Two Poems by Dana Trick

 

Song of Two Songbirds

 

In the beginning of life,

Before the Beings of the Beyond Above

Began their divine duties over the Below-Earth,

The early humans were born not with emotions

But with total logic and reason of the world.

The logic and reason gave them enough skills to survive—

To build shelter, to build clothing, to build tools, to build food, to build weapons.

They had all the things essential for surviving, for living,

But they were missing something crucial for so many centuries and eras.

Each generation’s hearts containing logic and reason as the previous,

Each generation surviving the world but never able to get what they needed,

Then one day, in two opposite places, a strange pair of humans were born

With something other than logic and reason in their hearts.

 

In a land full of rainclouds, mists, waters, greens, and peace,

An odd girl with a breathtaking voice

Would often escape her village’s existence of logic and reason

By singing beautiful songs—

Melodies of love, happiness, kindness, humor, mercy, wonder, hope, innocence, beauty.

As she didn’t contribute anything productive to the village,

As her actions didn’t follow the logic of humanity,

Her village exiled the young girl to the wilderness.

 

In a land full of sun, metals, winds, mountains, and war,

A young boy with a powerful voice

Would often escape his village’s existence of logic and reason

By singing heart breaking songs—

Harmonies of sorrow, hatred, anger, vice, regret, agony, horror, despair, ugliness.

As he didn’t contribute anything productive to his village,

As his action didn’t follow the logic of humanity,

His village exiled him to the wilderness.

 

For decades and ages,

Together in strangeness and hearts

Yet never seeing each other,

Barely surviving with their lesser logic and reason,

With nobody and nothing understanding their beauties,

The girl and boy spent their lives wandering the Below-Earth,

Singing their songs to everyone and everything about everyone and everything

Even as the only reaction they get is simple indifference,

Even as the only applause was thrown stones, flying fists, splattered mud.

 

While they knew that their singing and strangeness

Is what kept them ostracized and alone,

While they knew that their songs and otherness

Is not going to give them mercy

The two singers continued to sing everyday,

Spending every day, every month, every year of their lives

With their throats and travels, their melodies and mouths, their voices and verses

Until their last day of voice,

Until their last day of breath,

Until their last day of life,

Was spent singing their very last lovely strange song that was full of everything.

 

When the last verse and note had escaped their lips,

When their heartbeats faded into nothingness,

When their bodies let loose their soul-lights,

Humanity’s logic believed their song would fade into silence,

Humanity’s reason rationalized their song would be forgotten,

But their final harmony was so great, their flying light-souls

Broke through the sky, broke through the heavens,

Shattered the Forever-Border between the Below-Earth and the Beyond-Above.

 

The shards of the Forever Border fell upon the Below-Earth

As raindrops of many colors

Drenching every living presence of the world,

Filling every beating heart of the world

With so many things, so many emotions

That everyone of Below-Earth began to shed their first tears

Out of sadness, happiness, anger, wonder, hatred, love.

 

The Beings of the Beyond-Above,

Who were just as ignorant of the Below-Earth,

Who were once existing undisturbed by the humans below, 

Who were effortlessly enchanted and ensnared

By the majestic melody and splendid soul-lights,

Questioned the Being of Unknown, crooned the Being of Death,

Inspired the Being of Faith, begged the Being of Miracle,

Concerned the Being of Order, motivated the Being of Justice,

Overwhelmed the Being of Passion, Seduced the Being of Power,

Called the Being of Fortune, intrigued the Being of Thought.  

 

Curious to seek their origin of the haunting harmony,

The Beings followed the echoes of the song to the crumbling of the Forever-Border

Where they saw the still-weeping humans in Below-Earth—

Their hearts, their minds, and their souls

So full of so much burning emotions and freezing logic

That left them in chaos and confusion.

Pitying them and their torment,

All the Beings went to the Below-Earth

And made themselves known to the humans,

Blessing them with guidance, with salvation, with wisdom

In exchange for creating beauties and glories that only humanity can create.

 

Ever since then,

For eternity forevermore,

Humans—hearts full of logic and emotion—

Have created music, paintings, sculpture, textiles, crafts, pottery, poetry

For themselves and for the Beings of the Beyond-Above,

Making the Below-Earth wonderful and beautiful.

 

Broken Fairy Tale

 

Once upon a time,

You were a beautiful princess

Whose traits were blessed by righteous fairy godmothers.

It was supposed to be a happy life filled with harmony,

But you couldn’t stop gazing out the keyhole of your room

And wanting something real.

 

Chained to this facade,

You don’t know

Who you are,

Why you are here,

But you just follow the tale’s dance

To become the person the court demanded you to be.

 

One day while you look through the keyhole of your monotone cage,

An evil witch flies to the opening and asks you “why are you so empty?”

When you can’t answer anything worthy of a clever lie,

She holds out her scarred hand and asks “Do you wanna to get out?”

 

Before your hesitation could realize what was happening,

You fling your chained hand out of the keyhole, unlocking it,

And later whisked away by the evil witch to the unknown outside.

 

Years of traveling had led both you and the witch

To meet beautiful monsters of kindness and innocence,

To see hidden worlds of wonder and amazement,

To feel your heartbeats and souls singing with joy.

 

It wasn’t long until

The two of you fell into the petals of love,

Each day together was the happily ever after

You never knew you dreamed of,

Full of smiles, laughter, and adventures.

 

One day while visiting in a lush forest,

You searched for the sweetest berries for your beloved witch

But suddenly, a handsome prince laden with perfection,

Accompanied by your former fairy god-mothers

Stumbled upon you.

 

Holding out a hand full of needles and knives,

He says, “Fair maiden, I have long searched for you!

I am here to save you from the evil witch that had taken you prisoner!”

He and the fairy god-mothers try to grab you,

But you run with all your might to your beloved witch.

 

She holds you tightly and glares at the approaching villains.

Within an instant, she flings hexes and spells at them

But the fairy god-mothers repeal each of them,

A chance allowing them to fling a curse that petrified your witch to stone.

 

You fall to the ground crying, still holding your beloved witch

Only to be immediately seized and dragged away

By the evil prince and cruel fairy god-mothers.

“Don’t cry, dear princess!” the fairy godmothers sneered as they flew over you,

“Your tormentor is deceased. Come, you are free now!

Come with us for we must celebrate your rescue

With a joyous wedding between you and this handsome prince!”

 

You could feel your overflowing sad tears boiling into angry tears,

And you scream at them with all the rage and rebellion inside,

“My life with her was better than that sweet poison of a fairy tale!”

 

The defiance in your voice turned your tears into dragons of typhons and terror,

Who quickly attacked the villains with vengeance and might.

The prince and fairy godmothers attempted to fight back

But they were too evil and weak, and they drowned in the water of your tears.

 

Once they were dead, you rushed back to your beloved witch

And cry over her stony corpse, heart breaking more and more,

But when your tears fell and drenched her, she turned back to living flesh.

 

You both embrace,

And you fly to dreams and happiness,

Resuming your happily ever after.

Born a first-generation Mexican-Canadian-American autistic with ADHD, Dana Trick lives in Southern California where it is clearly foolish to wear black any day but she does it anyway.

She spends her days writing emotional poems and weird stories, and drawing crappy art and comic strips. She enjoys learning about the history and the various mythologies of Latin America and Asia as well as the history and culture of disabilities.

Her work has been published in the Art of Autism, the Lothlorien Poetry Journal, The Quiver Review, and The Ugly Writers. She wishes the reader a nice day.