BAS Poetry: New Work from Helene Ridella
Broke-Ass Stuart is now accepting poetry submissions to be featured in the BAS Poetry: Arts and Culture column. Read on to learn how to submit your 100% original work.
Written and curated by Corinne Avganim
I never thought I’d be able to say I enjoy checking my email…then I started BAS Poetry. We showcase real works from real people, and I genuinely look forward to opening that inbox every time. I’m continually taken aback by the awesomeness that is this community of ours. And I guess that was the point of starting this column in the first place – to lend a platform to new voices that inspire and awake others. I hope you appreciate this inbox gem as much as I do.
Untitled
by Helene M. Ridella
Oakland, California
I love cities. I take as much joy from leaving them as I do from living in them.
I’d fled San Francisco early this morning, and passed through Los Angeles with no more than a second thought. Right now, I’m so far away from the bright lights of civilization that the Milky Way is practically bioluminescent.
Whatever you do, I reminded myself, casting my gaze back to earth
do not approach the water tower.
I’ve never felt more perfectly alone than in this moment, sleeping outside, in the middle of the desert on a gusty spring night, wind rubbing my sun kissed skin raw. I’ve never been so lonely, never so terrified of intimacy, never so happy and whole. And as I write this I glance at the stolen pen in my hand and smile at the memory of practicing vulnerability those months ago: you drank bad old fashioneds all night because you were too stubborn to order anything else.
Wherever either of us ends up, we’ll always have the Union Pool.
Snaps! Dig Helene’s flow? Give her some love on her Instagram or Twitter. And stay tuned here for more words from you and yours, or follow us via @brokeassstuart and the hashtag #poetryisvoice.
To submit a poem to be featured here, email poetry@brokeassstuart.com with your 100% original piece of work, full name, age, city, links to social media, and (optional) biographical blurb.
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