Category: Uncategorized

Elegy Poem: Grandma by Kaleb Moriarty

I can’t squeeze my eyes shut when I think about
The open casket
It grabs my eyelashes like the reigns of a horse
I try to blink onto sandpaper
And sleep on a bed of nails
Or in the world; warm that I remember you in
It’s 3 o clock P.M. and I can have the windows cracked.
I haven’t perfected the art of counting tiles on a hospital floor yet
Or telling myself you look like you did when you weren’t motionless
Pretending like I’m comfortable eating from a
Meat tray in a funeral home
Or trying not to think about how you waited for me
To walk into the hospital room
before you flatlined.
Your face looks funny stretched across a memorial candle
That we don’t burn, but leave stagnant on a dusty shelf
Sometimes I look up your obituary to convince myself
It’s purple in my search history
-KM

LGBTQ+ Poem: The Dangers of Sex and Smoking, by Johnny Leonardo

He is a cancer that plagues,
Parasitical in his nature
Clawing at complete control

He clogs up my arteries
A build-up of unnecessary pain
Blocking joyous music and memories

He weakens my brave heart
Which once beat strong with passion
Which once was mine and mine alone

Oh how he rots my gums
The taste tantalizingly unbearable
Before i spit and brush my teeth

The scent lingers on my
Index and middle finger
I wash away the sin with hand soap

Some may find him cool
Some may be curious
I now find him plainly cruel

He takes my breath away
Until i suffocate in unison with him
The embers of intimacy quickly fade
And he discards me in favor of another

GRIEF Poem: Moonlit Gaze, by Kareena

I remember when you used to look at me
As if I were the moon,
Hanging in your sky,
Soft and luminous, pulling the tides in your chest.
There was something in your eyes
A quiet worship, a longing,
Like I was both faraway and yet yours to hold.
In those moments,
I believed I was made of light,
Reflecting something beautiful back to you.

But maybe I’m just delusional.
Maybe I read too much into the way
Your eyes lingered a little too long,
The way your breath seemed to catch
When the distance between us thinned.
Maybe it was never the moon you saw in me,
Only a fleeting shadow,
A pale echo of something you wanted to find
But never truly did.

I try to tell myself that I imagined it,
That I painted you in the colors of my own dreams,
But still,
There’s a part of me that holds on
Clings to the way your gaze once softened,
As if you saw something celestial in me,
Something rare and worth orbiting.

I don’t want my heart to ache for you,
To tremble in the hollow spaces
Where your light used to reach me.
I tell myself it’s easier to forget,
To close the door on those memories
Before they grow too heavy
And sink me like stones.

But how can I stop the ache
When the nights are so quiet,
When the moon still rises,
And I remember the way you once looked at me
Like I was its reflection?
The truth is,
I don’t want to ache,
But I do.
I ache in the silence you left behind,
In the empty places where your gaze used to rest,
And I can’t help but wonder
If you ever look up at the moon
And think of me
Or if I was just another phase you outgrew.

Read Poem: I Remember You, by Milana Melnick

I remember my neck itched after I rolled in the grass with you. The others laughed, kindly. I don’t remember laughing with them.
I remember you said you liked the shade of blue in my eyes.
I remember the dirt smeared on my leg, and only I noticed. While they went on running, I wiped it off with a leaf. The feeling stayed there.
I remember the cans of soda you brought for us to share. The fizz in my mouth was light and slight and strange.
I remember a pop of chewing gum burst. Slowly, I turned my head.
I remember a tree branch fell.
I remember my scrape stung as we waded in the water. They were all ahead, I was behind you.
I remember I thought about home, how the woods looked nothing like the city, nothing like it.
I remember their hands were warm as they pulled me aside, and the fleshy feeling made my hand sticky. We all sat by a bonfire in the dark.
I remember they traded stories, and I remember your story. My hands clasped each other behind my back.
I remember all of us ate yogurt covered raisins as smoke and ashes floated around your face. I remember the sound of your sneeze.
I remember the dirt and grass under your fingernails looked like paint. It was the first time I realized you were a painter.
I remember a sideways glance from you that sent me a shiver.
I remember that if I stared at the fire for long enough, the empty space became bleak and blue
when I looked away. I think I’m ready to die, you said. Your hair glowed in the firelight.
I remember I dreamt about my neck itching that night

MUSICAL Poem: An MRI Musical Experience, by Karl Kliparchuk

I had not expected to experience
the sounds from my MRI,
only to have the massive magnets
look deep within my spine.

With my earplugs in,
I laid down on the cool sterile table.
As the machine transported me
inside this brilliant white tube
the technician warned the MRI’s sound
would be like a jackhammer.
She was wrong.

I experienced various
musical genres–
first simple notes:
three thuds, two thuds, then one;
followed by roars and grrs.

I was reminded of the electronic sounds
from a MOOG synthesizer
when these experimental notes
first came out–
Wendy Carlos at the keyboard
“Switched on Bach”.

Then “Da Da Da”
the song by Trio
I’m sure you know it,
a musical worm in your ear
from when you were a teen.

To finally transform into
“I Wanna Be Sedated”
by the Ramones.
Joey would be pleased.
R.I.P.

My musical experience
suddenly came to an end.
Twenty-five minutes of entertainment
at my MRI:

Musical Remembrance Imaging.

ROMANCE Poem: I wish I could talk about love, by Guia Nocon

I wish I could talk about love

In my mouth, the words become
a string of profanity
suddenly saintly ears close against

I’m struggling to learn this language
when our fucking becomes one long fuck of prayer
and the altar is a bloody mess of sacrifice
transmuting fear into a litany

And if I’m the lamb
then you’re the blade
not the hand who makes a choice
but the knife
that only knows one way

I can’t even write about it
without the bloody blush
lifting my eyes into violent supplication

I’m walking this street
like I’m not headed towards the death
of this iteration of myself

walking and smiling
turning into something
I’ll murder again
if the prayer is right

a gentle massacre of what is a tender
act of self

ROMANCE Poem: My Sun in a World Full of Stars, by Matilda Travis

You may not be one in a million,
But you are one in infinity.
Your smile lights up my world.
In fact, you are my world.
When I’m with you,
I forget about everyone else.
For you, I’d do anything.
Can’t stop thinking about you.
Even when I’m without you.
In a sky full of stars, you are my sun.
There may be others out there.
But you are the one for me.
You may not have been what I wanted,
But you were what I needed.
You may not have been what I was looking for,
But you are what I found.
When I found you,
I realized you were exactly what I needed.
My sun in a world full of stars.

ROMANCE Poem: Dance of Fire, by Qudus Ishola

Let us dance away,
In the light of the night.
Let plumes of cloud cover us,
As we take to the floor.
Let the fireflies set the ambiance,
As we do the fire dance.
Let the beat be that of our hearts,
As we go deaf to all sounds.
Let’s dance and dance and dance,
Through rain, fog, and shine.
Round the campfire for two,
Stoked with proven passion.
Let our sweats wet the ground,
And flood the earth.
Let this realm,
And the others bear witness,
To a dance of fire,
No water can quench.