warm
for winter,
like the
November
I was
sent to
that place—
hermetically
sealed—
bad food—
shrinks
that never
listened.
The staff
openly
watched us
and took
notes while
the TV
blared.
After about
five days,
it seemed
almost
normal.
One patient
had stayed
there seventeen
times,
Another
always had
my back,
The gentle
ex-Marine
with bandages
on his wrists
understood why,
The large,
bedraggled
grandmother
pressed my
face to her
breasts as she
cried.
The
bewildered—
the
irretrievable—
too
vulnerable
for shame.
It felt
a crime
to finally
exit
through
those doors—
always
locked,
forbidding
approach.
After a
week of
breathing
stagnant
air, I rode
shotgun
in the car
toward
a home
no longer
mine,
letting
the wind
toss my
hair.
The
hospital
band still
encircled
my wrist—
the name
on it had
disappeared.
With
scissors
I’d stolen
from the
place,
I cut
it off,
held it
tightly
outside the
window,
and,
hesitating,
trying to
decide,
released
my grip
and let
it fly.
Author: poetryfest
Read Poem: Before It’s Too Late, by John T Leonard
Would any good come of it if I wasn’t here?
If fate has its way, my end could be near.
In this moment of confusion it’s so hard to make sense,
I can’t fathom out what is future or past tense.
The mistakes of the past are vivid in my mind,
I am so lost right now I may as well be blind.
Who would benefit if tomorrow I was gone?
Would anyone rejoice if I had seen my last dawn?
I know there will be those who would weep for a while,
My little girl would now walk herself down the aisle.
No father son camp for my young lad and me,
Next to his uncle round the camp fire he’d be.
I’d miss out on so many things I could’ve looked forward to,
Lost forever in a moment of despair, when this seems the right thing to do.
Aside from the fact of everything I’d now miss,
How selfish am I to put those I love through all this.
What if my thinking is incredibly wrong,
I must know before something irreversible is done.
I’m not going to allow my final curtain to come down or the fat lady to sing,
Having thought about it, no good will it achieve, let’s see what tomorrow will bring….
and
The Darkest Cloud
Dark clouds are forming overhead, a black dog is scratching at my door.
“You’ll get over it” they say, I’m not sure I can take much more.
At every turn is a new challenge,
So much chipping away at me, causing fresh damage.
Friends ask you to promise them that you’re ok.
To appease them, it’s just words you feel you must say.
Guilt is only one of the emotions that you feel,
Remorse, regret, anger, even stupidity, feels irrational yet seems all too real.
You feel so upset your voice can’t even form words.
Others look upon you as if you’re being absurd.
But no one can tell you how you should be.
They’ve not been you, they don’t know what you’ve seen.
So go on and suffer in your own time,
And just have faith that in the long run you’ll be just fine.
Read Poem: SEMANTICS, by Mary Lynn Archibald
I think of you as porcelain, he says—
All elegant and white.
Oh yes, I see, she says—
Brittle, cold and tight.
He sees her as a wonder of survival,
Precious, dear.
She sees herself as isolate,
And him, too near.
Although they’ve fooled around, it seems
They’ve yet to really touch.
I love you, she says, rhetorically—
And he says nothing much.
—Mary Lynn Archibald ©2019
Read Poem: Censorship, by Sahar Ajdamsani
This woman wants her right
She has silenced her shout
But not one can silence those eyes
The depth of what she sees
She screams her pain in musical notes
Standing powerful
Strong and true
Do not censorship her
Her dreams, her thoughts, her voice
Her mighty wings, her heart, her choice
In dreams she flies
High over all
All that drags her down
Landing now atop the mountain
The peak of all she is
Do not ignore
Woman, her right, her goals
Read Poem: DARK LOVE ODE, by Kat Lehmkuhl

Read Poem: LOVE THAT LOVE, by Leah Gitome
Birthed from love
Groomed from love
Love escalates all human expressions
Every ounce portrays love in the stance of self loving
Love has no boundaries
Love forgives
Love gives birth to divinity
From the very roots
Love goes beyond the visible
Obscured identified confliction
Love ignites the flame that warms the soul
It strengthens a grown heart,mind and soul
Love make the weak men strong
It make the strong men weak
We are remembered from what we love
Never what we dislike
Time become eternal
Always
Always
When love surrounds it all.
Read the TOP POEMS from MARCH 2019
Read Poem: ANIMA VESTRA, by Venus James
https://festivalforpoetry.com/2019/03/22/read-poem-anima-vestra-by-venus-james/
Read Poem: Tell Me, by Tommy Tutalo
https://festivalforpoetry.com/2019/03/22/read-poem-tell-me-by-tommy-tutalo/
Read Poem: X-RAY, by Tatev Chakhian
https://festivalforpoetry.com/2019/03/22/read-poem-x-ray-by-tatev-chakhian/
Read Poetry: I am me, he is me, by P.T. Saunders
https://festivalforpoetry.com/2019/03/22/read-poetry-i-am-me-he-is-me-by-p-t-saunders/
Read Poem: The Decision ft. Caesar D. &RAE B. , by Laye Da Writer
https://festivalforpoetry.com/2019/03/12/read-poem-the-decision-ft-caesar-d-rae-b-by-laye-da-writer/
Read Poem: TRIPWIRE, by VEDIKA GARODIA
https://festivalforpoetry.com/2019/03/11/read-poem-tripwire-by-vedika-garodia/
Read Poem: BOOTS, by Stephon Void
https://festivalforpoetry.com/2019/03/05/read-poem-boots-by-stephon-void/
Read Poem: Silence of the Lambs, by Douglas Brayton II
https://festivalforpoetry.com/2019/03/05/read-poem-silence-of-the-lambs-by-douglas-brayton-ii/
Read Poem: The Morning After pt.1, by Laye The Writer
https://festivalforpoetry.com/2019/03/05/read-poem-the-morning-after-pt-1-by-laye-the-writer/
Read Poem: TO A WOMAN BARING ARMS, by Victoria Ryan-Bailey
https://festivalforpoetry.com/2019/03/04/read-poem-to-a-woman-baring-arms-by-victoria-ryan-bailey/
Read Poem: Halab (Aleppo), by Kashmir Maryam
https://festivalforpoetry.com/2019/03/04/read-poem-halab-aleppo-by-kashmir-maryam/
Read Poem: MARKERS IN A ROW, by Anita Marie Mondragon
https://festivalforpoetry.com/2019/03/04/read-poem-markers-in-a-row-by-anita-marie-mondragon/
Read Poem: ANIMA VESTRA, by Venus James
Spoke to a Baphomet
Down by the willow
He was watching the moon bathe in that same river
That dissolved everything in its way
He whispered:’ This is your version of Aegri somnia’
I tell him that this is not a bad dream and that
I really am shattered in thousands of pieces
And that
I came to lay my burden down
So, he offers a rope and I suddenly see a brighter season
He plays me dirty, one for the shepherd none for the sheep
I asked for my own Beatrice back
she burns in a pit
9th circle – still have her knife in my back
And only then he tells me the rules-the waiting game begins only when the lights go out
But
I
Can’t
See
In
The
Dark
Game over.
Read Poem: Tell Me, by Tommy Tutalo
Tell me I can’t, and I’ll continue to pursue my dream
Tell me I’m wasting my time, and I’ll spend more time perfecting my craft
Tell me I’m not good enough, and I’ll turn my good into better, and my better into best
Tell me I’m dreaming, and I’ll turn my dreams into reality
Tell me to get a “real job” and I’ll turn mine into a way of life
Tell me to do it like this, or do it like that, and I’ll turn the other way and do it my way
Tell me I’m too late, or too old, and I’ll finish when I’m done and live like I’m young, turn your late into my fate, and your old into my gold
Tell me I’m strange and no one will understand, and I’ll continue to look in the mirror and smile, and continue to live and do what I do, without boundaries, or bonds, I’ll live and carry on without you, and live a life that is true
Tell me I will never succeed and I’ll find a way, I’ll make you recede and look deeper within, and eventually believe in me and my dreams
Tell me the road I’m on is the wrong way, that I should turn back and I’ll carry on, deeper into the unknown, and pave my own path
Your fear and negativity is my fuel, to create and turn into all you desire, and now that I’m here and you’re still there, I’m now the inspiration for all you aspire
Be bold, be true . . . live the life you desire without fear, without restrictions
Laugh, turn the other way, and mourn me before my death, and I’ll rise up and defy all your tests
Read Poem: X-RAY, by Tatev Chakhian
How blue-blue-blue,
how light, tranquil, lucid,
how easily and explicitly
this blue-blue-blue
dust of the past
sits on the bone…
(c) Tatev Chakhian
http://www.tatevchakhian.com