Poetry by Leina Amatsuji-Berry

One (2012)
One
Outstanding
Anomaly
Strange.
A prime that every composite peer will disengage.

It takes time
Inevitability
But it always ends the same.
The last passenger on a never-ending train.

Ending up
The difference
After others have departed.
Left-over pieces, causing problems and discarded.

***

Perception (2013)

I am afraid of nerve blocks.
Anaethesia, sedation.
Elation, distortion.

I want to observe despite
Phantoms, corrections.
Coping by confabulation.
Brain like a black hole.
Floaters in the eye.

Tricks and tricks and tricks of the mind.
Which way is clockwise
If you don’t acknowledge time?

What is lost in translation
If there are seven billion languages?
Seven billion prisms refracting into spectrums.
Seven billion brushstrokes mixing pigment collectively.
Seven billion dendrites branching to the next 100 neurons.

Not flawless or limitless or entirely unrelatable.
Fingerprint opinions.
Uniquely inconsistent with
Communication, attention.
Reception, deception.

I love it so, and never want it to be lost.
Wake me up or wear it off
My remarkable fear of the nerve blocks.

***

Language (2013)

Before you fly your banner across the sky,

You better cross your T’s; dot your I’s.

Did you think real hard about the words you wrote?

Would they sound the same coming out of your throat?

If you paint your banner for your future wife,

Make sure it doesn’t float into someone else’s life.

Is it attached to a jet, a fighter pilot, or a sailboat?

Will it hang on your car, or over your castle’s moat?

I want to touch the words and see them carved in the air;

I want to feel the syllables fall on deaf ears through my hair.

Avez-vous fait tout le travail?

Are you sure you’re ready for your message to fly?

I know it’s a hassle, but you mustn’t offend—

Words can be weapons, because they bend and they bend.

About Leina Amatsuji-Berry 50 Articles
Leina Amatsuji-Berry was Arthur's co-Editor-in-Chief alongside Lubna Sadek for Volumes 53 (2018-2019) and 54 (2019-2020). She was Arthur's Digital Media Coordinator during Volume 52 (2017-2018). She is a Trent University alumna, having completed a joint-major Honours degree in English Literature and Media Studies with the class of 2018. Her interests include intersectional social justice, social media, memes, critical theory & philosophy, and fashion. When she is not working, she enjoys writing poetry, drinking tea, and eating burritos and sushi. Her karaoke skills will blow you away.