"Poetry is a kind of distilled insinuation. It’s a way of expanding and talking around an idea or a question. Sometimes, more actually gets said through such a technique than a full frontal assault"
#poetry #insinuation #yusef komunyakaa
Kat Cabral
twenty-three.
Fledgling Writer
I'm a hesitant adult torn between San Francisco and San Diego. This is a compilation of things that make me go geeky, giggle, or gag... with bits of my life thrown in for kicks :]
1. If I could I would nail these hands to the edges of stars. I would sacrifice this body to the sky hoping to resurrect as someone spiteful enough to not give a fuck about you. 2. Staple me to a cross. Pierce my side with a broken promise and I will bleed all the crippled reasons why you deserve one more chance. 3.Your bed smells like the last thing I was really good at. 4.You wanna know how I got these scars? I ripped every last piece of you out of my smile. 5. I whispered you stardust. 6. I spoke you into sunflowers. 7.I dipped my hands in forever. Touched you infinity. Treated you as if you were the last molecule of oxygen inside of a gas chamber. I was good to you. 8. You wanna know how I got these scars? I swallowed my pride and it clawed it’s way outside of my mouth. 9. I realized I was never really your boyfriend. I was just your fuckin hype man. 10. I hope your next boyfriend gets smallpox. 10. Yes I said smallpox! 10. I hate you! 10. I miss you! 10. I love you! 10. It’s hard for me to count when I get emotional. 10. I heard that 90% of human interaction is nonverbal so…. 10. If I could I would tie your arms to a daydream and then auction you off to my fondest memories. See I wrote this poem in my own spinal fluid, I put it on the backbone of a white flag so before you read it you’ll already know that I’ve given up. I’ll just keep you here. Shackled to the most important chapter of my life story pressed into the basement of my eyelids like liquid salvation so I remember you beautiful with amazing underneath your wings and an orchid smile you gorgeous earthquake. You cracked hourglass with sand spilling from behind your ribs, you wasted my time. How dare you linger on my lips and then kiss me like a stuttering apology with excuses stapled to the roof of your mouth. I still remember you like a dream tattooed to the inner walls of a long term memory but some days I wonder if you existed at all. And of course, you wanna know how I got these scars. Well fine I’ll tell you… I got these scars the day I fell in love with you. I landed face first.
The spice of an American Spirit slithers across my palate
Millay’s summer heart makes home under this tree of torrid love affairs
whose shade slices through my sanity, leaving me to lust for lips
that once lingered on my own, yet never lasted long
She summons me to chase her savage beauty as I take another drag
disguising her distant silhouette in smoky shadows
Her cigarette has ended, mine has just begun
These boughs will boast birds for countless seasons to come
For I believe when Eve bit into the apple she found solace in its sweet flesh
then continuously crunched to the core, the juices dribbling down her chin
to her uncovered cleavage as Adam and the serpent watched
— Katrina Cabral, 2011
Your Sexiest Body Part by Nyla Alisia
published in the Poetry Quarterly Summer 2010 issue [p.6]
The spice of an American Spirit slithers across my palate
Millay’s summer heart makes home under this tree of torrid love affairs
whose shade slices through my sanity, leaving me to lust for lips
that once lingered on my own, yet never lasted long
She summons me to chase her savage beauty as I take another drag
disguising her distant silhouette in smoky shadows
Her cigarette has ended, mine has just begun
These boughs will boast birds for countless seasons to come
For I believe when Eve bit into the apple she found solace in its sweet flesh
then continuously crunched to the core, the juices dribbling down her chin
to her uncovered cleavage as Adam and the serpent watched
— Katrina Cabral, 2011
1. If I could I would nail these hands to the edges of stars. I would sacrifice this body to the sky hoping to resurrect as someone spiteful enough to not give a fuck about you. 2. Staple me to a cross. Pierce my side with a broken promise and I will bleed all the crippled reasons why you deserve one more chance. 3.Your bed smells like the last thing I was really good at. 4.You wanna know how I got these scars? I ripped every last piece of you out of my smile. 5. I whispered you stardust. 6. I spoke you into sunflowers. 7.I dipped my hands in forever. Touched you infinity. Treated you as if you were the last molecule of oxygen inside of a gas chamber. I was good to you. 8. You wanna know how I got these scars? I swallowed my pride and it clawed it’s way outside of my mouth. 9. I realized I was never really your boyfriend. I was just your fuckin hype man. 10. I hope your next boyfriend gets smallpox. 10. Yes I said smallpox! 10. I hate you! 10. I miss you! 10. I love you! 10. It’s hard for me to count when I get emotional. 10. I heard that 90% of human interaction is nonverbal so…. 10. If I could I would tie your arms to a daydream and then auction you off to my fondest memories. See I wrote this poem in my own spinal fluid, I put it on the backbone of a white flag so before you read it you’ll already know that I’ve given up. I’ll just keep you here. Shackled to the most important chapter of my life story pressed into the basement of my eyelids like liquid salvation so I remember you beautiful with amazing underneath your wings and an orchid smile you gorgeous earthquake. You cracked hourglass with sand spilling from behind your ribs, you wasted my time. How dare you linger on my lips and then kiss me like a stuttering apology with excuses stapled to the roof of your mouth. I still remember you like a dream tattooed to the inner walls of a long term memory but some days I wonder if you existed at all. And of course, you wanna know how I got these scars. Well fine I’ll tell you… I got these scars the day I fell in love with you. I landed face first.