Poetry from Lauren Ainslie

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Glacier

My pulsing heart has frozen

And that ice has spread

Through my stomach arms legs brain

My eyes are now sky-mirrors

My breath a dripping fog

It is growing inside me

butterflies behind my eyelids could not fly

They were trapped in an igloo

Their beryl wings turned into snow

They are now part of the glacier

I shiver

The floe has reached my skin

It cracks and pulls

It melts from my eyes and hands

You put it there

I wait for the day you drown.

 

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Poetry from Vijay Nair

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Bleeding Kashmir

01

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O, Kashmir! My Kashmir!

Why are you crying?

Who makes you cry?

Me? or, my rulers?

Or, your own men?

Or, our neighbours?

Repression is at home

She withers for long

 

Vale, you desiccated from

 

Peak or lake is a dispute?

Laughing waters on, it ripples?

Covered all pine, birch or maples?

Or, green carpet of staples?

Orchard yields pear or apples?

Outer beauty attracts all enemies

In funeral pyre her inner beauty

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Poetry from Yusuf BM

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Blood Party

YusufBMphoto

Our meals turned macabre
Deserting our lives
Into the atmosphere of fear
Choice shakes
Death or life?

Boom!
Gun sounds sweetened
Our ears like afro-beats
Dancing to death
Like it is makosa
Choice grumbles
Death or life?

Zero child- Cries of mothers
Only wicked toys
Rules the play ground of kids
And solemn lullabies walks around
Their smiling fields
Choice wiggles
Death or Life?

Humans- Preys to terrorists
Like lion and animals
Feeding on its choice
Blood- wine of theirs
A war
But, a blood party
And choice bangs
Death or Life?

~Yusuf BM

Author’s Biography

  Yusuf BM is a Nigerian teen author and a photographer. He’s the author of Brittle Songs  (Book of Poetry), he writes short stories, poems, essays and literary reports. He is a member of the Hilltop Creative Art Foundation (HCAF).

Poetry from J.D. DeHart

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Retracing

Today I am retracing
my steps through old
pages.  Moth
sounds accompany my
soft journey.

I will make intentional
clambering noises
so part of the trip
is louder.

Am I a closed loop?
No, I do not own this
description.  I am
an ongoing chain,
an open hand, a word
that would sustain.

Why were these old
images important?  Who
can say now.

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Poetry from Trust Tonji

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The beautiful face in my scars

 

my heart is a pot on fire

I am cooking darkness

I am in love with a girl that

doesn’t hold my hands

gloom is having me for dinner

but you won’t find me crying

I am my lover’s experiment

on dating a broken boy

you touch me, you say I’m beautiful

like the smile on your lover’s lips

I am not the smile on my lover’s lips

.

they say she’s beautiful, my lover,

I say “yes, –

like a sharpened sword”

then slip into a soliloquy on

how to quench unsensed thirsts

show unreciprocated love

how to call my lover without

calling my tears

.

I don’t know if

she is a sharpened sword

but tonight all my scars look like her

 

* * * *

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Art from Jeongeui Son

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My name is Jeongeui Son.
My major was illustration but I also like to paint landscapes, mainly with acrylic color.
I studied in university with a full scholarship for four years until I got a degree in art.
I began teaching art in school, mostly with kindergarten classes, meanwhile I had several exhibitions with others.
I am always fascinated by seeing things that have different meanings.
My artworks are basically grounded in my life. There is my spirit, my emotions, and my hope in my paintings.

I love myself.
l love the way I live.
I love even my past life which had lots of painful days.
I just love my life.
All of that is the basic theme of my paintings.

 

The mountain in the distance represents strength through patience.
The Cherry Blossoms represents new growth and birth.
The water that falls in the mountain flows down hill to nourish the cherry tree.
I can grow old in stronger like a mountain.
Life is circular.

The calmness of nature.
The water is calm.
There is my life, besides something positive around in the corner like my hope.
The rock represents strength.
Everything exists in the shadow of the hill even in the water calmly.

jeongeui1jeongeui2

Elizabeth Hughes’ Book Periscope

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Storm Over South Africa: The Rutherford Chronicles Part 1 by Michael G. Bergen
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Storm Over South Africa: The Rutherford Chronicles Part 1 is the history of the Anglo-Boer War that happened from 1899-1902. Mr. Bergen has done an impressive and extensive research into this very short war in South Africa. He begins with the major people in the war from short bios of their lives to how they became involved from the very beginning. The extensive research into each and every one is interesting and comprehensive. He brings all of it together and brings the story of the war alive for the reader. This is and excellent read for the history buff, particularly someone interested in South African history. This book is a must read for the home library of the history buff. I found it highly interesting and amazingly detailed. I highly recommend this book.
My Name Is Tom by Jon Reeves
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My Name is Tom is the story of Tom Joyce. His parents were two teens that lived in England in the 1970’s. The girl’s parents were staunch Christian, her boyfriend’s parents were not. The decision was made after Tom was born that the baby be given up for adoption. When Tom was born, the adoptive parents chose to name him Tom With their last name of Joyce. The adoptive mother was a staunch “Christian”, her husband was not, but went along with his wife’s decision. They also had a daughter. They adopted Tom so their family would be complete with one girl child and one boy child. As Tom grew older his mother became indifferent and always seemed angry or upset with Tom. He found solace in listening to rock on his record player. He became well versed in the latest bands, particularly those in England. When he became a teen, particularly an older teen, he became friends with guys that like the rave scene of the 80’s. He began going to raves on weekends and also began taking drugs, particularly Ecstasy with his friends. My Name is Tom is an excellent coming of age story set in England in the 70’s and 80’s. I enjoyed it very much and am sure that you will too.
Boston Darkens by Michael Kravitz
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Boston Darkens by Michael Kravitz may be fiction but it is completely plausible. It might be only one hundred pages, but a very powerful story is packed into that one hundred pages. It is about EMP’s, these are electromagnetic pulses. An EMP nuclear device has been set off and has completely stopped everything electronic, including all electricity, cars, cell phones, cell phone towers, all media except for survival radios. The Randal’s live in a nice neighborhood in Massachusetts. Most areas have been taken over by gangs, looting murder and other crimes. In Mr. Randal’s neighborhood the neighbors have come together to form a collaborative. They work together and share what they have to try to survive. Boston Darkens is a very plausible suspense thriller. It is very well written and will engage the reader to the very end. In just 100 pages it is not only a powerful fictional story, but is important to get people to start thinking of what could and might happen in this age where everything is run electronically. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend it.
Supremacy by K.M. Lovejoy
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Supremacy by K.M. Lovejoy is a humorous political thriller with S and M erotica. If you liked Fifty Shades, you will love Supremacy even more. Supremacy makes Fifty Shades look like a PG rated beginners manual for S & M. Peter Graves lives in Oakland, CA with his wife and they have two daughters. He is suffering from a cancer called astrocytoma. The only hope he has is from embryonic stem cells created from his own sperm. However, the Supreme Court justices need to pass it into law. The only one standing in the way with his vote is Justice Sylvester Johnson. Peter is also heavily into porn and meets Aletha Maxwell, an ex-CIA and gets heavily into the S&M scene. What happens next gives the reader a well written erotic political thriller that will keep you intrigued until the very end. If you love S&M erotica you will love Supremacy by K.M. Lovejoy.