Young Writers Society

napo 2018: Falling Up

1. Johnny is My Darling

I was eighteen the summer
That we thought it would all be over by the fall.
We lived in Springfield and my father never tired of a story
of a time he’d passed Abe Lincoln at the market
ten years before.

When the war begun,
As a girl, there was little I could could but smile
in my Sunday best, waving as the boys I’d always known
rode away in blue— even my Johnny.

He’d meant to marry me and told me
that we’d have to do it quick
So he knew that I would wait when he returned.

And wait I did.
For four long years.

I was twenty-two the day he came home.
And yet, one look at him
and I knew that nothing would ever be same.

2. Come Josephine

It was nineteen-hundred and three
when I remembered the headline
though I was only five
that two brothers down in North Carolina
had built a flying machine
and gone up into the sky.
I told my father that day that one day
I’d learn to fly a machine of my own
and he told me he’d love me no matter what.

But then I grew up
and got married somewhere in between
and for the most part I forgot my dream.

It was nineteen-hundred and twenty-three
and I was twenty-five the first year I finally flew
in someone else’s machine
and I remember going up,
up,
up,
there was nothing like it.
And some part of me felt five again.

3. Over There

We were happy once
but that was a long time ago
when we were young and still believed
the world was good.
I loved you in my own way
and all I can think of now
that you’re not here
is all of the years we wasted.

4. After

The art of forgetting
is one that I have yet to master
although I have yet to hear of anyone who has.
Maybe I will be the first.
The heartbreak of remembering
is much too great
and I do not know how I can live with it
for the rest of my life.

once,
You loved me and once,
I was happy.
If only happiness lasted forever.

5. In the morning

Early in the morning
I heard the birds chirping.
I got out of bed and felt the warmth on my skin.

The others were already awake
And I could tell it was going to be a hot day.

I felt my stomach make noises
And helped myself to a three day old chocolate bar
scavenged from the dumpster behind the Ralph’s.

I’d been unhappy at home
so I left

Just like in the Beatles song.
And I kept thinking, wondering, hoping
that I made the right decision.

6. Lady Jane

They said that you and I
were like a young prince and princess
and I remember thinking
that this hadn’t been the purpose of my life.
I loved you,
but then I was still figuring myself out.

I suppose a part of me
thought that I could have it all —
I could be strong and independent
and a feminist
but I could be in love with you
and you me and we would live
happily ever after.

and maybe I was naive to think
that you’d want that for me too.
me and you
you and me —
it’s all a blur now.

7. Hungry

I was barely old enough to know
what things were like before.
Though I had the vaguest memory
most of what I knew was colored from the stories I heard
from Mother and Father.
For them at least, there was a sense of pride
that we would never know
the suffering that is all too real now.

In hindsight, I see
we took it all for granted.


8. Bluebirds

I was eight years old on that Sunday morning
In December. I woke up to the sunlight through my windows
And the smell of fried eggs on the stove —
in other words, it was a day like any other.

That afternoon we listened to the President
(the same one that had consoled Mom and Dad through
many hard nights)
tell us that we were going to war.

I didn’t know what to think.
And I suppose I thought
we’d be safe from its affliction.

9. The fleeting of time

Lately I have often thought
about the fleeting nature of time.
Just yesterday our handsome president
was alive and well
and today they tell us he is dead.

His children are barely six and three
The little one will not remember him
and the older only barely.
Will they see the pictures
and know how much he loved them?
Will their mother tell them stories?

Today, they retreat back to ordinary life
everything taken in an instant.
How could they have known? 


10. Modern Girl

I woke up this morning
and curled my hair
and put some lipstick on my face.
I was out of foundation
(forgot to get more the last time I was at the drugstore)
so I went without
The dark circles under my eyes exposed for the world to see.

I put on my dress
Blue and floral
and my new heeled sandals from the store.

I supposed I looked pretty enough
for random men to call me baby
but not enough for anyone to look
a second time.

11. Play the Music

Play the music softly now
so that I can close my eyes and be a world away
and maybe you will draw
the the images in my mind,
make them move like magicians do
make me forget about the looming threat of war.
It was only two years ago
a certain princess with skin as white as snow
and a certain penchant for apples
made me believe in magic.

Perhaps you will help us feel it again.

12. Easter


Never did I think
that on this holy day
in the past,
so a symbol of hope
that we would be
Here

Abe Lincoln murdered two days ago
In Washington.

It was supposed to be an end to the pain.
and I do not know what is going to happen
now that he is gone.