​Alaina M. Perez
Secondary Education Professional
Amateur Rambler
This is Why
The Offbeat Volume 11: Words Upon the Way
A literary collection - 2011
The world is asleep
And my thoughts are conflicting,
There's no way to tell if they're true
Or are fleeting.
My mind is opposing
Dualities are creeping
Up on the few hours
I shouldn't be thinking.
Your eyes on me are
Burning my skin, I
Feel the heaviness of your gaze
Setting in.
The long cold embers inside
Are awakened,
My breath is unseasoned and
Steadily increasing.
I beg to be touched,
But my past keeps me planted
A foot from the
Fiery contact I'm seeking.
The distance reminds
Me of what I have waiting,
But why should we keep it from letting us
Teem and crawl inside of the orb of the new?
I never knew I would find that in you.
Still, what if I'm wrong and you're
Only a season, in my life
Free from all lasting reason?
What if I lose what I've had all along,
And what if my face is all you have drawn?
How can I live with
Myself if I turn out to,
Be just a waste, that you learn of
Another evil inside of
The thoughts that conflict?
I never want to be something you miss.
Saturday
The Offbeat Volume 11: Words Upon the Way
A literary collection - 2011
Frayed edges wear and tear,
One thread exposed
Is a threat to the others,
Grab the end and pull,
Unravel them all to see what's left.
Musky scented rooms are empty,
Objects within start to fade,
One
By
One they move back
To the most hidden corners of my memory.
Your face is like a puzzle,
Only not all the pieces fit,
Colors lose their luster,
Blend to make one tone unnamable.
I am cold.
The length of time is unsettling,
I grapple with the idea
Of a continuous loss,
Struggling to hold onto the
End
Of your voice cracked
And shrill
I still hear it.
The one thread materializes,
My needle sharp and skilled
Begins to sew back together
As best as it can,
The frayed edges of a picture.
Hiding beneath my work
My trembling begins to subside,
Warm again I reminisce
Until once more,
A loose end
Catches my eye.
My Dearest, .
The Offbeat Volume 11: Words Upon the Way
A literary collection - 2011
Oh, oh, oh, predictable you,
Did exactly what you wanted to.
Played the part, kept eyes open wide
And vacant, a mind void of all device.
Always shocked at others' callous,
Made skeptical by your blatant lack of
Normal flaws and normal character,
Now I know that is the safer
Route to travel down with you,
You, mediocre clown, you
Really thought that I of all
Wouldn't see through the mirrored ball
Of planted lines and too forced scenery?
The glaring false and too green greenery
Of every look and word and move?
Oh, oh, oh, predictable you.
Stage Fright
The Offbeat Volume 11: Words Upon the Way
A literary collection - 2011
Standing at the edge
Of a decision looming in,
Swaying back and forth
I feel myself give in.
I recognize the faces
And costumes I must wear,
A chest stocked full of traces
Of who I was back then.
I step into my role,
And assume the act expected,
Repeat the same discourse,
Still, fall short on lines corrected.
Receive the same applause,
Reject the same critiques.
Look past all the same flaws
Fall into the part I left behind.
My vision returns slowly,
I'm still standing at the end
Of the stage where you sit waiting,
Will I stay, or will I bend?