"One Day" by Marsha Mellow

It only takes a moment when it happens.

you might blink, or take a little too long to get yourself straight

one day.

It’ll just take one

one day and the rest of your life, however short, however complicated, however tragic

one day, thats it.

his one day came on that day.

it took less than a moment

later on he would wonder if he knew even before he set his curious eyes on her, he

would ponder the idea of just knowing, of something being so clear and right somewhere

deep inside your core that you just knew

he would mull over the word ‘soulmates’ thinking it fell short for him and her

thinking that something about the blue eyes that rose from behind the glossy frames of

her bright blue glasses was so familiar that they couldn’t have been strangers.

she wasn’t pretty

no

she was art

she was beautiful, sure, wrapped up tight into a black dress that looked more like a second

skin than an actual dress, red plastic cup clutched in a hand of chipped yellow nail polish and

rings, laughing, dancing.

but art is more than just that, she was more than just that

art makes you feel something, art stirs something deep in your stomach, something a lot like

awe. she was art, the best kind of art

"Love" by Justin Turner

They say it makes the world go round. People do crazy things for it. It's a universal feeling that exists across all cultures and even seems to exist within other animals. It's love.

It's funny how a few neurotransmitters firing off can bring people together and tear them apart. How the hormones in the body can make you feel pain without physical damage, cause war, or give you butterflies. Love is simply a part of biology yet it holds so much power.

I was playing with my baby cousin the other day and he was being his cheeky adorable self when I scooped him off the floor to get dinner and gave him a hug.

"Why did you give me a hug?" his two year old accent said.

"Because I love you."

"Why?"

"Why do I love you?"

"Yeah."

I was at a loss. Why does anybody love anyone?

"Because you're awesome, smart, and family."

"Okay."

But it wasn't okay. That wasn’t the actual answer. But it was the only thing that came to mind. Why do we love people? What makes us love others? There are so many different forms and situations, but I couldn't seem to put my finger on the reason why we love people. While my little philosopher sat and ate his soup I tried to think of a solution. What is the commonality between the people and things I love?

I've had a bit of time to think since then and I think that loving someone has to do with the experiences you have with that person. This of course refutes love at first sight, but just like the English language there are always exceptions. There was a study done recently that said that to can fall in love with anyone. All you had to do is answer some questions to each other and bam instant love. In our romanticized world it's hard to believe that there may not be a thing as a "one true love" and maybe that's clouding my judgement but I'm inclined to believe there's more to love than just a questionnaire. It's the memories you make... Maybe it isn't a complete answer but for now it will suffice. I have a whole life left to figure it out. 

"The Heart of Winter" by Catfish

We were the first snow. We saw it all coming into place beside ourselves and recognizing each other's fragile beauty, we fell down together. Somehow being both graceful and awkward, you were unique. And me, with my slipping slickness, trying so desperately hard to be cool, I found my snow angel. Together we were pure, not dirtied by past romances, we were evergreen. This chastity though, also meant that we had a fair amount to learn when it came to being with each other. Sometimes we were unintentionally mean, like shards of an icicle, frigid and jabbing at our sides. At other points, we took it too fast and we rolled into an avalanche, where we were temporarily flurried apart. We then had to trudge our way back north, through a slush that changed our temperatures, but only for a moment as we soon found our frosted hearts again. Blanketed, under sheets of ice, we sparkled. Creating a prism that onlookers would hail, we briskly skated through our time together, but as the seasons changed, we inevitably would melt. You’ll forever stay frozen in my memories though, a wintry remembrance of the virgin snow.

"October 17" by July Third

Walking home that day was one of the hardest things I had done in a while.

I heard him, his voice, his laugh.

But he was talking to her.

Walking in front of them holding it all in.

Thinking back to the past year and all that had changed,

Wishing none of it had.

All I wanted to do was jump into the street

Shut out the pain, the agony, the hurt.

And make it all stop.

Walking, heel toe- heel toe back straight, praying I wouldn’t fall.

Yet something held me back,

 from cowering away.

That’s when I realized

I loved it, I missed it, I craved it.

This is what I had been dreaming of.

Walking slower now, taking it all in.

Knowing I would do this everyday

For a chance to hear him.

"Let Us Go, Then" by Leo

Let us go then, you and I,

Into my wonderful world full of lies.

Come see my many costumes and masks,

come hear of my peculiar task.

I am but a shadow to you all

most of you think of me as an oddball.

What you don’t know is that who I am everyday

Is not what’s in my DNA.

I live with a simple code.

“Others above, and me below

My sacrifice, their happiness”

This is my road.

This is the path that I choose.

This is the path where I lose.

Though I may lose, you yet stand to gain.

Even if I may be in pain.

Do not fret for I choose this path.

And will endure its neverending wrath.

This however is not a bother.

For every time it makes me stronger.

The highs and lows will come.

Something I can’t abstain from.

You will be happy and I will not.

This will happen a lot.

What you see is someone who hides.

What you see is someone who pretends.

I do this not for attention but so that I blend in.

I joke, I laugh, I talk, but ultimately its not for me.

Inside I am but a weak tired human being.

I am scared.

I am hurt.

and I am lost.

My mind is not what you expect.

It’s not all sex, drugs, and alcohol

It’s not all school, grades, or homework.

My mind is lost.

And I hope for the day when I find it.

Until that day I will continue to hide.

I will continue to stay in the shadows.

I will continue to blend in.

Because for now, it’s all I have.

"Request My Love: A Collection of Terrible Love Poems" by Casanova

I asked people to give me prompts to write love poems about.  The prompts could be anything from Pokemon to The DMV.  My challenge was to write a poem in the “Roses are red, violets are blue…” format about that subject.  This is the end result.  It’s a collection of love poems- really terrible love poems.

“Writing Center”

Our logo is red,

don’t let writing make you blue!

Come to the Writing Center,

We tutor any kind of paper! English, History, Math, etc.

The sign-up sheet is at the top of the library stairs,

so come on in!

Note from the author: Yes, this is a shameless self promotion, and no it didn’t rhyme because rhyming is hard.

 “Custom Ringtone” (Write a poem about having a custom ringtone for your bf/gf/crush.)

Roses are red,

I hope you like Bruno Mars,

Treasure! That is what you are,

honey you’re my golden star!

“Breaking Bad”

Blood is red,

My methamphetamine rocks.

My name is Walter White,

I AM THE ONE WHO KNOCKS.

“Science Fair”

Our display board should be red.

No, it should be blue!

Our experiment was a trainwreck!

THIS IS DUE TOMORROW?

WHY DID I CHOOSE TO WORK WITH YOU?!

Note: Don’t even pretend this wasn’t your science fair experience.

“Toxic Waste”

The roses are dead,

the violets are glowing blue.

I’m dying from radiation exposure,

but it’s worth it for you… (I think.)

“The DMV”

Roses are red,

this place makes me blue,

I’ve been in line for two hours,

Don’t smile for this picture of you.

“Statistics”

Wrong answers are red,

My grade makes me blue.

I’m failing this class, but that’s okay,

Because you, my love, are too.

“Loneliness”

Chocolate boxes are red,

Netflix is also red.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my valentine,

Because NOBODY LOVES ME.

P.S. I ate this entire chocolate box, please send help and maybe a stomach pump.

“Satan”

You are red,

my passion for you burns blue.

Your heart for my soul,

is the deal I made with you.

“Headphones”

One ear bud is red,

One ear bud is blue,

Why did we share our music at the same time?

Polka and reggae don’t go together.

“Pokemon”

Charmander is red.

Squirtle is blue.

But you must be Bulbasaur,

because no one will choose you.

“Robots”

My eyes are red,

your eyes are blue.

You make my CPU overheat with passion,

because I can’t compute how much I love you.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

"The Chemicals React: A Chemistry Love Poem" by Victoria Lemmings

To My Dearest,

Today in Chem class,

I noticed we have some Chemistry of our own.

I think you must be a charged molecule

Because I’ve got my ion you.

Baby, if I could rearrange the period table,

I’d put Uranium and Iodine together.

You must be a carbon-12 sample,

Because I really want to date you.

I think you must be full of Beryllium,

Gold, and Titanium

Because you are quite Be-Au-Ti-ful.

We go together better than

hydrogen and oxygen,

sodium and chlorine,

carbon and oxygen.

Honey, you are the nucleus of my world,

The focus of all my thoughts,

The positively charged center of my happiness.

If our love was an acid,

It would be a strong acid.

And our romance would never dissociate.

Our attraction is stronger than the dipole-dipole forces,

Displayed in the hydrogen bonding of water.

If our love was a chemical bond,

It would exhibit the strength of the

Triple bonds in diatomic nitrogen.

I’m as positive as a proton

That we were meant to be.

Beryllium(Be) mine?

Love always,

Victoria Lemmings

"The Perfect Equation" by Victoria Lemmings

To my dearest,

Today in math, I saw a sine,

A sine that said we were meant to b(squared) together.

Because, darling,

If you were a triangle, your angles would be less than 90 degrees

Because you are totally acute.

I don’t want us to be like asymptotes,

Coming so close, but never touching.

We were destined to cross paths,

Like two perpendicular lines

Floating on our graph of love.

Baby,
If we were an equation,

Our domain would go to infinity.

I can’t function (F(x))

Without you.

Be the cosine to my sine,

Be the cosecant to my secant,

Be the cotangent to my tangent.

In class we solve problems daily,

But my only problem is that you’re not mine.

I don’t care about finding x and y,

As long as I can find u.

Forget about Pythagoras 

The only equation I care about
Is U + Me = <3

Yours Truly,

"Adit" by Hiram McDaniels

The house is empty,

only you breathing

life into its still rooms

here, high in Appalachia, the setting sun

casting long shadows

down in the valleys.

Dinner by seven, a long night ahead.

By candlelight you twirl in time,

feet sweeping constellations across the kitchen floor,

the radio a conspiratory whisper of song

murmured to an audience of one.

Choral ranks of spring peepers

rise and fall, stay constant.

the daylight hum of grasshoppers

is hushed silent in the blackness.

It is a waiting game.

You listen for the door.

He is a flame you keep putting your hand in,

pushing the envelope, waiting to see how long

you can hold on before you burn.
The clock on the wall ticks toward two.

Imagine: a night where he makes it home

before the birds start.

Elsewhere,

the walls are damp, the mine winds

through miles of rock.

A single headlamp beam pierces gloom

and glints off great crevasses in the earth.

He dreams of dinners together,

He dreams of dinners with you.

(He dreams of dinners for three, for four,

small plates and smaller hands.

But he knows his lungs will be black by forty.)

He treads

unstable ground, smells only

coal dust, shale-stone, the drip

of groundwater over the seams.

Pitch here, differing still

from darkness above. The overseer

orders ten cuts by sunrise,

sweating in the heavy air.

He would rather be anywhere else,

your arm in hand, the dance floor,

a Co-cola, your girlish dress.

He will coax the machinery, listen

for the tremble of pine supports,

forecasting danger ahead.

Slurry pools around his ankles.

The radio goes silent, beams and bolts

gritted in the mountain’s teeth,

a great rumble from the gullet of an angry planet.

You will get the notice at five. The locusts

have not started their buzz, keeping mum

in a dawn vigil.

The creek will not run clear that day.

The creek will not run

but for a trickle of mud, the way ahead

blocked off by rockslides on the mountain.

Three knocks

come at the door frame,

your little country house he bought you

with what little country money he had saved.

The radio has been playing static for hours.

You stumble, knee-deep in arbutus, sinking

your palms into dry earth.

Imagine: a life lived with no sunrise.

You are a moth, spiraling dizzily

about an extinguished candle.

You fall

from orbit, singed

and stricken numb with grief.

A crushing weight.

Dinners for one, now and always for one.

The day dawns gray:

His eyes, never again to open,

you, never again to dance.

"To My Husband After Twenty Years" by Janice Jewell

Context:  This was an assignment in which students brainstormed lunch foods, flowers or plants, animals and appliances.  They then had to write a poem using at least five words from each category.  This is mine.

A long life together is 90% washer/dryer and 10% tesla coil.

Chores:

Unload the dishwasher;

Do the laundry;

Clean out the fridge.

On a Friday night: steak to end the week.