oritpetra

the remnants of a hurricane
came through town this weekend.
benign by the time it made it this
far north, but still enough to blow away
the last of the clinging leaves.

its winds stripped the landscape
undressing it for winter
like violent hands tugging at clothing
secured too well; too many buttons for
this much urgency.

still, it warmed the november air,
giving me a false sense of
summer security, and,
if i closed my eyes,
i could smell warm salt air.

so i took my bicycle out
and drove it fast, hard,
with my own sense of urgency,
the left pedal creaking
under my need to fly.

i wore a t-shirt, no bra underneath,
just so i could feel summer’s
final lingering kiss combine
with its last dying breath; exhaled
across my goose-fleshed chest.

i found a steep hill, and glanced around:
just what i was looking for – no cars,
no people, just a pin-straight incline
ruled with street-lamps.
i pedaled hard, hard, hard and then took off.

but as i raced down, the wind
and rain whipped at me
and summer’s caress turned to winter’s,
raising my nipples until they hurt.
and so i went home

where i crawled between the sheets
of my rumpled, unmade bed. ran a hand
over my breasts, and put the other down below
where i pressed, panted, moaned away
the chill of winter’s coming.

the race of blood
synapses fire
touch, touch, touch
me

breath catching
hands trembling
need, need, need
you

pieces of ordinary
on the floor
torn off
exposing you and me as

us

Notes: The following poem was written March 2008, and then recently revamped. The revamped version is below, but I have included the original version underneath the cut at the bottom of the entry. Feedback and crit is much appreciated. I am especially interested in which version you prefer.


damp,
haziness hangs heavily --
oranged and incandescent.  
night air filled
with the scent of charcoal,
wafting thick and overwhelming.
eyelids drift shut and
concrete breaks beneath feet
streetlamps melting into
the cracked concrete crevices
of my earthquake imagination,
as ideas decompose into senses.

rich scent of
decaying of adulthood
these skyrises and steel-brick constructs
melt in the heat of mind-conjured embers
and give way to childhood remembering.  
another world:
damp still,
but different – the wetness between old leaves
tossed up and turned over in centipede searches;
dirt building up under bitten fingernails.
afternoon air filled
with the smell of charcoal cooking up
summer memories

brief smile,
hastened reflection,
then key in the door
and back to brick.

('cause i need a beat to give this tune).

EDIT: Also, because I have the next couple days off, I'll be around Skype a bit -- username: OritPetra. Feel free to bother me even if I am set to busy.

Just had the BEST day ever. Well, maybe I am being flagrant with my superlatives, but whatever. I don't care. THIS DAY WAS GOOD ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY MANY SUPERLATIVES.

Aced my German test.

Finished my Stained Glass final project, and this means that I have (a) the coolest piece EVAR hanging in the window, (2) no class on Thursday until next semester.

PREVIEWS:
     
(Bigger pictures are below, under the cut).

Inspired bycaitlin_chan, I watched like, the entire first season of my favourite childhood cartoon (check out the youtube link, it is a clip from the first episode):
 

Then I had the best meeting with my thesis advisor of life. He inflated my ego, and made him laugh and lose his train of thought like 5 times, we talked about the GirlTalk and K-OS concert that's going on here tomorrow, which I am sadly not attending, and I we somehow ended up talking about tye-dying clohtes. True academic luffs. Sigh. I also feel much better about where I'm at with my thesis now, and this is making me pleasantly bouncing.

And finally, I have the next two days off! Tomorrow is Remembrance Day and because I finished by final project for Stained Glass, I have every Thursday off until next semester. Hella-tight.

Before I skitter off to watch cartoons/bang off a paper of Proposition 8 and the effect of US federalism of the same-sex union issue, have some photos my stained glass project.

They are under the cut. Love you all <3

someone’s died again.
there are lights on in the funeral home
across the way; i can see them faintly
from the steps of my front porch.

 i flick the butt of my cigarette to the ground.
don’t usually smoke but i’m in some sort of a mood
and the flickering embers look good
against the dull gray of early night.

 sit a while longer but soon i am
restless, cold; i need to move.
i tug the scratchy wool of my scarf over my face
and head off for a walk.

 i cut across the funeral home parking lot.
lights still on, but only three cars out front.
i can feel the gravel through the bottom of my sneakers,
they’re old and the soles are getting thin.

 in the garden out front there is a quince tree,
it’s november but its fruit still hangs heavy
off its leafless branches,
looking like ugly, stunted apples.

 i bit one once,
like eve, while he was walking me home
it was like vinegar; bitter and sharp.
he warned me, but i did it anyway.   

 later, as he pressed into me,
i could still taste the fruit’s acrid juice  
on my lips. so i licked them,
and i did not regret it.   

 i stop walking and pluck one down again
from the one of the barren branches
but it explodes, bursting out between my fingers;
rotten.  

 the walk goes by fast; this town is small,
and soon i’m passing that quince tree again,
and walking through that same parking lot,
which still only has three cars.

 but this time, it also has three people, all in black.  
“didn’t expect many folks to show anyways,”
one of them says, almost laughing. one of the others replies:
“most of them are just glad the bitch is dead.” 

 i look away and pretend not to hear.
just down there street there is a little girl
running on the sidewalk laughing, all pink mittens
and imaginary friends.  

and i wonder what separates her from the bitch
that’s dead in the funeral home.
and if it’ll all be the same in the end. and if
i should have bitten that fruit. 

Hallowe'en is fast approaching.

So, have an update on my costumes!

I've got a low-key costume for tomorrow as Captain Jamye T. Kirk (I'll get photos of this up tomorrow, once it's all put together).

My main costume, however, is a lolita/steampunk inspired Alice in Wonderland.

If you'd like to see prelimary costume designs and test-run photographs, click here.

Actuals photos will be posted on LJ after Halloween, and hopefully after a much better photo shoot.

SO F-LIST,  WHAT'E YOU'RE HALLOWEEN PLANS? 

hi loves,

just a quick little entry to let you all know that i do, in fact, continue to live. i am still reading all your lovely entries, comments, and so on -- i just haven't had the time to respond to them as fast/frequently as i normally would.

life has been wonderful as of late. busy as all hell, but wonderful. if you are interested in the details, check out the photos and such that are hanging out under the cut.

Well, I suppose that this is my first day of class post. I told myself that I wasn't going to do a post for this, but whatever. I had a bitchin' first day, and I feel the need to spew on about it.

So, in a nutshell:
 

7:00 -- alarm goes, hit snooze 800 times before I finally realise that if I don't get up now I will have to go without doing my eye make-up. and this, i do not want. must have awesome eyes for first day. 

7:39 -- get out of bed to realise that it is flippin' cold.  make bee-line for slippers and giant house coat. eat breakie, shower, do makeup (light blue eyeliner on toplash only with a light bronze shimmer powder, lots of mascara; a low key lipstain), get dressed (from bottom up: black chuck taylors, pink leg warmers, grey leggins, purple acid wash mini skirt, pink tank, navy coat, purple paint splattered earrings, black sunglasses with neon paint splatters). yes, i did realise that it was the first day of class, not 80s night. no, i am not mental. yes, i dress like this all the time.

8:45 -- walk to campus with sarah, clara, and danielle. get made fun of because i walk slowish. I CAN'T HELP IT I HAVE STUBBY LEGS, YO. 30 INCH INSEAM, AHEM, (sarah and clara are both almost 6 feet tall)

9:15 -- stained glass studio.

9:25 -- realisation that i literally win at university for taking this course. so. much. fun.

11:30ish -- leave the studio. make note to self to get batman bandaids for the many ouchies that are now on my fingers. stained glass might be fun but it sure as hell shreds your hands up.

12:00 -- get told that i look like a sexy movie star in my outfit. 

12:01 -- almost float up into the sky due to inflated ego.

12:15 or so -- lunch date with leah and shannon. grapes, bagels, and carrots for the lunchtime win. packing a lunch feels so quaint right now. i give that feeling three days before it dissipates entirely. 

12:45 -- pick up X-ring eligibility forum. HOLY FUCK 83 DAYS UNTIL THIS HUNK-A-CHUNK OF BLINGBLANG IS ON MY FINGER:



(for those of you who don't now, the x-ring is my university's ring, and the third most recognized ring in the world apparently. but i mostly just want it 'cause it's shiny).

1:15-nowish -- doctor's appointment (oh god, i have to have my first pap test, oh noes), star trek watching, giant nap of doom, sitting on the roof of my house reading thesis articles, pancakes for supper, and Minesweeper: The Movie.

SO F-LIST: SINCE YOU HAVE ALL BEEN LACKING ON THE POSTING LATELY, HOW WAS YOUR FIRST DAY BACK TO CLASS? If you have an entry already, link me to it. If not, leave your experience in the comments! If you're the non-waifish working type, you can post a memorable first day of work or something along those lines. Send me your days, I say!