Poetry: Selections from Alexa Lesniak

Limbo

A place
I have waited
in my whole life, not quite
there
but almost. A hands
grasp away, fingers slipping
through each
other, figures flowing
from the dark. Three
yellow lights.
Do you press the pedal further?
Hair raveled by
the wind, fingers
grasped to the steering
wheel, lights smeared
into violent colors – the world
to a Rorschach test. I am
running down
the shoreline – nothing
but sand, constant
sand, a million grains
into a landslide. My body
falling, sinking, absorbed into
eternity.
One drop of raw rain
lands and the sky
opens: swallows
me. Take me into the clouds
and cloak me. Rain me back
into the soft water
-soaked grass. Like a doe
bedded down
for winter, leaves
cover me. A gentle
hand on the back
of my neck, “I am
here now,
honey.”
Fluttering
eyes, head pressed
to the cool window. Smooth
white sheets, cold stream
water, the open
ocean spilling
from the cliffs
of Point Reyes. A lighthouse stands
at the end
of a dusty road.
One path. Bright rays.
I reach
into the dust. Fingertips
emerge. Paint me. Paint
us. Hand
to hand –

almost.



Walk.

I live there – you live there
in the space between nowhere
and everywhere.

The sweet Spoon Leaved Moss tucked
into each cramped crack in the concrete.
Step on it.

A blue balloon ribbon tangled into
Queen Anne’s Lace. Look away.

The sky is scribbled on
as man chases the sun. The deafening
sounds of unnaturalness.
A young Horned Lark shredded
by man's metal wings.
Look at him.

Pick up his corpse.
Then set it on fire.
Tear into his soft flesh
with your jagged teeth.
$5.50 for hot wings.

You live here, I live here.
The moss, the flower, the bird,
lived here.

In the space between anguish and finite freedom.





Alexa Lesniak is a current English major at the University of Maryland. Poetry has always been a safe place for her. She finds her inspiration through nature, especially in the tiny aspects no one seems to notice. This can be seen in her pieces, as almost all of them connect back to her environment. Alexa is originally from the Philadelphia area, and since moving away from home, she has turned to poetry once again. She hopes that by being open about her struggles, others will feel inspired to do the same. 

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