Don’t Settle
Imagine a sky whose
sun never rose.
The dark, you know,
would become familiar,
But it would be the only
thing you know.
You know the light existed
once, but you don’t
know how it looks or feels.
And you can’t imagine it at all.
Suppose this was your world.
Maybe you would grow to love
the dark, but that may be simply
because you knew nothing better, as if
the world around you is all you get
and you must settle.
They want you to settle.
Don’t.
Upside down goldfish
I tap
on the
glass, waiting for them to
move, but they just float along, cloudy in
their brilliance, bumping against each other and
against the glass. What a fun game they’re playing! What are they doing
that for? I remember what I was taught, that goldfish- and people- who play this game
are somewhere else entirely: some fishbowl in the clouds where I cannot go.
These goldfish have access to uncharted waters- kelp forests
and coral reefs that these fish here in this tank
cannot see or even imagine. They don’t
swim in bowls at all, but they
roam free in an ocean
of light,
never surfacing
for air, and never
tiring of swimming.
I tap the tank again
and the upside down
goldfish jostle each
other, making me believe
this is all there is to their
boring game. But I
know
better.
“Triumph” of the death-tree
A man of courage
condemned to a cross
A baby born in a
trough bed in a barn
Strapped up like a criminal
and saturated with sin
Denied by his followers whose faith fell through; tortured with a thorn-helm and tied to a tree
Was destined to yield while his days dwindled; this person so pure that peace couldn’t perish
Could have flown up to Heaven and be freed with a flourish; a king, who through kindness became like a kinsman
Had humility too huge
for the heart of a human
A lamb whose slaughter
looked like a loss
But inside a lion-heart
that loved without limits
My Lord has left luxury
for a thane like me
I now yearn for nowhere
but a place at his knees
This Deity’s destiny
to have died for me
is the imbedded meaning
of my identity.
Biographical Note: Alexandra Frank is a freshman at Grove City College studying English and Creative Writing. She grew up in Asheville, NC and is the fourth child of six. Her favorite poet is Gary Soto and she hopes to be a professor of English and poetry someday. She received two gold key awards for the Scholastic Art & Writing regional competition in Western North Carolina and had a poem published in Heart unto Heart, a collection of stories by the beauty initiative within FOCUS.