RHYME Poem: My State of Mind, by Jijo Alex Kakkatiu

Stripped of any brilliance,
my humanity laid bare.
My mind like a desert,
my soul like a tree – no fruit she bear.

My Soul she’s beaten,
like tempered steel.
My minds wit sharpened,
No can steal.

My existence questioned every day,
From the beginning as a bae.
Dark thoughts especially selfish ones,
I have yet kept at bay.

Why must I endure all this suffering,
All this searing pain.
All I long and would have been
Happiest at being nobody but one paine.

Free me from this entrapment
My soul and mind are struck you’ve seen.
I long for pleasant waters,
With my family somewhere in the scene.

– Jijo Alex K

RHYME Poem: Unlucky in Love, by Dora Mokora

Don’t say it, for they will know how you felt Don’t
imagine it, for they can read your mind
Walk swiftly and say goodbye, for you will save yourself a thousand questions When you
had to make a bargain of your worth, and love cheaply
You took a man from the trenches for you bent low to reach that far Even
him in his lowly position disdained you
You wondered why, love made you bleed and bleed and bleed But
you never stopped to figure, the spell love had cast on you
In the dimly lit room you bled, but never could you stop chasing for more. You
took the blow and decided to love another
This time, you identified the one you loved and hoped time will bring him home But
you had to love from afar because he never could draw closer
Nay, he never could say a word to stir your little dark world Just
an acquaintance, that is who you were to him
You wondered why, love made you bleed and bleed and bleed But
you never stopped to figure, the spell love had cast on you
In the dimly lit room you bled, but never could you stop chasing for more. Mr
Niceness shook your hand for the first time,
He held you hand, opened the door for you and told you thank you His
smile so wide, his etiquette, a breath of fresh air
Your little world, could once again receive the light of love There is
a man, you told your friends
There is a man, you told your mother
You stared at the window, and saw him walk out
You approached him with a bouquet of flowers He
looked at you and laughed
For that is how he treated every person Your
face turned a shed of blue
For once again, love had decided to beat you down
You wondered why, love made you bleed and bleed and bleed But
you never stopped to figure, the spell love had cast on you
In the dimly lit room you bled, but never could you stop chasing for more.
Your virgin lips found themselves in a man you did not know love
comes slowly, you thought
But a stranger, had taken your world by storm
You who was once cowardly in love had found a home You
could lie on his chest, and your fears could fly away Every
chance of speaking your truth, you adored
For you had not opened your heart, for so long But
soon enough, the beauty dwindled away His colors
so evil, a perfect description of hell Yet you excused
them, thinking you were wrong
For it was so long, and true love had never graced your altar He bent
you and bent you till he could break your world
He loved another, and you were forced to behold it In
fact, it was your coins, that he used to entice her You
never saw yourself, outside of love
So you let it go, and allowed him to stay once again Your
little mortgaged house ever-welcoming
Even to the strange women, he loved
You hated yourself, you cried your heart away For
it is your heart, that kept wanting more They
murmured every time you walked
Mrs, Independent, there she is
They branded you the one who hates men For
they had never seen you in love
But only you knew, how much you wanted a man But
only you knew, how much you believed in love
You smiled it all way, and knew that never could they understand For
they had made a conclusion selfishly, and sealed your case You later
agreed with them, to hide your shame
For how could you say, that no man really wanted you in truth For
how could you say, the purity of love, you could not find When
they knocked on your door, you imagined the worst You fears
erupted, and truly they did not stay
You concluded, you were a woman that never was lucky in love Deep
down you believed that someday, you will find
The man, that will love you in truth
It remained a hope, and your age clocked
They called you an ugly whore who never believed in love They
branded you ‘Used Goods’ that never could find a home You looked
at them and shook your head
For only you knew why
You wondered why, love made you bleed and bleed and bleed But
you never stopped to figure, the spell love had cast on you
In the dimly lit room you bled, but never could you stop chasing for more.

RHYME Poem: Hacker’s Rep, by Steve Gerson

Gird your fears stay tuned in
prepare for financial ruin
I’m coming to get your
alphanumeric password
spim spam skim flam
thank you mam
phish spoof splash slash
brute force hash attack
backdoor botnet bottleneck poke
crash crack cloak creep smote
malware frack adware bleed
money misdeed shattered creed
keylog smog scraper tomb
breached payload logic bomb
social engineered hack slap
DDoS jab hacktivist clickjack
fuzz bug infosec
wardriven SQL inject
deep web dark web
hidden web forbidden web
packet racket fake worm
maladjusted toxic squirm
encryption rootkit login smog
Trojan whitelisted spoofing bog
evil twin viral smishing sniff
data meta mega maga rift
crypto doxxing cypher black hat
it’s a zero day ransom hijack attack

RHYME Poem: Childhood Steps Retracing, by Eric v.d. Luft

In Canada I learned to live, to read
A map, to build a boat, to make a wish,
To hit for average, to plant a seed,
To outrun animals, to outwit fish,

To estimate, to burrow under snow,
To bask, to spell the colour grey not gray,
To throw a football through a tire, to grow
Resenting moving to the U.S.A.

Words fail. A poet is supposed to paint
With words, but on this awkward palette are
No colours, only colors which don’t run.

In dust through dangerous depressed constraint
Into a southern grave descends my star,
But northerly my heart remains, undone.

RHYME Poem: Thank God for Taiwan, by John Gillispie

It’s off the coast just east of China
And although I’ve never been
I’ve got more souvenirs from this land
And so do all my friends

Yea they make good things for living
Good things for life today
So little asked for what we’re given
Now how much would you pay?

Thank God for Taiwan
I can’t afford to lose you now
Thank God for Taiwan
You’re where my house is from somehow

I see a store shelf that’s displaying
Hand-crafted porcelain
All the same and all authentic
Only in Taiwan

The money doesn’t matter
You’ve given me society
I’ve got your statues on my mantle
Welcome to the family, Taiwan

Reach out, reach out and buy someone
The collection’s just begun, Taiwan
My art impressed the whole gang
I can’t afford the real thing, Taiwan

The shoes I wear all came from Taiwan
And so do half my clothes
And in fact so is the earing
That adorns my girlfriends nose

Thank God for Taiwan

RHYME Poem: My Gallant Darling, by Kathryn Sawyer

You came into my life when I needed someone most,
Filling my heart with complete bliss, in my life, you gave me strength, hope.
I could never dream of the day that I ever lose you,
For if that day was to come true,
I wouldn’t know what to do.
Deep within my soul, you vanquished all my pain, fear, and sorrow,
Leaving a warm, bright smile on my face, leaving me hopeful for a better tomorrow.
A rare, yet strong, everlasting type of love,
That soothed my soul, easing my troubled mind, as warm and gentle as a turtle dove.
Few will ever understand why you walking into my life was startling,
However, those up above heard me crying, pleading out, for them to send me a man, someone
to love, thus, they sent me you, My Gallant Darling.

RHYME Poem: UNSCRIPTED PATTERNS, by Roselyne Omondi

You guy, my guy! Remember Guy?
The guy who lived on Dumfries Road?
With pleated toes and limestone crown?
Who told tall tales we could not tell?

Life’s not a script, patterns it is
Of twisted truths and fading light
And straightening twirls in curling turns
For y’all to figure out.

Bulging bits of teens Guy said
Put childhood days out of tune
No longer fit same things to do
But still unfit life’s dance to have.

Youth is water in a sieve Guy said
That sips before the tap can close
A time to stretch and pick the bulbs
As in a flash it all could end.

Age is old wine that new skins can’t hold
The creeping marks of bonus time
Leave regret no room, my guy
You never know how old you’ll get to be.

RHYME Poem: The Other Woman, by Briley Richter

Who wears a broken heart is
Never patient, never kind
She has poison up her sleeve,
She has daggers on her mind

Vengeance is no pleasure,
Beauty brings no pain
Suffering is second nature,
Fate she shall ordain

The other woman never listens
For no one heard her cry
Ever bloodless does she sleep
To obscure her open eye

How unforgiving is this world
How sorrowful its woe
Here treads the other woman
Dressed in venom head to toe

RHYME Poem: MY FAIRYTALE, by Stacy Moki

I always thought that when I’d finally fall,
The whole world would know that wasn’t all,
I’d start off with something slow,
Like emojis to start the show,
In my case it’s something rare,
It’ll have to be someone I won’t share,
And just to make it official,
I’d finally make it social,
I’d scream and shout and make a scene,
My friends would know all the betweens,
I’ve finally fallen,
Can’t you see my heart’s been stolen,
I’m now in love,
I’ll tell them it’s not just a fact,
Besides my friends I’ve got books aside,
I’ll fill them both in and out,
Pages to pages would go on and on,
I’m starting my story and I promise it’s long,
I’d write about love and how he makes me happy,
I’d only feel one ecstasy,
That I was sure I wouldn’t be wrong,
Just like my feeling it would be strong,
I’d planned my first date and how perfect it would be,
The flowers the dress the feeling inside,
Love at first sight,
I hoped to find,
I’d love like never before,
And even then, it would need more,
But the guy had to be someone rare,
One I’d definitely never share,
So, I searched and looked,
Hoping to find something true,
I had a whole list lined up,
Even as I became an adult,
And knew the world to not be just,
I still chose to wager on pure luck,
And kept searching for my perfect personality,
In a world that was simply reality.

SCI-FI/FANTASY Poem: A letter from Azula to her mother, by Kavya Basu

Dear Mother,

I am telling the truth when I say
I am sitting in a garden surrounded by flowers
and buzzing insects and chittering birds as
I am writing this letter to you.
There is an apple tree and
bushes of blackberries and
turtles floating in the pond and
I am telling you the truth when
I say I love every single one of them.

And yet
electric blue-white streams of fire
run along my arms to my finger tips,
ready at a moment’s notice to be
“precise and deadly”.

I now understand
we fear the Other
and a monster
is just a face we do not recognize.

I was a child when you watched me
prance and pirouette,
twirling my arms above my head
then dispatching a barrage of bullets
of golden flames.

I flit, I whirl, each step like the beat of a butterfly wing
and also
the beat of war drums
a backdrop to the jets of scorching fire,
that someday would melt brick and steel,
that I shoot into the air
and with a waltz I finish,
the threads of electric blue from my finger tips,
and the room is stunned soundless.
But I am shrunk by the fear in your eyes.

Here is a story:
Watch the long grasses part.
You feel the yellow gaze before you see
the orange and muscles and strength;
the tiger bounds with all the ease and silence
of a drifting swan in water
and crushes the limping deer’s neck,
(I do notice its limp
and I do think about how fast
its heart must be beating).

There is the thirst for meat and blood
and there is the thirst for power
but more than that,
there is the knowledge that
you are different and
no one can do what you do
no matter what you look like
no matter what has happened to you.
It is in your marrow.
No, it is deeper than even that.
It was decided before you were born
and you are bound to it until you die.
And why is that so wrong?

I do

Love,
Azula