Vol. 3, No. 3
Writers
Janet Brush – For Spring – # 1
Harry Garrison – Celebrity Compliment
Summer Hart – Cast Out Outcast
Scot Jamieson – A Star At Night
Nicole D. Myers – Lights, Camera
Norm Sabowitz – Brother Dandelion
Mary Ellen Sullivan – City Suitor
Michael Swinemer – Disagreeing w Mr. Joyce
Elzy Taramangalam – Managing Transgressive
Lisa Vandenboomen – Delicacies
Return to Top
Whispers
Poem by Georgia Atkin
Spread the word-
….have you heard?
Spring
is coming back.
The trees whisper in the wind,
the birds sing songs
we thought were long
forgotten.
The air tastes brighter,
days dawn lighter-
have you heard? Pass the word
and spread the news…
Spring
is coming back.
Return to Top
For Spring (# 1)
Haiku by Janet Brush
From garden wafting
Sweet fragrance of hyacinth.
Spring! Oh, lovely spring!
Return to Top
Elizabeth (1947-2002)
Lyrics by Owen Diamond
The best things could have been, always
How to run things, how to get set up for those rainy days
How to read, left to right instead of right to left
How to bullshit, how to leave behind what we have left
Today I miss you, Elizabeth
How to scramble eggs and treat the world with respect
How to dine with the queen and know what to expect
Take care of my boys, I know I showed you how
They’re going to need you now
I always miss you, Elizabeth
Its always nice to see you
Every time you come around
You know I hope its a girl
We will keep that name around
We hiked those mountains one by one
There were occasional bears
And I fell asleep in the sun
I touched the grass in the water with my hand
I will teach them to love the land
Return to Top
Celebrity Compliment
Poem by Harry Garrison
You were very pretty
when you were young.
Return to Top
Cast Out Outcast
Poem by Summer Hart
must.
combust.
just.
so frust
rated.
Aggravated.
At always being
Rated &
Graded &
Hated.
I hate it.
and hate that i hate it.
I know I shouldn’t care
that they’re there
as they stare
like they’re scared
& flee off into pairs.
As they judge and hold grudge.
but I think I think much too much
it’s my crutch.
Affects my mood
Attitude
They are rude.
I am rude.
But not enough.
must combust
for what’s just.
Return to Top
A Star At Night
Lyrics by Scot Jamieson
A star at night,
wherever it has been,
must now alone
give out
what on earth
may be seen
by those eyes
which let its light
within
and so reflect
down here
a heavenly twin.
And souls, like stars,
twin on earth
in those eyes
where beauty sighs
and beauty tries
to know
the truth.
Though eyes
can’t reach,
a star will shine.
Return to Top
Love driven underground –
Shame covered,
Blame misplaced,
Painted into a darkened corner –
I give my time.
I work for my wages.
From books of wisdom I have,
Devoured pages –
You told me they would give me grace.
You told me they would save the day.
I covered my body in your scripture,
I hid my heart beneath the fear of you.
Love shoved into war-
Hate personified,
Battered and torn,
Wind-bent and stunted –
I take back my time.
I starve to be full.
Take my words and give them room.
Take my words and give me yours.
Return to Top
Snowed In
Poem by Devin Kowalski
I’ve fallen ill from another winter
Spent on the lonely North Atlantic shore
Sick from small town hospitality
I don’t want to see what next year has in store
Autumn ends we see how summer failed
To the frost left from winters before
Each year the burdens pile up more and more
You could call this my failed experiment
Begging for visitors who never came
I guess friends are for never giving fucks
Everyone of them’s left me all the same
I’ve got nothing to show, nothing at all
Just insecure and selfish me to blame
My heart is buried too deep beneath my shame
Eternal overcast and the endless night
Each breath leaves a taste of salt and car exhaust
An eternity every year until
My last trace of humanity is lost
Leaving a dying image which became
A lifeless statue frozen in the frost
Sitting with its fingers forever crossed
Return to Top
A Good Intention
Poem by Robert Lee
I can’t say if I have all that much to say.
Its always a crap shoot…I throw the dice.
Snake eyes and repressed memory comes screaming.
Double sevens host angels dancing on the head of a pin.
Its always this or that and nothing other.
Jack boots come down hard on hope.
Putting my faith in what I know
is like chasing ghosts in a house of mirrors.
Its entertaining at best, but fruitless.
I choose to say yes, yes, yes.
To the good intention of the heart.
What do I have to lose,
but my endless pain and suffering.
Return to Top
Lifeblood,
Earth’s blood
roars down,
drowning out the trees.
This sound,
this epiphany.
“I am so blessed,
I am so blessed.”
That’s what the rain does to me.
Return to Top
Lights, Camera
Poem by Nicole D. Myers
aural
visual
behavioral
lingual
love is a
highly collaborative
medium
Return to Top
fly in a fog of white noise
its wings blurring
mosaics – making it
weary, making it
go numb
Return to Top
Winter Magic
Poem by Giavonna Rossi
The silence of winter
is a golden moment
where we remember
how beautiful snow really is.
As I stared out my window
that snowy winter night,
trees swayed under the weight
of the fresh blowing snow.
Then a single candle grew closer
that flew through the sky
lighting up the darkness
like a bolt of lightning in slow motion.
For a second the outdoors looked
like a new beginning
like I could do anything,
then just as quickly as the candle came,
it got swallowed up
as the outdoors was plunged into darkness
once again.
Return to Top
Brother Dandelion
Poem by Norm Sabowitz
The way they treat you!–calling you ‘weed’
And poisoning and cutting you down by the millions
For no valid reason–no reason at all except
To have the same look of lawn as everyone else!
In the old days, people at least
Cut you for a valid purpose
Such as for food, or to make wine;
And, thereby, they honoured you: you were a crop,
Not a weed! But now–oh, it fills me with rage!
My kind, too, you know,
Are often called names,
Are gassed or cut down “like weeds”:
We are ‘Kikes’ and ‘Spics’, ‘Frogs’
And ‘Faggots’ or ‘Queers’;
And we’re cursed with many another vile syllable
And many, many of us have died of such hatreds!
So know at last, my brother dandelion,
That you have, in me, a witness:
I am your fellow ‘weed’,
And you have been cut for a purpose:
To teach me to think for myself.
Return to Top
Depression
Poem by Ashita Sharma
The leaves are falling;
A cold and dreary winter is approaching.
All is bleak, dark and grey.
Slow pace, malaise and the dull aches;
No cravings, no yearnings,
Nothing to look forward to,
Nothing that excites.
Pushing the mind so the body moves
Reaching out to the bed again;
Having left it an hour ago…
It is morning and stillness in the apartment
Makes the ticking clock a noise
Grating on the nerves.
The body moves under the covers,
The sheets cold, crumpled, unwashed.
Curling up like a fetus in the womb:
That had not been a haven either;
When yet unborn, the dejection set in;
When the fights, screaming and crying,
Would shatter the only peace mind could have known.
There it was; the mutation in the emotion….
Born to the gloom.
Return to Top
City Suitor Visits the Farm
Poem by Mary Ellen Sullivan
Inspired by Musicians4Farmers
You act so smooth
In your silky lawyer’s suit.
Give my father ‘Merci’ chocolates
Like you’ve already got permission
But it’s me you should be asking.
I love you darlin’,
But I’ve got barn dust in my heart
And you’re not the farming type
So just take that sparkly diamond
‘Cause there’s no room in my heart for you.
You say, “My dearest, don’t be rash,
I know I’m man enough for you.”
But when I show you ‘round the farm
It’s clear you just can’t hide the fact
That you hate the smell of pigs.
Well, I’ve got barn dust in my heart
And you’re not the farming type
So just take your shiny shoes
‘Cause there’s no room in my heart for you.
Return to Top
Disagreeing with Mr. Joyce Kilmer
Poem by Michael Swinemer
I guess that if I had a choice
I’d have to disagree with Joyce
And say while many trees are fine
I’ve been more moved by written line
Though woods are lovely dark and deep
It’s not the trees that make me weep
But how an author turns a phrase
In unique and compelling ways
Till words like branches grow entwined
Off trunk sprung out of poet’s mind
So Joyce, I will only agree
If the tree you meant was POETREE.
Return to Top
Invitation
Poem by László Szantor
Come all you pilgrims and wanderers~
approach gently on a trodden path
with measured steps and rhythmic crunch,
or blaze a trail through
wild-grown vistas,
hacking away at the underbrush
Come in your ships of great adventures
seeking refuge from stormy seas~
I can hear the creak of oarlocks,
shirtsleeves flapping
in the breeze
Bring your words in pen, on paper
through the air, on wings of ether
Strum your guitars, blow your flutes
Honor my ears with your songs
Soothe my spirit with your lutes,
pluck on the strings of your harps….
Turn your faces to the light and
animate your silhouette….
I will be here, waiting for your
epic story, couplet, ode
or chansonette
Return to Top
Managing the Transgressive
Poem by Elzy Taramangalam
It’s a sideways tilt
That takes you into scribble territory
And sticks you up a gum tree.
A word game without dialogue
Grunting, stomping, charging, chasing
Spiraling into tangled loves
Likes, dislikes, wrecks
Making whole worlds
In deep searching monologues
Needing the frission of differences
The laws of freedom
Subject only to the maker.
Return to Top
Delicacies
Poem by Lisa Vandenboomen
Buttery fingers
glistening
as I intensely lick
the dark chocolate
from
my painted red nails
Hot creamy espresso
drips
on my purple silk dress
yet the rich tastes
of these edible luxuries
pleasantly
distract me
from my gaucheries
Return to Top
Open Heart Forgery 