When I first met Andi, she was in 9th grade and writing avant-garde plays.  Over her time in high school, she developed a voice as one of our funniest memoirists — who also succeeded in writing from a place of real depth, of profound meaning, every time.

Her inventive style showed up in her poetry, too, to our delight.

***

“perception: n. The capacity to be affected by a physical object, phenomenon, etc., without direct contact with it; an instance of such influence.1″/>

PST: September 3, 03:10:59 AM / EST: September 3, 06:10:59 AM
Early morning,
.          before the yolk begins to fill the sky,
.          He and She patiently write scientific equations.
Radon, xenon, krypton –
.          the study of chemical bonds and chemical discords.
Charcoal scratches numbers and definitions on the mute, lined page:
(Exact likeness –
          a purely theoretical phenomenon.
          Unavailable through nature.
          How can everything come in
pairs of two?)
.          She sighs; He sighs too.
.          Although exact carbon copies,
.          neither knows the other exists.
Time is separated
in hours of three and space is separated by
Oregon and Tennessee.
.          Without pausing, He and She
nod, as if one has acknowledged the other.
.          Both continue scribbling,
.          unaware of their counterpart
.          seconds and miles away.

_______________

1″/>perception, n.
Third edition, September 2005; online version June 2012. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/
140560; accessed 04 September 2012. An entry for this word was first included in New English
Dictionary, 1905.