Tenderly: Oquendo, de Leon, Law, Hayes - aaduna NPM: Day 22



Hands.

my hands. my hands are cold and blue my heart is a vibrant red racer. my skin is pale but my cheeks are stained deep with her lips. she kissed me and i became a beautiful shade of emotion. my hands are cold and blue but my heart is filled with gold longing for her fire bright eyes. my head is a squalid rock but i focus all my attention on her image; my soul burns sweet with her in thought. my hands are cold and blue but she doesn't seem to mind.


© 2017 Selena Oquendo                    
Rochester, New York  

Selena Oquendo (photo provided)




















* * *


ACROSS THE BORDER    (My uncle lived on a ranch in Northern Mexico)

We called it simply
“across the border.”

Another world,
No plumbing
Just a large porcelain bowl,
A bar of Ivory soap
Floating in warm water
That clouded to thick white,
My sister and I new princesses
Bathing in milk.

No electricity
Just oil lanterns
That made us evil,
Painted us huge and black
On the walls
Of the cold bedroom.

Outside, true darkness
Covered the silent hills and trees
While the night sky opened
A jewel-filled fist:

Billions of stars
Freed for the night,
Released into endless, perfect black,

Long before thoughts
Of other borders to cross,
Other universes,
Or Heaven
Already waiting for us
Somewhere among those
Silent, innocent stars.



© 2015 Kathryn de Leon                   
Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, United Kingdom

Kathryn de Leon (photo provided)
 
















* * *

Drink Me


To Alice it was never
this sweet, it's sticky
and thick and globular.

I feel smaller, holding
your eyes as if I'm shrinking
under the table to discuss
politics with fossilised
wads of gum.

We leave and your jumper
hangs loosely around you,
hiding your skin, your smell.
I'm still small, I feel,
and you're warming to my touch.


© 2014 Fox e. Law                            
Victoria, Australia 

Fox e. Law (photo provided)
     

















* * *


Come around again 


The lilacs slip into their whitewashed gowns tinged grey
in soot from the hard-fought wind, in May they dash
to the ball
                                    in their odor of ardor,

            come around again.
                                                Let’s watch them shade the blossoms
                                                side by side
                                    in the wind.
            The branches bend and buzz
            because it’s May and they have grown

into their gowns, so mundane.
Before the war ends, come around again,
the lilac. The burgundy ground.


© 2015 Hallie Hayes                          
Dubuque, Iowa 

Hallie Hayes (photo provided)

   



















 *   *   *
aaduna - a timeless exploration into words and images - is a globally read, multi-cultural, and diverse online literary and visual arts journal established in 2010.  Visit us at www.aaduna.org where we put measurable actions to our words.





Help us build community!  Share with your friends,  "like" our Aaduna-Inc facebook page and follow us on twitter @ aadunaspeaks !  


aaduna-Inc aaduna-Inc  Visit regularly for updates !



                  

Comments