Found on the Magnetic Poetry Locker at MB's Work

"romance is a search for poetry."

i find poetry
though, despite best efforts,
i have not found romance.
perhaps, romance in another sense of the word:
romance of literature,
friendship,
history.
but romantic love?
no.
perhaps then,

"poetry is a search for romance."

Ooh, cha cha!

arrival check-up
someone
told me
this place was
TOTALLY different
than it has turned out to be.

Sam,
for example,
is not shy at all.
In fact, yesterday
we played
"Tell All"
and she came in first.

Of course we were talking about boys.
In Morocco,
if anyone but my mum and dad found out,
I would have been labeled
BAD INFLUENCE
but no one ever tells anything about sleepovers anyway...
and it seems to be the same in America.

Strange how I feel so out of place
and in place
at the same time.
This is where I belong -
O summer days of long -
and even though it seems to be
that sun is burning down on me
odd how it feels so different than home.

List of friends:
-Piper, the crazy heiress one
the one who decides
we are going tanning
and then insists we wear sunscreen
-Sierra, the artistic one
the one who decides
we're not going to be part of the group
the one who matches me best
-Sam, the "shy" one
the one who acts like the princess she is
but not when she's alone with us
then she's normal
-Kailey, the surfer
the other writer
the one who gets in on crazy ideas
and actually follows through
-Linsi, the journalist
sometimes she's serious,
and sometimes not,
I can't figure her out,
but she's nice.
-Lissie, the silent leader
and lots of other girls.
they are all beautiful
they are all my friends...

dream
you turned into your father
and refused to aknowledge me
like i was me
and then,
you didn't want to go camping
and were afraid of bugs
and oh stars,
if you were afraid of camping,
you wouldn't be yourself,
miss I-went-Tent-Camping
and laughing at my toilets!

Here!

I'm finally here and it's here that I'll stay
Today just feels like so happy a day
Been here for a few now
It won't ever end
I'm here with my new bunch of really good friends!

First there was the trouble with gossip
Then I realized they weren't caught up
With preparing for my arrival
But I'm OK - it's my survival
That's the most important thing

And I'm here with new friends
Will it be to the end?
I'm not sure but we'll see
If they like me for me.

I Want to Fly

better than yesterday
but worse than today
trapped inside this asylum
(calls itself an embassy)
no access to civilization
'cept for 1 call an 'our

only reason i'm writing:
miss begley was the one i called today
was going to post a general update
but she told me lanier had a poem on mockingbirds
and supposedly,
that makes me the shakespeare of birds
may i get my wings and fly.

(PS: I found a few poems I wrote earlier on the journey over... here, so I'll post them when I actually get to OWT! Oh, grr. I called MB yesterday and dictated something to have her type up, but I wasn't in a poem-writing mood. Thankfully she lost it and I was in that kind of mood today!)

Lanier's poems (check them out!)

Detained

I'm here!
Finally, home
In the place he called home
Not sure where I stand
But my father once placed his feet
Upon this very ground

I'm here -
I'm not.
I am an American -
For real this time -
I'm not.
I'm Arabic, half-arabic
Half-arabic too much
I'm Muslim, all-muslim
All-muslim too much
I'm stuck at this checkpoint
And there's no way around it.

Explaining the last poem...

I got the title from the first and last lines combined.

It's about my idol who helps me through everything and unknowingly helped this past year.

The line about mothers is about her being a mother, but not mine, but like a mother to me. Yesterday means last year. That is about all that needs explaining, I think, or that I want to explain.

Bad Dream, and a poem with lots of symbolism (for me at least)

Bad Dream

dad announces he is going to iraq
mum tells me on the phone
we'll be fine, he said, mum explains,
he says i feed the baby well
that's why he accepted
what baby? i am too afraid to ask
how much have i missed in only three weeks
thank God it was a dream
but why did it seem so real

how did i reason why?

how did i survive yesterday?
a sideways glance,
an utterance of intolerance -
would you have been proud of me,
standing by
while being mortified?
hoping, wishing
maybe - it is just a phase -
this is just the same.

looking through a mother's eyes -
not my mother, just a -
how does this reside?

do you feel the power you hold
as stories of past years unfold
my hidden strength has multiplied
and you my dear are reason why.