Those who are supposedly wiser
for all the doldrums of washed out years
whisper words of caution into their children's ears
about how to guard their hearts
and keep their enemies close,
and yet still, paradoxically,
press those flimsy paper
valentines
into their hands at those first grade parties
in a thousand frozen Februaries,
sparking the starry wonder of a little girl
longing for the snow angel dress
congealed someday in
satin.
And they sometimes belittle her
when she first expresses
those strange spasmodic flutters of attraction,
the fate of maybe
one wayward glance across a room.
Later on, those empty souls
will see their speeches fall on the
closed mind's eye of that girl:
she remembers something
they have long since forgotten.
What it really means to
love someone and
to feel like you are perfectly at home in their arms.
It might seem to their vapid
philosophy that she is
reckless,
treacherous,
foolish
or blind,
but what she has discovered
is that a heart is more than
just a heart, and
that love can be made manifest in
a kiss or even
painted in blood
on a forsaken cross.

About the Author

Jennevie Stephenson is a freshman at Grand Valley State University studying animal science. Throughout the course of her life, she has found that writing poetry is a healthy creative outlet for whenever she feels overwhelmed by anger, frustration, fear or sadness. It has helped her to express what she cannot say to another person's face. Through a series of difficult times she has emerged a stronger person, and this reflects itself in her writing.

Contents

Danger of Devotion

About the Author