Performed by Kat Smiley
—
Producer/Director: Matthew Toffolo http://www.matthewtoffolo.com
Festival Moderators: Matthew Toffolo, Rachel Elder
Casting Director: Sean Ballantyne
Editors: Kimberly Villarruel, Ryan Haines, John Johnson
Festival Directors: Rachel Elder, Natasha Levy
Camera Operators: Ryan Haines, Temitope Akinterinwa, Efren Zapata, Zack Arch
Performed by Kat Smiley
—
Producer/Director: Matthew Toffolo http://www.matthewtoffolo.com
Festival Moderators: Matthew Toffolo, Rachel Elder
Casting Director: Sean Ballantyne
Editors: Kimberly Villarruel, Ryan Haines, John Johnson
Festival Directors: Rachel Elder, Natasha Levy
Camera Operators: Ryan Haines, Temitope Akinterinwa, Efren Zapata, Zack Arch
Performed by Kat Smiley
Peformed by Kat Smiley
—
Producer/Director: Matthew Toffolo http://www.matthewtoffolo.com
Festival Moderators: Matthew Toffolo, Rachel Elder
Casting Director: Sean Ballantyne
Editors: Kimberly Villarruel, Ryan Haines, John Johnson
Festival Directors: Rachel Elder, Natasha Levy
Camera Operators: Ryan Haines, Temitope Akinterinwa, Efren Zapata, Zack Arch
I write
I write often
Of an ethereal figure
He has no name
His presence
I can’t fathom
Only feel
Through the words I impart
Into the folds of napkins
On nights of drunken stupors
And banal escapades
Riveting in exaggeration
Dim bulbs and iridescent neon
Grim eyes with hairless brows
Fifty kilogram weight on my sole
Lower than the floor I stand on
Only then,
And only ever then,
I pray
For Clarity and Truth and Purpose
Sans scripture
Solely silence
“It was not written for me”
Cloudy, unwarranted comfort
In the fiction we tell ourselves
I knew I had dozed
I heard echoes of the voices
from an instant dream.
So many voices, a cacophony in my head.
He didn’t know I had dozed
No one did although it happened
several times that day.
He was still beside me, we were on the ship.
The speaker was still speaking
(I hadn’t even lost the thread
of what she was saying!).
I was still in this chair, in this place.
I knew the instant dream
had been as intense
as it was brief.
The voices faded away, back to the unconscious.
They knew they were being dragged
Back to their rightful place
in the invisible world they occupied.
They didn’t want to go, they longed to linger awhile.
I knew those voices
And wanted them to linger longer
And stay in their world awhile.
An alternate universe, an instant dream.
By Katharine Lovejoy Berman
copyright 8/18/2017
Winter is coming.
Another summer surrenders to the fall
There is a melody I’m softly humming
How many losses can I recall.
In the somber sullen wake of my disgrace
I seek redemption to save face.
There is a gnawing underneath the skin
A haunting howl amidst the din
The storm winds settle and blow back
I have plenty of strength to make up for what I lack.
Gravity has got me down again
The heart resounds a pulse from within
Autumn is nigh
I breathe in the earthen air
And simply sigh
And summon up a prayer.
Jayme Villa-Alvarez, 9/11/17
arknight.home.blog
Maybe I was meant to be this way.
A broken ugly mess.
Don’t know where I’ll go from here.
Dreams I dream less and less.
I know you think you don’t deserve me.
Or anything I do for you.
And you have fallen so many times.
You don’t believe anything to be true.
It’s hard to believe that life is fair
When I’ve fallen my last step.
Further and hopeless, distance grows.
There is but the ultimate escape.
I know you feel like this is the end.
But I’m with you till the end.
And if you fall get right back up.
Your armour, only you can mend.
I wish I could have your strength.
I wish I could be more like you.
I wish I was anyone but myself.
There is so many things I wish I didn’t do.
It’s never too late for you to stand.
I’ll give you all the strength you need.
I can nurture and care all I can.
But I can’t germinate a seed.
Do you think I have not tried?
I fall every moment I stand.
I’ve tried and lost my last breath
My hourglass has run out of sand.
I wish I could make you believe.
I don’t never want you to go.
Tell me why can’t I follow my heart.
And tell you what you need to know.
This is my battle, this is my fight
I can’t let you come and see
You are my last sacrifice I’m making
You have to stay away from me.
You are always worthy of saving.
I will fight everything for you.
Why can’t you accept after everything.
I will always and forever love you.
And I always did, that’s the reason.
I’m leaving you and everyone else.
I can’t look at my reflection.
And let you near someone who fails.
You leave and I’ll follow you.
Through the gates of hell.
I’ll tame the Furies and Cerberus,
I’ll hammer in Hades’s last nail.
You should not have come for me.
I’ve fallen and become ruler of this race.
Now this is your last battle symphony.
And I, your nightmare in flesh.
No matter what you may become.
You will always be my own.
No nightmare can frighten me.
Losing you is the worst fear I’ve known.
Finally I lay here in your arms.
As how it always should have been.
Blood flows freely from my soul.
As my body feeds the green.
This isn’t what our story was.
This cannot be how we lose.
Without you there is no me.
Your blade has now but one final use.
Live for your life my dove.
I was far too gone to pause.
One last wish upon a star.
That you find your lucky cause.
I promise your memory I’ll hold.
And cherish every day just the same.
And every time I see a star.
I’ll think of you and whisper your name.
Cool, calm, and collected
like the ocean on a sunny day
he smiles, happy and amused
he eyes shine bright
he reminds me of a flower
lovely and strong
He moves like a panther
fierce like one too
he looks at me like he loves me
maybe I love him too.
My flower was laden with dew,
So pink, so moist, and open;
Like lips that are parted in two,
Her center, her tongue, was golden.
And crossed by green blades of grass,
Formed in a triumphal arch;
Through which some great man could pass,
Or some great army march.
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