Stranger

by cammie

Published June 21, 2011

In poems

Stalk still, waiting on the street corner,
I almost see him nod at me.
Blinking, unsure, silence.
Hush, hush. Hush, hush.

A strange aura around us.
Alien spaceships rocket to the ground.
Water drops; collide, explode.
And no one notices.
Hush, hush. Hush, hush.

In a shimmer he turns,
Yet not to go away.
But change; green, yellow, red.
Hush, hush. Hush, hush.

The bus curves clumsily around the corner.
Transparent ballerinas spring from the sidewalk.
Live, for a moment.
Only to splat to the pavement again.
Hush, hush. Hush, hush.

His pitch black and steely face.
Tells me he wants to be free.
To travel, roaming, drifting.
Hush, hush. Hush, hush.

I thank him for his help in guiding me.
Yet he waits alone.
On that lonely corner where he has stood forever
Wishing, longing.
Hush, hush. Hush, hush.

He assists each noisy beetle.
Crawling along in a toxic fume.
Honking, beeping, speeding.
Hush, hush. Hush, hush.

I feel pain in his soul.
Made of hard wires and cables.
But it has a spark.
And he will never let go.
Hush, hush. Hush, hush.

And I cry for him.
Because he cannot.
All he has are the raindrops that shine on his side.
Hush, hush. Hush, hush.

And I wonder.
What is it really like,
To be a traffic light?

Comments & reviews · 6
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June3
Review
June3 wrote a review Review · Jul 13, 2011

I was a little confused with the hush, hush thing going on there. Or is the reason for that a hush, hush topic ; ). Anyways, loved it! I liked the sudden swerve at the end about how it's not a man... but a light. I loved the description, I love ballerinas! Because I happen to be one myself :3. Overall, loved it, and I'd love to read more! : )

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sunxkissedxme
Review
sunxkissedxme wrote a review Review · Jul 8, 2011

Hi there!

Like a few people have already mentioned, stopping at the end of each sentence can be quite annoying and confusing to the reader, so try to avoid it as much as possible. Also, some of your sentences can be put together to make a whole one. Otherwise I really liked this, and it's very impressive for a 12 year old. Keep up the good work! And keep writing!(:

havetolovemusic wrote a review Review · Jul 7, 2011

I really liked this poem. I had to read it again after I read the ending. I have never really read a poem like this, and I loved it. The metaphors are awesome. I love metaphors, but I kind of suck at them, so reading this was cool.

I have the same pointers as Artemis, Justtrying, and Aadesh. All those periods made it choppy and you don't want that. It stops the beauty and the flow of the poem.

The repetitive "Hush, hush. Hush, hush." was cool. I really liked that and added a characteristic, unique touch to the poem.

Just remember the choppiness and the punctuation and your poems will be beautiful as this one...and as creative. :) Keep writing poems like this, cause people like me who suck at metaphors like to read them. :) Thanks for writing this. This has to be one of my most favorite poems now. I swear! It's up there with Alone by Maya Angelou, and that's saying something cause she is amazing. :) Thanks so much. Completely loved it! :)

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artemis15sc
Review
artemis15sc wrote a review Review · Jul 7, 2011

The most unexpected ending of a poem I have ever read. I was so shocked, I read it like three times just to make sure I'd read that last line right. What that means is either I'm just a little...slow or you did a really good job personifying that traffic light(I'm inclined to go with the latter, for my confidences sake). I loved how your poem gave something simple a dark and compelling voice.
I don't use punctuation in poetry all that much, which means that I didn't really notice it in yours, but I can see their point. Just look for the most important and powerful lines in your poem and put varying degrees(period, semicolon, comma) of punctuation on it, depending on how you want your poem to flow.

TwistedMuffins wrote a review Review · Jul 2, 2011

Alo there!

Amazing poem, I must say, espically coming from a twelve year old! As Aadesh said, you shouldn't put a fullstop at every line. That tends to confuse the reader a bit.
Like. Imagine. Trying. To. Read. This. In. Bits. And. Peices. Very. Annoying. Is. It. Not. ?

Also, this paragraph:

I feel pain in his soul.
Made of hard wires and cables.
But it has a spark.
He will never.
Let.
Go.
Hush, hush. Hush, hush.

He will never. (commar)
Let go. (put it together.)

There are many a times you emphatized things a bit too much, (putting them in separate lines.) which is very annoying. I really wanted abandon the poem, and move on with my life and forget about it. Its that annoying.

But what I really liked, was the smartness behind it. You talked about it like a human, but then towards the last couple of paragraphs you started asking wheather it is a human or not, and in the end, its a traffic light. So the concept, choice of words and the intenstional repetition of "Hush, hush. Hush, hush." was amazing.

I would really love to hear more from you, Cammie.
Keep it up!

-Justtrying.

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Aadesh
Review
Aadesh wrote a review Review · Jun 30, 2011

The poem was good. Actually it's pretty awesome for your age. But there are certain point's you may want to keep in mind. A full stop is not required after every sentence. And the one word lines can be combines to create a better imagery. All in all a good piece of work. Kudos! =)



Monster is a relative term. To a canary, a cat is a monster. We're just used to being the cat.
— Henry Wu, "Jurassic World"