Read Poem: Soul, I Hear You Calling, by Jennifer Gulbrandsen

Out of nowhere, the usual walk with the usual look to the east
Eyes focused on the blue of the darkening sky
As it sets behind the lights of the buildings on the river
I didn’t even realize it was in your direction
Just another night without you
I had grown accustomed to the emptiness – cold, azure.

The song playing in my ears, used to bring me to tears for you
Now it played as a soundtrack to what I saw unfolding
Interrupted with a message from you as it said I’d be
Forever blue, the exact color of the night before me
You sent a long message, I would have to read for myself
There you were again, looking for me
You never actually go anywhere. It’s a phantom distance.

Apologies again, explanations forever, promises endless
I’m guarded this time, my heart sings to those heavens
But now it also knows this song, now on a new verse
It’s not a sad song, but a patient one for this love has always been kind
Untiring yearning, but always kind
Each other’s distant constant, reassuring hope.

Instead of celebrating, I smile and hope that this time it sticks
Suddenly you’re everywhere, reminders on every corner
On the new street I walk to a different destination
Hope suddenly ablaze in my heart yet again, how is it not tired
Church bells ring at a moment too perfect
There’s that feeling of kismet inside coincidence that is heady.

There’s no telling how long I’ll be able to walk looking toward you
I just know that I haven’t stopped, and can’t imagine it
I also can’t imagine us together yet we can’t seem to separate
Slowly, surely, the distance becomes shorter even apart it’s odd
Yet the contentment of it can’t be denied
Just knowing I’m here and you’re there, for now.

Read Poem: Colour’s of my World, by Varsha Singh

We’re born with colourless sight,
We wait for the day where were able to see the beautiful colours of the world
It comes and,
We notice the green grass,
It comes and,
We notice the blue skies,
It comes and,
We notice the changing colours of autumn.
But most of all as we grow,

As we change

It comes and,

We notice the colours of life
The colours of our mothers face, her skin, her love.
As we grow, we look deeper into these colours
We look deeper to see the colour of people’s hearts
Whether it be the bleeding red
Or the burning colour of coal
It’s then we realize, the true colours of our world.
That’s when we come to realize,
Our world isn’t black and white,
But filled with the colours that make us want to go back,

Back to the days where things were simply just black and white.

Not wrapped in hate, violence and greedy.

But warmth, safety, and love.

Read Poem: Street Reader, by Michael Foldes

We are on the street reading.
Some stop and listen.
Others look at us staring into space
As if the weather had nothing
More than love to do with it,
Wrapping us in wind and rain
Or sun to applaud
Our simplified meanderings.
Perhaps a change of costume
Would gather more attention.
The audience is particular,
And while we are well-rehearsed,
We are not all that well-dressed.

Read Poem: Summer Shirts & Shadows, by Peculiarblend aka Pushpendra Pandya

Windows of my house swaying like a tipsy wine bottle

Asking questions about her shirts of summer and sweet smell of sweaty hugs

He walked smilingly to get closer look of the weather,
All he could retrace a park-bench with V & P throwing their heads and laughing all dentures-out

Tears didn’t roll as he had promised to his beloved,
he rather tossed a paper plane written “thank you and I miss you every day” before walking out their dogs reminiscing in awe of hers.

By Peculiarblend aka Pushpendra Pandya

Read Poem: I Am Listening, Are You?, by Roanne Legg

I am listening.
Are you listening?
I am listening.
Can you hear the trees, the shuffle and hiss
can you smell the scent, the sage lets go
in the rain.
Can you smell this, the out-of-doors,
this earth that holds all that we know
do you touch this planet with your feet,
without shoes, do you stand on the dirt or rock
and squeeze it with your toes, do you?
Do you let go this moment and feel
see and smell,
and let that contain you,
without anything else. Do you let it all go for a moment,
and take a step into this future, and then let it go
and look around, and see the sky change.
The blue into indigo into black
your shoulders drop, your heart shrinks
into its cavern of soul
and rest
do you give this moment up, without waiting for the next?
do you take advantage, of this earth
without shortcutting, without guns or motorized vehicles
do you give yourself to the mountains
the air, the depth and height
do you squeeze your fists and bow your head and let tears
gently slide down your cheeks
because it is unfair, life is unfair
we cannot live simply
do you remember we once did, and do you know
where we came from?
does your past lead and does your future support
and does this moment get forgotten amidst
the leaves of your destructive mind
and in that suspension, are their pieces of light
forgiving your absence of integrity
of self worthiness
of hard work where hands are reaching hesitant
immature, that responsiveness is the essence
the cure the destruction, the change.
That is our purpose,
that is our quest, to be what we are.
That is the decision. The epitaph
invisibly tattooed in your heart,
I see it in your eyes.
Longing to be recognized, you
remember so you can forget
your shadow will remind
let it go, let it go, let it go!
Your light, that light, the light
The light. It cannot fade
no matter how much you neglect and abuse,
no matter how much you fight.
I am the opponent and I see core,
I see the essence and you cannot fool me.
You, are the one I have been looking for.
You are hiding and I have found you.
You were never lost.
You, are the flame, waiting for the rain.
You are on the stage, you are performing
you have been chosen.
Are you listening?
Are you?
Can you tell if I am?
Do you notice things. People. Places, situations?
Is your coil tight around your waist
and does it bulge, does that impatience
slip and fall and drip over the edges of your reality
and does this scene, bother you?
We are the makers, the keepers, the penetrators.
We make the decision to change.
We have created what we look at.
We are in control.
Let go. Let go. Let go!
It will not fall apart. I know,
because the mountains told me.
Patience is disturbing.
It recalls the voice, the voice
of the ancients. Are you listening?
I am. Join me, let this be our religion,
our meal, our dream.
Let this be the letter waiting,
let this be the broth
your blood is nourished by.
Let this remind, that simple, is the breath.
Follow it. Follow it. Follow it!

Read Poem: Reaching for you, by Freddy Romm

My dream, my hope are not forever,
We can’t, we can’t be always together.
My love, my feeling, all my soul
Forbidden are once.
Just say: why fight for the love remaining?
Just say: why are we so much self-paining
If no chance, we have no chance?

Love is the miracle we are needing,
The only rescue when heart is bleeding.
But we do know – love vanishes once, no trace.
Just say – why, how can, do we guess it
In this infinite and sweet pain blessed
That I am yours, and you are mine – the only in space?

You see – so long we have had to wander,
Across worlds foggy too strange to wonder
To see one other just one time – and never again.
The fate, the space and the time – together,
They command us: stop your struggle forever!
And leave your hope! And do not complain!

Love lost – always in the world around.
No voice – you leave and are never found.
My wish is to revive our love, take away from death!
My love! I am seeking for you whenever!
My love! I am reaching for you wherever!
Whenever and wherever I can live, mind and breath!

My planet flies in the space alone
We cannot see its carriage unknown
The duty and the love each day disturb us and call.
That’s why I am reaching for you anywhere,
Always I am reaching for you forever.
I find you once! Through so strange time, space, and through all!

Read Poem: WAR, by Sasha Dulerayn

The crystal bursts under the pressure
The sacred water turns to mould
The ropes of speech begin to tighten
The young grasshopper eats the old

In bright red cheeks and tear-drained pupils,
In curls of smoke under the skies
In teeth that rattle from emotion
The sludge and mould metastasise

A car drives wildly to the border
Inside – a raging heart, a soul, a life
The trees bear witness by the roadside,
The freezing air is thin and lithe.

A soldier sits down on a tree stump
The bark of which was cut by friends
He tunes his rifle to D Minor
And hears his brothers blasting lead

He feels the Earth resist his footsteps
He knows his mother’s at wits’ end
He plays the saddest D flat Minor
And shoots his brothers in their heads

The scabs of yesterday reopen,
Red rot of righteousness sets in;
The ropes of speech are made of ether,
They flourish deep under the skin.

We tug and lash them for catharsis
The inner crystal pays the price
And when the chieftain wants his honour
The young and old both crawl like lice

Even the orange fire tornadoes
Could not compare to plain, old war.
The car shrieks proudly past the border
That wraps the belly of the Whore.

– Sasha Dulerayn

Read Poem: A FATHER’S LOVE, by D. Fuller Smith

Society of thought
words irrelevant
actions on display
investigating murder
it happened one day

Interrogation stalled
a suspect’s mind
flooded pink
unable to see
what he thinks
the investigation
into murder
goes no further

A crime committed
the suspect’s guilt
obscured by pink
the investigator thinks
they conceal witness
of the crime
shielded thoughts
of what was wrought

The next phase
a straight line
through the maze
the suspect saw
the crime of his…

Son

The killer unmasked
by a father
taking the task
protecting his boy
the pink dissipates
the investigator
sees the murder
through the eyes
of the father