Author: poetryfest

Performed by Val Cole

Visual Design & Editor: Steve Rizzo

Produced by Matthew Toffolo

——–

The Promise of 2025

The clock ticks, a soft and steady sigh,

As fleeting moments slip and fly,

The days blur by in whispers faint,

And I feel the ache, the quiet complaint.

Each second lost, a piece of me,

Caught in the flow, where none are free,

A year has passed, so swift, so fast,

Yet still I reach for what will last.

But in the wings of time’s cruel flight,

A new dawn waits, glowing bright,

A year ahead, untold, unknown,

A canvas fresh, all mine to own.

The ache of moments fades away,

For in the promise of the day,

2025 stands bold and true,

A chance for dreams to start anew.

So, though the past may pull and plead,

And time, relentless, takes its heed,

I hold my breath for what may come,

A new year’s song, a beat, a drum.

With joy and hope, I face the sky,

Embracing change as years pass by,For though time moves with fleeting
grace,

The future waits in love’s embrace.

Narrated by Val Cole

Editor & Visual Design by Steve Rizzo

Produced by Matthew Toffolo

POEM:

Today I awoke with a tightness in my chest
“I missed you my dear” was whispered in jest
Tears start to fall as I thought I had defeated
“Oh silly girl, I was only depleted”
Around my neck I can feel the claws
“Can you feel the comfort of the darkness it falls”
Too tired to fight, the scars not yet healed
“With a pick and a poke, this wound I will peel”
Frozen in fear, mind racing fast
“Did you really think the light would last”
I cringe from the smirk and heat of its breath
“Peace will only come when you give in to death”
The tools from battle are battered and bruised
“Your naivety does make me very amused”
Strength is drained trying to fight once again
“Just give in to me child, look where we have been”
“Here is the bottle to drown out your thoughts”
My stomach is ill and tied into knots
“And here, lets ruminate on your lack of decision”
I know what this is and in my heart is division
“I will embrace you always, stop fighting me so”
It is right and it kills me, this I know
Today I give up, today it has won
No need to worry any further as it is all done

To bed I must go as it’s my only escape
“Oh dear, you’re dreams I will haunt, remember the rape?”
Slight quiet in slumber, a taste of peace
“Another nightmare to ponder, it will not cease”
Alarm starts to blare, another day without drink
“Why are you trying, quit trying to think”
Distractions are needed; idle hands leave me weak
“Push away all you want; my havoc will wreak”
Its embrace so familiar, the darkness consuming
“Yes, my girl, let me in; stop fuming”
People around me cheer to keep fighting
“But you know in your soul, with me is more exciting”
Who do I choose, this question dividing
My head and my heart farther apart they are sliding
“I have been with you forever and always”
“Will they stick around when you’re stuck in my haze”
If they do or they don’t, it really doesn’t matter
“But in your heart, you do want this and that I will shatter”
“It is me you should choose; I am growing annoyed”
With you the darkness ends in only one way
How am I to know an option for another day
“Concede, stop fighting, this is where you belong”
“Proof without drink that you are not strong”
“My dear, in your heart you know I am not wrong”

Why does it always have to be all or nothing
Can we find a balance; some sort of peace offering
“I do not want to share you with the world my dear”
“You are mine forever, let me be clear”
Epiphany setting in, that you will never leave
“Laughing, my child there is only slight reprieve”
When your strength is greater than mine and I cannot fight your call
I must do the small things that will help me not fall
“You can pretend that these things will keep me at bay”
“But you know I am stronger at the end of the day”
Leaning on those that want me around
“With me you can finally wear the crown”
Remember the things that bring me joy
“This my dear is only a ploy”
Focusing on what makes your voice small
“You can try if you must, in the end you will answer my call”
Acknowledge this I may, today is not the day
“Why must you fight me so, this game we shall play”
Out of obligation I will live with you in my life
And even when you create so much strife
“I will always be here waiting for concession”
“I don’t understand why you don’t learn your lesson”
Together we shall live, a part of me you are
“A battle you want, your heart I will scar”

Performed by Val Cole

Editor & Visual Design by Steve Rizzo

Produced by Matthew

READ POEM:

In city streets, where history resides,
Stand splendid buildings as monuments of pride,
Each built from stone by skilled hands of before,
Tales in the details and carvings to adore.

Lurking in the skies, not seen nor forgiving,
Hovers menacing acid rain, slowly killing.
Through dissolution and alteration, creeps,
Eating stone as the city stands and weeps.

Roughened surfaces, substance stripped away,
Carved details fading with crumbling decay.
The past’s heritage is under attack,
From a silent killer, who won’t turn back.

No discrimination, no mercy shown,
On ancient palaces and structures well known:
From grand cathedrals to humble abodes,
Acid rain spares none, as it corrodes.

Within the clouds, where the sky meets the earth,
Lies the hidden danger of toxic birth.
Nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide,
They dance as one, in the air they collide.

Released from the burning flames far below,
They mix into a wet dangerous show.
The gas tangles with droplets of water,
Creating a fatal mix to slaughter.

Sulfur, a result of fossil fuel’s demise,
From coal to oil, it poisons the world’s skies.
Nitrogen oxides, from our cars’ exhaust –
A deadly concoction which leaves us lost.

In 1872, Robert Angus Smith
Warned of the danger of acid rain with
Damage to buildings and to statues fine,
The calcite dissolves – a tragic design.

Through the centuries, the effects do grow,
Displayed on monuments is a clear show
Of the power of industry’s great might –
To corrode and erode, causing a blight.

Share this:

I’ve been watching you now, days at a time. I’ve seen what you do when you think nobody is watching: How you fiddle with that necklace whenever you cry, or how you curl your toes whenever you’re reading. I’ve seen parts of you that you hide. I’ll always find you. I’ll always be there, whether you’re awake or asleep.

But you don’t know me.

I’m just a background character. \

I want to run my hands through your hair, and feel each strand on your delicate scalp. I want to hold you the way I know you need to be held. I want to feel your warm body against mine, to make you know that you belong to me. I want you to know how much you need me. I want you to love how much you need me.

But you don’t know me.

I’m just a face to you.

I want to make you mine, to keep you for myself. I want to lock you away from prying eyes. I want to be all you ever need; I am all you need. I can give you all you want; you don’t need anything else. You just need to see how great I am for you, I’ll help you; You desperately need me.

But you don’t know me.

And that’s okay.

I know you’ve seen me before. I know you know I exist. I’m right here. I know our paths have crossed, and you didn’t even care. I know how to make you happy. I know what you need, and I know how to give it to you. I know how to make you love me. I know you’ll love me. I know we’ll be happy together. I know how to make you need me. I know how much you need me. You will know me.

I can’t wait.

It was a crispy, scratches-the-back-of-the-throat kind of day,
the day Gabriella burnt the house down. It was
A morsel – no, a maw-unhinging kind of bite – yes, the spilling,
sloppy, filthy kind of taste of living, it was, viscous dripping
down around the jaw, neck, doughy banks of the collarbone,
barbeque-flavoured kind of aliveness, it was,
the day Gabriella burnt the house down.

There’s a touch of smoke in the air, said her husband,
Lungs coursing with the black plumes of the marital bed,
There’s a touch of smoke. Tongue, fingertip, held aloft,
A very Winnie-the-Pooh something-or-other about him,
je ne sais quoi, pants around the ankles when he was found,
Don’t you know what Pooh means? Pondered himself to death.
The day Gabriella burnt the house down.

The judge in robes, a gavel poised to break,
A measured breath before the verdict falls.
The jury’s eyes, like iron gates opaque,
Behind them hum the distant prison walls.

The lawyer paces, weaving webs of doubt,
His silver tongue a blade behind a smile.
Yet truth and fiction wrestle, flail about—
And both may lose, if dressed in right denial.

The witness shakes—a hand upon the book,
Yet perjury’s a coin that all may spend.
The guilty sit with innocence’s look,
The innocent are guilty in the end.

What is the law but paper turned to dust?
A game of gold, a theater of trust

I follow
The depths of lines
Lines shaped, clashed, buried, crushed
Perfected to one single product
The expectations

Weights, dreams
All lost under a large vision
Drove with caution, delicateness
One by one, bit by bit

Whispers
Driven, imbedded
Planted at the back of the mind
A beautiful path?
I’m afraid not.

Maybe it is
Painted, decorated
Vivid colors, common colors, black and white,
covered with sweet cream and frosting—
That’s not what I want.

I want
My own path, a new road
One that I find pretty and sparkly
Just like those tiny jewels glittering in the sea
That’s what I really want.

So I
trace the depths
Out the sea, the window, the lines
Flee the pleas of expectations
Pursued into one, perfect—myself
The dawn of hope.

If my life is actually mine, can I control it
Or final responsibility for me to be shared
Subject to other people’s wills and whims
It is especially true as that final light dims
As I and those closest to me are prepared
If a candle splutters out, should it be re-lit

To keep good health is ever our intention
We all believed some rights were our own
And non negotiable, that we must protect
Just as life, always treated with due respect
Yet there are cases where a doubt is sown
Involving a legal and medical intervention

But there are so many social repercussions
Families suffering as well as the one dying
That desire for a fully agreed, timely end
Without a negative headline it might send
And none should be castigated for trying
Meanwhile, more pain during discussions

Surely, there needs to be some oversight
But that is never the same as the final say
With a minor risk of a premature decision
Why let the uninvolved make it a mission
But they will not be there on the final day
To witness that peaceful dying of the light

Know myself

Grow myself
Grounded.

I’m fucking scared
Stay here for 8 to 10 breaths

Bring your hands to you heart
Now there’s nothing there

If it doesn’t get better here than we have to leave here
Settle into the pain

But I’m stuck in here

Round your spine, push the flow away from me.

But I can’t outrun some

Go back and change me.

Give yourself a bit more space

Close your eyes

16 to 20 breaths
over and over again it’s like nothing’s fair

There’s got to be something else here
Yeah there has to be

A spoonful of honey and a glass of water
Follows the single gulp of Cyclopam
To put a gag on the gag
“Another month off the life chart”
Strips of bitterness since two thousand-six
Aunt Flo doesn’t give a damn
Just as my OB/GYNs
“You have to live with it”
“Manage with medications”
You aren’t special
This is every woman’s problem
Kindly suffer in silence. Thank you.
Hatred gives purpose
We start all over again, the new gyno & I
First base with speculum and
TVS for the third
“Having a child might probably help”
Emphasis on “probably” here.
“Double Income No Kids?
You deserve this!”,
Society chimes in now and then
My boss is too empowered
“Only the meek ones
seek paid period leaves”, she blasts.
Hormonal pills just pretend
to smooth my frayed nerves
And to boost the will to carry on
“We need more research into this!”,
the Keyboard Warriors fume.
While the laws of the world
are being rewritten
to control a woman’s body,
Inside the bathroom stalls,
tired of combat in
the eternal war that is womanhood,
My helpless self
sobs in silence wondering
Isn’t the present scary?
More than the past or future?