Jenny Ha, “Shall We Dance?”

“Shall we dance?”
You whisper in my ear
Extend your hand
Tell me words I want to hear

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Take a bow
As the music begins
Don’t lose me in the crowd
Keep me close with your grin

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Spin me around
Look me in the eye
In your movements, let me drown
Stay with me tonight

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As the others break away
Keep us in the center stage
Move with me like there’s only today
Hold the story on our page

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Twist and turn me like a tornado
Lift me up to the skies
Ground me like fallen snow
Let me know that you are mine

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Secure me in your arms
As the song comes to an end
Protect me from all harm
Ask me, “shall we dance again?”

Bryce Johle, “Quality Time”

Dad didn’t get it

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when I sent him a letter
asking him to guide me through
repairing my mother-in-law’s old radio,

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rather,

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he told me to bring it to the wedding,
he’d take it home with him,
fix it in six to eight weeks.

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Takes a lot of knowhow,

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equipment, requires good soldering
skills and WHAT to troubleshoot.
Must know knowledge of circuitry
of solid state and vacuum tubes;

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Electronics is NOT easy.

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Under the covers with my wife,
I wonder if I’m meant to try again
or let him dwindle day by day, clueless

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in his bedful of acquired tools and parts,

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keeping them for himself.

Jessica Weteski, “Find Me”

You’ll find me when the night is dark
You’ll find me shining among the stars
In every time and place that we left a mark.

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You won’t find me waiting just here or there
For you forget I’m a little bit of everywhere.

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You can find me if you search
I am here, I am there, I am Everywhere, but most specifically…
Find Me in your Heart and then for all days we will never part.

Jenny Ha, “Smile”

My aluminum skin is pristine.
Yet, I walk stiff and my metal joints creak.
The tin shell of the man I am sits upright.
But under my screen, my smile shines not as bright.

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What good does it do
To be a liar, to be untrue?
A mask, a poker face, a permanent smile.
None would ever be worth my while.

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What if I said that under my perfect exterior
My blood is inky black, intestines gushing sulfur?
If my insides are wasted, are putrid, are rotten,
Am I still expected to smile then?

Srividya Subramanian, “All is Fair in Love and War”

You seem no more mesmeric and beautiful
Than fallen roses in cold winter’s grace,
I’ve grown nonchalant and unmindful
Of your beguiling charms in life’s fast race.
Your words of love and blessed life together,
Again, try to make me their smooth prey
But I move not like a dainty feather,
Though it pains me to stay away.
Life’s other charms astutely call upon me,
Willingly offer so much more!
It’s where I truly need to be, I believe
Oh Why! Hadn’t I seen them before?
At last, I break from your shackles and drift afar
Everything, my dear, is fair in love and war.

Indrani Anant Deo, “Gleaming, Glamorous!”

Fragmenting light into 7 springs of beams,
Scattered in the plain, yet still unseen,
Gleaming bright like glass on a mural dome,
Furious intensity embedded in stone,
The surface is carved, with perfect notches,
Enlightening colors, carefully dotted,
Onlookers left elated and wanting more,
Silently still, its aura roars,
So Beautiful and priceless, Stars splatter their light,
A phenomenal daze that blossoms out bright,
When rough it’s sought, when carved it’s desired,
Color of the Earth, the water, the fire,
A hundred names, but its value is one,
Lies the glimmering, glamorous, little Gemstone.