Awake

I wanted to share a poem I wrote in college for my final poetry reading. I was so scared to get up in front of a whole group of poets and classmates and read aloud. I am thinking of starting again because it always made me feel better. Here is the first poem I'd like to share. 

Awake

I didn’t know what a wake was.

Dimly lit flowers and candles.

Sniffles and organs and whispers of prayers

I played to my cousins

and the big faces said  STOP!  In their eyes

unconscious gazing in silence so severe it

echoed through the halls.

My sister began crying

now time to view the body

It came out of hiding, jumped in front of me

glazed donut brown filled

with cream colored pillows

soft divine light shining from inside out.

Gray putty skin, air sucked from her pores, perfectly placed curls.

Pink lipstick she stood wiping off.

little me. Nose peaking over the edge.

Up two steps to a lapse of eternity.

I stared for a too long time.

Didn’t cry but felt it carve deeper and deeper as I looked,

No blinks, it’s the last time I’ll see her, leaving me here.

I don’t want to be awake.

I want to fall back asleep

Dream seeing her again.

Dream Song

Fall 2007