelcome

so surreptitious too

she cries not

for her mother

but sees her out of view

in the metal

the deflect

the sterilising blue

there lies

the aftermath

of a bloody human coup

the saviour

the animal

the dwindling few

Spring

in the fall of a tear

sundrops

in silky, golden bounty

brighten the sleepiest crocus

enchant a winding

rosemary charm

grounded

i wake

in a chamber

of fluorescent pastel

shaded by

the sweetened blood

of a magnolia tree

on my palm,

a primrose opening

divulging buttery trims

disoriented

i wake

on the first day of spring

the smell of blossom

sparks mortal joy

it is as if

i have not breathed

in lifetimes

Highway

Barrenness

Like burning

Capillaries

Too straight

To cauldron

Life

Trees bend

Perhaps

In revered

Awe

Perhaps

In mockery

Stacatto moves

To block

Our path

Saving

Every ray

Of light

Bouncing off

A jet black

Oblivion

For redemption

In a near

Time

See

Cosmic light on

Tangled limbs

Gasping

For the

North Star

Matted and

Hazed in

Thorny capture

Forced to breathe

Together

See how

Porous curves

And crinkled shapes

Bury your

Smooth skin

Your paved world

Little worlds

Tennis balls and side eyes

You pitter patter

Bridging apricot skies

Mad as a hatter

I wished you real

Came through in a clatter

Some ask for the deal

When all I do

Is swoon and kneel

Mesmorised by you

Your sunshine soul

Is all I know as true

You are whole

And I dance on your edges

Loving is the goal

Cover letter

As a child

I dreamt of alien planets

Representing humanity

In intergalactic clashes

Saving towns

From evil curses

Taming magic

With my own enchantment

Sailing seas

To unknown islands

Mermaid kisses

And turquoise wiles

As a student

I centred with gravity

Bumped the confines

Of intuitive reality

Conceded injustice

In the plain monotomy

Swore to never

Become a part of it

Found solidarity

In hot-blooded sisters

Made plans to shift

Things for the better

As an adult

I feel quiet stagnation

And awe at the swarm

Of untapped potential

Deemed an individual

In my own right

The loneliness of it

Cuts at the pride

The seasons now pass

But I look the same

With roots of conviction

Eroding away

Enlightenment

To feel

The pull of soul and matter

In the

Tangerine openings

Treetop jangles

Feet prickles

Warm starlight

Damp earth

To feel

The lifting

Of it all

What else to say?

Standing worlds apart

Fingertip to fingertip

May not be

Progression

After all

Heraklion

I had thoughts of death

Which kept me up all night

(I didn’t sleep last night)

So I went to a museum

The museum was stuffy

I felt dense

A box of bones saddled

In balance with mine

I saw beads and metal

I could not believe the length of them

The time swallowed

I thought of swapping them with my own

Melting them into my skin

I wondered how the walls would change

If I dropped right now to the floor

The statues, the vases, the knives

Tested me out for size

They asked what I was made of

Where we will end?

What nice weather

Twinkling horizons

Shot into creation

Tease a

Glorious sapphire summertide

With jaded layers

Ashy trails

A ship powered by

The click of a button

Or the package of flesh

Commendeers us

Parts the seas

Change seeps through

Silently

Blind acceptance

Comes at a price

Lincoln's Park

how quick they were

to prey on weakness

it hurts to say

how my mind does it too

you responded with

molten iron

in puny bones

firing

one last time

protection sought

against those

you have always known

and slept beside

a primal competition

turned sour

turned inside

out

defiance

not survival

against tinkered rules

which raised you here

but must pull you back