America, Where Are Thou?

I used to live in a place

Called the United States of America

A republic – the first and last hope of mankind

The land of the free, the home of the brave

The envy of the world

The land of the American dream

And now, I am afraid

That the Star-Spangled Banner

No longer flies

Over the land of the brave

And the home of the free.

I wake up

The red, white and blue

Have been overwhelmed

The dark forces of the red states

Have overwhelmed the light of the blue states

Have trounced the reason offered by the Blue States

And the white forces

Lie trembling in fear

I tried to escape

The darkling night

The ever-glowing Orange alerts

And escape somewhere

The leader of the country

The new uncrowned Empire

Rules over us all

Empire Triumphant

Against all enemies

The USA is number one

We chant and scream

And watch FOX TV

As we march off to war

The rest of the world

Trembles in fear at our might

We rule – we rock and roll, and are triumphant

Against all enemies, dissenters, and foreigners

The U.S. marches on to victory

Freedom is on the march

Liberation is at hand

As the rich gather gleeful

Contemplating the plunder of the state

And the poor grow more desperate

I cry out for the country that I have lost

Whose soul has been lost

And the end of the Republic

For which I believed

The empire has won

Long Live the new Caesar

Long Live the New American Empire

Death to all its enemies

As the dream fades into a nightmare

I cry knowing that we have all lost

The last best hope of mankind

Lives buried in the ash heap of history

Tyranny in the guise of Democracy

Rules us all forever and ever

And that flag

The star-spangled banner

Does not wave anymore

Over the land of the free

And the home of the brave

The Sun’s Tears

I do not trust

the sun’s

tears

and Lora’s

love

I do not trust

theweight

ofher word

or the longing

I have for her.

The Drawer of Forgetfulness

I locked you up

in the drawer of forgetfulness

as the crystalline water under the earth

and the crumpled writing on the gray sheet

proof of the time spent in the studio

I saw you

in the labyrinths of the faculty

where the Alphabet’s raytwinkles

your voice can be heard in each class room

in the workbook you

are piling up the memory years.

Lora

We wander through time

like snakes in the bushes

Lora and I

in the ecstasy of the painting

I gave her Mona Lisa’s smile

I drank water from Lora’s bosom

and I lost myself in adolescent dreams,

I gave Lora a life

I gave the sky a kiss

the sun seemed to be silent

and left a free way to darkness

the rainbow lightens my way

fiery I take the stars to the bosom

I hug the sun

to feel its tenderness.

Lora is silent

and she silently speaks

in her blonde hair

I touch the love

embers in the lap

white frost

he left traces

Lora is asleep

with the fiery stars

tickling her lips

in the corrugated crown

the sounds of silence

I put her crown

and I read under her eyelids

the novel I will write

Lora with her bosom as virgin snow

lures the Talmudists’ years

Lora crystalline meteor.

WHAT TO WISH YOU TONIGHT

I am drunken with craving

of cords of your voice

I seek the canary of love

in the labyrinths of the soul

the morning messenger is not heard

nor he knits the sounds cardigan of Monastery

you, the lost one in the waves of forgetfulness.

I glaze the pictures in the museum

I doze in present time

the verb love

I conjugate in first person

Because you loved me

I track in mirative form

the time passed in lucidity

what to wish you tonight as you forgot me.

Ah, with the sweetness of the vowels

Quivered even my lake

we, like two canaries in the mountains

loosing trails in canon

me, you and the voice

tonight brings me back to nostalgia.

Lan Qyqalla, graduated from the Faculty of Philology in the branch of Albanian language and literature in Prishtina, from Republika of Kosovo. He is a professor of the Albanian language in the Gymnasium. He has written in many newspapers, portals, Radio, TV, and Magazines in the Albanian language and in English, Romanian, Francophone, Turkish, Arabic, Italian, Greek, Swedish, Hindu,  Spanish, and Korean.

ISLANDS OF FLOATING GARBAGE

                        Madison Square Garden, 1939

                        20,000 gather for a “Pro-America” Rally.

                        Flanked by swastikas, James Wheeler predicts,

                        “If George Washington were alive today,

                        he’d be friends with Adolph Hitler.”

                        German-American Bund speaker Fritz Julius Kuhn

                        rails against “the oriental cunning of the Jews.”

                        Champions an America ruled by white Gentiles,

                        free from Jewish leadership in Hollywood

and the Press. 

                        America for Americans only.

                        Madison Square Garden, 2024

                        20,000 gather to support Trump’s re-election.

                        Trump thunders against immigrants—

                        rapists, mental patients, criminal gangs

                        from shithole countries.

                        Don Jr. says they want to replace us

with people of color.

                        Tucker Carlson concurs:

                        they want to replace real Americans with immigrants.  

                        Stephen Miller sums it up: 

                        America for Americans only.

                        Who flocks to these rallies? Enjoys white supremacy

                        spiced with lies and name-calling?

                        Trump’s opponent is labeled a “low IQ” woman,

                        managed by “pimp handlers;”  “the Anti-Christ.”

                        Puerto Rico’s called “islands of floating garbage.”

                        Haitian immigrants are accused of

“eating cats and dogs.”

                        If elected, Trump says he’ll get rid of

“the enemy within…”

                        Call out the army. Detain in camps, deport, imprison.

                        So– Madison Square Garden hosted two nasty rallies,

                        Each rally heaped hate on scapegoats.

                        Both blended entitled white supremacy

                        with flag waving and singing the national anthem.

                        In our country’s history, these mob scenes stand out–

                        red, white, and blue islands of floating garbage.

                        Copyright 10/2024     Patricia Doyne          

Woke Up

Woke up, woke up

Don’t sleep and say ‘shut up’

The word l say is not dark and turmoil

The world I offer is not waste soil

Trust me and touch the heavenly light

Hold beauty as you can in your sight

There is no question mark between you and me

There is no truth that hides us in the sea

Our souls are loving, pure and merciful 

Look the world where everything is beautiful 

There is no promise but only greatness of love

The sky adorns to invite the dove

I love you beyond the beauty

I needn’t to know why the seas are salty

I love you with everything l know

I shall teach you how to flow.

We are never in hell’s darkness 

We won’t fall from heaven in any case

Our shadows are in the same envelope 

That never be bought from worldly shop

Don’t say to prove the sun

Only l love and there is none.

Let woke up and woke up from the dust

You can’t be far away for different cast

You are brighter than cast forever

Only l know well who you are

God has created all man and woman

Let you love me as much as you can..

Love is Not a Clouded Moon

The space of heart is limited

Where love is not imitated 

Man is like machine

As relationship is very thin

Love is nothing but only a pocket word

People pass without love and God

Man is not man but a creature

There is none to give real signature

Time is wasted in vain

Everything is in chain.

Where is the land of peace?

Where shall l give my virgin kiss?

A heart is not true where money grows

The smell doesn’t matter if it is a rose.

Love should be pleasant for all

It must be natural and very normal

It is not a fallen star

It is a heavenly matter.

If you love anyone you are not too late

Pure love is the key to heaven’s gate.

Love is not a clouded moon

Please say ‘l love you’ soon.

 

Part 1: Disregard the Man

Euphoria with every breath?
He’s underwater waiting for his lungs to fill.

Four of five are men
But she’s the one they cry for.

Men’s corpses sink.
From weights that couldn’t be lifted.

Men, too embarrassed to ask for help, too hurt to live.

“Those weren’t real men.” “It’s their fault!” “They weren’t strong enough.”
The men drowned
And the bodies rotted.
While the passersby held their breath.

                                                       Part 2: The Cycle

The boy was taught to treat girls kindly.
Because he was born into a man’s role.
While the girls were taught what to expect from men.
And the women made the boy apologize for being born.

So the boy drank at the bar, cowering from his son who needed to cry
Like his father had before him.
But he drank his tears away,
Like his father had before him.
And right before him lay his father’s corpse.

The boy repeated his father’s last words in his head. “I see you.”
Tears dripped onto the father’s blank face.

“ICU,” the boy repeated.
The boy’s gaze shifted from his father’s face
To the direction his father faced.
He drowned in his tears.  
Matching a shade of the oceanic sign 

which read, “ICU,”
“Intensive Care Unit, section five, room two.”

Gabriel Kang is a ninth grade writer and aspires to become a professional rock climber. At Ruth Asawa SOTA, (currently majoring in creative writing), the lesson plans are currently covering poetry. Through this group, he’s learned to create and grow his own writing voice and has been actively getting stronger as a writer. While in rock climbing, he attends nationals every year, competes in open categories, and is always challenging himself. Through rock climbing, he relieves his stress and takes action towards his goals, while also further enhancing his writing skills from the creativity and growth mindset the sport provides.