Poetry
Poetry academically written and revised at the University of New Hampshire.
where the trees don't go.
spring2024
the trees look different here.
more complex.
they look tough
like they’ve been hurt before.
as if they’ve been carrying
the weight
of a particularly sore subject
on their shoulders.
maybe this is how my dad felt
carrying me on his shoulders as a kid.
the trees are lucky
to have stayed in one place
for so long
like the tree tattooed on my wrist.
engraved with each little branch.
maybe lucky
isn’t the right word
for a human who is content.
branches fall in a departed forest
and i think about you
i could take such sorrowful things
and turn them poetic.
romantic.
you can take my flaws
and make them beautiful.
my muse hidden in the backyard
full of weeds and orange peels.
a candle lit up a silhouette of your face
swear i never saw anything so beautiful.
start the crash
i’ll put out the fire
again.
a cross.
spring2024
carve each letter
of your name
into my bones.
i’ll cringe
when the saw
hits my tooth.
fill my bloodstream
with your laughter.
bring me to church.
i’ll stay silent
lord, don’t tempt me-
the presence of your mother.
bleed myself dry, to be liked
to be enough
eyebags never looked
so flattering.
i’ll put a lock on my grave
to stop my body
from crawling back to you.
lack of protection.
to wear out old shoes
until your toe gets cut off
by the lawnmower.
just like great grandpa.
pick apart the orange
save the scraps for the plants.
we are austrian.
spring2024
dankeshön.
thank you
very much
in german.
so she thanked me
for the kiss
upon her shoulder
though she makes
me feel sick
sick to my stomach-
sometimes
it reminds me.
omi’s christmas punch
hit you harder
the next morning.
‘bolle-’
red wine
of all kinds
berries
and regrets.
like not visiting omi
more often
i hadn’t seen her
in home theater
in years
my younger self
would be disappointed
the sunset mural
next to the closet
filled to the ceiling
with plastic bags
that would engulf me
if i dared to turn the doorknob
though we’d all laugh
and laugh
and laugh
sister would take omi’s
sticky notes
and write little letters
that remain stuck to the
coffee table
to this day
five,
ten
years would pass
and the letters sat
collecting dust
as the room filled with cobwebs
and not until recently
i walked down those slim stairs,
cobwebs entangled my hair,
i saw the mural
and began to cry
omi reached out and held my hand.
growing up is scary
in a time capsule
of unopened boxes.
Response to Brenda Shaughnessy
spring2024
Brenda Shaunghnessy creates a very coherent, readable sense of poetry in her book, “So Much Synth,” as she takes on concrete imagery and aspects many of her readers will be able to relate to through her own personal experiences. Especially for those who may relate more to her aimed content than others. She manages to take simple, seemingly mundane human experiences and turn them poetic, “myself age eight, whole head burnt with embarrassment at having lost a library book. myself lurking in a candled corner expecting to be found charming.” (pg.3) There is a talent Shaughnessy has as a poet that is not commonly found in the literary world. Shaughnessy manages to capture certain emotions that are found within even younger persons, especially in family relationships. “Me exploding at my mother who explodes at me because of the explosion.” (pg.4) another example of a very real family dynamic that is solid and concrete with a vulnerable honesty behind it; an admirable trait in poets specifically. Through this, Brenda Shaughnessy was nominated for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry along with various other nominations for her talented words in the community; she has written about various women and their relationships as the beliefs in the world develop with age. As her opening poems in crushing likeness being, “Gay Pride Weekend, S.F., 1992” which gives an accurate representation of the acceptance in the world during that time. She writes in a way that isn’t obsessing over the fact of homosexuality, rather treating it as it is as heterosexuality is treated; normal. The poem, “Why I stayed, 1997-2001,” is a poem that stuck out to me based on its realism and harsh reality of some relationships. The specific quote, “ When a woman you love hits you on the head with a book you love, is that love?” (pg.37) Because it is such a solid and concrete analysis of how it feels to be in a toxic relationship and that can speak volumes to those in one. Shaughnessy takes great pride and emotion in her poems, she lets the words flow through to her in order to write and understand exactly what she feels. In an interview from the Chicago Humanities Festival, Shaughnessy spoke about the Ghost of Katrina, how she felt those emotions at that house and forced herself to cry and feel the emotions while writing and was able to produce something amazing that she never would have been able to create at home. Shaughnessy said, “sometimes I need to trick myself to get out of a shell that I didn’t know I was hiding under.” Continuing on through her specific writing process, she stated, “The process of writing is really the self speaking to the universe. It’s a kind of prayer. It’s being able to say all of those things you couldn’t say to your relatives, all those things you couldn’t say to those lovers, all those things you could never say to people you love now. It’s a way to say all of the things you could never say period. It’s a way to give yourself permission to say those things.” (Shaughnessy, 2013) Shaughnessy goes on to speaking out about writer's block and how feeling what was just quoted, and then feeling blocked is “devastating.” This quote gives a strong sense into her process and the way she sees writing poetry because all of our experiences with poetry are different. Shaughnessy’s organization and “The two of us were
never more alone than when together.”(pg.31)
structure of her poetry is very fascinating. We see a lot of her poems
include what she calls, “mixtapes” which include mainly music from the 70s and 80s, that she can associate memories with; not only this but she creates a vivid memory of what it is like to create a mixtape with such love and care for another individual. Something many in love have experienced along with the embarrassment and vulnerability that comes with it. As she states it's not something you can just delete and get rid of, those songs are carved in the others head forever after seeing that mixtape. Something so incredibly powerful and unique of her to write about, surrounding the topic of love. Her poems feel very infinite when it comes to her love for others. The organization of her poems are very easy to follow and stay engaged with on a personal level. Her poems keep the audience entertained with its diction to realistic experiences.