Category: Poetry Festival

Read Poem: Illumination by Joy Espiel

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A troubled soul having sleepless nights and conflicted emotions.
I find it overwhelming to see a lot of patterns, insights, and symbols.
I have been manifesting, praying and crying..
Scattered thoughts and heavy heart makes me feel dead, with a boulder inside.
Hopeless, wrecked, Idle, suicidal and catatonia.
Then there’s the feeling of being used, worthless and lied and anhedonia
It’s far more worse than being slapped side by side —
A TRUTH I couldn’t hide.

Numbers, events and synchronicities.
Is this really a lesson the universe is trying to teach me?
Close the door, walk away and get over soon?
Is this the sign, I have been waiting for??
The moment I need— a chance to start and move on?
Alignment and clarity here and there,
Finding balance in this limbo we are trapped in.

Staring myself in front of the mirror..
I saw a tired and wounded warrior.
“Stop being weak and vulnerable!” I say.
Trying to be optimistic, while I’m wiping my ttears..
Closing my eyes, searching for things that push me through,
“Aim SUCCESS , learn to INVEST and make a BETTER YOU.

Again, with the pain inside my chest,
Makes it really hard for me to forget.
Step by step, I’m trying to walk away..
with the TRAUMA even TIME nor elixir can’t heal.

For once, a realization hit me,
it’s never wrong to fall,
it’s never wrong to admit feelings.
Stupid as what others might think of me
I still LOVE the person who HURT me.
Yes! The one that got away.

With endurance and patience, I face it all:
“Oh Dear! I thought I wasn’t capable of LOVING and CARING another soul.
With all the failures and adversities,
I find myself emerging once again
A new life ahead, a new chapter to begin.
Crazy, passionate and eccentric woman— whatever terms that define me.
“I am still HUMAN”
“I am WORTHY”
“I am BLESSED'”
and I DESERVE a person who will VALUE and RESPECT the real me.

Jespielcirca2019

Read Poem: SIMPLE TRUTH by Clay Witkofsky

Dear god I’d like to take a minute to pray
I’d like to thank you for helping me find myself this day
I’d like to thank you for this pathway that you have designed
With only one person that’s me in mind

Now I always knew you could guide me I just didn’t know how as I’ve searched the skies above and looked for signs on the ground
But am completely amazed with what I have found
As you are speaking from above but it’s a feeling I receive
A feeling of energy good or bad
Now that I know it’s coming from you
I’ll know exactly what I should or shouldn’t do
It’s a feeling that warns me what’s up ahead
Or tells me what I should do instead
It’s a feeling that tells me no when I hear a lie
Or a feeling that tells me yea when I see someone I might like
It’s a feeling I will follow to find my destiny

Wow it’s the voice of you god, thank you I’ve found something down here that is actually true
But before I start to smile my life away
I’d like to say thank you for saving me today
And I’m sorry it took me so long to figure this out
I promise you I never had any doubt

I think it’s just the confusion of society
Always teaching and preaching who I should be
But I’m the only one to blame For allowing in pain
As I’m the only one who knows this soul
And just exactly where it wants to go
Now it may take me some time to train my mind
To understand these feelings inside
But I do believe in your sacrifice
And I will learn to follow your advice
As this is my simple little plan and chance to walk to the promise land

And I don’t want to go alone into my destination unknown
As I want to take this gift of life that I’ve been given’
Just like that box beneath the tree and fill it with nothing but excitement and simplicity
So hopefully I haven’t drifted to far away cause tomorrow I’ll get back on my own highway
I’ll start to justify my time by understanding this inner child of mine
And use this simple truth to walk with the confidence of being guided by you

Unfortunately for corruption and hell I’m gonna let the rest of the world know this little secret as well
But in the end I guess I always knew that good would follow thru

Read Poem: Cages by Kristen Corbisiero

I built myself inside this cage,

And foolishly gave you the only key,
Thinking you’d keep it safe,

Hoping you would, at least.

Cages aren’t always meant to keep people in you tell me,
Sometimes, they’re meant to keep certain ones out,
For safety, for love, for whatever reason you choose,
Because this cage has kept me inside for far too long,
And I have no choice but to believe the poison that drips from your mouth,
Lapping it up with dry tongue,
Foolishly praying one day it’ll give me the strength to break the locks,
Cast the iron aside and find my way out.

I built this cage, yes,
I know that now,
Always did,
But never did I think you’d use it to keep me locked away.

Read Poem: Craning: a montage in three acts by Joanna Hannigan

Lament

Into the snow fly wild geese

Over trees stripped bare of bark

And leaves—a feather slivers free.

The white crane, austere and silent

At water’s edge—does not budge

It stands—passive and intense.

Into the past, where I and you were we

Concealed interiors, glass and steel visibility

Impervious to ardor and rage—I plunge.

The snow descends, worlds blur

I will not let you go—and turn

Eastward—into a biting embrace.

His Hymn

He held her sagging head—until the drunken retching stopped

He’d held it before—when the tooth was pulled, the D&C, bad news received

He stroked the damp hair; quieted sobs, then

moved from their bed to the couch in the den,

to the studio miles away, then out of state.

He worked hard—married again, mourned thinning hair, loss of another wife

He grew distant from friends—especially those who reminded him

Restored cars and bought a sail boat,

performed magic tricks for sick kids, took yearly trips

to the coast, and continued to vote.

He avoided college reunions—returned home only for weddings, deaths

He played tennis and racquetball, ate at the country club

Invested his money wisely, tried to laugh enough,

advanced, he suspected, because he didn’t give a damn

about research, going green, using four letter words.

They said he was a good man—few would disagree.

How she would loathe what he was and had become

How she disliked flat rituals and routine, memberships—comforting

And adored spontaneity, dinners in reverse, and snow white cranes

disciplined and solitary in their gaze, prone to migrate

to new sources of feed, retaining wisdom in their wings.

They said she was a flawed thing—only he disagreed.

He wasn’t a sentimental man—and sometimes woke to stop the dreams

He only played CDs and mix tapes—he’d never risk hearing her moody notes

Shunned zoos and parks, rivers and lakes—all inland water ways

until one day, he did what he would never have done

focusing on sky, lake, land—he stood at water’s edge.

He remembered all of her—damp hair, pale lips, shadows and curves

He wondered if silver replaced the mane of gold, if she still hummed those words

He reclaimed what for 30 years had been lost—her, him

he pleaded for a sign, then demanded—with raised fist

she be returned to him—he lifted his head, majestically

and craned.

Requiem

The crane posed, leg bent, at water’s edge

Walking, I saw it—though the form

Could have been two—flurries of white at dusk.

Swiftly, limbs spread, it turned

Joyfully, feathers preened, unconcerned

Spinning zealously—with ardent intensity.

Into the twilight soared the bird

Merging until vague—until only dark remained

That was when I saw her.

The snow whirled, eyes blurred as

Human form turned into bird—winging

Westward—free of earth.

Poem by Joanna Hannigan, Creative Writer/Proposal Developer

Cailleach Bhur Caer, Loudon, TN 37774

Read Poem: LOVE THIS WAY by Noor Ashu

It took me hours to think
what you saw in my body when you praised about it
it forced me to think about love again
as they say,
love exists behind bodies
and in between souls
I have heard it many times
that I never thought about my body as beautiful
I never tried it to be,
and for years I never thought that it need love too
because I never looked at my body as something special,
I have abused it so much,
that it is not okay for me to praise it,
how I neglected the part of myself for years
it took me hours to realize
it is never always lust
as we considered,
when our bodies are being loved

Author’s bio
I am Noorulain Ayesha, an Electrical Engineer, nature lover, an author of “The Unknown Journey”, “Heart to Heart with Nature” and “Sunshine of your love”.

Read Poem: ABADONED POETS by Rashmi Handa

Abadoned Poets
They came to me in my dreams
Poets who live beyond our reach
Beautiful hands which I love
Followed them knowing I was welcome

High they took me into the garden
In the wagon we laughed and kissed
Surrounded by flowers, trees and birds
They gave me kiss and something else

They cleansed my pallet and I could write
Their wisdom into words that rhyme
Their love was strong and I was brave
To transform everything I touch to blossom

Together we sit and share our minds
My hand glides on sheets and write
Their knowledge ignites the words that match
And a new version of old adages is hatched

So simple and ordinary these words may seem
Each time I read them though, a new memory streams
And I am made aware of something true
That I am a part of their abandoned crew.

Read Poem: EVOLVE by Hope.S.Brown

When you try and fail, perhaps you fall;
You should never fret, as that’s not all.
You may doubt, you may shudder or you may bawl;
But when you refuse to surrender, you begin to evolve.

When you rise up with all your might;
Retaliate and consummate the fight;
You know, you won’t be there without a hitch,
But you try harder, to give challenges a ditch.

With the humdrum of life;
With the happiness deprived;
You struggle through every chance, to get it right.

And with that belief in your wounded heart;
With that burning desire, as you stand apart;
When you refuse to give up or to dissolve;
That very moment, you begin to evolve.

Read Poem: NAKED ME by Uvie Ann-marie Giwewhegbe

(MALE)
Say something
Anything
Free my soul from within and let me break free
From those lost cuffs that you braced me
With one time that stole my life
That stole my world

(FEMALE)
Say something
Anything
Question the tension that pulls me to you
And makes me prisoner to those sweet moments that I will
Forget in time
Time takes it all, slow but sure
Still stings since you feel you own me

(MALE)
Pray do tell
Sing no song of freedom
For this love you have gingered
And masked to look like it was my ploy
To pull you in and make you useless
I did nothing; the power was all in your hands
You used me, you made me weak
Obsessed and lost without you

(FEMALE)
Pray do tell
All the lies that make you safe
As you watched the naked me
Fall on your knees
Releasing you of a burden unseen
Till you had my neck under the knife
Taking my soul in pure strife
You did this to me you did this to me
You soulless lost rhythm dazzled with loneliness
You have killed me, my life is meaningless.

Read Poem: What are they by Maria E. Padrón

Today,
Silicone
Glass
Acrylic.
Jelly
Soft-skin
Stone.
Before,
camel dung
gold
silver
ivory
jade.
Whatever;
Does it really matter
what they’re made of?
Dildos, that is.
The English word’s origin
uncertain and ambiguous
as the dildos themselves.
It’s meaning
Does it come from the latin word
for ‘open wide’
or for ‘love’?
Or the Italian word for ‘delight’?
Maybe from the word “dally”
which meant ‘to flirt’
Their development and that
of great civilizations
seem to cum
hand in hand.
Egyptians, Romans
Greeks, Chinese
and Italians during the Renaissance
they used them all.
To keep their wives from cheating,
Their “gayness” satisfied without being persecuted
or killed
for touching a loved one.
To offer their “virginity” to the god of fertility
For worship
To show off
Prestige and status involved.
To treat orgasm-deprived women
of so-called “hysteria”
To “enhance couple relationships”
As a “sexual aide”
But
For discovery and pleasure
Only now?
Dildos are shown as an item
of female liberation
of gay men’s freedom
the power of owning
our bodies and pleasure
no shame or secrets
no holding in anymore
no frustration.
However, again, dildos
infertile and dead
unable to spread STDs
and to leave us pregnant
they also leave us lonely
with their cold touch
their emotional emptiness
their lack of affection and intimacy
that leaves us thirsty
with a thirst unquenched
for human touch
a human connection
a human that penetrates us and fills us
with love.
Dildos
the word
out of frustration cums
to me
to my mind and
out of my pen and my lips.
Lies
they are for me
that they will cure my frustration
cause they can never replace
what I yearn and I lack
an actual relation
with a partner that loves me
satisfies me
not only physically
through orgasmic
warm
wild
passionate
kiss-filled
cuddle-filled
bare and naked skin-filled
touch
rush
flood
of blood
and feelings
and love
that I can never find in a heartless
dull
dildo
that I can buy and dispose
unlike a person I love
a person that
loves
ME.
Frustration it is
the meaning the word
“dildo”
carries within me
cause it can never go in
completely
inside
of me.
But who do I kid?
Who do I mock?
When even what they try to mirror
the real skin
warm, inner constant flowing blood,
alive ones, don’t
just don’t go
I can never get one
to go all the way through
the pain there
something, there
like a wall
that I
that I can’t
just break through.
I can’t
break
through.
I suffer
I cry
I fear
what can I do
to fully fill others
if I can’t
make it cum
all the way
in
inside me
inside this lonely woman
inside this
sex
love
affection
pleasure
dopamine
deprived woman
I can’t ?
Why,
I can’t…
Can’t I?
That is why
dildos
are a synonym of frustration to me
dildos
what are they
to you?
to humanity?