The Shine Journal

 

Raindrops

The rain keeps dropping memories

from burdened skies,

like a thick stew that's boiled for

longer than anyone cares to remember-

Ladling them down generously

in heaping amounts upon me.

The first tingling drops kiss my face

like the true loves of my life

romancing the length of my body

and sending jolts like flickering fireflies

back with jittery cup of coffee awareness.

The drops accumulate and the sky begins to pour

like the constant throbbing of stress

from work, family life, and lack thereof.

The smacks against my skin are like salty licks

from my puppy when I was five years old,

but the tingling chill reminds me,

Memories are always hollow.

Shielding my face, I scrunch my features tightly,

holding myself together, every time I fell,

or crumbled to the ground,

clutching the divorce papers tightly.

Even the gale storm rain can't imitate the blow-

but it tries with forceful little pellets

gorging me on memories.

Kneeling to the ground,

the wind and raindrops pushing me down,

permeating my skin, suffocating my body,

forcing me to sup their distasteful load,

Spluttering, coughing, choking but still,

drinking down the rich stew,

each bitter drop spitting from an asphalt sky

that's seen too little rain.

 

 

Click Click

Stopped by the click click

of the rocking chair

in the store window,

pushed by autumn breeze.

Old limbs strained to move,

wood carved with wrinkles.

I stood out in front,

paused, my feet had stopped,

wrapped up in the chill:

winter’s sudden plunge.

Rocking chair echoes

click click in my ears.

Empty with cobwebs,

its shaky platform

distanced, click clicking

like a typewriter

against the glass sheet,

bubbling plastic wrap.

I reached at the breadth,

stopped by compunction,

and the confusion,

like seagulls circling,

lonely caws threading

into my marrow.

I walked away with,

my tortoiseshell heels

sounding on pavement

like lonely click clicks.

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Motivation: Click Click was created to express the loneliness mirrored by a sole rocking chair in a storefront. Raindrops was meant to use rain and the idea of water as a healing force and wash away all the problems polluting the narrator's life

Bio: I'm an English major at West Chester University who struggles to find the time to write between work and school. My poetry has been featured in magazines such as Daedalus, Cause and Effect Review and Falling Star Magazine

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