Expired

Always alone
No one stays
Unwanted, discarded
I am past my
Use by date

Jubilee

They think you silent and
For them you are
Alone you fill every atom
With words strung like
Magician's handkerchiefs
Profound and mundane
Require equal discussion
Your views steadfast and sure
Authority exists to be ridiculed
O daughter, O celebration
You reflect me in more
Than physicality

YI

Chocolate waves of silk
Caramel skin
Mocha eyes
Peanut butter kissed lips
My little, almost edible, love

Waiting

I wait in the cold of my heart
For a fire worth stoking

Sarah's Wedding

This is a short story (very, very short story) I wrote for my Lit 260 class. I'll be discussing it in class on Thursday as part of my final presentation. I decided it was best to go first and thus be done with it. I hope it doesn't suck.

Sarah’s Wedding


Sarah looked at herself in the mirror. Every brown curl was in place. Her makeup was impeccably applied. Her nails were freshly manicured and painted a demure pink to match her lipstick. Her dress was adorned with Victorian lace and fresh water pearls. The train of the dress was over a foot long. Her shoes were a perfect match of the ivory colored dress although it was not likely anyone would see them. This was how she had always pictured herself looking on her wedding day.

Her flower girl matched her bridesmaids who were decorated in pink taffeta. The groomsmen would be wearing pink cummerbunds with their black tuxedoes. Alex had tried to talk her into a black and white themed wedding, but she refused. It was too trendy; Sarah wanted a traditional wedding like she dreamed of when she was a little girl.

A knock on the door startled her. It was the flowers arriving none too soon. Seven small bouquets of pink roses surrounded by baby’s breath for her bridesmaids, a medium size bouquet of lilies for her to carry and a basketful of rose petals for her flower girl to scatter along the bridal path; the bridal path that she soon would be walking with her father.

She looked over to her mother and asked if it was time. Not quite yet, about ten more minutes. Her mother, once again, started to cry and tell her how happy she was for Sarah and that she hoped Sarah’s marriage would be as wonderful as her own. Sarah’s mother and father had been married right after high school and despite everyone saying it would never work; they were still together and deeply in love thirty years later. That is what Sarah wanted, a marriage where she woke up each day more in love than the day before. She was sure she would have it with Alex.

It was time; the bridal party left the little waiting room and spilled into the church hall. The hall was surprisingly warm despite the cold New Hampshire winter. Sarah’s father took her arm as they watched the flower girl disappear past the double doors and down the aisle. He told Sarah how much he loved her and how happy he was that she found a love he knew was as wonderful as the love he had found with her mother. He was so very proud of her and a tear slipped down his cheek. It reminded Sarah of the day that Alex and she had told their parents they were engaged. She had never seen four people so happy.

Alex’s parents had insisted that she start calling them Mom and Dad right then and there. Both sets of parents had wanted to pay for the wedding and had eventually agreed to split the costs. Sarah knew how lucky she was to have future in-laws who truly liked her. Her friend Jane’s mother-in-law had actually stood up and objected during her ceremony. No one would be doing that today.

The bridal march began to play. Sarah’s father looked at her and asked if she was ready. She laughed; she had been ready since the day Alex proposed. They walked down the aisle, arm in arm, until they reached the altar. Alex was standing there waiting for her and took her hand from her father. Alex looked so beautiful; she was dressed in an ecru gown but had refused to wear the veil that Sarah had picked out for her. Alex’s golden locks fell to her shoulders in waves that always reminded Sarah of the beach where they had first met.

The reverend’s voice filled the church. Sarah pledged her love for Alex. Alex pledged her love for Sarah. The rings were blessed and exchanged. They were pronounced married and they shared a sweet, gentle kiss. A cheer arose in the church as they made their way down the aisle taking their first steps as a newly married couple. It was all how Sarah had dreamed it would be; a sweet, traditional wedding with the woman she loved

Saturday People

The smell from the spill wafts
Cheap whiskey burns my nostrils
So badly my eyes scream in protest
Stupid Saturday people
Value only the now
Gas fumes not as
Unpleasant as the whiskey
Another now choice
Forward thinking impossible for those
Who barely think past desire
Burning wood and vomit swirl into one smell
Kill your brain cells while young
Die childless, stain not humanity
Acid wash your genes
Remove the miasma
From the flesh of humankind