Little Time Capsule by Devonte Gardner

[Floetry Spades]

 

 

Crystal Compass

 

I'm making my way to the stage

I have to own the moment

I'll be on in a few minutes

To spin a few lines

Sing a few bars

 

So let me hold your crystal compass

I'm chasing after the sun

I'm a full moon, milk glow,

And I have a few secrets you ought to know

Listen closely while I let them go:

I think I can feel the metaphysical

I'm chasing after the spiritual

My body but a faint glow

I'm using my dreams as a catapult

For a celestial adventure

 

So hold your dreams to the light

Until they crystallize

Into crystal stairs; take your ascent

Confess them to the stars; cross your heart,

And if you believe in spring

You'll bloom throughout winter

 

Hold them in your hand

Do they still move?

Do they bear resemblance to your soul?

Do they have a pull on your conscious?

Are they still believable?

And exceptional?

 

I'm holding my own dream to the light

Like a beautiful child of spring

Nurturing

With rays of healthy sunshine from the womb of my mind

 

So let me spin your crystal compass

I'm shooting across the horizon

I'm a star clustered, milky way,

And I have a few things I ought to say,

And I'm taking the wheel of my own fate,

And my body is but a faint glow,

Because I'm in the middle of a spell

Cast on the tip of my nose

I'm halfway disappeared,

And halfway gone,

I'm careening through the skyline,

And taking my place amongst the stars

 

I'll need to be perfect,

Even if that's out of my element

I'll be on in thirty seconds

To share my magic

I'm prepared to bear my soul

I'm prepared to be exceptional

 

My fingertips need to be full of magic

My top hat needs to be full of rabbits

My whole presentation needs to be classic

And fantastic

 

So let me borrow your crystal compass

I'm navigating through the Atlantic

I've sealed my fate in the stars,

And I'm holding my dreams in my heart

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Trumpet

 

Blow for me
Your lips speak the language of music,
And every song has a steady heart-beat
Play for me,
But slow jam the tempo,
And I’ll never hold a note like this again
I could reach a falsetto
And be in tune with the wind

 “The littlest secret
Deserves the softest whisper”

Ride with me,
But can I have a window seat
To admire the art of your body
Those brilliant tone colors of musicality
Talk to me
Your voice is like an angel singing a cappella
Like the melodious thumps of rain
Pounding in rhythm against a windowpane

Follow me
Like a 5 o’clock shadow
We’ll keep conversation as light as a feather
As light as long hair blowing in the wind
What key are we in again?

“The littlest whisper
Must be about the biggest secret”

Fly with me
We’ll reach the heights of a shooting star
Across a nebula of whispered secrets in the dark
And the constellations
Of milky ways
Soft vibrations – the sounds of music
Played in the key of love

 

 

Lab Partners

 

I miss my lab partners

They helped reshape my imagination

 

I miss their analogue operating systems
I miss their mechanical engineering
I miss their innovation and concentration
And chemical configurations
And conceptual equations

 

I miss their missile-guided technology

Using linear algebra or astrology

To find the gigabyte of a movie

That they downloaded from my pocket watch

 

Because with no experimentation

There's no innovation,

And no innovation is a wasted imagination

 

So I miss my lab partners

I miss the rain we shared under an umbrella

 

I miss the contextual cues

I miss the stray vowels and the missing syllables

Our nonverbal hues -- our colorless communication

I just miss the conversation

 

I miss my lab partners

Without them I'm left alone

With only my imagination