Emma Kaufman's Final Four Poems

 (Image Poem)

 Baby Brother

He lit bottle rockets and I caught fireflies

At the cabin, in the middle of no where

He’d still prove his mind, sharper than ever

my brother was always the smartest person in my life.

And even there, in the middle of no where

He’d read Russian classics and study chess

Inventing ways to keep rain out of our forest forts

I could see him see me

As he asked questions like

“How could you think of that?”

As if I had a fact he didn’t already

Our brains, running in different directions

I never thought I could offer him anything

And yet the mosquitoes at night, eating my family alive

Gooey marshmallows sticking to our faces

I could feel him watching me

Like the spider monkey exhibit at the zoo

And suddenly I knew

Despite my sad excuse for an academic mind

He was learning something

 (Performance Poem)

A Duet

We spend too much time doing things

I think, that are most of the time

not worth it.

We work and we eat

We breathe and we sleep

Planning our futures
and when those plans fail, we freak out

And waste so much time freaking out

We forget we’re going to survive

The next day, all the same.

There are ways to remember this, I think

to know you’re okay

to know you’re alive

and not totally controlled by the world around you

To experience things

perhaps places, perhaps people

that make your heart stop.

Well isn’t that the point anyway?

"A Duet" Video

 (Ekphrasic Poem)

Elephants

A bloody sunrise

Was the backdrop of a fascinating landscape

Sandy plains shown like shadows

In the distance

As an angel landed and began calling to me

“Today” she said “today it all happens”

The tears rolling down her cheeks

And mine

I noticed the temple

Within the shadows of the plains

And I heard chirping

At last, the beasts

They came on their stilts

Eyes full of fire

Their backs burdened with nothing

But floating artifacts

And ivy plants

She ran to me

As the sky became day

 

(Ghazal Poem) 

Daddy

Growing up a princess, he was there
My hand was always held, and he was there

The bubble gum and the shoes I couldn’t tie
The countless crayons I broke and the knees that bled, and he was there

Eskimo kisses and prayers before bed
The games we played and the books we read, and he was there

Bad grades and boyfriends sooner
Running away and broken hearts, and he was there

Jazz and ripped jeans
His blackbird grown up, and he was there

Messes made my whole life long
The things I’ve blamed on him, and he was there