Author: poetryfest

The pitter-patter
of drops splatters as we
walk through the night
market. Our last dance under
twilight’s gentle wane,
asynchronous like the rhythm
of the rain.

The torrent acidic, if not bitter,
on the hiss of concrete. Shards of
sapphire reflect the ambient glow.
June bugs aflutter, unsheltered. A
naked shiver in the cold caress. The
earth unfolds, a quiet puzzle. The
hum of humidity holds back.

The deluge has the courage to say
what our eyes don’t. We feign
ignorance, splashing in puddles to
remind us of forgiving times.

A flash of greased sprites spark,
splitting the sunken sky. When
lightning strikes, that’s who
decides.

A tinge in your eye I cannot control.
Damp and sullen, we tread water
until we sink. A swell of evaporation
follows lingering smells of lemon
basil. Matchsticks of sweet, salty
fish sauce and sour tang.

Once sultry, now still, under
the weeping sky. The words
grow thin. The monsoon in
May is unforgiving,
unlike green papaya salad
in the rain.

Witness to my birth, so filled with memory
Janet Frames’ Kingdom by the Sea
A seaside town built on a promise
A boom that never came
Testament to optimism, the vagaries of fortune
Wide streets, buildings of creamy shining stone
Turning apricot in the setting sun
Intricate porticos, majestic Corinthian columns
Tied to the common toil, the fruits of the hinterland… while feigning big smoke airs
Cow Cockies to wipe boots at the threshold… the true aroma of the breadwinner far from polite society
Notables dressed in Victorian garb or part of the Steampunk scene
Everyday folk beneath the Toff’s notice out of their farm clothes, HI-VIS, or “Works” blood `n’ guts
Little Blue Penguins prove popular prey for the I-Phone hunters, harbourside
But it’s the shags and their “business” seemingly keeping the wharves from crumbling ruin
Birthplace of frozen meat exports
Witness of fanfare for the Terranova and hope for success…
And first to inform the world of Scott’s fate
Not everyone’s cup of tea, this place, one could love or hate…
It’s true
I’ve felt both over the years, now I’ve come full circle
Now? I’m content in my hometown, Oamaru.

Flight takes hold
across the southern ocean’s depths—
Spring,
nestling to create anew.

Lifelong they are together,
older but forever here.
Their young will rise
as they disperse,
carrying the thread they’ve sewn.

A chick, coated in warmth,
loved—fed fish, squid, and more.
Hunting grows harder
as numbers thin,
yet down they dive,
again and again,
to nourish her.

Aged, they struggle on—
days blur into weeks, months.
She grows.
Feathers of flight unfold,
her wings flapping
until it is time.

Proud, though their last,
as age holds fast,
the chick, now an albatross,
flies on.

—

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

36- 26 -36
My measurements were an hour glass shape
Before children
After children
Before menopause
Before breast cancer

Doctors scooped out cancer like ice cream
a triple scoop, a banana split of tissue
until I was left with divots
valleys or hollows haunting me in the mirror after my shower
a river of angry red stitches surrounding the bottom,
u-shaped moat or the demented smile of a clown

My body is an amorphous shape
not quite a rectangle, not a pear or apple
too small in places that were too big
too big in places that were so small
the hour glass only measures time
grains of sand run faster than liquid through a sieve

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Locked and loaded
I’ve practiced with it before
I know how to use it
Tonight
is the night
there’s no going back
all options exhausted
my pencil a gun
I press hard against my header
of this blood red notepad page
and pull the goddamn trigger

But the lead breaks
gun jams
a sad, single, broken squiggle
Fuck!
This gunpower graphite grim reaper
didn’t want my final gift

Words won’t heal these wounds
despite decades of self-inflicted salve
miles of ruts in ancient roads
carved by carts full of family bullet holes

Cursed lullabies inside my head
“Bring out your dead, boy.
Bring out your dead.
Don’t let them get close, boy
your secrets will spread.”

I can’t erase the squiggle.
like I can’t erase the past.
but maybe
I don’t have to.

there are many more pages here
notebook and body

room for
more scribbles
sonnets
songs
courageous exchanges
encouraging words

So I’ll let the last of my faith
set her sights on this gunpower prayer
May
this broken
S
q
u
i
gg
l
e Misfire
be a holy demarcation
between all of my aims before I was broken
and all of the beauty still down range.

Performed by Val Cole

POEM;

Little fuzzy wuzzy buzzle bees,
quietly working away unseen.
Oh, how you sing amongst the trees.

Pollinating plumage of Persephone,
bring life to all through spring,
Little fuzzy wuzzy buzzle bee.

Sugar snaps and strawberries,
every color of the spectrum seen.
Oh, how you sing amongst the trees.

Greenlands of growing gooseberry,
bringing life to sprouting leaves,
Little fuzzy wuzzy buzzle bee.

Thirsty titbits of tangerines,
fruits of your labor nurturing.
Oh, how you sing amongst the trees.

Acknowledging audiences will agree,
we should apologies to thee
little fuzzy wuzzy buzzle bee.
Oh, how you sing amongst the trees.

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.