Forests & Seasa collection of poetry

Edited by Claire Genevieve

Preface

This collection started out as a call for whimsical and magicalpoetry submissions. The theme was intentionally broad; I hoped for awonderful variety to gather. Amongst the obvious enchanting fairies andmermaids that I found in my inbox over the next few days, I discovered loveas a recurring theme. I stumbled upon many poem pinatas. Some of thesehad stronger walls than others; I had to break into the lines and rhymesbefore the real magic behind the words flowed out. So I hope these poemstake you on a journey through forests and seas, letters and wine, lungs,memories and McDonald’s and that you discover the magic within all of them.

Claire Genevieve, 2010

Preface, layout, cover design and editorial matter © Claire Genevieve.Photography © Hana Haley.

All work remains the copyright of individual authors.

Forests & SeasContents

Page

Kaliah K - Forests & Leaves 4Eleanor Jones - This Is How I Feel When You Don’t Love Me Anymore 5Bekki Griffiths - Fairy 6Claire Trevor - Pop 7Laurence Gillian - You 8Hana Haley - & 9Daniel Williams - The Underdogs 10Anonymous - Just Bought ‘Leaves of Grass’ 11Luna Mae - Bees In His Lungs 12Claire Genevieve - Dreamer’s Disease 13Dale Daykin - Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps 14Chris Gray - Magic Happens Everywhere 15Guinevere Moses - Sitting Still 16Claire Baldwin - Streaming 17Alexia Polemidioti - Ode To Men 18Lucie Peacock - We Could Have Been 19

Forests & LeavesKaliah K

you ask me for forests

all i have are leaves

4

This Is How I Feel When You Don't Love Me AnymoreEleanor Jones

i used to be a sunny meadowand you would graze upon my face,my ears, my cheeks, my rosebud lips;wrapped in my willow soft embrace.you ran so fast through my green pastures and never once did i let you fall.your tongue traced trails that tasted sweet,if you could have, you’d have swallowed me wholebut you spat me out and now i’m rotting;a deathbed where no one brings flowers to lay.my eyes are dry and cracked with salt,framed with a crumpled hazelwitch bouquet.the sun is gone and the water is so cold,should i swim or let my lungs swallow blue?neither, i shall float foreverbecause to be me, i think i need you.

5

FairyBekki Griffiths

She floats above, amongst the leaveswhich glisten in the evening breeze, andyou may find that if you listen,you’ll hear her delicate song. Rhythmkept by the beat of her wingsthat keep her perched within the curlof the rose petal, in which she singsand when she lands within my claspI worry she may break like glass butstill she flies, with wistful beauty, thatnobody can see, but me.

6

PopClaire Trevor

i don’t know youi watched you suffocate and become a mermaidi didn’t ask why you were out of the seadrowning in airdancing in a bubbleor returning the smile

7

YouLaurence Gillian

i found a letter,i read both sides,it doesn’t seem that long ago

inside,inside is a leaf

two girls, one on each sidei don’t know who they are, i don’t know who they are.

8

&Hana Haley

four hours pass & my immaculate fervor turns to ash,yet I lay here unabashed by my lemonade crimes &like the vanilla cigarette in my hand, these cute actions of transient passion,they choke on soda cans,I shoved cheap drinks of love down the oblique depths of my throat &I know that my gloating too soon steals swoons from the Moon &it sucks the soul from our freezing January afternoon &I’m harpooning my heart with these metallic hairpins & (in all actuality, I don’t really like those 99 cent Junior Mints) &we try to mend our minds by drowning each other in your father’s wine & the brown tint in your eyes burns a hurt but you make me so pure &so pure like Colombian cocaine we’re too poor to procure &in this novice bed it feels so nice like our casket &I mull for any method of death where I am with you &it may be under the captivity of quarantined wings &anaesthetic dreams try to sweeten me clean &I think it’s funny every part of your pulchritudinous body will one day die &I refuse to say goodbye to those pale limbs I will always again &again & again & again & again & again & kiss, so, I think I’d really rather just die tonight &sink beside you in hot, hot snow.

9

The Underdogs VS The Heavyweight Champion of the UniverseDaniel Williams

If I could fit them

in a box(with a ribbon)

I’d givemy hours

to you.

I’d buyanother watch

so we havetime to spare.

If I had one wish

then Iwould wish

for a powerfulpocket watch

to pause timefor us.

If I couldI would swap

my wordsfor bricks

and constructa place

for us.

10

Just Bought ‘Leaves of Grass’Anonymous

do you remember?

once I said to you: “I’m glad that you are here. you stop me from spending my food money on books of poems.”

now I am hungry

but my bookshelves are full.

11

Bees In His LungsLuna Mae

he was there,small and ethereal,sitting at the corner of my bed,wistfulness dripping from his eyes.i could hear a faint buzzing coming from his chest.

“remember,” he whispered and the buzzing became loud. my ears began to bleedbut i could not speak.

“please remember”bees began to flee from his lips,covering me, stinging me,but i could not remember.

12

Dreamer’s Disease Claire Genevieve

i painted a face on a cushion, a body grew,a cotton version of you, an acrylic substitutefor clumsy limbs that clutched my skinlast year. i swam in the lovesick silence,you were my choir but you were quietnow that your love had expired.with eyes sewn shut to the sunshine,the violent lack of colour left me tiredand i remember the day you told me to leavelike a succession of pleas against all i believedin, this faith i had gainedin a god who went by your name,you were giving me gold in the form of a gameand the rules had started to blurbut i still saved all of my body for yoursand i emptied myself to swallow you moreand i was thinking,that day when you left,that my heart is a ship and it's sinking.

13

Perhaps, Perhaps, PerhapsDale Daykin

Perhaps,I should just sit here.Smoke myself to death;whilst untamed fantasies,of you,are wild in my head.

Perhaps,I should just muse my life away;whilst sinking intoperfect melancholy melodies.

Perhaps,I should;But,I certainly won’t.

14

Magic Happens EverywhereChris Gray

Can you take my hand?For my sakeLet me trace my finger across the pagesFor your sakeIf we unravel the spell’s wondersYou are to dance with meIf notMy life is yoursPromises of discovery take time to fulfil

15

Sitting stillGuinevere Moses

i’ve been keeping my ear to the ground, listening for the sounds of tectonic plates shifting or the sky kissing the soil and exhaling or uncoiling the tattooed picket fence from in between every knot in my spine.

16

StreamingClaire Baldwin

The rain that falls is close to homeand underneath the blue sun,the quiet world recedes and presses into loneliness.Lost, forgotten worlds of cactus trees and moonlit laughterignite in flowing glories which glisten in the pouring rainand listen to the open skies.But nevermore shall winter come and light the snowy faces,blue and grey with ashen souls and hearts so hard.Bitter hands of silk that crush the morning dewin the depths of love,when the conkers were ripe and forgiveness bloomed in the deep blue airand forgotten youth stared up at us from coffee pots.But the air in our lungs is fickle,fading darkness into our hearts,streaming movies of a world we never knewin a place we haven’t visited.

17

Alexia PolemidiotiOde To Men

His hand you hold when you’re leaving the club at3 a.m. andit’s really cold.His leather jacket you wrap around your bare shouldersbecause you’re wearing a strapless dress that’s more suited to the weather inthe Bahamas but you wanted to make him proud.His rugby shirt youwear to bed when he’s not thereto remind you of him.His scarf you always steal because it’s warm andwoolly andit smells of the aftershave you bought him ‘just because’.His favourite film that’sin Japanesethat you watch againand againto try and understand.His shirt you hold to your faceand swear the perfume you smellisn’t yours.His eyes you desperately want to seesee you.His hand you hold when you’re leaving the club at3 a.m. andwondering whether you hold his heart,too.

18

Lucie PeacockWe Could Have Been

we could have gone to mcdonald’s and had french fries no mayomade love in back seats steamed the windows all up “no officer—my father is a preacher”we could have laid in grass up to ankleslistened to american piedrank jack daniels from the bottle hey let’s get platonicno kissing (below the belt)until you pin me (down)

19