The Heart Needs no Pen or Paper

You are there and I am here
We write to each other every day
It’s second nature now to pick up my pen
but today no new words come to me
I know my heartbeat leads to you
And no doubt that yours beats for me too
Sometimes we need not even speak at all
For what is in the heart needs no lines
It beats without effort as does our love
But you’re still in my every thought
And when I wake, I know you are still mine
If I get no letter from you today, I do not fret
For a letter can’t take the place of what is in your heart
And what is in your heart needs no pen or paper
I can always feel your love, regardless… And I smile. 


Alone…

Loneliness and sadness grew in my heart without you

I tried to find in someone else what I found in you

What I failed to realize is that you can not be replaced

When two hearts are one, none can separate them,

no matter how much I try to move forward..

If he would try to touch my hand, it would chill me

I couldn’t look in his eyes…

Because I couldn’t find my reflection

You hold the key that locks these golden chains around my heart

I need your kiss, your touch, and the love only we share

But I have no answers…

Because though we are apart in distance

our hearts couldn’t be closer

So I will stay alone with your memory

Because I can’t live a life with someone else that was only meant for us

I pray that one day you find your way back to me

You will find me where you left me…. Alone

There You Are

When I read your old letters, my tears always flow

Should I believe the words I now read today?

They used to be so clear with intent

Now I question if you still mean them

Do you think I can no longer feel you?

Circumstances unraveled our relationship

They can not be glued back together

but have been put back together differently

You try hard to pretend we are fine

though I still feel your deep resentment

But good memories still remain here in my heart

as sounds of our laughter peek through at times

And as I drift off to sleep, there you are.

Kristy Raines was born Kristy Rasmussen, in Oakland, California, on April 9, 1957. Kristy is a poet, writer, freelance journalist, and advocate for human rights internationally. She has received many literary awards and humanitarian recognition certificates.

She is most known internationally for her unique style of writing. Kristy has recently launched her first poetry book, titled, “The Passion Within Me”, and is awaiting the launch of  her second self-published book written with respected poet Dr. Prasana Kumar Dalai of India, of Epistolary Poems, titled, “I Cross My Heart from East to West, Volume One” on Valentine’s Day on Amazon.  Kristy is also working on her first two fantasy books titled, “Princess and The Lion”, and, “Rings, Things, and Butterfly Wings”.  

Kristy also writes short stories for children and song lyrics.

Quarantine

I don’t have the knowledge to create a vaccine

I don’t have the capacity to donate financially

I don’t have the strength to volunteer in the frontline

All I have

Is the patience to stay at home as much as possible

Is the perseverance to make do with whatever I have

Is the desire to learn something new each day to pass time

Is the contentment that I can be just safe in isolation

Freedom comes with responsibility

If I can’t do anything to help, I can at least try not to be a part of the problem.

Moon

If only the Moon is greater

A celestial with much power

All the planets swimming in milk

Warmed by Sun inside black silk

May your reflected light shine

Against the drunkness of wine

Uncover the hidden secret line

Each great ball that mutely whine

Open up each soul to perceive

Let no word nor act to deceive

Purge out anger and fear to leave

Shield against any evils to receive

Ambitious greed to seal away

No confusion led out to sway

Only compassion here to stay

If Moon has power in her ray

Lilian Dipasupil Kunimasa was born January 14, 1965, in Manila Philippines. She has worked as a retired Language Instructor, interpreter, caregiver, secretary, product promotion employee, and private therapeutic masseur. Her works have been published as poems and short story anthologies in several language translations for e-magazines, monthly magazines, and books; poems for cause anthologies in a Zimbabwean newspaper; a feature article in a Philippine newspaper; and had her works posted on different poetry web and blog sites. She has been writing poems since childhood but started on Facebook only in 2014. For her, Poetry is life and life is poetry.

Lilian Kunimasa considers herself a student/teacher with the duty to learn, inspire, guide, and motivate others to contribute to changing what is seen as normal into a better world than when she steps into it. She has always considered life as an endless journey, searching for new goals, and challenges and how she can in small ways make a difference in every path she takes. She sees humanity as one family where each one must support the other and considers poets as a voice for Truth in pursuit of Equality and proper Stewardship of nature despite the hindrances of distorted information and traditions.

Safarova Charos was born on September 23, 2008, in Shahrisabz district, Qashqadaryo region. Despite her young age, she stands out among her peers. Charos is passionate about literature and art and has achieved numerous prestigious awards to date. In 2023, she won a medal and certificate in an art competition held in the Republic of Kazakhstan. In November 2023, her poetry and story collection titled “Atirgul” (“The Rose”) was published in the field of literature. Additionally, her poems were featured in the 2024 poetry and story collection titled “Sparks of Hope.”

weather wind white woman magic snow squall winter fields 

it’s cold by the window. I should move from it. but it’s nice, the view, w/the white earth for the snow and the blue sky yes, a stand of evergreens watching the entire world out there also. white, green, blue. nature wins. even when it’s a bit plain. it has more than the current fashion and gossip. it’s not a surface -level type. the snow rests on the ever faithful wild sumac, the branches of trees reaching out to one another, some awaiting and then assisting and others asking for help. or, is it that the two main ones there are trying to rise fully and together for a painter, a landscape artist w/an easel, to paint their picture? could be. could be. we don’t know everything, you know? the power ceases. probably do to the wind storms wild and furious. I told the white lady. she follows the weather. ‘Hopefully it will go back on,’ she says. and just then it clicks on. I ask her if she has magic, if she performed magic. she says no, but like the sumac trees, I say one never knows,- even if she didn’t know. other levels of existence. maybe in one she is a white witch, who helps people and problems, a healer. white girl magic.

instead she says, ‘On the country roads, because there are long places with no buildings and just fields, the snow gets carried by the wind sometimes and so much, you can hardly see.’ I can see it. in the mind’s eye and also memory, for I’d seen it before several times. wild. maybe just somewhere in the distance a wooden barn on old concrete form. In one place there was a river down the way that followed the road for a bit, and not much else, not much else but that river. what would it have been like to live around those parts? in the summer, and on road trips, people would idealize the areas…and that’s a natural tendency when the birds are singing and a green field pastoral stretches out like a welcoming blanket made by God. but the winter. that would be another story. ice. isolation. and when hills are there somewhere, how to navigate them before the snow ploughs?- and there is less light,- oh many I would think take all our series of electric light for granted. the winter can be bleak. one would have to think of happy things, however silly.

yes happy colourful things. a can of sliced peaches. those things are good but must be loaded with sugar. the sign from a long time ago of two flowers, that spirit showed me, one saying, ‘Swap a smile, trade some cheer,’ and the other continuing, ‘let’s be happy, while we’re here.’ or good sweaters and cotton blankets. novels read that brought the reader into the good and right world of characters and climates. candles. scented candles. music. what else?- what artifacts and cloths, what phenomena and practices to fight off winter and it’s force? maybe the white woman that didn’t practice magic but inadvertently had magic about her, knew. field barn sky. cold long earth. snow squalls. power outages. the deep red of the twelve-month sumac. dreams of the sea, salted and warm, its meandering waves kissing the sands, rolling in with a forever way. that’s a long term relationship certainly, the sand and the sea, the sea and the sand. longer than ‘long,’ but actually ancient. even might as well call such a thing, ‘eternal.’ 

bubblewrap innuendo


prime delivery

my latent desires listed

on the gift receipt


Heidi McIver/Kelly Sauvage Moyer


~


paperclip mudbath


just-finished manuscript

wine stains

camouflage the tears


Heidi McIver/Kelly Sauvage Moyer


~


fate donation


chronic illness

i gift my suffering

to the allopaths


Heidi McIver/Kelly Sauvage Moyer



~


soapstone 


tattered loofah

the jagged edges

of my heart


Heidi McIver/Kelly Sauvage Moyer



~


pheromone subsistence


third anniversary

he expresses 

the cat’s anal glands


Heidi McIver/Kelly Sauvage Moyer


~


every separate pine needle


collective fate

we form a tattered tapestry

atop the forest floor


Heidi McIver/Kelly Sauvage Moyer

G E M B U N [1-3 or 1-4] [pronounced Gem-Boon]

A Gembun is made up of either a one-word first link or anything up to one sentence, to be capped by a haiku of up to four lines.

The Gembun has to include an element of suggestion in either the opening sentence, the haiku or in both. It was created by ai li on the 12th of June 1997, inspired by Larry Kimmel’s TIBUN.

Friends and Family

I often think about my faith and where it comes from in my life. It’s God’s grace that has been given to me.

We all have a place in God’s heart. I discovered my place at an early age. It was not only the circumstances of the inner city that led me to seek Him. It was something internal. There was a longing to be with Him. This was manifested by my experience of my foster mother Dee always speaking about God and Jesus. I only knew that God existed to me.

Now, 60-plus years later, my seeking is over. God is present in me. He was always there, and His Holy Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Finally, all the decades of knowing that I had been spared. Now, I have devotion to living fully in Him. The world no longer has me captured.

I turned to second Timothy 2-3, which gives me comfort knowing that I’m in Him and not the world of man. There’s a place and confidence of being saved to live in the Lord. Therefore, my faith and devotion have been sealed in my being. Each moment, I turn to Him because it’s always been natural to seek Him, and now I’m with Him here on earth.

May He be given glory for eternity.

To Everyone In My Life

As I reflect on God’s Mercy, there’s great gratitude and comfort, knowing that God’s Presence has always been with me. Now, knowing that my kidney function is declining, dialysis is a gift from God to extend my life. There’s nothing more for me than to be grateful.

I’m experiencing a renewed relationship with Christ Jesus as in childhood. It’s of great comfort to recognize that my purpose is to serve God.

I’m writing this while having treatment. The world is fading, leaving me to experience the greatness of creating. So, it is a blessing to have dialysis because it’s God’s gift of life to live.

Literature – Stronger than Atom

Literature has played a significant role throughout human history. It has been not only a powerful vehicle shaping culture and art but also capable of transforming the human spirit and society itself. Just as atomic energy possesses the power to alter the physical world, literature has the power to change the human heart, its emotions, and thoughts. In this article, we examine the strength and influence of literature from both scientific and literary perspectives.

Spiritual Power of Literature

Literature is a powerful means of deeply affecting the human heart. The eminent representative of Uzbek literature, Abdulla Qodiriy, said, “Literature is the mirror of life” Through literature, we explore the inner world of human beings, their experiences, and emotions through various heroes and events.

“Spring opened the flower of the heart,  

It forgot sorrow, companion, the moon”.

These verses speak of the spring season resembling a new life filled with hope, happiness, and prosperity. The spring season indeed awakens new feelings in the heart and helps forget sorrows. Such examples demonstrate how deeply literature can affect the human spirit.

Literature and Science

The connection between literature and science is profound. Literature plays a crucial role in popularizing and disseminating scientific achievements and breakthroughs to a wide audience. Scientific ideas and achievements often reach a broader audience through literature, making them easier to understand and accept. Scientific luminary Albert Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Imagination is the foundation of literature.” This idea illustrates the deep connection between literature and science.

 Literature’s Impact on Society

Literature contributes to the education of society, participating in its spiritual and cultural development. Uzbek writer Abdulla Qahhor emphasized the influence of literature on society, stating, “Through literature, we change society, we contribute to its progress”. The power of literature lies in shaping the moral aspect of society and showing the direction of its development.

Poetry’s Stronger Power than Atom

Poetry expresses human emotions in the most delicate and sincere manner. The works of great poets often have a strong impact on human spirituality. For example, Muhammad Yusuf’s verses deeply touch the heart:

“Forgetting yourself is fortune,  

Forgetting my words in your heart is fortune”.

These lines depict the place of love in human life and how it affects the heart. Completely forgetting love is described as fortune, illustrating how deeply poetry affects the human spirit.

 Knowledge and Literature

To better understand the relationship between literature and science, we can compare it to atomic energy and its impact. Atomic energy possesses strong physical power through nuclear reactions, producing large amounts of energy. Similarly, literature affects the human spirit and shapes its thinking style and moral values. The power of literature is stronger than atomic energy because it has the ability to change the inner world of humans.

 Conclusion

Literature is a spiritual and moral power stronger than atomic energy. It changes the human heart, educates society, and brings scientific achievements to a wider audience. Literature reveals the inner world of humans, clarifies the essence of life, and facilitates better understanding. Scholars and writers perceive this power and continue to serve society through literature.

Lazizbek Rakhimov

Poet, writer, and translator

Student of Bukhara State University