Just a few weeks ago, I submitted a collection of poems & short stories I have written over my time so far at Pepperdine to be considered for Expressionists Magazine, a Pepperdine publication that has been released once a year since the early 1970’s. Of the short stories, screenplays, poems, art & photography submitted, only a few are selected to be included in the magazine, but I am proud & honoured to announce that this year one of those poems was mine!

I wrote “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Thimble” for a poem assignment last semester & got some great feedback, so I decided to submit it. So, in case you can’t pick up a copy of Expressionists (there might not be any left after my mum gets at them), here it is!

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Thimble

I

In a box of long-forgotten trinkets,

The gleam of silver

Was the only reflection that caught the eye.

II

I was practiced and sharp,

Like a needle

Which fingers thread protected by a silver thimble.

III

The uniform perforations gleam unevenly in the light of the floral lamp,

Their role nonexistent in the thimble’s purpose.

IV

Steely thimble and cushioned fingertip become one.

Living as one.

The guardian and the vindicator.

V

I do not know which to appreciate more,

The precise work of the needle,

The thread that fills the hole,

Or my intact fingertips.

Perhaps the last.

VI

The shadow of a misplaced mug disrupts

The calculated symmetry of the table.

A house of cards fall into a game of 52 pick-up

The 53rd a thimble,

Circulating on a fixed axis.

VII

Misrepresented amongst

A top hat, a Scottie and

The ever-desirable racecar.

Players remain ignorant,

The thimble seen as nothing more

Than a marker on victory’s path.

VIII

Like a master of chivalry without

The counterpart to his blade,

The seamstress is exposed,

Unprepared to wage war

Against moth cavities.

IX

The rocking chair creaks.

The thimble must be crowning a fingertip.

X

A silver teacup shines amongst

The usual set of stark white.

Barbie has invited one too many guests.
XI

On a bed of pins and needles

The thimble lays,

Waiting, watching

For a tired button.

XII

Blood stains white fabric.

She should have listened to her mother.

For more about the magazine:

https://www.facebook.com/expressionists?fref=nf

http://seaver.pepperdine.edu/humanities/student-opportunities/expressionists.htm