ghost, breathing I can stand still as air before a thunderstorm and feel my footprints begin to fill in (though I have not yet stepped out of them); I never did expect to leave an impression anyway This piece was accepted and will be published in literary journal Vita and the Woolf. the palette of his palate my synesthetic son has lunch waiting – two takes on the spring beets he found yesterday at the first farmer’s market of the year – when we return from church, each prepared according to the hues he sees when seasoning: purple from orange sections, from honeyed pecans, a touch from the beets themselves; red (deep, like the wine we open to play alongside his work) from beef and asparagus; the beets, far milder than their autumn counterparts, shine gold through their red tinge (like a sunset, he says, and for a second I see) Jamais Vu I have walked that street all sorts of befores with eyes open (if not always mindful of where I happened to be going) – and yet on this grey Sunday it seemed new, a place to be discovered, mapped into memory for the first time. It did not last long, this sudden untethering from experience – two minutes, perhaps, before I held the lines again – and still, hours on, there is a part of me that drifts and wonders. This piece was accepted and will be published in literary journal Vita and the Woolf. Rue des Rêves Running through my memory on the Street of Dreams - Joe Lynn Turner The path of love is a Möbius strip; it runs ever ahead, behind, between. All steps are steps forward; all footfalls vibrate along immeasurable length. Where it passes over water, it gleams mirror-bright; stars come down to see their true selves, tiny ideas of angels by whose light we read and dance. Where it leads through trees, they do not crowd. There, it is paved with red bricks from old schools; all leaves which fall to it become singing birds. Where it becomes a city street, it is lined (on both sides, two being one) with museums, with noodle shops, with shaded places for quiet and chocolate. Where it soars above dark ragged gorges, we who love meet and are not afraid. Arms linked in hopeful conspiracy, we look over the edge, see ourselves waving back. This piece was accepted and will be published in literary journal Vita and the Woolf. In the Manner Which Seems Best to You Forget inspiration; the only thing the Muses really give you is a choice. You have nine possible ways in which to be devoured alive. Please pick one. There is no tenth option. Take up your pen, your microphone, your paintbrushes and give them a good show; they do so like to be entertained before their teeth meet through your heart. This piece was accepted and will be published in literary journal Vita and the Woolf.
Category Archives: CHAOS
Christopher Bernard reviews Cal Performances’ showing of Socrates and Via Dolorosa by the Mark Morris Dance Group
Calvary and a Prison in Athens
Socrates and Via Dolorosa
Mark Morris Dance Group
Cal Performances
Berkeley, California
Western civilization. Two words that seem to enrage one half the world while blinding the other with a misguided sense of aggrieved loyalty. The so-called progressive left lays the blame for most, if not all of today’s evils at its doorstep. The alt-right and other so-called conservatives claim to be its sole defenders in a world gone mad with resentment and ingratitude.
“Slavery, capitalism, climate change, nuclear war, toxic synthetics, dying seas, the collapsing of wildlife and the sixth extinction,” the left claims, “including our own under the weight of a catastrophic success – these are the legacy of Western civilization.” “Freedom, unsurpassed prosperity, knowledge without equal, human creativity unleashed and human power without limit,” claims the right, “righteousness, grace and God: these are the gifts and the triumph of Western civilization.”
But today there is no longer such a thing as “Western civilization.” Long after Europe lost its empires and its political and economic dominance, its intellectual and spiritual domination of the world is complete. Now “Western civilization” is world civilization: free markets, the primacy of the individual, the sanctity of human rights and the political authority of the people (in theory when not in practice), the imperative of human creativity, technology, critical reason and the scientific method in addressing our problems – these Western definitions of the good are unchallenged by anyone – though the right seems hardly to understand them and the left pretends to forget them. The right defends a grotesque caricature of “the West” that has its roots in the barbarians that brought down an empire and sacked Rome – their founding fathers are Alaric and Attila, the Vandals and Ostrogoths who gaped at the cities they burned.
The left attacks an equally grotesque simulacrum: a “West” that began in 1619, or 1492, or 1605 – when the Atlantic slave trade began, or Columbus set foot on Hispaniola, or the first stock exchange was founded in Amsterdam and what had been an efficient series of trading markets across the continent turned into the many-headed Hydra that now feasts on the globe.
At the heart of our dominant civilization stand two figures whose shadows have been cast down the millennia; the greatest rebels and martyrs of their times – doubters, skeptics, revolutionists. Each stood for his (for they were both men) convictions regarding reality, truth and the good, and each paid the ultimate price: they were summarily killed by the people and powers of their time, with the assumption their ideas and influence would die with them. They did not. Those two individuals also stood for the two poles on which what was, eventually, called “the West” has revolved for centuries. Their names? Socrates and Jesus.
Socrates embedded the dialectics of doubt and reasoned argument into the heart of the West. Jesus embedded the imperative of faith and love. Both stood for truth – though their conceptions of it were not always congruent, and much of Western history has been a long-undecided conflict, sometimes war, between them, one essentially spiritual, the other material – “Hebraism” and “Hellenism,” as Matthew Arnold defined them two centuries ago.
Or, as we might say today, alt-right and progressive – neither side seeming to realize that both they and their opponents are Western to the core.
What civilization first placed its own self-criticism as one of its fundamental values? Western – and late Western at that. In most other cultures and civilizations, including earlier versions of Europe, the critic, dissident, rebel would have been imprisoned, executed or dismissed as mad.
What civilization places the idea of moral universals and absolutes at its beating heart? Again, Western. Most, if not all, other cultures enforced loyalty to their own and only their own; anyone outside “the tribe” was not considered entirely “human,” and certainly had no “rights.”
This is not to romanticize the West. Being human, it is imperfect – often floridly so. It has blood on its hands, as does every other culture and civilization since humanity broke off from its simian ancestors. And its virtues were not always intentional; they exist at least partly because there has been in fact no single “Western culture” but rather a cauldron of “Western cultures,” dozens of cultures, ethnicities, religions, races, in perpetual war with each other for millennia. But that discussion must be pursued elsewhere.
The Mark Morris Dance Group brought two dances, balancing these Western, and now world-dominating presences, one intellectual and heroic, the other spiritual and sanctified, to Berkeley’s Zellerbach Theater during a recent weekend; performances that could not help but stimulate these thoughts.
The first was a revival of Mark Morris’s celebrated “Socrates,” an intriguing work set to the music of Eric Satie and a libretto taken from three of Plato’s dialogues. Based on designs to be found in Grecian pottery, and at times curiously reminiscent of Nijinsky’s notorious choreography for Debussy’s “Prelude to ‘L’aprés-midi d’un faune,’” the dance moves in smoothly hieratic poses, sometimes childlike, sometimes serenely adolescent, across a landscape of classical purity and grace.
The dance has a libretto, performed gracefully by tenor Brian Giebler and accompanied by pianist Colin Fowler. The libretto’s first part is taken from The Symposium, the celebrated dialogue on the nature of love. Alicibiades describes Socrates as like a Selenus, a grotesque figurine containing, hiddenly, the figure of a god, and also like Marsyas, a satyr and flute player for the gods – though those who remember their mythology will remember his tragic end when he makes the mistake of challenging Apollo, god of the lyre, to a competition: he loses, predictably, and is skinned alive for his hubris.
The second part describes an idyllic passage in Phaedrus in which Socrates and his young eponymous friend seek a place on the banks of a lovely stream where they will conduct a conversation in search of the true, the beautiful, and the good.
The third is taken from Phaedo, narrating the last moments of Socrates’ life, surrounded by his mourning friends in an Athens prison, when he drinks the hemlock to which he has been condemned by the citizens of Athens for corrupting the youth of the city when, in truth, he was liberating them from the very illusions that led, ironically, tragically, to the greatest of ironist’s own martyrdom.
Eric Satie’s music, famously cool and detached, makes little attempt to express the libretto; Morris’s choreography spends almost all of its time following the music and ignoring the words: there is almost no attempt, for example, to express the pathos of the closing pages until the very end, when, one by one, each of the dancers slips gracefully to the floor, expressing the death, perhaps not only of Socrates, but of the Greek ideal itself.
The second half of the program was a world premiere, awaited with much anticipation: “Via Dolorosa,” set to the music of Nico Muhly, performed on solo harp, with formidable virtuosity, by Parker Ramsay. The dance follows the Stations of the Cross, from Jesus’ condemnation to his crucifixion, death and entombment. Interestingly, it distributes the role of Jesus to dancers of various genders, ethnicities and races, appropriate for the universal humanity of the Good Shepherd. Muhly’s music is, for the most part, as detached as Satie’s, though it occasionally gives way to the harrowing drama of the moment. The stunning stage set – a blowup of a searingly beautiful patch of abstract brushwork, whose colors changed depending on how they were lit – was by Howard Hodgkin.
For this dance, too, there’s a libretto, in this case somewhat overwrought, by Alice Goodman, though in this performance it was neither spoken nor sung (as, it seems, might occur at some performances). Which was just as well, as it is, to be frank, a poor substitute for the simple descriptions in the gospel.
The dance was a little disappointing. Though there were moments of genuine originality and the childlike grace and warm humanity one associates with Morris’s dances, there just was not enough inventiveness and too much reliance on mannerisms one has also come to expect. It seemed just a little tired. There was also a strange attempt to take the edge off the final moments of the entombment, at the very end of the dance, to anticipate the coming resurrection, that felt contrived and forced. After all, even in Giotto’s frescoes, the angels are allowed to weep and lament as if there will be no resurrection to come, not take what looked like a not very unconvincing victory lap.
It was perhaps a more thought-provoking evening than one that was entirely satisfying aesthetically, but it was certainly worth the visit. And the audience gave it a standing ovation.
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Christopher Bernard is an award-winning poet, novelist, playwright, and essayist. His most recent books are the children’s books If You Ride A Crooked Trolley . . . and The Judgment of Biestia, the first two stories in the series “Otherwise.”
Essay from Jacques Fleury
“Black men struggle with masculinity so much. The idea that we must always be strong really presses us all down – it keeps us from growing.” –Donald “Childish Gambino” Glover
TOUGH: Exploring the Contentious Issue of Masculinity in Contemporary Society
[Originally published in Spare Change News & Fleury’s book You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self]
As a child, my mother often painted my fingernails and sent me to school with glossy lips and lavishly perfumed hands. So began my confusing journey in discovering my gender identity and tipping along the jagged edges of sexual non-conformity.
Gender, as defined in Down to Earth Sociology, is “The social expectations attached to a person on account of that person’s sex. Sex is biological while gender is social.”
It has occurred to me that sexual and gender identity has been a hot-tempered issue most recently. People are quick to use labels like Gay, Straight, and Bisexual, Queer, Transgender, Feminine, Masculine, Macho, Tough Guy and Snowflake. Essentially, if you’re labeled gay then, you’re thought of as feminine and if considered straight, then you’re thought of as masculine. Well, if only it was all that simple.
Eli Coleman, in his book Integrated Identities for Gay Men and Lesbians states that “The dichotomous or trichotomous categories of sexual orientation (homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual) are a massive over simplification of our current understanding of sexual orientation.”
He goes on to day that “…conflicts within or between individuals over sexual orientation are quite commonly seen in many cases of individual psychopathology. These conflicts contribute to psychosexual dysfunctions, relational problems, career indecision …existential crisis and so forth.”
I remember the anxiety I experienced when I decided to become a male nurse; I worried about the implications of working in a field typically dominated by women. But as we know today, there are many male nurses whose sexual identities are exclusively heterosexual, even though they have taken on a mostly feminine role and ignored the gender (masculine or feminine) role expectations of society.
Coleman also quoted Alfred Kinsey—a pioneer in the area of human sexuality research, whose 1948 publication Sexual Behavior in the Human Male was one of the first recorded works that saw science address sexual behavior and who invented the “Kinsey Scale” that rates levels of sexual preference from 1 (absolutely straight) to 6 (absolutely gay)—as saying “The world is not divided into sheep and goats. Not all are black nor all are white. The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects. The sooner we learn this concerning human sexual behavior, the sooner we shall reach a sounder understanding of the realities of sex.”
“Masculinity is what you believe it to be. I think masculinity and femininity is something that’s very old-fashioned. There’s a whole new generation of people who aren’t defined by their sex or race or who they like to sleep with.” Asserted gay Olympic Gold Medalist Johnny Weir and rightfully so…. In the grand scheme of things, I think that new age sexuality borders on being more contextual than it is biological.
There have been times when one can feel attracted to someone based on the situation of which they find themselves and the feelings that develop during that time; taking into consideration that they may still have more feelings of physical attract toward one sex over the other. Attraction can be more than just wanting to have intercourse with someone. It can be a combination of things that one deems valuable when it comes to finding the right mate. Things like karma, aura, emotional chemistry, intellectual and spiritual compatibility and socioeconomic components; all can affect attraction among individuals.
As a matter of fact, when I was growing up with my male cousin Bob in Haiti, definitive distinctions were made between us in relation to our disparate levels of gender role conformity.
Growing up, I was extremely close to my mother and had limited contact with my father being that he was a traveling businessman who lived in the second floor living quarters of his retail store in the middle of the city of Port-au-Prince. I was seen as the soft spoken, non-aggressive, overly sensitive and not terribly athletic mama’s boy. Whereas my cousin Bob was perceived to be the more tough talking, boisterous, athletic, and insensitive man’s man.
So they invented names to “label” us. I was “Temou” (Creole for soft core) and he was “Tedi” (Creole for hard core). Those labels began to shape how I perceived myself in the early stages of my psychological development. The idea that to be masculine you must be boisterous, not soft spoken is part of the pathology behind the idea of masculinity. “Violence has always been unfortunately embedded in masculinity, this alpha thing.” Said Captain America star Sebastian Stan.
Robert J. Stoller, M.D., in his book Presentations of Gender talks about the issue of femininity and masculinity in boys and girls within the context of family dynamics. He states that “One might hypothesize that if an excessively close mother child symbiosis and a distant and passive father produce extreme femininity in males, [then] too little symbiosis with the mother and too much symbiosis with the father would produce very masculine females.”
Which brings me to pose this question: Why are we as men so afraid to be associated with acting or thinking “like a girl”? What’s wrong with acting or thinking like a girl? We are all made of both male and female chromosomes, right? Sometimes the female chromosomes (a female karyotype is 46 XX) can be more dominant in males and the male chromosomes (a male karyotype is 46 XY) can be more dominant in females and vice versa.
Speaking from the point of view of someone who grew up with about five dominant women who exhibited both feminine and masculine characteristics in Haiti, I’ve grown to have immense respect for women and their abilities to communicate, empathize, endure and thrive over hardships. Why are those qualities recognized as a source of weakness if exhibited in males?
Women tend to allow themselves to be emotionally vulnerable, whereas men tend to perceive vulnerability as a weakness. But why is that? It seems to me that it takes courage and strength to be vulnerable whereas it takes fear and weakness to be invulnerable. In Haiti, women are objectified and are made to be subservient to men.
So the strong women I grew up with, had to mask their strengths or what was perceived to be masculine traits in order to appease the men, or risked being labeled a lesbian and lose their breadwinner. As for me, at times I had to act like the typically stoic masculine male when I really felt like sobbing uncontrollably, in order to avoid being labeled a sissy.
In The Homosexualities: Reality, Fantasy, and the Arts, Shirley Panken, Ph.D. writes “In Virginia Woolf’s celebrated essay ‘A Room of One’s Own’, Woolf …[discredits] the usual definition of masculinity and femininity, and synchronizes the two into an androgynous (genderless) vision.” She goes on to say that in Wolf’s other work Orlando, she “depicts Orlando’s profound confusion about the diversity of his/her different selves.” Woolf writes that the indecision “from one sex to another is universal, that clothing may depict male or female likeness, but that underneath the sex, is opposite of what is above. She also dwells on the multiplicity of the self…”
Consequently, I want all the “feminine” or non-stereotypically “masculine” men out there to unite and claim their gender bending rights! Roy Simmons, a former offensive lineman with the New York Giants and with the Super Bowl winning Washington Redskins in the 1980s and the second NFL player to come out as gay, in a book about him called Out of Bounds had this to say: “To me, I am and always have been Roy Simmons. Labels are for people trying to define me—that’s their problem. The only insight I can offer into my sexuality is that I did exactly what everybody else around me did when I was growing up: when I came into my sexual maturity, I went with the flow, and for me the flow moved naturally to boys and girls. I found out soon that I like dick and pussy in almost equal measure—you don’t need a label to enjoy either one. A label is for the outside trying to look in.”
Recently, a large number of stereotypically “masculine” men have come out as Gay, Bisexual or Transgender, like former Gold Medal Winning decathlete Caitlyn Jenner, born Bruce Jenner. During his last 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer back on April 24th, 2015 before he transitioned to Caitlyn Jenner, Sawyer asked him about his sexuality and to which he replied, “Sexuality is who you go to bed with, gender is who you go to bed as…”
Among other high profile “masculine” athletes who have come out as gay or bisexual to challenge the contentious ideologies of masculinity are:
Carl Nassib, who became the first active National Football League (NFL) player to come out as gay. Luke Prokop, who became the first NHL player to come out as gay. Michael Sam was the first openly gay man drafted into the NFL. Ryan Russell became the first openly bisexual person in the NFL and in any major professional league. Ryan O’Callaghan who came out as gay after retiring from the NFL. John Amaechi who came out as gay in 2007, four years after retiring from the National Basketball Association (NBA). Glenn Burke became the first gay man in the Major League Baseball (MLB). Robbie Rogers was the first openly gay soccer player in a professional league. Jason Collins was the NBA’s first openly gay player. Meanwhile, Orlando Cruz became the first openly gay man in boxing and Darren Young in wrestling.
The list goes on and on…see it in full with this link: https://www.insider.com/professional-athletes-who-are-lgbt
In contemporary society, it is becoming increasingly unacceptable for men to objectify women. The days of “cat calling” (e.g. Wolf whistle, “Hey baby, can I get your number?”, “Nice ass!” etc…) is becoming passé. In addition, when it comes to having sexual freedom, the double standard of toadying men and shaming women has also been exposed and reassessed.
All of this and more are part of the concepts of masculinity: what it means to be a “real man.”
Today, a plethora of men are redefining their own manhood and not simply acquiescing to pre- established and progressively antiquated prototypes of masculinity. Terminologies like “house husbands” and “stay-at-home dads” are part of newfangled lexicon. Today’s men tend to be more expressive about their feelings and famous men like the comedian and actor Chris Rock have admitted to going to therapy.
In a People Magazine article by Eric Todisco titled: “Chris Rock Reveals He Does Seven Hours of Therapy a Week Since Onset of COVID-19 Pandemic” published on Dec. 10, 2020. Todesco writes that Rock unbosomed himself to the Hollywood Reporter about his therapy, revealing that he has been focusing on rectifying “childhood traumas”.
“I thought I was actually dealing with it, and the reality is I never dealt with it…” Rock stated.
Hence as you can see, it is becoming incrementally acceptable for men to find ways to cope with their feelings, which most of them (me included) were told they should not have or must not show. Alternatively, it is no longer acceptable to use coping patterns like drinking, drugging, physical violence and abusing women and children. To do so now will result in official consequences due to new and better-implemented domestic violence laws.
Today, you need not behave like a galoot with a “cave man” mentality to affirm your masculinity. Violence and intimidation—both archetypally associated with masculinity—are not “strengths”; they are personal weaknesses. As Argentinian revolutionary writer George Louis Borges once said, “Violence is the last resort of the weak.”
Some of the strongest men in history did not use force and fear to exert their masculinity. Iconoclasts like Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. changed the world through non-violent means. It is easier to react violently like an unruly toddler than it is to respond thoughtfully like a mature man.
Therefore, for those of you who are questioning your gender identity (masculinity, femininity) and sexuality (lesbian, gay, straight, bisexual, transsexual, queer, intersexed, asexual and questioning), know that the only one who can define you is you. Do not allow external forces keep you from experiencing internal freedom, whether you identify as masculine, feminine or both! After all, what is more divine than knowing both masculine and feminine energies?
Jacques Fleury is a Boston Globe featured Haitian-American Poet, Author, Educator and literary arts student at Harvard University online. His latest book “You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self” & other titles are available at all Boston Public Libraries, the University of Massachusetts Healey Library, University of Wyoming , The Harvard Book Store, The Grolier Poetry Bookshop, Amazon etc… He has been published in prestigious publications such as Muddy River Poetry Review, the Cornell University Press anthology Class Lives: Stories from Our Economic Divide, Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene among others…Visit him here: http://www.authorsden.com/jacquesfleury.
Poetry from Dr. Prasana Kumar Dalai
YOU'RE MY SECRET! In my words you come every moment They all bear your name of my breath Do stop when I don't take your name When you're annoyed to be honest Whenever it happens I am with you Know not why I care for you so much I find you and I do accept your entity But just can't stay away from yours You're so close for you're my secret Honestly I exist for your good self only I can't think of staying away from you. MEMORIES OF YOUR TORMENT! After crossing the road of our love We met leaving far behind everything How about walking to the no man's land Hardly do we know eachother though I feel as if I 've got my soulmate in you Days go by ; nights don't seem to glide Memories of yours do torment me a lot The world has reduced me to this state Sitting and clutching my wounded past Cause you're so close to me , you know But I think you're out of my reach now . NOTHING IN MY HAND! I wish your presence when I am awake Always in my dreams if I shut my eyes I've recorded my world in your name For the first time in my life you came My eyes were wet while laughing Nothing in my hand ; me empty & lonely Your entity you know essential to me My palm lines aren't perfect though It is clear you've accepted me as I am There was loneliness in my heart and In your presence I feel heavenly bliss . I BELONG TO YOU! The pain and anguish won't be lost But I 'll be yours all the days ahead I 've scattered myself around you Love has bloomed in your fragrance I accept it whatever be consequences I belong to you and I do live in yours I care not if the world stands against Call me faithless and I won't mind ever I see my heaven burnt ere even built Now where 'll this affliction of love reside I crave for you no matter what you're . Biography of the Author Dr. Prasana Kumar Dalai (DOB 07/06/1973) is a passionate Indian Author-cum-poet while a tremendous lecturer of English by profession in the Ganjam district of Odisha. He is an accomplished source of inspiration for young generation of India .His free verse on Romantic and melancholic poems appreciated by everyone. He belongs to a small typical village, Nandiagada of Ganjam District, in the state of Odisha. After schooling he studied intermediate and Graduated In Kabisurjya Baladev vigyan Mahavidyalaya then earned a MA in English from Berhampur University PhD in language and literature and a D.litt from Colombian Poetic House in South America. He promotes his specific writings around the world literature and trades with multiple stems that are related to current issues based on his observation and experiences that needs urgent attention. He is an award winning writer who has achieved various laurels from the circle of writers worldwide. His free verse poems not only inspires young readers but also the ready of current time. His poetic goal right now inspiring others, some of which are appreciated by laurels of India and across the world. Many of his poems been translated in different Indian languages and got global appreciation. Lots of well wishes for his upcoming writings and success in future. He is an award winning poet author of many best seller books. Recently he is awarded Rabindra nath Tagore and Gujarat Sahitya Academy for the year 2022 from Motivational Strips. A gold medal from world union of poets France & winner Of Rahim Karims world literary prize 2023.The government of Odisha Higher Education Department appointed him as a president to Governing body of Padmashree Dr Ghanashyam Mishra Sanskrit Degree College, Kabisurjyanagar. Winner of "HYPERPOEM" GUNIESS WORLD RECORD 2023. Recently he was awarded from SABDA literary Festival at Assam.
Poetry from Kristy Raines
Waiting for You in Your Dreams If you feel lost and can't find me in the moment have peace that I am in your heart as you are in mine Life is lonesome at times and I despair in those moments Then, in my dreams you appear with your sweet smile and I know I am not really alone Never fear of me forsaking you As long as we are both dreaming of each other how could those desires ever disappear? Yes, I feel empty during the day without you I miss your handsome face and your gentle spirit But when I fall asleep at night, your whole being surrounds me and I am comforted knowing that you are with me there So, when you lay down your head every night know that you will find me waiting for you in your dreams... I Cross My Heart Reach for the stars and there you'll find me The ray from the moon will be your path Reach for my hand and I will not let you fall That is a promise I will never break What is behind us is gone It is ahead where we'll find a peaceful place Time is unpredictable, here only until it ends Don't wait to tell me the things you never could Once that moment is gone, it never returns So don't keep them from me even if you leave for in our sorrow will still be our moments of love Beautiful memories will never be forgotten and my desires will never end for you Standing far away, holding my heart in your hands, is where our story ends for now But I will be back to search for you, as I always do... I cross my heart ❤ No "Once Upon a Times" for Me When you bow down in prayer Ask Him, if you must live without me If so, then what is the purpose of falling in love? Though we have been separated for a time The cries of our hearts are still as loud In this life, we survive much torture Some more than others This, I am used to I don't cry tears anymore because I know how to live with endings more than beginnings I know your heart still searches for me I can feel you when you look at my picture I feel numb as I hear harsh words coming from you Fortunately, I am used to unhappy endings in my life No, "Once upon a times" for me I close the door to my empty heart again for the last time I can't go through this again.. Meet Kristy Raines. A poet, writer, and author, born in Oakland, California, in the USA. Kristy is retired, married, and has two children and three granddaughters. She has five books waiting to be published. One anthology with a prominent Poet from India, Dr. Prasana Kumar, Dalai, which will launch sometime in 2024 called, "I Cross my Heart from East to West", two fantasy books of her own called, "Rings, Things and Butterfly Wings" and "Princess and The Lion", an anthology of her poems called, "The Passion Within Me, and her autobiography called, "My Very Anomalous Life". Kristy has received many literary awards for her unique style of writing. She is also an Administrator for Chaucer's Square and Motivational Strips Literary Groups on Facebook. Kristy enjoys music, making pottery, painting, and raising awareness for the Rohingya people and friends who live in the refugee camps of Cox's Bazar and also raises awareness on human trafficking internationally.
Poetic collaboration between Dr. Prasana Kumar Dalai (India) and Kristy Raines (USA)
Epistolary Poem #155 by Dr. Prasana Kumar Dalai of India and Kristy Raines of the United States of America MAKE ME REALIZE! (Dr. Dalai) My heart belongs to you I must go where you may lead If love is red I am colour blind I may not see the things That you might see And I may do just what I should do I am looking through the eyes of love And can see so much The other eyes don't find Still the sparkle in your eyes Makes me realize one and all.. She sees the changes and speaks... THROUGH EYES OF LOVE! (Kristy Raines) My heart will always belong to you Wherever you walk, let me walk beside you You could never see through my eyes .. But I now see changes in you that weren't there before I will always let you do things your way But now I see more compassion and more empathy You are seeing so much more through eyes of love They now sparkle when I catch you smiling And if I have helped you see some of these things know that I was sent to you for that very purpose You have shown me many things too.... <3 *** Epistolary poem #196 by Dr. Prasana Kumar Dalai of India and Kristy Raines of The United States of America I BELONG TO YOU! (Kristy Raines) The pain and anguish won't be lost But I 'll be yours all the days ahead I 've scattered myself around you Love has bloomed in your fragrance I accept it whatever be consequences I belong to you and I do live in yours I care not if the world stands against Call me faithless and I won't mind ever I see my heaven burnt ere even built Now where 'll this affliction of love reside I crave for you no matter what you're . She will always take her chances with him... YOU BELONG TO ME! (Dr. Dalai) Though painful moments still remain I will always be yours until time stops You have made a nest in every part of my life and unshakable love for you grew stronger I'll stand strong beside you regardless of whatever comes against us in this world You belong to me, and I to you no matter the cost Faithless is something we will never be for our heaven abides in the love that we share I may not be the one you would have chosen in the past but I am the one who denies you nothing and the one who loves you in every circumstance. Never will I ever crave anyone else's touch but yours as your heart fits perfectly, like a glove, in mine *** Kristy Raines is a poet, writer, and author, born in Oakland California, in the USA. Kristy is retired, married, and has two children and three granddaughters. Kristy has five books waiting to be published. One anthology with prominent poet from India, Dr. Prasana Kumar Dalai, will launch sometime in 2024 called, "I Cross my Heart from East to West", along with two fantasy books of her own called, "Rings, Things and Butterfly Wings" and "Princess and The Lion", an anthology of her poems in called, "The Passion Within Me, and her autobiography called, "My Very Anomalous Life". Kristy has received many literary awards for her unique style of writing. She is also an administrator for Chaucer's Square and Motivational Strips Literary Groups on Facebook. Kristy enjoys music, making pottery, painting and raising awareness for the Rohingya people and friends who live in the refugee camps of Cox's Bazar and also raises awareness on human trafficking internationally. **** Dr. Prasana Kumar Dalai (DOB 07/06/1973) is a passionate Indian Author-cum-poet while a tremendous lecturer of English by profession in the Ganjam district of Odisha. He is an accomplished source of inspiration for young generation of India. His free verse on Romantic and melancholic poems is appreciated by everyone. He belongs to a small typical village, Nandiagada of Ganjam District, in the state of Odisha. After schooling he studied intermediate and graduated In Kabisurjya Baladev vigyan Mahavidyalaya then earned a MA in English from Berhampur University PhD in language and literature and a D.litt from Colombian Poetic House in South America. He promotes his specific writings around the world literature and trades with multiple stems that are related to current issues based on his observation and experiences that need urgent attention. He is an award winning writer who has achieved various laurels from the circle of writers worldwide. His free verse poems not only inspire young readers but also the ready of current time. His poetic goal right now is inspiring others, some of which are appreciated by laurels of India and across the world. Many of his poems have been translated in different Indian languages and earned global appreciation and lots of well wishes for his upcoming writings and success in the future. He is an award winning poet and author of many best seller books. Recently he was awarded Rabindra nath Tagore and Gujarat Sahitya Academy for the year 2022 from Motivational Strips and a gold medal from the World Union of Poets, France & the Winner Of Rahim Karim's world literary prize in 2023.The government of Odisha's Higher Education Department appointed him as a president to the governing body of Padmashree Dr Ghanashyam Mishra Sanskrit Degree College and he is the Kabisurjyanagar.Winner of HYPERPOEM GUINNESS WORLD RECORD 2023. Recently he was awarded at the SABDA literary Festival at Assam.
Poetry from John Lloyd Casoy
LOW TIDE IN LAGUNA DE BAY
They embrace each other again,
skin to skin, the islets of water spinach
and the surface of sticky mud
after a week of dancing with the waves.
The elusive seagull is close by,
roaming in the transient seashore
created by the low tide.
The islands of water lilies aboard
in the breakwater, lonely
for not receiving a warm welcome.
The sun is weaving, the twilight
says “Hello”, and in the distance
here comes the blinking of artificial stars
created by the city which deteriorated
that once deep Laguna de Bay.
I am there, standing on the pathway
that once part of the lake’s body,
jealous of the lake’s destruction.
I don’t know; perhaps it’s just me,
drowning in my deep thoughts
wanting to be visited
by low tide one day.
About the Author
John Lloyd C. Casoy is a public-school teacher in the Philippines. He has a bachelor’s degree in Bachelor of Secondary Education with a major in Filipino. Currently, he is writing his thesis for his master’s degree in Master of Arts in Filipino – Literature at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.