By Aditi Anvita | Featured Contributor
Amazing buildup of affection,
She is an iconic vigor,
Competes with bitter world,
To affirm her existence.
Owns the wings of courage,
Aspires to touch horizon,
Smashes stereotypes,
Eludes the cage of society.
By Birdie Fudge | Featured Contributor
A while back, I went on medication for the first time for my major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety. I wrote poems every day, starting from the first day I took the pill. I used my poetry to track my mood and the timeline of the medicine taking effect. When I look at the poetry written during the beginning of that journey and compare it to now, it’s as if two different people are speaking. This poem reflects me in the beginning of my journey. My other poem, “I am Grateful,” reflects how I feel today.
***
It’s like suddenly
I took this magic pill
and I was given the gift of reason
and all my fears seemed to disappear
my anxieties subsided
or at least they were dulled out
beneath the surface
the layer of fog
on top of all my other emotions
became lifted
By Cara Amy Goldthorpe | Featured Contributor
Protect the soils:
soils from which
new life grows
life to sustain us
with its nourishing blooms
till we return to the earth
to begin
another cycle
By Cliff Eshom | Featured Contributor
Can blessings of life truly be free?
Sunshine, flowers, the shade of a tree.
Finding true love, is one of the keys.
Listening to ads, they’re only a tease,
tempting your flesh falsely to please
a portrait of life, seek only of ease.
By Steven Michael Krystal | Featured Contributor
I have a friend, so do you,
We share laughs and smiles all day through,
For all of my life, telling me what to do,
A small voice from within, tried and true.
When we are kids, fun and play,
Days of bliss, all is okay,
As we grow up, things don’t go our way,
Life turns amiss, a steep price to pay.
By Brittny Lee | Featured Contributor
Trees still grow
Flaming crimsons and candy apple greens
On a street where she loved
and lived and sang with the stars
Her dream consumed her
A temptress all in white
Blush red among alabaster cheeks
becoming love tumbling down hills with her dream
Heart beating vital blood
Tendons stretching and breaths coming out in rasps
She reached her goal
By Judith Evans | Featured Contributor
Heavy steps through the clinic door.
Scores of faces, waiting room eyes
Follow my feet to the check-in desk.
Finally, a space for my face near the water cooler.
18 minutes of freedom, wishing our dog were here.
I dream, screaming silently till I hear my name.
Dead down the hall: sterile chairs, swabs, lidocaine,
Blood draw, raw nerves, tsk tsk near the back of my head.
Are you in pain? As if I were deaf.
No space for my face any more.
Meanwhile, it’s snowing.
Will this freeze cease?
