Poetry from Texas Fontanella
Artwork from Raquel Barbeito
Raquel Bianca Barbeito is a student of Animal Biology at The University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. She is also a painter and has done commissioned work for clients that want custom animal portrait creations. She works on canvas with acrylic paints.
Poetry from Thaalith Abubakar Gimba
AN ODE TO THE FUTURE
as the idea of a new beginning
latches on our weaned dreams,
my species cite your promises
in their travesty of inevitable time,
with skulking sneers of allusion
foreshadowing in the fetus of
a new day; you, the future.
you argue with the majesty of death
at every passing breath for our sake,
yet he besmirches your ugly nobility
in the fierce hearts of those whom
cast their fealty for your doings,
always you harvest scintillating smiles
at our seeds of fertile trust.
you let your warm arms embrace
our lonely aspirations sleeping
on the cradle of tomorrow,
when we throw a feast of feat
in your magnanimous name,
you invoke time to heal us and
fulfill our pipe dreams.
Thaalith Abubakar Gimba is poetaster. He hails from Minna, a home of monumental writers. Some of his poems have featured in Cón-scíó and Synchronized Chaos Magazine. When he takes break from writing, Thaalith loves to watch anime in his leisure hours. He tweets @abudardapoet and can be reached on Instagram @thaalithsusu.
Essay from Jernail S. Anand
LIFE & ITS VERSATILITIES
Life
Life is an unchosen gift which we should try to make the most of. In our ignorance, we generally waste most of our time. By the time we realize its importance, much of it has been wasted. It is a pity we do not carry forward knowledge from our previous incarnations and we have to start afresh. Life remains a process of learning only. Life can be best spent if we understand in the beginning that we are not the masters of the game. We are passive participants. We have been dealt some cards and we are expected to play the game to the best of our wits.
The important thing is that we should play a fair game. Those who underplay or overplay it, soon come to grief after a brief period of exuberance. We can instill meaning into our lives by being good at heart, being helpful to others, and not harboring ill will against anyone. It is good if we can forgive the people who have played false with us. The most important thing in our life is not wealth, nor possessions, but peace of mind and happiness. And we should not disturb others’ happiness, nor let others destroy ours.
Death
We erroneously think that death comes at the end of life. And it is a nightmarish experience. Yes, death is a bridge between life and eternity. Nobody has looked beyond what lies at the other side of the bridge. Death is a lingering phenomenon, which shadows our life. Every moment that we live, actually dies. So, all the day, the process of dying is on. Moments which we have lived are dead now, and they are becoming past. It should be remembered that there is no life without death, and no death without life. Inanimate things do not die. For a living thing, it is a privilege to decline as time passes, and finally die, giving space to the new. It is better we learn to understand that where there is life, there is death.
Birth
Birth, marriage and death are three occasions in life which are considered most important. When we come to life, we have no options. We do not know who places the order for us, and who delivers us on to the earth. Mother is there, but she too is a passive agency. The decision for a person to be born in a particular family is taken at the highest level. The person is not consulted where he will be born, when he will be born, and what will be his colour, his religion, and his stature. Things are just given to him like gifts in one stroke and he is made to move. Now, it is in our hands how to understand this life. The entire life sometimes passes and still we are unaware of our destiny. Why a man has come to this earth? This question we must ask ourselves. We have not come simply to earn money and eat and drink and make merry. There are other reasons, some higher reasons, which bring us to this earth. In the absence of that knowledge, for most of he people, it is a blind trudge only.
Marriage/Family
A man has to raise a family for the purposes of reproduction, and our society wants him to marry. Everybody marries, everybody has one or two kids, and people know the kids have to be given education, and when they grow up, married off. But the task is very tough. The most basic issue for the couple is to stay together even if they do not understand each other. Kids too when grow up, no one knows what they will be in their lives, even if they are given equal nourishment.
The essential issue here is: Should every one marry? Those who cannot compromise with others, must not marry. If you marry, then be ready to share your time with someone whom you don’t know. It is better people who marry know each other for at least six months. Once kids are there, no couple should be allowed to separate so long as the kids are below the age of 5 years. It is easy to break a family, and it is very difficult to stay together. It is better if we try to stay in marriage. Breakage can destroy the lives of the kids. Family is the smallest unit of the society. It must have harmony. We should see there is compatibility between the partners. And there is love too. Otherwise, it is a picnic party which ends in brick bats.
Children
People these days are so fed up with their lives, and careerism, that they do not want kids. But in view of the modern wisdom, they go for women who are in service. They have to postpone childing under pressures of the work. Then, they do not have quality time for their infant kids. We are not fair. Because, this is what the kids will visit upon us when they grow up, and we grow down.
It is essential we allow the kids to grow, and acquire the qualifications they wish to get, join the stream of life which best suits them, and then, separate them from the main family unit, and let them run their own family. Distance is a great healer. It is a must if we want to see peace between the MIL and the DIL. [Mother-in-law and the Daugher-in-Law].
Author:
Dr Jernail Singh Anand, President of the International Academy of Ethics, is author of 167 books in English poetry, fiction, non-fiction, philosophy and spirituality. He was awarded Charter of Morava, the great Award by Serbian Writers Association, Belgrade and his name was engraved on the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. The Academy of Arts and philosophical Sciences of Bari [Italy] honoured him with the award of an Honourable Academic. Recently, he was awarded Doctor of Philosophy [Honoris Causa] by the University of Engg and Management, Jaipur. Recently, he organized an International Conference on Contemporary Ethics at Chandigarh. His most phenomenal book is Lustus: The Prince of Darkness [first epic of the Mahkaal Trilogy]. [Email: anandjs55@yahoo.com Mobile: 919876652401[Whatsapp] [ethicsacademy.co.in]
Link Bibliography:
https://sites.google.com/view/bibliography-dr-jernal-singh/home
Poetry from Duane Vorhees
EMPTY AND PEBBLED
--Cheops Beach in autumn
Naked we together again run
on our gold dust and pearls
beside the sleeping sea.
The waning sun beads our skin
while the wind smothers our lungs.
Every vagina is exposed,
a messy lagar where the wine is formed.
Any penis is Hermetical, closed,
an opaque clarinet.
Today the halves of the hinge
are rusty, stiff, and worn.
These times before,
nipple and prick would respond
to the air the sheen the motion
with alert anticipation.
These times before. But no more.
This is what this fall displays:
our lifetimes are pyramids
infinite at base
inexorable toward the point.
TAKE ME IN
“Take me in.” the poet prayed, “take me in.” The prophet hid.
“Take me in,” the poet said. “take me in.
No banker paid. “Take me in.” The soldier fled;
“Sink or swim,” the lawyer pled. “Take me in,”
the poet said, take me in.”
A woman did.
“Make me warm,” the woman cried, “safe from harm.”
The poet sighed. “Words are thin,” he did reply, “weak and thin.
But yet I’ll try. Weak and thin, but yet I’ll try.”
In the bin by page by page,
in the bin the books were laid,
inch by inch were set ablaze.
Line by line the match was lit.
Word by word
the poems all went.
“Now I’m warm,” the woman said,
“safe from harm. But poet’s dead.”
Poet dead?
Poet dead?
He lives on inside her head.
His words go on inside her head.
JENNIFER IN TWO VOICES
I know why the sky sings the blues – for you, Jenny, for you – atmosphere breaks down and cries. Once the wind must have had your voice: Wind makes my soul rejoice to hear you echo once more. Your precious beauty to preserve, earth freezes to its nerves in ecstasies of ermine. And the waves for you outreach – the sea begs up the beach, hands-&-knees its way in pride. And trees have honored you in gold, red carpet where you rode, jade ceilings and emerald floors -- nature’s learned your lesson well how to be beautiful: your appearance is your sermon.
I know why the sky sings the blues – for you, Jenny, for you – atmosphere breaks down and cries. (Across the landscape many-firred, atmosphere breaks down and cries,) Once the wind must have had your voice: Wind makes my soul rejoice to hear you echo once more. (urges us make love manifold to hear your echo once more.) Your precious beauty to preserve, earth freezes to its nerves in ecstasies of ermine. (Among the creeks and conifers in ecstasies of ermine,) And the waves for you outreach – the sea begs up the beach, hands-&-knees its way in pride. (in fields of foxes henna-furred – I hands-n-knees my way inside,) And trees have honored you in gold, jade ceilings and emerald floors (where moist warmth is plentiful, on jade ceilings and emerald floors.) -- nature’s learned your lesson well how to be beautiful: your appearance is your sermon. (Raven-eyed/lynx-face Jennifer: Your appearance is your sermon.)
Across the landscape many-firred, atmosphere breaks down and cries, urges us make love manifold. To hear your echo once more among the creeks and conifers in ecstasies of ermine, in fields of foxes henna-furred – I hands-n-knees my way inside where moist warmth is plentiful. On jade ceilings & emerald floors, raven-eyed/lynx-face Jennifer: Your appearance is your sermon.
AN ORDINARY LOVE STORY
If you are the vault, I
am the combination.
(a tux,
a mum,
a candled dinner)
If I am the match, you
are the conflagration.
(a kiss,
the cum,
those tangled
fingers)
If we are the watch, you
are the complication.
PEACE MEAL
…That night we dined. We had port and escargot
and music, and the candles kissed the wine, the
WE *I way
WERE *tried one
REFUGEES *to would the
WEIGHING --minds not on *hold or cargo, rosebud
INTO (the) pearls*her parted,
(PORT) or *eyes blossomed,
(pearled) FROM fine *in grew
(on) CHINA. *mine.
(her) OR toward
Fine food our (lips) barely touched-- SOME the
(like) OTHER sun
(dew) FAR in
(on) WHERE. my
(rosebuds,) Words chilled eyes,
(like rain on shipsail) in the air. kissed
(as from her port) Finely she said: we’re through. the
(she slipped) sun, And cried.
And I cried too. And then we left, as diners do
when they are finished.
Visual poetry from Grant Guy
Poetry from Patrick Sweeney
he was a scorpion sting away from a desert metanoia Night rain on Windsor Avenue sycamore trees awash in their own perfume the others haven't arrived, the silver maple waits with me he doesn't think they'll put snow fences up this year the tough knots of self-entanglement the dog has found his spot contemplating the potential lethality of today's activities football fields where I put my dinosaurs down for naps teaching me to pronounce Demosthenes say, Ethiopia, three times... I've been doing it all day! Don Juan's Reckless Daughter's here, and we get wine delivered to the front door pale green kitchen archive of shuffling slippers across the linoleum floor joining the general fate of all five-hour bus riders