Another Stor

y About Stars

H.E. Grahame

Another Story About Stars

H.E. Grahame

SLCC Publication Studies Press

SLCC Publications Studies Press Advisor: Charlotte Howe

Publishers: Lynda Maxfield, Abigail Moyes, Samantha Eborn Book Layout & Design: Lynda Maxfield Cover Design: Samantha Eborn, using original art by H.E. Grahame Illustration: Abigail Moyes

Production: Lynda Maxfield, Abigail Moyes, Samantha Eborn Poetry: © 2019 H.E. Grahame.

Cover Art: © 2017 H.E. Grahame.

All rights reserved.

to M.

Moo.

Another Story About Stars H.E. Grahame

Another Story About Stars Letters

Mixed and remixed

Telling stories and stories of you Whispering of stars and forevers

Of us

Icy

Cold hands and cold hearts

The icy winds are breaking

I am breaking too

Begin / End

Beginnings

Into gloomy endings

New breath to

Graying old lungs, choking for air Metronome bleating of machines keep hearts beating Beep

IV lines and broken promises

Beep

Oxygen tubes and lost time

Beep

Antiseptic dressings of hope keep hearts pounding Fresh view to

Aging old eyes, blinking for sight Out of luminous beginnings

Endings

In Between

A hundred melodies can create a song to lull the in-between spaces of

I miss you and I wish you were here .

Writers and artists can find the ways to fill the silences after I’m thinking of you.

But I am stuck in your darkness, pleading.

Without color. Without sound. Without word.

Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t go.

I would compose you a symphony.

I’d author you a library.

I’d decorate entire galleries.

I’d say too much and make you run.

Or not enough at all.

Is that what you’re waiting for?

A word. A note. A brushstroke.

Any reason to run.

Maybe you’re waiting for Shakespeare or Van Gogh to show you how you fit into my every color and verse.

Maybe you’re stalling in rain puddles trying to hear the way the strings and percussion sing to know if it is right.

Maybe you’re waiting to hear me echo back.

In pitch. In phrase. In hue.

It’s right. It’s right. It’s right.

If this is what you’re waiting for all of the songs and books and art in the entire world will say it better.

But never mean it more.

Forgive me for being lost somewhere in these in-betweens.

Drawing a bow. Drawing a breath. Drawing a heart.

Longing for you to stay.

Pink

If beginnings were a color

They’d be pink

Like the familiar stone-walled frame I dragged boxes and bags into

We cluttered the corners with

Inside jokes and vivid tales

And postered the blank walls with Memories and forget-me-nots

Within the blushing pink

We became a “home”

If endings were a color

They would be gray

Like our common rose-colored frame They bathed in a sticky dark paint

They emptied littered corners Blooming with black mold and dust And undressed the flowered walls

Exposing all our cracks and breaks Outside the sullen gray

We became “unknown”

Goodbye

You said you needed space

But I heard goodbye

I said I needed time

But you heard goodbye

You said you needed more

But you meant goodbye

I said I needed love.

And you said goodbye

I said I needed hope

And I meant goodbye

Find You

If I sang into the sky

Would the stars gather

Would they carry my notes

And paint the inky clouds to

find you.

If I sang into the sky

Would the stars twinkle

Would they murmur my hopes

And fill the dark places to

find you.

If I sang into the sky

Would the stars listen

Would they know my loneliness

And search the universe to

find you.

If I sang into the sky

Would the stars harmonize

Would they serenade

And celebrate when I

find you.

Star II

Above the sleepy city, the inky heavens were cloudless and infinite.

As a wintery breeze kissed their cheeks beneath the vast, star-freckled sky.

His words and movements were intoxicated with too much excitement and gin

bouncing from foot to foot, arms swinging wildly, dancing in the silvery moonlight.

He faltered just slightly as he looked at her over his shoulder and grinned, spilling stars into the night.

scattering constellations across dark canvas.

Her brief time with him had taught her the angles of his nose and freckled patterns peppering his cheeks, his sleepy face at 4 a.m. and how his eyes crinkle when he laughs.

She watched as he effortlessly reassembled her broken pieces, and understood, sowing hope into her life.

promising their forevers in sparkling bright paints.

Their twinkling city and whispered breeze orchestrated a simple melody matching his sloppy waltz, composing a love song, of sentimental verse but never so mundane as romance and desire.

They knew their symphony was unique and celebrated, breathing stardust into the air.

Above the sleepy city, their childlike laughter was timeless and infinite

As a wintery song changed their lives beneath the vast, star-speckled sky.

Love Me Like Laughter Love me like laughter:

Roaring and vast

Sing with me in chorus

And verse to the last

Please keep me like promise:

Precious and near

Paint with me in pigment

And hue that’s sincere

Please love me like laughter:

Forever and after

Croon

Unfurling petals

Blossom on our hillside spot

Crooning a spring song

Because (II)

...of inside jokes

...of speaking in our own language...or maybe just yours

...of (accidental) sugar-free cookies

...of the first time meeting your father

...of Demetria Lovato

...of spoonerisms

...of Sunday adventures

...of Yoko Ono

...of hotel-room laughter

...of birthday pizza and bowling - you hate bowling

...of Kathy Jo’s “leathers”

...of lavender bows and balloons

...of resolving disagreements before sleep

...of the midnight ghost that wanders the hall

...of glitter beards and rainbow flags

...of snap streaks and hearts

...of shiny fast new cars

...of lesbian weddings

...of stars

...of watercolor unicorn ink

...of Popperton Park

...of gelato

...of list poems

...of letters to my best friend.

In My Sky

Stars steer travelers and sailors Guiding them on their journey

You are the star in my sky

Showing me the way

Too Hot

It’s too hot. Too hot.

We crave a summer downpour

to waltz into storms.

Wander

Las Vegas

Vancouver

Seattle

Lake Tahoe

Denver

Wandering

Side by side

Chicago

New York

London

Paris

Wanderlust

Ghosts

I’m haunted by the ghosts of me and you They lurk in the corners of

My room

My mind

They rattle the windows and doors Leaving cabinets and closets open Contents spilling out

They sigh icy breath and bitter frost Chasing moments and stories

Memories spilling out

They glide through the boundaries and walls Creaking floorboards and bedsprings Secrets spilling out

I’m haunted by the ghosts of you and me They won’t let me forget

About you

About us

Embellish

Autumn leaves sprinkle

A flaming cascade of hue

Embellishing our song

Alright Now

It’s always stars

Stars and Stars and Stars

You caught me free falling from a black lonely sky You lit up the inky canvas like a Christmas tree You pulled me near and became a celestial glow In the heavy darkness

I put down my armor

I put down my walls

I put down my defenses

It’s always stars

Stars and stars and stars

I bask in the glorious beauty of this new universe You painted with light and for me.

You orchestrated melodies and lead me in waltzes In the twinkling night

You loved me harder

You loved me galaxies

You loved me light

And I’m alright now.

Nothing Less Than Everything Everything I write or paint or hum about us, for you,

always finds itself peppered with stars and galaxies.

You are star-freckled verse and glittering paint, silvery moonlight waltzes and starlit melodies.

Our dawn was blanketed in stardust on a hilltop and bloomed into forever in the frosty midnight air.

Nothing could mean as much to you, to me,

ever trusting the stars to never stop shining in the dark.

I composed each twinkle in prose and story as you postered the images to my walls.

We inked our ‘always’ on our chests like a badge of honor with sparkling constellation, mirrored on pale skin.

Everything that sparkles in my sky for me is us,

Endlessly more extraordinary than romance or desire.

You. Me. Us.

Nothing less than everything.

Zenith

You are my zenith

My North Star.

The point in the inky sky that leads me home.

You are my home.

My best friend.

The point in the dusky world that feels like hope.

You are my hope.

My companion

The point in the cloudy universe that wears a brilliant crown.

Because (III)

...you’re my best friend

...you are my significant otter

...I love otters

...I love you

...I love cownose stingrays

...Moo

...you are you

...I am me

...we are “we”

...“oFanna means Hamily”

...Hamily means “for always”

Making Wishes

wished for you

on a star

in the sky

sang for you

to find you

in the clouds

wished for love

and friendship

for a home

sang for love

and compassion

for a friend

wished for stars

sang for hope

and you gave me

galaxies

You + I

You and I, breathing stars into the sky Painting the dark with silver and glitter Dancing upon a vast star-freckled hill Foot to foot, spinning in the darkness Waltzing in the frosty winter moonlight Grinning constellations into the sky You and I.

The twinkling city sang us a love song And we danced to the sentimental tune But our love would never be so mundane Whispering galaxies into the sky

You and I.

About the Author

H. E. Grahame is a Writing Consultant at the Salt Lake Community College Student Writing & Reading Center. She was also staff, Literary Editor, and Design Editor for Folio - SLCC’s Literary Magazine. She has been included in several SLCC Folio and Anthology publications, Z-Publishing House’s Emerging Poets and Writers series, and was the winner of the 2015 SLCC Chapbook Contest with a short memoir titled Mix Tape. In her free time, she enjoys travel, cooking, concerts, reading and spending time with friends.

www.HEGrahame.weebly.com

SLCC Publication Studies is a micro press with an educational mission that focuses on publishing student authors. The press is in its ninth year.

This chapbook is one of an edition of 50, hand-bound by Publication Studies students on a Fastbind perfect-binder, affectionately named EVA. This book was trimmed on a 490

Pro DocuCutter.

The process of designing Another Story About includes the following font choice: Oranda for text and titles.