Poet Of The Month

Janelle Fine

Janelle Fine is a 20-year-old poet and artist from Los Angeles. She found her love for being creative as early as preschool, where she began to draw and then started writing poetry in the third grade. She has grown considerably since then, self-publishing her first poetry anthology titled Wildfibers at the age of 18. She has worked the past two summers at the Hollywood Bowl’s children's program, Summer Sound, as an artist’s assistant, helping families to foster their love for the arts. She has also been accepted two years in a row to the California State Summer School for the Arts, making Janelle a two-time California Arts Scholar. She is currently pursuing her passion for all things creative at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington where she studies art and creative writing.

Drowning in Bed Sheets

Feeling unwanted
I killed my dreams
then slept with time
throwing red across the room.

I killed my dreams
emptying the contents of my bed
throwing red across the room
drowning in bed sheets.

Emptying the contents of my bed
I found my watch
drowning in bed sheets
frozen it's still two in the morning.

I found my watch
left on the empty side of my bed
frozen it's still two in the morning
I've left it to remember.

Left on the empty side of my bed
then slept with time
I've left it to remember
feeling unwanted.

---

A Colorful Backyard in the Leftovers of Summer

Everyone sits in concentric circles
around piles of invisible sheet music.
The notes like unborn children
etched into their fingers.
The light outside is slowly fading,
dripping itself into the horizon.

She sits back letting her fingers
melodically tap dance
twice over each string
and he doesn't have to know where they started,
when the first note was set in stone
because his two metal spoons
beat into the air
as the dust migrates slowly off her strings.

It's like a harmonizing battlefield
but no one hates each other
because if they could
they would all jam in unison,
an ancient string gang,
but there are too many instrument cases
and paper plate beer bottles
so they've split themselves into
factions,
each one against each other
creating friction
between the key of E
and his wandering key of C.

Regardless of where they are,
everyone's listening.