Poetry from Mahbub

 

My guess

 

All the things seen or unseen

I can guess nothing

If you are not mine

Though I think you so much

I know you not as much

Its my daily routine

To stay before you

Read something and go back to work

In this way I pass my days

And finish my work

Days come and days go

In terms of time

My head aches, my breast pains

But you don’t pay heed to me

In this way one day I’ll die

You’ll see I’ll die

Then what would it be

Whether I live or die

I guess I only die.

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Poetry from J.J. Campbell

——————————————————————————–
happy ever after
 
i always wanted
to fall in love
and see if happy
ever after really
existed
 
i look in the
mirror and
sadly realize
 
i put all my
money on the
wrong fucking
fairytale
 
as i lay in this
old bed alone
 
about all i have
left
 
is the hope for
a quiet death

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Poetry from Michael Robinson

Road to Someplace 

Beyond the shallow grave which once was my home
In the middle of the night which held me captive
It was a selfish life I was wanting to live.

Beyond the reality of the sinking sun
And the signs of danger and chaos
In the open skies.

I fell from the skies past the shooting stars
Into a place where life was simple
Into an unknown reality.

A clear vision of who I am and why I lived
To find this place where the grass breathes
And the trees are fifty feet tall.

A place where my stone hands are nourished
A covered heart reveals warmth
And my name spoken with love.
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Fine art from Alex Nodopaga

 

Biopsy:

Alex Nodopaka originated in Ukraine-Russia in 1940. Studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Casablanca, Morocco. Full time author, artist in the USA. His interests in the visual arts and literature are widely multi-cultural. However, he considers his past irrelevant as he seeks new reincarnations in independent films if only for the duration of a wink… ok, ok maybe two!

 

Poetry from Jeff Bagato

 

One a Day Rides Again

 

Wood is as indifferent as love to human

emotions, whether feeding the fire, reaching

for the sky, or poking its nose

where it isn’t wanted by Puritan

deliberation—that altarboy instinct of the

hypocrite for sacramental wine,

Mary Jane’s buds, or the forbidden

fruit, handmaiden to the love

of old Saint Pete, clandestine

shoving match of a turd from

one anal cavity to another—

and thus One A Day steps in, drunk

as a lord to greet condemnation; Mae

West on his arm in glory to the highest

titters in her feather boa and puts

mettle to her petals, sending that dummy

some cue from her belly he’s all too

happy to receive, being pleased

to please:  “A little bit lower to the

left;” of course he gets to a point where

bees write their own laws

of pollination, ignoring Pope

Pius gesturing in the background

like Moses at the backwash of the Red

Sea—inattention he can stand less

than abomination—and as inquisitors

rush in to show them the door,

Dummy looks up to find Mae alert

and sending furiously, “How are they

gonna stop people from putting

holes in the wall?”

Setting bells

ringing in the bellfry like vampire

bats from the hump of Quasimodo

in a gypsy heat—

stirring up the fear,

disappearing in the dawn

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Essay from Rubina Akter

When The Mask Falls

Most days it is so easy to fake happiness. You get used to the act when that’s all you’ve known. People tend to react better towards those that are happy and just a little melancholy. I think it reassures them that I am brave for not turning into a crying mess whenever my depression and PTSD go on overdrive. Almost all of my therapists say that while I have serious problems, I am remarkably normal compared to others. And I guess that is a compliment. I work very hard to create this image of a brave, sarcastic girl who does not have the time to care about most things.

But the mask does come off. And in those times, the stark difference in my personality surprises even me. It is hardest for me to appear normal during those anniversaries of trauma. Sometimes I can pull it off, at least during the day. Today is one such day, and instead of using my usual piece of glass to carve out some notches on my skin, I am trying to write about it. Continue reading

Poetry from Joan Beebe

WISHING
Often times, I do “wish upon a star”’ —
That bright twinkling light appears
And I think of my childhood lyric –
“Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are”
I gaze at that lonely star but soon the sky
Is filled with the bright lights of more twinkling  stars —
Almost covering the heavens above me.
 Our wishes should be our very own secret
While standing alone and gazing at
This star light night of beauty and wonder

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