Becoming Nonexistent 

Shrinking from existence. Fading from all worth.
Time holds out its hand to pull me in. There is
wisdom in the longing & sorrow in the loss. Each 
footstep takes me further off my path. I look at you 
with sullen eyes as you walk out of view. The 
sound of crickets fills another lonely night. The 
mirror no longer shares my image, only a history of 
what might have been. Neatly shredded strips of 
paper dangling in an autumn breeze. Expectations
vanish with the sun. I have nothing more to give. 
The smaller I become, the less I have to offer. 
No one will miss me when I’m gone.




There Can Never be Another Casablanca

There can never be another Casablanca. There 
can only be one epic drama / one epic romance. 
Some sagas can be retold /rewritten, but this one 
cannot. No one will ever replace the actors with 
such immortal style. Years in the making / hours 
to observe. Romeo & Juliet – it is not! I need 
your succor / the enemy nears. Darkness overcomes 
dusk / time explodes in sparks & flares / battle has 
begun. We never stop fighting / we never stop 
learning / we never give in to fear. Morrocco / 
land of mystery & romance - there love stories 
go to die. I close my eyes to destruction and war.
I march to the song in my dream. And yet … time 
vanishes too quickly. I waited for too long / the 
curtain begins to fall. 
           La Marseillaise starts to play.



Night Dread

I cannot stop the craziness
that marches through my head.
Nights filled with anxiety-ridden soldiers
battling for space between my dreams. 
Demanding center stage among distorted 
visions that float past my closed eyes.
Filling every crevice with this & that. 
An insistent litany of turmoil,
trying to sort through illusion,
searching for fact. There is no peace
to be found in my restless mind.
Sleep is a stranger 
that haunts my restless mind.




TooMANYToo

Gone – all GONE. 
TOOOOO many /dreams/ are left behind!

         WHY have we killed the DRM? 
Power-Lust-Greed … 
          all HAIL the mighty warriors of DTH!
$ongs $ung out of tune …
Too MANY days / Too MANY times / Too MANY sins.
We are the carriers of D O O M 
We are the bringers of 
                                ~ DESPAIR ~

the DRMS are ALL <GONE>


Ann Christine Tabaka was nominated for the 2017 & 2023 Pushcart Prize in Poetry; nominated for the 2023 Dwarf Stars award of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association; winner of Spillwords Press 2020 Publication of the Year; selected as a Judge for the Soundwaves Poetry Contest of Northern Ireland 2023. Her bio is featured in the “Who’s Who of Emerging Writers 2020” and “2021,” published by Sweetycat Press. She is the author of 16 poetry books, and 1 short story book. She lives in Delaware, USA. She loves gardening and cooking.  Chris lives with her husband and four cats. Her most recent credits are: Sand Hills Literary Magazine, The Phoenix, Eclipse Lit, Streetcake Experimental Writing Magazine, Carolina Muse, Ephemeral Literary Review, The Elevation Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Tangled Locks Journal, Wild Roof Journal, The American Writers Review, Black Moon Magazine, Pacific Review, Pomona Valley Review, West Texas Literary Review.
*(a complete list of publications is available upon request)