The Police Questionnaire 
--------------------
Someone I know
is trying to join
the police force.

I know
I feel the same
way too
but I really love
this person.

I was asking them
how the first online
interview went.

'It's just like a kind
of questionnaire
sort of thing.
What would you do
in certain circumstances'

Me, being a natural
piss taker said;

You come across a
gang of white men
standing around, 
and a black man
on the floor, bleeding.

Who do you arrest ?

If you answered

The black man.

Welcome to the police.

In The Shade

Stop trying to sell me your light.
You are only going to lose the fight.
I've been there; I've seen beyond that beam.
What you are so sure of is just a wishful dream.
Maybe you will find peace but I only found sadness.
A sadness that immerged me into the arms of madness.
A madness that drove me to my inner core.
Where I dwelled and part of me will dwell evermore.
In a darkness that harbors negativity
Feeding on every drop of positivity.
Only in that I let my misery torture me
In that darkness am I truly free.

Sick

I'm just sick
I'm adDICted
I need a fix
I need you with me
I need a kiss
So what's it gonna be?
Can't you just hold me?
'Cause I'm a dick
I'm conVICted
Watch my tricks
My heart is incarcerated
All that I wish
Is that I stay sedated
Why are we so complicated?
I want your touch
It's not like I'm asking much
We're half way to defeat
'Cause we never seem to meet 
I need you bad
Can't we have what we had?
I'm just sick
I'm adDICted
I need a fix
I need you with me
I need a kiss
So what's it gonna be?
Can you just hold me?
'Cause I'm just sick


From southwestern Michigan, Jerry Langdon has lived in Germany since the early 90's. He is an Artist and Poet. His works bathe in a darker side of emotion and fantasy. He has released five books of Poetry titled "Temperate Darkness an Behind the Twilight Veil", “Death and other cold things” “Rollercoaster Heart” and “Frosted Dreams” Jerry is also the editor and publisher of the literary magazine Raven Cage Zine poetry and prose. His poetic inspirations are derived from poets such as Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Frost and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. As well as from various Rock Bands. His apparently twisted mind, twists and intertwines fantasy with reality.

February first
peanut butter sandwiches
for dinner tonight


—


weary of winter
my tongue goes to the space where
my teeth used to be


—


I’ve just missed the bus
I can walk home by the time
the next one arrives


—


bio/graf

J. D. Nelson’s poems have appeared in many publications, worldwide, since 2002. He is the author of ten print chapbooks and e-books of poetry, including *Cinderella City* (The Red Ceilings Press, 2012). Nelson’s first full-length collection is *in ghostly onehead* (Post-Asemic Press, 2022). Visit his website, MadVerse.com, for more information and links to his published work. His haiku blog is at JDNelson.net. Nelson lives in Boulder, Colorado, USA.

There was a boy named George. When he came home from school, he returned all the oil dirty and dirty. And he did his lessons in the evening when everyone went to bed. He would use this time to occupy himself with the telephone or television. He slept late at night and woke up late in the morning. When his parents told him to read, he was playing in the street. Nobody liked this. Day by day he became lazy and immoral. His teachers also sent a letter of complaint against him to his parents. He was told to find a solution.

His father heard this and cut off the TV in the house and took away his phone. His father brought him a book. And his father said to him: “I will give you one month to finish reading this book”. George, who finished the book brought by his father in 1 month, changed. Teachers were also surprised. “Is it possible to change a person in 1 month?” they said.George had changed completely. He finished the book that his father brought him and studied all the knowledge in it.took a place in the ranks of excellent students. He was among the activists of the school. He gained the respect and trust of his teachers. Everyone looked at him with pride. A day before graduation, there was a parent-teacher conference at school. George’s parents and himself also participated in it. his teachers said warm thoughts about George. They praised him. And George’s father was asked a question. “How did you manage to change your child for the better?”

George’s father” I turned off the TV in the house and took away the phone. I gave him a month’s respite. I brought him a book. I saw a change. I also gave away various books. Every month he finished reading one book. He would finish several within a month. I would take a book instead of saying no. I was happy. In the first grade, the diary of a child full of threes and twos was filled with Fives. I wanted to fly to the heavens with joy after hearing this. His mother was just crying. “Our child will change for the worse.” What now? He is crying with joy. He doesn’t know what to say. I am more impressed by what you just said. I am pleased. Many thanks to you too. I am proud of my son. I am proud to have such a son,” he shouted loudly. No one has ever seen a father who said these words with tears in his eyes. The whole hall trembled. Everyone cried and clapped. Father and son hugged each other and cried together.

 Graduation day. George’s father saw his son’s awards and gave him a car. Speaking to George, he told who and what was the cause of these achievements.George: “If my father had not taken the phone from my hand, turned off the TV, and given me books, I would not have achieved these achievements. My father works day and night for me. I did not even think about this work. I live by reading books. I saw how difficult it isI felt my father’s pains and sufferings. First of all, I set a goal. and i got it. That doesn’t mean it’s over. It means that there is more to come…” he said, and everyone was impressed by this and clapped. “One more thing, if you keep a book as a friend, it will always help no matter what and in what situation. 

Yo’ldosheva Farangiz was born on July 16, 2006 in Surkhandarya region, Sariosia district, Republic of Uzbekistan. She is studying in the 11th grade of the 12th school in the Sariasiya district.  

The Mirror Under The Rain

The other woman says 
that she loves your chest
even your words have a way 
to unhook her bra to thaw
 in your amorous destination.

Don’t forget about your promises,
She begins and ends her daylights 
thinking about nobody but yourself.
Try to understand her, don’t break her. 

She says that your lips flavours is not
in the liquor, perhaps, she starts to sip
your presence in her morning cup of tea.
She sees you as great as her heartbeats.

You spend your youth looking for a new love
The first time she held a man’s hand was yours
Since then, she adores the way you caress her 
breasts, her hair. In front of the mirror under the rain…