More Poetry

This one is based on truth. Think I wrote it the morning after the bird sang.

Evening
One bird sang last night
Just like one last summer.
I wish I could go back,
For joy mingled with sorrow then.
And a bird sang in evening,
Just like me.
I sang,too.

This one is supposed to be dumb. It was written to be dumb.

Aliens
Aliens are we,
With stiff shiny hair
And strange eyes
With markings 'round our heads
Yes, aliens are we.
Ones of the Swimming Pool.

Ah, yes. Would you believe I have to poetry for school? This is one of that variety:

Teardrop
Read my message, or let me tell you--
I know I'm just a drop of crystal,
But I am not a diamond or a drop of water to ignore.
Let me tell you my story,
Written by inky lashes on my surface before I rolled on the journey.
As I rolled over old trails and inked them afresh,
Let me tell you my story,
Left to dry onto salt-encrusted patterns.
Let me tell you my story.
Before I am gently patted to death with a white shroud,
Or roughly killed and smeared onto clothes and hands.
Let me tell you my story.

This one...hmmm. I think I wrote it after I found the jasmine flower still in my jasmine tea.

Tea
I let my tea steep too long--
I think.
Now it's dark and bitter as the tea they always give me.
Ever notice
How tea leaves, dry crumbly
Like burrs
Will turn into floating green-brown leaves?
No, of course not.
For your leaves are packed in bags or balls not free.
Like mine.

Here's one more...

Dead End
You were the fifth driver today
To miss the bright yellow sign with its big letters:
DEAD END.
First came the little white driving school car
Then the bright red sports car
Then the dark-blue van
Then the little green beetle
Then you.
I wonder why you all miss the sign.
I know it didn't used to be a dead end--
I remember then.
It was back when the library was in the tiny warehouse
And the ABC market was the Beacon market
And the restaurant by the supermarket was still there...
But now, the restaurant is replaced by construction,
The Beacon market is ABC
The library is in a shiny new building
And the roadblock's in place--
And the dead end
Is there.

One thing about this last one, if you locate my home on the Lagan, you'll find that right on our property is a bright yellow dead end sign. Many different cars drive right past, and since they drive right back again, you can tell that they missed teh sign. The library did used to be in a tiny warehouse; only recently did it move to a new location that's a bit farther from my place. The Beacon market was a spot that catered to the Chinese around and it was the only place you could get jelly poppers without going out of neighborhood or going to Chinatown. It was characterized by a lot of fruit out in the open and a lot of people chattering in Chinese. The restaurant is South China, which was a great restaurant in our neighborhood until Sound Transit made it move to Bellevue to put in a Light Rail Station.
Saro