Near-rhymes, double time—
not necessary to nature, but undoubtedly more powerful,
pungent like citrus rinds, wrinkled like a smirk.
I used to think I was alone in asymmetry—
the one person with shadows preoccupied,
an eye disappearing in smiling,
a smile sweeping away to the west
to find more time, to find more finding.
But you, you lopsided-eyed, crushed-velvet laughing—
you lavender-avail, leisure-assurance, macro muse in the music box—
twirling through misty methods of life, of dancing—
You have a genius and a geniality
in all your angles; you’d
be gliding on the tides in perfect explanation of such.
I want that subtly sweet response,
that conversation that teeters between
contemplation and calculation,
that sleek, smart epiphany,
that begged-for bite of insight
sliced with shining teeth.
If they could decode this for a poet,
oh, the irony—it’d almost burn. It’d almost melt me
like something of artificial soft, of glorified false sugar.
May I ever charm in such asymmetry; may I ever be in being?
Maybe I could be the advocate or the vocal lover.
Maybe I could be the artist, the redemption of the colors.
Maybe I could be the friend, Friday’s fruity fun or
the footnote, the roadmap, the glue gun.
Maybe I won’t ever stop caring.
Maybe—just maybe,
a maybe teetering toward tomorrow.
Karissa Seibel is an eighteen-year-old poet from Cincinnati, Ohio. Her work has appeared in publications such as Eve Poetry Magazine, Silver Linings Anthology, and Train River Poetry: Spring 2020. Karissa is a curator for Savant Poetry and Pack Poetry, Instagram poetry communities, and she is a Literary Submission Editor for Kalopsia Literary Journal. More of Karissa’s poetry can be found on her Instagram portfolio: @karissa_thinks_in_ink.
Fantastic
Well done Karissa!! Best poem I’ve read in ages!!
Thoughtful and well crafted, despite the proliferation of “maybes” at the end. It hooked me at “wrinkled like a smirk.” This poet has a good eye, both physical and metaphoric.