By Karen Lee Stradford Dancing Machine We arrived at 11:00waitingto enter the club.The line is formingalong the brick wall.Everyone dressed in sparkles. Baron is wearing a plain white shirtwith blue jeans,carrying a duffel bag,lookingout of place. The doors open.We push…
By: Jim Bates Winter’s frigid songCold wind howling through bare treesWindswept melody. Clear cold winter nightDome of stars bright and immenseStarlight streaming bliss. Out comet huntingSaw instead a soft sunsetMagic in the sky. Winter afternoonSunlight hanging suspendedAlmost whispering.
By: Stephen Kingsnorth Tilth Where I am rooted, said the parched,is not well suited to my thirst.My bed is grit and not the tilththat lets me search and stretch in earth,drawing on moist and nurture’s wealth.I sunbathe in the light…
By: Josephine Rudolf When the little girl who barely had enough to surviveTurns into a grown woman with plenty of resourceBut still, she cannot thriveAnother trauma is here to unpack of course There was never much, yet enough to crowd…
By: Vanaja Malathy One step out…an expanse of snowas if some naughty kids tilted barrels of white paint from aboveall vegetation came under its coatblank silence everywherechirpy birds, light-footed squirrels, voracious caterpillars…gone busy celebrating elsewhere?life seemed dull and blank Yet…
By: Shontay Luna Afar Did you glance upon me,my most sweet love?Adoring you from afar,heart laden withtorturous longing.The distance apartno matchfor the desire myheart holds;how a mere glanceupon you brings mesuch joy. And yet I knowyou’ve never seen me.But that’s…
By: Mahathi SEASONSI stepped on crackling Autumn leaves wriggling on ground.I sighed and slowly walked towards a naked treeAnd whispered low. “Not long these days. You’ll see aroundFresh leaves on twigs. You’ll see a dancing honey beeRotating round your buds…
By: Amal El-Sayed 243 stuffed toysRide the yellow school buses in Rynok Square.An excursion of ghosts. 109 empty strollersLine up the cobbled streets of Lviv.A graveyard of children. 2 stuffed teddy bearsSleep in a baby carrier.A remnant of joy. 1…
By: Muhammad Nasrullah Khan Dear First World, Salute to youAccept humble bow, from the Third World.Thank you for the great lectures for fucking idiots.Heads hung low, wide-eyed,we clapped. You sold us your notion of humanity,we lived in a barbaric world.You…
By: Esha Sury WHAT ELSE CAN I SAY? This bone-tiredness to speak ended aspure reprieve. I dispose of my last penand a surrendered dove, as remittance, gaveits’ awareness to me in a dawn of non-talk.I wish plainly to cradle wordless…