Celestial

my boy was a distant light
cutting through the firmament
orbiting the earth
tracing his path like a planet
i was the astronomer
watching his revolutions
out in the cosmos
my boy was not from here
his heart knew lights and noise
different from mine
and they were the dictionaries
giving him new sounds
to name his world
my boy had eyes like galaxies
were lost inside of him
and i was the astronomer
who wanted to know their names
all of the words
and the lights, the sounds
that were different from mine
my boy was a universe
and i was the astronomer
i got lost in him
deep in the night i tracked
his every movement
his lips twitching, his soft breath,
long, thin hands
and fluttering eyelashes
yes, my boy was a new frontier
and i was the astronomer
to discover it.

my little room

it is my last morning
in my little room
which has housed me
this entire year
it will never hold me again.
and last night was the last time
i take my heels off
turn the light on
take off my makeup
and fall asleep in this little bed.
the end of my stay here has come
thank you to my little room
for being my lonely nights
my quiet mornings
and my strange afternoons.
thank you to  my little room
for being a new home
a new love
a resting place.

Embodiment of Spring

inspired by Korean poetry in translation. 


My voice exists in an empty space---

maybe the small, tight gap between

your windowsill and clear glass,

has become a mirror of my reality 

Sorrowfully, I sing my anthems to your soul

though you have become deaf

to my tiny voice,
while your mouth spills crashing waves

What life would I live, if I had 

seen you as you have seen me---

another body in a room of forms,

another skeleton, enveloped with fat

Your milk-colored ribs in the yellow light

are a pattern embossed

on your thin white shirt,

your flesh has its own name, you know, 

And the skin of your fingers and calves

coats your body in the sunlight

of twenty summers, before you hide

in the pale colors of spring 

Entering your window at evening

is the sweet smell of late May

and the lovely death 

of the flowers I once left at your feet

I have walked the same path

within my mind, thousands of nights

and I always return to this
meandering garden of the Spring

Whose breezes caress your sweet neck---I confess,
you have too long entertained

my foolish eyes, while my lips praise

your beauty and charms without end.

Anchor

You have been
sailing songs on the blue horizon--
blue meeting deep green,
your home was like an ocean
I heard you can see forever
on the plains,
You put down your anchor
in the back of my mind,
for three years, still
your ship rests there
Won't you sail away again?
as you said you would
long ago, but I see you
never did.

Vagabond

I stargazed on the Lawn

When I was young and foolish
and dreaming of other worlds

traced the paths of airships in the dark

One early spring night we
headed home under those stars
on the uneven brick sidewalk, and I
saw the world from your eyes

My name is Caroline
and this was my youth
this was my first love
this city, these Grounds

You are a vagabond

your home is not here nor there
you go flying to other worlds
and you say you're unimpressed

You were the vagabond
foolish and young, this
city was your midnight haunts
your drunken words going....on-and-on....

Oh, oh Vagabond,
cease your miserable lingering
this is Charlottesville
this was our only world

Oh, oh Vagabond!
those starlit spring nights were ours-
I am Caroline, and you've

haunted her youth far too long now. 

He Told Me to Run

They say I should find someone
who runs hard and fast to Him
fast as I can
but I'm not a good runner
I'm weak and injured
and so when I saw you
with all of your bruises and
scars, sitting on the side
of the road
I sat down
like my brother said I would
and I cradled your heart
in my hands
But today I realized,
I gotta run
I can't wait here forever
while I am called to come forth,
don't you hear it?
no you don't
don't you feel it?
no you don't
the Lifegiver passes by
and heals our wounds, yet your eyes
watch Him forlornly
I think you might get running one day
but for now I have to run alone
He didn't tell me to wait for you
no matter how beautiful
your heart
your eyes
you don't understand.
He told me to run to Him
and I'll obey.


-A.K.-