Poetry Festival – Page 15 – POETRY FESTIVAL. Submit to site for FREE. Submit for actor performance. Submit poem to be made into film.

Rise, by Larissa Xavier

Rise every day,

day after day,

once and for all.

Rise like the sun

from the dusk to dawn.

Rise like the ocean waves

moving up and down.

Rise like the trees,

which from seeds they arise.

Rise and shine.

And still,

like the air,

to the sky,

rise.

Rise from the ashes,

Rise from the horizon,

‘Cuz

Invariably you gotta rise.

Rise to the top

until there’s no other way

unless

to rise.

Rise and fall

all the time.

‘Cuz

at the end of the day,

we are all

risers,

early or late.

So rise up!

—
Larissa Xavier
http://www.larissaxlima.com

Am I dreaming, by JiR

Look,
Here she comes.
I look at her and ask myself,
“Am I dreaming”
It feels that way,
Sometimes…

I wonder if she feels it too.
I think she does.
What we have cant fade,
I tell myself.
She tells me that I feel like
home to her.
I smile,
and ask myself again,
“Am I dreaming”

She tells me she loves me,
She tells me she cares.
She calls me her flame.
And that she isn’t going anywhere.
I ask myself,
“Am I dreaming”
…

Its been two weeks since I last saw her.
Its been two weeks since I heard her say;
“Lets just be friends”
Look,
Where did she go?
She left,
and took my heart with her.
She can keep it.
Ill just sit here.
With this hole in my chest.
At least that doesn’t fade.
Ill just sit here,
And try to forget…
And I ask myself one more time,
“Am I dreaming”
-JiR

Instagram
@Joepr591

Shadowmancer, by Andrew McIntyre

Why are you scared, when their is nothing to fear,
Did you listen to the words spoken in your ear.
Dance with the shadows if you dare,
Drink wine dark and red if you care.

He dances with shadows in under moonlight,
Listen to the words that save you from fright.

Take hold of my hand let me lead you from here.
May the words spoken softly keep your heart from fear.
Throw it all to the wind may it be carried away,
Lest the sword that slashes and the day not slay.

He dances with shadows under moonlight,
Listen to the words that save you from fright.

Did you love me or not as we walked in the woods.
Sweet songs that were sung to strengthen your moods.
Take me for what i am come with me know,
Or forever leave me in the shadows power.

He dances with shadows under moonlight,
Listen to the words that save you from fright.

What Will Be Your Legacy?, by Noel A. Figueroa

When your book is opened, what will be read in the story of your life?
What will be your story that is on display for all to see?
Will it speak of your courage to persevere?
Will it speak of your determination and faith?
Will it speak of your kindness and compassion for others?
Will it speak of your empathy and diligence?
Will it speak your reflection of your love and hope in God?
Will it speak of the love you have for yourself, your community, your people?

What will be your legacy?
Will it speak your ancestor’s names and the roads they paved for you?
Will it speak of their sacrifices and their successes?
Will it speak of the lessons learned from their failures?
Will it put your achievements on display?
Will your own failures be lessons learned and used as stepping-stones?
Will it speak of a life well lived to its full capacity in purpose?

What will be your legacy?
When the children gather around and ask you to tell the stories from your time,
What will your share that will enlighten their minds?
What will be the level of your impartation?
Will you tell them that as you received help to be the vessel of blessing to others?
Will you tell them that respect, empathy and compassion are non negotiable?
Will you tell them to stand for something even if it means standing alone?
Will you tell them that one of the greatest weapons that you can have is love & respect for self?
Will you tell them that it’s because if those that came before us that we have the ability to go further and do greater works?
Will you tell them that when their purpose is clear, their passion is defined, and their vision is focused that their dreams and goals are possible.
What will be your legacy?

The Mimosa By The Tracks, by Rudra Vaidya

Maybe it was protected,
By the defence mechanism it had devised.
Or maybe it wasn’t protected,
And just grew ill advised.
Every time the train thunders past,
It wilts with all it’s might
It’s not surrender, it’s not defeat,
This is just how it knows to fight.
Did the train and the tracks,
Rattle up it’s insides?
And did the generated gust of wind,
Drown it in it’s tides?
Don’t wilt so much, stand your ground.
Said all the shrubs beside it
It said it’d try, but it never could.
It’s inherent nature denied it.
It’s a thing to wonder.
A conclusion I cannot reach.
Maybe that’s the thing to learn here.
That’s the thing to teach.
Does the mimosa keep wilting
For it is courage, that it lacks?
Or is it just the bravest thing in the world?
For growing by the tracks?

Rudra Vaidya
Genres: Life, Courage, Philosophy, Never-give-up, Hope, Uniqueness

Outside My Window, by Vivian Zems

the tv has been cruel to me lately,

with more and more bad news

about the numberless souls

who have departed

in droves

in torrents

leaving behind a deluge

of grief

and sorrow

Pushing the living

into an abyss of indescribable despair

….forcing the marriage of engaged thoughts

I don’t know what to do

and I feel guilty

because I’m overwhelmed

by having to stay indoors

bored and even more bored

and slightly anxious about the future

while I protect my heart

from the pain that hovers

just outside

my window

Unrequited love, by Elizabeth Kagai

I’m not so acquainted with the language of love,
So when you went off topic, you lost me

I fell,
Fell in love,
Fell for you

But worst off,
Lost my eyes in yours,
Not so sure yours in mine!

It’s like I gave myself,
Gave myself up,
Gave myself to you,
Not so sure what I wanted in return,
Not knowing it should be a mutual feeling,
That I was to get something in return

I became selfless,
Selfless to a point of losing self,
Losing self to the selflessness I had inflicted on self

Or maybe losing self to you,
You and the trust I gave,
Trust that you couldn’t let self go,
Trust that you’d hold on tight,
Trust that you’d know how to take care of self
Trust that I’d never thought you’d break

Countless times I had to convince,
Convince myself that I was on script,
Convince myself I had everything under control,
Convince myself that I deserved the cold
Convince myself that “the hand that giveth is the hand that receiveth”
And all for what?

Maybe all I need to do is get up,
Dust myself of the fall,
Teach myself that I am worth,
Worth fighting for,
Worth more

And that you went off,
Off topic,
Off script,
You should have stuck to the script,
Stuck to your own lane

And that I was just lost,
Yet to be found,
Found by anyone who accidentally passed by the lost and founds,
Anyone better than you,
Anyone but you!

Anyone would be better than you!

CLAP, by Darell J Philip

Windows opened
Mum and I screaming at the top of our…
You know, that organ which
Mr Corona makes the point of his attack
Our voices in unison with the carnival of faces
Hand clapping together among our block
For those brave front liners
Robed in white and blue
Their lives risking for Queen and Country
For me and you

A sign in a window reads
Hang in there Hackney
Locked down, stuck in isolation
Longing to be free
Hooting and beeping cars drive by
An outpouring of love filling the illuminous sky
Dethroning Mr Corona from his royal seat
His nasty legacy we will surely defeat

An unusual crescendo took place that night
The community together an awesome sight
It was to everyone’s most absolute delight
To see Mr Corona given a most chilling fright
For all the lives he’s cruelly taken away
For all those families we kneel and pray
Our frontline heroes – relics of the past
For you we clap knowing this too shall past

The morning after the night before
A bright smile beams across the sky
As a reminder of that glorious day soon to come
When from this earth with angel’s wings
We take off and fly.

SOLAR PROBE, by Muhammad Zaheer

Thy Corona Heat can render and ignite
Yonder placed;
Carbon-Carbon-Composite sheath
And every cocoon placed at yon
Farther at Six n two million
O’Helios!

To Subdue the Sun; in this fun
One should not spun.
I do importune and the rest must learn
What we require is nothing!
But a real
Refractory.

My NASA dons!
Don’t be forlorn.
Do act upon my humble song.
I keep the all we need at all
Come and take that metallum mine!
That is to say, my heart along!

Ben-Hur: From Here to Eternity, by Lampropoulou Athanasia

Cleft in twain now looking for my M(ark)
launching of my Odyssey but there awaits the narc!
“Be a goodfella now,” he said
“not a raging bull” in a titanic set.
Lost in translation and bearing my se7en sins
I’ve been searching for my dolce vita ever since.
Being a pariah among parasites
I now count 12 years a slave in wuthering heights.
And although I try hard to be the artist that they seek,
I only get identified with Zorba the Greek.
Pan’s labyrinth lies ahead
But I’ve got the gladiator with me my friend.
Stepping upon a shape of water
A desert flower emerged.
“Be braveheart my dear when you get discharged.”
The best years of our lives are yet to come
but I only long for the silence of the lamb.
The sting is deeply rooted in the skin I live in,
The English patient they call me, the nonliving.
I once heard that one flew over the cuckoo’s nest
but he was left all stranded in the west;
not even a streetcar named desire to save his soul
just the right scapegoat to pigeonhole.
So there he was, commissioned to kill a mockingbird
a walking carmagnole with no safe bet.
He tossed three coins in the fountain-his ex machina appeared.
“Will you help me my fair lady?” he said afeared.
“This west side story is your destiny
but beware on the waterfront of the upcoming mutiny!”
The Occident is no place for a godfather.
He will rise, he will thrive, he will fall-like any other.
His empire – gone with the wind now
looking for his Gigi, his eternal vow.