SoMa Literary Review

Alameda

By David-Matthew Barnes

You were the brave one, the protector, then lover

of my fifteenth year. Love was rare in our ghetto.

Across the bridge was the sea. In the eye

of our tender moments is where I touched belief.

Your vision quest was infectious. Someday we would

make it out - but I left you - for the viewless urchins

from the hills. With class rings, country clubs,

complicated lies, they never gave me water.

I have kissed regret, bathed in shallow ends.

In the tidal pull of my heart, I find myself

swimming to a memory that will not be buried

at South Shore . If you feel the ache of

what is missing,

I will meet you there.

David-Matthew's work has been featured in over a hundred literary journals and anthologies and his stage plays have been performed in three languages in seven countries. SINS OF THE FLESH, a chapbook of David-Matthew's poetry, was published in 2002 by Word Riot Press. His first book length collection of poems, ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS, was just completed. His stage plays are available in print from Playscripts and Brooklyn Publishers. David-Matthew's first feature film, the Latin flavored coming-of-age drama FROZEN STARS, has been released on DVD and is available from major retailers including NetFlix and Blockbuster. David-Matthew graduated magna cum laude from Oglethorpe University with a degree in communications and English. In May 2008, he will receive a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina . In the summer of 2007, David-Matthew received a scholarship from Stony Brook University to attend their prestigious Southampton Writers Conference, nationally selected to study his craft in private workshop with Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Marsha Norman. David-Matthew lives in McDonough , Georgia .