Poetry

Madison Keliin

Pyhäkkö

Here you remain still as the air you breathe, ensconced in a broken chair by the window sill.
If you remain statuesque long enough the vividness of the world's contour begins to blur.
As you meld into your deeper subconscious state, spectacles of refracted light and dust particles dance in a trill.
Here one melts away further and further into a place where the birds churr.

Encased like a porcelain doll sitting upon a shelf above a teeny tiny world.
Here nothing matters, and in this hideaway home my dear that is quite a nice thing.
Notes of the simplest song sway you, rhapsody and rhyme take sanctuary quietly in your head pleasantly swirled.
Consenting blissfully to your terrains’ peaceful distraction, effortlessly your eyes swing.

Behind tempered glass admiring the unknowing feathered and furry.
Those that hop, those that nestle, and all kind friends that scurry.
No rush, no hurry.
My darling here in this place there is no more need to worry.

Let this solitude hold you tighter as the warmth of your smile grows.
As the universe around you slows.
As a sky burst of color dimly glows.
Entrap this beautiful moment in your memory before today leaves, wherever it goes.

Winters on the Bench

Ashes from my cigarette fall like warm snowflakes betwixt my fingertips.
The burn is nothing compared to the iciness in the way you walk past me.
Without a glance, without a stir, without hearing the way my heart rips.
I palm my stillness as the victim of your criminal second degree.

Truth is, today, I don’t want to call out to you the way I once would.
Truth is, I think I don’t love you anymore either, and that’s what really stings.
I guess unloving you is a feat that I never thought I’d do but turns out I could.
I guess forgetting you is as empty a gesture as diamond promise rings.

I just wanted so badly for it to be you.
Now I recognize there is no more you.
You’re no longer the person I thought you were, and I wonder if you ever were.
I wonder if that feeling is mutual, and perhaps you were just playing a part for her.

So I’ll sip the cancer of our complications like the bitter tea it is, one gulp after another after another.
Until the lighting in my hippocampus goes so dark we can no longer see or hear from each other.
I’ve spent so much time fighting god for you that I didn’t notice my own bruises.
I suppose it’s time I’m honest enough to admit these battles are loses.
I’m sorry my soul can’t bear another storm.
But don’t worry, I’ll keep our bench warm.

Madison Keliin is a recent Magna Cum Laude graduate of EGCC’s online Associate of Arts program. Originally from Michigan, she’s been a proud Chicagoan since 2019. Though most of her time is spent with her high school sweetheart, Tanner, and their adorable three-legged pit mix pup Rocko, she enjoys all things creative. Including photography, drawing, painting, performance art, and of course creative writing. Though this is not her first poetry publication, it is her first in EGCC’s Oak Tree Journal, and it is an honor nonetheless. Special thank you to all my friends, loved ones, and supporters. Go Gators!