poetry

A Visual Conversation – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
either right place, right time by coincidence or 
a true understanding and connection
somehow fostered in math class

two columns over, two rows away
yet your eyes keep meeting mine and i feel like
you can really see me, here in this silent
classroom

nothing spoken out loud

but i see you too
and i'm not worried or self-conscious
i'm just looking 
to get to know you

and i think i know you pretty well
learning more and more as our eyes
keep meeting

I hope you enjoyed this piece. I know it’s probably really cheesy unless you’re currently in middle school or high school (and even then…) but it was an idea I had in my drafts and I wanted to try it out. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

What Are The Odds? – Poem by Me

Brooke2 Comments 
what are the odds that you and i become 
a we or an us

what are the odds that you'll tell me if
that's what you want
that we'll be honest with each other for
once instead of dancing around
what we already have and wondering
if it's ever going to be something more

what are the odds that i'll be the one
to speak my mind
to tell you how i feel and make the 
first move because i can't control
your actions but i can sure control
mine

what are the odds that we do this
together, that we move forward and 
take on the world hand in hand

I hope you enjoyed this piece! I know it was kinda cheesy but I hope it was still a fun read– it was fun for me to write. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Simpler Days – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
land i've never seen
open roads i've never driven on
the sky is our blanket
and the stars sing goodnight

the grasses sway in greeting
when the morning sun rises
the sky is now watercolored
and the dew melts into our feet

trees i've never climbed
offer up their fruits for our
labors in keeping them company
and the leaves shield us in the heat

I hope you enjoyed this piece! I know it was a short one. It’s inspired by my current rereading of the Little House on the Prairie books, and an ode to one of the (many) lifestyles I used to think were super cool when I was younger. I now see many issues with the series, don’t get me wrong, but it’s nice to reminisce on childhood. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Pen Pal – Poem by Me

Brooke2 Comments 
putting pen to paper and spilling one's guts 
felt unnatural at first, with her tendency to 

pick up the phone to call her mother or run
to a friend down the hall. but something about

sitting down and writing relaxed her-- her 
shoulders stopped tensing and her posture

relaxed. you could just see it. what you couldn't 
see was her trying to assemble the pieces, put

together fragments of information from the letters
to stitch together a fabricated version of the person

behind them. she could only imagine their face,
their laugh, and their genuine reactions to 

her words if they were to have an in-person conversation.
can you send a picture of yourself? i'll send you one of me, 

she wrote. enclosed with the latest letter was a photo
of her, smiling on the beach with hair blowing 

in the wind. she would await a response patiently.

I hope you enjoyed this piece. I’ve never actually had a pen pal, but during quarantine one of my friends and I have been sending letters back and forth to each other. It’s been fun, especially when I see I’ve gotten a letter in the mail. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy out there!

Brooke

Odds and Evens – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
2, 4, 14, 24
numbers that mean something to me, 
most of them not for any particular reason

i prefer evens to odds-- i always have
and you're about as even as it gets

if i had to attach a number to you, it would
be 14. maybe that's part of the reason why
i was first drawn to you. i can't explain
why i have to quantify everything with 
numbers, i just do.

i find a number to describe everyone
it's a good thing you're even and not 
odd.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! It was something a little odd that just popped into my head, and although I don’t actually describe everything/people with numbers, I really do prefer even to odd numbers 🙂 Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Borrowed – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
yellow sheet on the ground
right next to the chinaberry tree
thrown aside in the heat of the moment
running away from history
sobbing and balled up on the ground
full off of nasty-looking, good tasting
catfish and fries
I couldn't breathe
so I laid there and waited

I hope you enjoyed this poem! The reason it’s so short is it was actually a little challenge using page 85 of Kiese Laymon’s Long Division. I took some portions of sentences from that page of the book and added in/edited a couple things to make this poem. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Valleys – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
the syllables get caught in my throat trying to 
slide off my tongue-- the word doesn't look
right when i type it out in a paper. 

v a l l e y s
forget these silly grammar rules of words ending in
Y and changing it to -ies

forget the word itself, forget the valleys (and the valleies)
where the heat traps itself in the air, where
the wind blows just a little bit harder

This was a short one, but I thought it was kinda fun since I focused in on a specific word. I technically live in a valley (valley is part of my city’s name!) so it’s just something I thought about using as the topic of a poem. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Picnic in the Park – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
a lazy afternoon, summertime starting to bloom
     a picnic basket holds down a checkered blanket
on the overgrown grass, shaded by an equally 
     overgrown oak tree. a middle-aged woman can

usually be seen complaining about the maintenance
     somewhere on the grounds. a slight breeze
blows by, leaving the leaves and weaker branches
     to sway in the air, almost suspended in 

movement for a few seconds each way. an attractive
     young couple opens the basket hungrily, to 
reveal sandwiches, fruits, and a bottle of champagne.
     the same middle-aged woman will pause her

complaining to lecture the couple on their 
    drinking in public, but they will laugh it off. they
pretend to stow the bottle away in the basket
    again until she leaves. the sun beats down on

your forehead. you continue to watch the
    couple enjoy their late lunch, as you are the
observer,
    like always

I hope you enjoyed this piece! It was a fun one to write. I could honestly write tons of poems about the different scenes and people I observe while taking my daily walks around my neighborhood park. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or writing challenges you’d like me to try out. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Home – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
home is the place i have not yet traveled to, 
a place i hope to one day know

where i'm familiar and comfortable with
every inch of what i see, it being as much

a part of me as i am a part of it. home is not
a building, something contained to four walls

and a roof dangling over our heads. home is
a concept, a feeling, and an idea. 

you tell me your home is the mountains, 
where you can catch snowflakes on your tongue.

you're comforted by the isolation and nature
all around you, with white Christmases for the family.

i tell you my home is to be determined, possibly
in some far-off land, possibly with a tropical climate.

but you are also my home, so we will settle
into a cabin in the mountains, sledding down

hills and cuddling with cups of hot cocoa. home is
here, for now.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! As someone who wants to get out of her current suburban bubble after high school/college, I have no idea where I hope to call home later on in life. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

A Few Wishes Of Mine – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
horseback riding on the shoreline, waters
turning darker shades of blue as the sun goes down
and i'm left with the warm animal under me and
my thoughts of how beautiful life is

wandering with wanderlust across the globe,
from small towns along the Spanish coastline to 
climbing the Great Wall. on top of the world,
experiencing it all

nights out in the city talking to people i've never
met and people i'll never see again, a sticky 
warmth enveloping me in the darkness while
the occasional bright light shines my way

too many lives i want to live, too many places i 
want to see, and too many versions of myself
i want to be. one day i'll pack a bag, set out for
adventure, and see which one wins.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! There are so many things I would love to do in life and so many things that I hope to accomplish; it’s sometimes overwhelming, especially being young with most of my life ahead of me. For now, I’ll continue to daydream. 🙂 Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or if you have any writing challenges you’d like me to do in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke