Read Poem: The Renewal of Faith at 34°, 3’, 8” North, and 118°, 14’, 37” West, 12,000 kilometers from an Aedicul, by tjbarkwill

The Priest fell broken from the sky
Blood still fresh on his lips
Shadows of a ruined city catch him.
Disciples gather,
Gathering, lift him high.
His eyes, flutter, reflect the allAbove
Drained of sustenance, dust sheets draped
A white room in which he waits,
Smiling through the worldWindow sun.
Sheets give way to the fatherSon,
Lifting robes on a deep wound,
Beckoning the crawling brokenPriest
Tongue flickering into the open abyss,
Face become lost to shadow.

And finds the comfort of a wall
Disciples gathering, offering:
A womanGirl pooling light
Beneath her knees,
Face turned up
She is a church, ashen, wasting
The Family gathering, offering:
Crucifix, stain glass, confessional
She whispers silentSilence on her lips
Finds herself in his mind
Dying with her family gathered
His impotence searching her form
Her shape beneath the coveringCovers

Imagines:

The room rearranged, body shifting
Shifting the weight to open her
Nightdress falling in folds
Folds of her opening before his lips
Lips that open and devour

Her shape beneath the covering covers

Imagines:

The room rearranged, body shifting
Shifting the weight to open her
Spreading to open
Open his sighs and screams
Screams hidden, hands over her face

And he is poised between
As her dying moves her
And the foldsUnfolding
Onto shadows of her body

He is falling

Against the comforting wall
Her face turned up to him
herSmile with hisSmile
joining together…

They have crucified him. Nailed him to the wall. He only now notices. At the
realization, a Disciple steps quickly, taking a knife from beneath his robe and cuts.
Quickly, efficiently. Opening a deep wound for her lips. She drinks from the
brokenPriest and her tongue teases the lips of his wound. Blood fresh on her lips.
Her faces dissolve into shadow

Read Poem: Warpath, by tjbarkwill

I told the Indians I wanted peace,
But they wouldn’t go for it.
Big chief Rising Sun said they were
On the warpath,
I said it was too hot and
I didn’t want to fight anymore,
But Charlie was pig-headed.
“We fight to the death!”
And so we went back
to the trees that were
brush and the dry grass
that smelled of burned lush green
and was our sand because
we were out west
at the edge of the frontier
and it was war,
even though I was bored of it
and we were all getting hungry.
Charlie wouldn’t admit it,
But he was hungry too.
Besides, he didn’t even
Paint his face.
What kind of a chief was that?

Read Poem: forbidden, by Amy Kane

Forgive the glochids.
It was you that just couldn’t
resist,
Longing to
taste
the neon red,
you heard
that they tasted like strawberries and raspberries and bubble gum
all combined, and you just
wanted
to find out if it was true.
Slow stepping forward
as if the
whole thing,
Growing out of rocks and bad air
In the alley behind your house,
might startle like a stray
And bolt.
Instead,
It
Bit,
Defending against
Your long fingers, stretching,
Lifting that swinging arm up and over
Like a crane,
Maneuvering your claw hand down toward
illicit
sweetness.
Its prickly paddle palms
Warned you, saying
No
right to your face,
God’s barbed wire
Making it so simple.
Keep moving.
Do better
This time.
This is not
Your
Fruit.

Read Poem: I felt it too, by Krystle Nicole Martin

I thought it would last forever
I thought you’d be there forever
I thought it would still be a thing
I thought it would last us a lifetime
I thought wrong, did you feel it too?

I felt it too
I felt the pull
I felt the descent
I felt it rip
I felt it tear
Did you feel it too?

Once so strong
Once so fun
Once so enjoyable
Once so enduring
Once so loving
Once so strong has now met its end
Did you feel it too?

I waited
I gave you chance after chance
I wanted it to be different
I wanted it to work out
I wanted you to see my pain
I wanted you to hear my pain
I waited for you to change
Did you feel it too?

Brokenness
Exhausting
Loneliness
Misunderstood
Uncomfortable
Lost
Argumentative
Did you feel it too?

I needed help
I needed hope
I needed a shoulder
I needed a listening ear
I needed a friend
I needed you
Did you feel it too?

I held off
I broke it off
I demanded too much of you
I cared too much for you
I often wonder at night did you feel it too?
I can only take so much
I can only take so much hurt
I can only take so much neglect
I can only take so much abandonment
I can only take so much before I leave for good
Did you feel it too?

Did you feel the distance too?
Did you feel the division too?
Did you even care at all?
Did you even want to be there?
Did you even care to help me?
Did you even feel it?

I felt it
I felt it deeply
I felt it
I felt it strongly
It cut deep
I felt miserable
I felt used
I felt it
Did you feel it too?

🙂

Read Poem: Love the mystery, by Raushni Srivastav

Love the mystery…
Love…
The mystery…

Love is a feeling…of curiosity…
Yearning for the moment…what might be…
Love plays hide and seek…
But truly never meets…
So, please…
Love the mystery
Love the mystery

Love is eternal…lasts till eternity…
Love is a feeling…wherein I’m, you are me…
Love that mixes up the Worldly things turns to a demanding mess of give and take…
So, please…
Love the mystery
Love the mystery

Love…the mystery exists in you…exists in me…

Love the mystery
Love the mystery

written by Raushni Srivastav

Read Poem: Cruising The Cairngorms, by Julie Ann Thomason

Comfy in a cabin on rails, the traveller

cuts through the glinting gloaming,
into a tunnel of trees.
Firs and pines peppered white,
merging into the disappearing dusk.

Mountain scrub, air brushed with snow.
Peeping through, fighting back,
showcasing the constant duels
between land and nature,
Weather and earth.

Snow tempting, tantalising,
treacherous, the balance between
beauty pristine and chaos cruel.
Muffling, mesmerising, Medusa.
Melting, revealing a mosaic of place.

Comfy in a cabin on tracks, the traveller
returns. Reflecting sun sparkling
on the vanishing snow.
Brittle branches, black and white brush strokes
on a master canvas

Travelling transition transformed.
Emerging emeralds jades and olives,
speckled with burnished bronze and golds.
Thawing, melting, revealing,
Natures perfect patchwork.

Read Poem: Hopes float on the Mediterranean, by Aziz Isa Elkun

http://www.azizisa.org/en

The sun shines above the volcano
By the sea where Mussolini’s boot was burned
Their green orchards were full of fruit
Their fortresses were the tallest of all.

Fish swim merrily through the sea
The smell of wine has not yet evaporated from the pot
A couple on the beach forget the world
A love song sung at high tide.

The silver-coated water gleams
Love’s sails blush on the horizon
Unlucky mountains with great sorrow in their hearts –
Shake the earth when they explode.

Lovers’ tragic stories are carried by the boats
On this island countless babies were born …
Yet how many hopes were drowned in the sea
Tears fall from the dark clouds on the face of the earth.

The cathedral’s twin domes are in rebellion
The god of love sunk in silence
These ancient fortresses were left to us by kings
They tell us the truth unflinchingly.

The colourful street leads straight to the fortress
Every step reminds me of Kashgar
Their noodles and pastries are like ours
The figs of Atush grow here throughout the seasons.

Hopes are floating on the Mediterranean Sea
They arouse great desire in the heart of a desert boy
Gusts of wind kiss my chin without asking consent
They drag me to the sea to swim with the sun.

This island has witnessed countless ages of history
Though the spirit of the Romans has diminished
Elkun seeks a moment of comfort here
Even though his life belongs to the Tarim!

20 September 2016, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy

Read Poem: BROKEN CHILD, by Cherie’ Waggie

Sweet was the time the baby first smiled.
Now, secret is the heart of this broken child.
Perhaps, his mother thought, a little sorrow
would be part of his tomorrow. Who can say?
But deep sorrows became his today.
The tender warm touch was all he wished for,
but where were daddy’s protecting arms
to keep him safe from harm?
Of a childhood filled with uncertainty, loneliness,
he remembered and filled his life
with dreams and destinies to erase the pain,
but alone in the night he trembled and shed his tears
longing for daddy to chase away night’s fears.
The years flew. Now he has a son of his own.
How sweet he remembers when his babe first smiled,
but he cries as he wonders will his son, too,
become a broken child.

Cherie’ Waggie
written 2002
all rights belong to me, the author..

Read Poem: Filigree Angels: A Miracle Awakens, by Denise Dowdell-Stent

From within it stirs
Barely moving, barely awake
Its breath misting, steaming, warming;
Slowly it stretches
Reaching out
Its tentative touch
As fragile as floss spun glass
Crystalline, beautiful and alive.

Sentience claims it now;
Aflood with rainbow strands
Splashes of love
Chromatic, chaotic, clarity unconfined;
A symphony of angelic chorus
Innocent and perfect in its purity.
Its fractalline beauty unrivalled in grace.

Heart thrumming
No longer pulsing alone
It has twinned, paired –
Alone nevermore.
Touch as soft as a cloud’s caress.
Gentle, calming, soothing, safe.
It is all of this and so much more.

Read Poem: SWAY, by Nicholette Walker

Prove You don’t like to share
Wear your mask everywhere

I’m not tryin’ to be mean
Could you also keep your hands-
Clean
I don’t know you well
But this virus cast a spell

Sanctions set aside
It’s the quality of life
That we all deserve to thrive

And no flag-waving
Misbehaving
Disrespect will take away
The Severity, if you need clarity
We’re wasting away
Disrespecting life everyday

Put your ego away
Place yourself above the Sway