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  Visit regularly for updates !

 @aadunaspeaks