Cadence

Cadence
I absolutely hated this word. But i loved her.

When I first saw her, I fell in love.
She was warm.
and she has sunshine behind her teeth.
our hearts
jump jump jumped
to the same beat.
I saw her every day for a month.
and then she up and left me.
she stopped the dance.
Her name was Cadence.

-Shannon Masayo

Cadence
In the dark.
You climbed my body like a mountain.
Left grass stains on my back.
It's okay, I say. I stole this shirt.
I can steal another.
On-call cops asking us to move along.
It's after-hours.
Off balance but on beat,
Fingers laced like a corset,
stumbling through empty streets.
We march to the crickets' cadence.
We'll never be this happy again.
-Tylor Sherman


Cadence
(A tribute to Metal)

I love my metal heavy as iron and razor sharp
I love the thundering gallop of staccato triplets
The sound of the four horsemen coming to claim your life
Let them come
Cause we love that evil sound
That sound that smashes your skull, wrenching it back and forth
Your ear drums become the drummer’s kit
While he pulverizes them with frenzied double bass
Chug, chug, squeal! Chug, chug, squeal!
The guitar breaking down and building back up
Rising higher, getting faster, building to a climax
Oh man, here comes the solo!
The horsemen begin ripping us to shreds
Being torn apart never felt so good
Each of their fingers has a mind and body of its own
They effortlessly dance on rosewood floors
Those strings are gonna be smoking cigarettes after all that finger love
This is metal
It is all so blistering and raw
And all those other nasty adjectives
My ears smile as the horsemen bring on the cadence of the apocalypse

-Ryan Baker