Autumn Poetry

I'm back after a long couple months of work and school to share some autumn poetry!! I am slowly realizing this blog is turning into a poetry ode, haha, but my poetry class has really inspired me lately. I am sharing some of the poems I am putting together for my final portfolio in that class, and they happen to feel very fall-ish to me. I wrote parts of these poems months ago, but was able to piece them and morph them to fit the story I wanted to create. It's been very fun treating these phrases like puzzle pieces and inventing new stories to tell through fiction. I really miss writing on here, so I am trying to do more! And, I promise to make it more than just poetry ALL the time!

“Retrograde” - A Series

it’s October, again.

it’s October

and my brain is heating up

like the furnace in my apartment

I am on the 20th floor,

and the sidewalk looks so

appealing — SPLAT—

a bird shits.

hopefully on you

retrograde reminds me of the fall

(or does fall send me in retrograde?)

leaves stopping you from reaching the

apple-kissed car

watercolors

the blurred lines between our crossed dimensions

I’d paint and paint and paint and paint

to find us bleeding crimson through the canvas

like the apple falling from the tree

right in front of the fiery red sunset

like the brick building our lives (the higher, the heavier)

next to the new cherry Nissan you just bought

it’s all on the canvas

blurry, red, you, me

crawl crawl

out of my skin

that’s what I wanna do

slither down to the first sewage drain I find

seep through, and splat

ride on top of the 7

way the hell out of here

“Imaginary Muse”

I sing all the high notes to you in checkered-tiled shower

I walk with you to the small park by my flat

Felt you every time the wind hugged my body, but it only gave me ice cold chills

Fallen into the cracks on the street where the subway runs,

speeding off to a faraway town on the 7

Haunting, your silhouette appearing in every cupboard and cranny

You are a ghost

—

She grabs your hand through the thick smoke of the bonfire

You two college lovers, everyone gushing in green envy

Crestfallen dormitories hide your secrets in the ivy

Does she know she has a clone who is sitting reading alone,

speeding off to a faraway town on the 7?

Sly grinning as she walks to Journalism with the same bounce I once had

She is a counterfeit

—

We used to go to there, you know the place you took her to the other day

Got into the same photobooth where you put your same hand

around a different shoulder, but it’s close enough

I could almost hear your conversation through my airpods

as I sped off to a faraway town on the 7

Deep belly laughing on the dirty subway seat as I remember you discarding me like a

used napkin, crumpled up and forever stained

I am a distant memory

"Untitled"

Yesterday

I let the white wine seep into my veins

Three bottles in, he started to appear

behind my eyes

Behind, beyond, abaft

I pushed out of my chair and fell flat on my ass

Memories of him are like a thin, thin clear wire

Always two feet ahead

He trips me up.

Today

I melted out of bed at 8:45

But you have been in my subconscious

all night long

Shake, shake, shake... till I get the permanent answer I want

I love that you aren’t him

Because the cobalt eyes, dark demeanor, sly grin

You are friction, and I’m stopped in my tracks.

Tomorrow

I’ll wait for you with the fidgeting of my hopeful hands

by the cozy apartment

The rain will wash all those sticky old memories away

Your tattoos will stay permanent

I’ll sit on the stoop

My pants soaked through

I’ll wear the tan plaid ones I just bought on Saturday

I think you’ll like them

What reminds you of me?

Sketch it in ink

in the cemetery of nights, loneliness, and desperation

It won’t ever wash away

It rains here too much to risk something like that.

Hope you enjoyed!

Deep love,

Nina Lee

(found via Pinterest)