Poetic Photo Album

i know it's long. please stick with me- this one is rather personal

I.

I belong in the Naperville grasshopper fields

With green blades rising like precarious towers

Just inches above my red hair. I am at home

In the sun bleached Polaroid with bugs in my milk carton,

Adorned in a neon wind breaker and Timberlands.

 

II.

I belong in the armpit between childhood

And pseudo maturity when I realize:

My baby sitter is not, in fact

The reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

 

III.

I belong wedged in the Fuji apple tree branches.

Even though they’re gnarled, tangled and climbed

They have rings that they've earned like tiger stripes,

And they've learned to love their imperfections-

They are the result of a hug from the curious human foot.

The thought swept past me like willow tree branches:

If someone cut me horizontally,

How many rings would I have, if any at all?

 

IV.

I belong in a rhythmic bloodstream

Because blood is thicker than water.

I need practice swimming upstream.  

 

V.

I belong on stage with expanding and contracting dreams

releasing allegories like fireflies

Into the mason jars of audiences’ souls.

I am at home using my body’s inflections

To help them understand, not just see.

 

VI.

I belong in the brisk airport terminal breathing in

The solace of unfamiliarity. Each person

Is placing a cherry red thumbtack on a different destination on the map

And every person has a unique array of thumbtacks,

But anywhere I travel will ultimately be

At least one person’s home.

 

VII.

I belong in the back of the stacks forgetting myself,

Like slitting the fragile wrists of a high school yearbook.

I absolve the syllables from their modest containers

And let them leak into the heavy space in my rib cage.

I am at home in a messy moleskin journal,

Words of my own stories strewn about like laundry

Fallen from the clothing line and stained by plum ink blots-

My poetry swells like a bruise.

 

VIII.

I belong, swimming, at the bottom of a ceramic tea pot

Bathing in the residue of every conversation shared

Over Earl Gray or Constant Comment.

 

IX.

I belong on the midnight train

To nowhere

(home)

 

X.

I belong in dry piles of driftwood some days.

I remove myself from the pile,

Like dirt from beneath fingernails,

Because when society declares my body

To be nothing but firewood to burn

I will grow an inflammable spine.

 

XI.

I belong in limbo between the clocks ticking arms

And everything that I’m not supposed to be

 

XII.

I belong in the lulls between your breaths

And indented like Braille in the space

Between your arms and your body.

 

I used to starve myself to take up less space in the world

But I’d rather be a human than a skeleton in a closet.

Deep breaths decompress my afflicted rib cage-

I belong in this world. 

Author's Note

my journal recently has enough anger and angst to fuel a war. there is so much in my life that i'm thankful for and i wanted to lighten up and appreciate. thank you for sticking with me through this long and personal piece.

Reviews

[Girl Friday (Sarah W.)]

This was simply fabulous. I mean, I scarcely have the words. You have written so many little gems into one single piece that I can't choose a section I love the best. I love the ending, and the imagery throughout was as fascinating as it was masterfully penned. You did slit your wrists and write this one in your own blood, my friend. This one spells honesty, desire, angst, yearning, and beauty.

I belong, swimming, at the bottom of a ceramic tea pot
Bathing in the residue of every conversation shared
Over Earl Gray or Constant Comment. -- just one of my favorite images...

[Dana Alsamsam]

thank you so much :)

[Archangel Gabriel]

Lighten? this is insight on a page. Angst and fear and self doubt explored and tossed aside. A mesmerising journey!

[Dana Alsamsam]

thank you so much for reading and your kind words!

[annabellee]

wow this is absolutley amazing, fantastic imagery, great flow, I just loved it... :)

[Dana Alsamsam]

thank you for your ever kind reviews :)

[annabellee]

you're most welcome :)

[Richard]

wherever I travel will ultimately be another person's home
genius
this was great ... as always ... do I even need to write reviews of your work anymore ha :)

[Dana Alsamsam]

haha thank you so much!!

[Richard]

You are welcome

[Astro]

Quite beautiful, sorrowful, and insightful. The idea to create 'photographic poetry' is new for me, so I say that it is also unique. I found quite a few wonderful lines in this piece, and I see in number "IX" you even mentioned your bit about "home being nowhere" in there. Great stuff.

P.S. You do belong in this world, so fill that mason jar with butterflies and lighten the load and once again you will dance the days and nights away.

[Dana Alsamsam]

yea this one's sort of a collective so to speak and a lot of my common themes show up in here. thank you so much for reading and reviewing :)

[Astro]

You're welcome.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

all the parts are so good...the bottom line...i belong in this world and i am thankful to be here...

bravo on letting this out...even when there aren't positives here there is still the sense of belonging.

by the way...my first ex was born and raised in naperville.

i don't like really long poems ordinarily...but i was engrossed in this one from beginning to end....you write with a flare that keeps us hanging in there...whether a short piece or like this...a longer write.

[Dana Alsamsam]

your words mean so much to me! i'm really glad i was able to keep you interested all the way through. naperville is lovely, and i'd love to raise my own children there one day. thanks for your review :)

[K. Louis]

Well Dana, I finally got to this piece of yours...and i'm so glad you shared this with me. You had me engaged from beginning to end. Your voice was heard and true, I could see this was personal and I really liked that. The imagery throughout was exquisite; I loved how the emotional intensity grew in this, released at the end of stanza 10 and then you just continued to let yourself go for the rest of it.

"I belong in the brisk airport terminal breathing in
The solace of unfamiliarity" -- I love this feeling

Stanza 3, was fabulous...I absolutely loved it!

..and "I belong in limbo between the clocks ticking arms
And everything that I’m not supposed to be. " -- Really lovely lines

So many beautiful things about this...very creative and well done!
Thank you for sharing! :)

[Dana Alsamsam]

thank you so much for your thorough read and kind review! your words really mean a lot to me :) it took a lot of reordering of the sections to get that emotional flow right so i'm really glad you recognized it!

[kublakhan27]

I'm in awe...this is absolutely epic, and I don't say that just because it's long :) This is a delectable feast of imagery and introspection...I tried picking out my favourite lines but the closer I got to the end, I realized there were to many to single out...this is your masterwork to date, and even though it was inspired by difficult circumstances, there is hope for better days in the mere fact that you were able to articulate these feelings as prolifically as you have :)

[Dana Alsamsam]

thank you so much for reading the whole thing and appreciating! your words mean a lot and i'm really glad you enjoyed this :)

[kublakhan27]

My pleasure Dana :)

[Tomahawk Joe]

I enjoyed reading this your poems are always aesthetically pleasing as well as pleasant to visualize in te
mind.

[B-poet]

Loved the written format as the roman numeraled stanzas opened up new chapters referring back to the overall theme of this compelling piece. Stanza II is a favorite of mine as you referred the babysitter as the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. That was quite an emphatic line for me. Overall fantastic work. Maybe in the future when you choose this particular format, you could do more 2 or 3 part poems if you desire to. A riveting write & read as well. :)

[Dana Alsamsam]

thank you so much! i think we all had that childhood figure that we genuinely thought was prophetic hahaha