Crystal Letters

Euphoria
Illustration (CS6)
May 2018

What did you wanna do?

Before you met me?

Before I met you?

Did your bones shake?

Did the rattle snake

High with fangs

Jiggle his belly in the air?

As a beast.

As man.

Was it a mistake?

Was it something that

kept you awake

At night?

Dreaming desperately to delete

A memory

And replace it

With one thing

You could

Fight for.

Did you somehow happen to

Hate who you’d become?

Was it no longer fun?

Did you feel

A little lost?

A little strange?

Did the fringe of your vest

Constrict snuggly

against your chest

A cold compress

Allowing blood flow

Through droves of veins

Left untouched?

You won’t be alone again,

I’ve got my hands

clasped fast around your heart

Like fireflies glowing in the dark.

Baby, I got you.

Baby, this is just the start.

Imagine this setting:

A Cake as Your Heart

Evenly curving the mirror glaze

Uniformly blending the colors we’ve made

Pulling parchment paper,

Honey, so sweet and so thick

Over an arrangement of berries for a

Rose water vanilla layered cake

Iridescently.

All so heavenly, for a slice of cake.

And lettering is like

Lips lip-locking

Over forks and

tongues to knives

To press tongue tips

To frosting that

has yet to be chipped.

It’ll shine

Like a galaxy

Starlight and glitter

Something alien

But sparking

Like Pop Rocks

To tastebuds

After Cola Cola sips drip.

And if I could count

the things

I could personify

your love as

I might be well out of numbers.

Building collections

of my own

Out of sets

of stones,

Different shapes and tones,

Intentions

And lessons

When one has

deafened themselves

From the world

for a little while.

Your love

personified

As rhyme

The way it makes me sing.

Your lungs inhale like

The way you play your drum.

Your love to me is music

A rhythmic medicine

for the mind.

Spelling it from

your fingertips

The way it

means to unwind.

I shall compare thee

To a summer’s day

As rain water

Pitter-patters in May

The budding sprouts

Shift to bloom.

My heart for you

Has flooded.

Poetic lines

Have immortalized you.

Euphoria Illustration (CS6) May 2018 What did you wanna do? Before you met me? Before I met you? Did your bones shake? Did th... Read More

Passion
Illustration (CS6)
April 2018

There is a landscape

That marks the

crossroads of our hearts.

Conclaves of little

pickled elder memories

That have been present

for both you and me.

Footprints left in mud

After one has step up and above

to find the promise-land

that has now been flooded

with a feeling.

Not too sure of what it is

we’ve been dealing.

But the cards attest.

They give us rest.

Because the feeling is real.

Enough to heal the surface wounds.

Enough to carry

injured footman through lagoons.

Something that we can grasp.

Somethings we won’t ask

While we press our tongues

On teacups

Taking little sips

Gentle enough to

blow across

dandelion grasslands

That surrounds us

much like sand.

For miles runs a river,

blossoms combs

and foliage is speckled along

The horizon

wildlife roams endlessly.

And Love grows effortlessly.

All about is spread

green upon green

Valleys glossy

with morning dew

obscuring views.

Mountains snowy and pure.

The ocean of leaves

plays harpsichords

before us.

The twinkling lights strike

like matches in the sky.

Blankets of indigo

glittered and gilded

By stars

Who have answered

the questions that

You and I

Have asked of them.

There is a landmark

that points to the

crossroads of our hearts.

We see our fingertips

and pursed lips

that have collided

like the Big Bang

in the city skyline.

Collapsing like lungs

taking in pure pleasures of passion

and the way

that our hearts were

simply,

classically,

and untraditionally

fashioned for one another.

My complex lover.

Because the morning

light on your face

makes me want to embrace

your heart more and more.

Releasing all this

old grieving to allow

for the new seasons

to take a step on the floor.

Passion Illustration (CS6) April 2018 There is a landscape That marks the crossroads of our hearts. Conclaves of little... Read More

Interpretation
Illustration (CS6)
April 2018

I love the way you

make my hair stand on end.

I love the way you

make my eyelashes bend

as I close them for a second

like flower petals in the wind.

And the way my eyes dilate

when you softly

press your fingers

against the pin cushion

that is my heart.

The way you mold it

Like it’s a work of art

You cherish it while you carry it.

Gently hold it in your palms.

The way you patch

the wounds

and give them warmth.

Cause it has experienced

liquor-filled evenings

with cruel emotional dilapidation,

Guest starring

Spiraling Grief

and Agitation.

And featuring an

unfamiliar guest,

Invisibility.

And you just keep guessing,

but, oh why that girl is smiling?

And why is she using her hair

and her fingers

and her mouth

and her words

as outlets for expression?

And the girl will put her tips to her forehead to

block all the voices

until it becomes silent.

Like the hallow.

Like the wind.

Like marshes.

And yet, that silence

is something peaceful.

Beautifully displayed

on countertops

and refrigerator doors

In the form of

important dates

and numbers

and photos

of the person

you used to be

way back when.

But you remember it,

and you remember why

and it makes you smile.

Like taking a breath.

Like the way the city

feels when it snows.

This silence, it grows.

It doesn’t feel painful.

It’s white noise.

It’s something important.

Because she doesn’t

want to expose her sorrows.

Because she doesn’t

want to disclose

the things that haunt.

You take away the fears

You excavate

the deepest caves

And seek to vanquish

the darkness

The anguish

Shadows that

have disguised

themselves as toys

Aligned neatly next to

poisons on the cabinet shelves.

You make my heart silent.

You shudder me at my core.

The door has swung

wide open

as you use

your fingers to prod

at the doughy areas of my heart.

To make a loaf of bread.

A savory treat.

“To fill your heart,” you say.

To make sorbet.

Something sweet.

“To chill your soul,” you say.

You take the fruits of my grief

and blend them with ice.

You mix them.

You fix them.

With syrup, you dress them

In lace.

You caress them with grace.

And you serve my heart,

you serve my heart as a dish of love.

As a loaf of bread

baked to perfection.

Warm.

Soft.

Alive.

You serve my heart

alongside your own

and recommend

that I listen to the music

they make when they’re together.

You talk of the way

they danced

Atop the open flame

in the frying pan.

You made an entree to complete the meal.

“For your love,” you say.

For, My Love.

I say.

Interpretation Illustration (CS6) April 2018 I love the way you make my hair stand on end. I love the way you make my eyela... Read More

Illustration: Mixed Emotions

The thing that I loved about you most,

Is the way your eyes looked.

I enjoyed the look of

wonderment they held.

I remember staring at you

For so long.

For too long.

[insert awkward pause here]

Your eyes were

Intense.

Silent.

Beautiful.

Like the way mine

danced up your skin

And wandered

down your neck,

along Veins and ink lines

And the sunkissed Tan of your frame.

Even Medusa

could be defeated.

Ask Perseus.

And I ate it all up.

Cause I liked your eyes.

You’d be surprised

Of where they can bring you.

You might forget who you are.

But only for a short amount of time.

And your eyes.

I can’t forget your eyes.

Ingrained in my mind

Like engravings on chocolate.

Like the twists in twine.

Like stripes in plaid.

Every word I said

Every time the sound waves

hit your ear drums.

I watched you watch me.

I felt

Amplified.

Jolted.

Electrified.

I couldn’t make you stay though.

Being caught between

The left path

And the right path.

The right path,

Being, well,

The right path.

And the left known

to drop you off

Somewhere.

In the middle of no where.

“But creepy stuff happens in the middle of Nowhere.”

I couldn’t laugh like that again.

Not even if I tried.

I couldn’t have laughed harder.

Watching as you passed,

No longer looking at me,

But looking past me.

Without a word.

Your body language screamed -

“Machismo!

Mucho Gusto!”

And I laughed at you.

I buckled at the force of my own laughter.

Like that last bit of a comedy skit.

I watched you flare

as we walked apart.

Like calm down a little.

Like put your hair up in a ponytail.

Like do you hear the rain on your windowpane?

Did you move backwards?

Were things too hard for you?

To comprehend?

To pretend?

To put your hands to your forehead

In between

To skim between

To read between the lines?

Linear tattoos

Like connotations

Like algorithms

Like constellations that cross the red beneath your toes.

It’s the universe that flows within you.

Around you.

But I’m tripping right?

Like you didn’t feel it too?

And so you did it.

Tied your hair up.

Changed your skin tone.

Got a new area code

And kept on pumping.

Moving your

Hands

Your footsteps

Speeding up,

So you wouldn’t catch moss.

And so you rolled.

Smashed yourself between

counter and rolling pin.

Kneading the past,

Folding it over,

Flattening it out.

Letting yourself rise.

Staring back at the

cookie cutter mold

You’ve been pressed out of.

Illustration: Mixed Emotions The thing that I loved about you most, Is the way your eyes looked. I enjoyed the look of wonde... Read More

Illustration: Release

When Radiance has shown her skin

She steps barefoot into the warmed sand.

Her body caught between

the light and the shadows.

Radiance and her Lover grace the sky,

Tip-toeing to violas

As they divide,

The Sun and The Moon.

His heart is racing,

Her heart is too.

The sky is what they chase to meet again,

For one last time.

And the Lover knows the moment won’t last,

But he prays to be with her again,

And then Radiance

puts on a grin when they embrace.

The two are dancing

Along the lines of morning

Along the lines of night.

And so, She appears

From the shade

That has laid across her breasts,

And along the freckled portions of her chest.

Colored in ebony,

the woman was half of two.

Radiance, hides under starlight.

Her Lover rests during daydreams.

The Lover

Encased in clouds,

Surrounds himself on beds of water,

Staring out of his ivory tower.

At night he moves his hands across grasslands

Glazes them with dew,

Swirling sands of slumber.

Awaiting Radiance once his job is done.

Together they keep the future in their palms.

Connecting beyond

What is known as divine.

The Sun and The Moon,

are each one half of two.

And when the sunlight has shone on her face.

Radiance, arises with grace.

Her stride,

Strong.

Gallant.

Confident.

Her waist sashaying from side to side.

Her red shawl dancing gloriously behind.

Further entrancing her in bold rays of yellow.

When the sunlight has shone on her face.

Glowing,

Like an immortal carving,

Cast in gold.

Marbled,

Fold after fold,

And smoothed like porcelain.

You could tell the Artisan

Wanted nothing less.

When Radiance comes alive,

She walks across the passing tide,

Directly into the ocean.

With Amethyst as her crown

Her anxiety is brought down

Like the sun’s nightgown,

Dressed in stars

And velvet blue.

She briefly meets her partner on the floor,

Caressing arms.

Interlocking thighs.

They then kiss each other goodbye.

Starting out close then moving far apart.

Illustration: Release When Radiance has shown her skin She steps barefoot into the warmed sand. Her body caught between the... Read More

Crystal Davis Full Time Writer/ All Day Dreamer

Crystal Davis is a multidisciplinary and mixed media performance artist, poet, painter, freelance writer, and social media marketer. She was born and raised in Jersey City, NJ and is the author and creator at Crystal Letters (CL), and Co-Founder and Co-Producer of OpenRoad Poetry (ORP), a partnership between CL and RescuePoetix TM. CL and ORP, have collaborated with arts non-profit organizations and artists nationally, and internationally.

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