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This Week's Featured Poems

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Truth Doesn'T Fade

Again we presume one another
Revealing to highest degrees
I play up as you shoot down
Intentions for you to leave
How you open for me so easily
What I see and what you think
Lies aren't behind the midst
Truth isn't disappearing ink

Copyright © ... Gigno | Year Posted 2010

Drug

"I inhale you, 
and drown in my own sorrows.

Yet, you somehow make me happy,
and help me live another tomorrow.

I'm devoted to you,
you give my colorless life a rainbow hue. 

You hurt me, you kill me,
you think that someday I would flee,

but you're wrong, 
because you're all that I need to create the perfect song.

I need you by my side, 
I swear, to your rules, I will abide. 

You can take away my breath if you want, 
you can come in my dreams to haunt,

and you can live with me like an unbearable flu,
but let me remind you,

that no matter what, 
I'll always love you."

Copyright © Aaliyah Salia | Year Posted 2018

HOW GREEN IS MY VALLEY?


Just how green is my valley
Below those dark satanic hills?
How many familial bones
Lay there molding to greyish dust?
Do the words of my forefathers
Echo on beyond my ancient head...
So that future ears clearly hear
What wisdom they actually said?

I long to see the rain fall
On those grey slag built mountains,
Where trees are straggly specimens -
Sometimes misted by the clouds
So low that their moist kiss remains
On my upward stretching hands.
It's where the belly trembles
And my heartache truly resounds.

But how much better would it be
Were this a sun drenched paradise,
Where everything was plentiful;
Where everyone was fulfilled
And could afford their daily bread,
Where cries of pain became instead
Joyful smiles with ease instilled?

 

© Allen Ansell 2025

Copyright © Allen Ansell | Year Posted 2025



Sound of Winter

Push and shove,
Velcro up your gloves
There's snow in the square,
In the other corner is love,
Cold and unforgiving
Like the clouds up above
Herself, she shivers in spite of
Searching for meaning
In a house come undone
She opens her window,
Listens for the sun

And then she finally heard it:
Absolute,
Resolute,
Silence

Copyright © Andrew Travis | Year Posted 2017

Stars Above

Stars shine above us bright
                                        Shining and twinkling
                                    So many beyond our count
                                        Safely in our Father's
                                  Sweet palm with tender care
                                        Sublime radiant light
                                      Softly kiss the night sky

Copyright © Anna Marie Kaianah | Year Posted 2022

The Echo Returns Not

Locked in a room with no windows
I became a shadow
Invisible and unheeded
Having as duty, the slow and steady merging 
Of myself with the dirty walls

As time went by,
I stopped feeling myself
And started thinking that I am naught
But part of the furniture
That stands in the room,
Filled with dust particles all over!

Once, I coughed and realised that I have voice
Which means that I can express myself
And this brought me to try to say something everyday
Just to remind myself that I am alive,
A living human, having in me, the sparkles of mystery

As time went by, my voice got louder
And soon I started shouting out to the silence of the room
That I was confined in, hoping and hoping for an answer
From anyone, even from my own echo
But the echo was never returned to me, however much
I kept vociferating!

Locked in our own vision, we try to receive echoes
From those who battle this world, like us
But the echoes will never return
As those from whom we are trying to receive them
Are merely mirrors, who allow us to see ourselves as we are
And mirrors don't echo back
Mirrors only swallow us in their murky ponds
If we dare dip our toes in!

The room allowed me to shelter myself from my reflection
Still, I yearned for an echo from its vacuum
But I was only met with the harshness of emptiness
As even if I refused to see my truth bared
I went through it as every human would!

Copyright © Anoucheka Gangabissoon | Year Posted 2025

Golden Fleece

 One with the Universe, Drifting Quickly and Swiftly
 Trodding a Steed of Triumph, I Dazzle in Nobility
 Starry Eyed, I Blaze in Infernos of Gold
 Golden Fleece Forged, I'm a Heroic Soul
 A Golden Ballad for the Seven Seas
 Blazing Chariots Of Light, Upright Towards the Heavenlies
 From Earth to Jerusalem, a Solar Staff of Fire and Gems
 Thriving Off Emblazoned Wings Of Zen,
 Steadfast and Cageless, I'm the Fearless Riprider
 High Glider, Wings Wider, I got that Buddha Fire
 Beyond the flesh, the Treasure Chest
 A Trove of Spiritual Wealth, in Bliss the Soul Rests
 Righteous in Truth my Hearts Aflame
 Seek the Inner Tabernacle it paves The Way,
 No Mountain Too Tall If You Truly Believe
 Find The Courage and Wisdom to be Set Free,
 And Know, The Truth Within Is All You Need
 The True Power Of The Golden Fleece

Copyright © Aram Sarian | Year Posted 2024

Canaknas

Selected by the swift sound of hand to shoulder blade,
The bells upon their ankles sounded like seven trumpets
to me. I had been a chosen sheep among the Shepherd’s flock.
Lead me my Pharisees, I wish to see feel the glee in following
the Lamb within me.

The weight of my new necklace, crudely crafted of twine and timber,
swayed in a schism'd rhythm between my shins
bruises born from my steadfast faith. For I have never fasted
Before, all there was in my Ziploc bag was a single raw egg,
Two slices of wonderbread, three matches with no book.
I heard fireflies bounce in the air between my ears,
I could not see, you see I was blindfolded, but I felt no fear.
The marching sounds stopped, balsam trees surrounded me
and the rest of the chosen tribe.

Night befell the evening, the stars jumped and danced for me
For the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, His strength
flowed like the river Jordan in my veins. I had no chains.
Never had I felt grace like this before.

We awoke with gnats in our nose, centipedes between our toes
We arose, and our trials we must undergo.
Silence is the sound of our worship, broken by the
wood bashing between our bitten legs.
The kindling was wet, the bread was stale,
forging for food in the raspberry bushes, hunger flashed
in front of my eager eyes.

Memorize second Corinthians, some stories
I no longer care to remember. I felt the splinters
in my shins, the twine singed the hairs of my neck.
The breeze swung between the leaves and sung chants
that worshiped the King amongst kings.

The counselor crept out of the brush, and with
immense embarrassment I flushed
any of the chances of becoming one of the chosen few.
I could not immerse myself within the verses.
His eyes struck disappointment deep into my gut,
his knife drawn I knew I was cut.

The log crashed to the ground like lightning, the
twine left my skin red and raw. It felt like the 
sting of a thousand roses thrust upon my nape.
My cross was no longer mine to bear, it was the end

I didn’t care.
I didn’t care.
I didn’t care.

I descended from the shining hill, back to
the cabins and basketball nets. I had failed.
There is a creek I will never wade, never cross,
I drowned in my disdain, my faith may be lost.
Another camper, another kid, lost in the flock
of the Shepherd’s failed kin.

Copyright © B. Andrew Kelly | Year Posted 2023

Whale's Delight

swirling gracefully greeting heaven's rays with bliss--- ...awesome whales'* delight.
*Genesis 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. April 19, 2018 6th place, "Haiku on Fish" Poetry Contest Sponsored by Mick Talbot; judged on 4/23/2018.

Copyright © Beata Agustin | Year Posted 2018

Two Sparrows

predictable pairing
        like plans and lovers
two sparrows fly, flirt
wing beats hyped
          to dull the scent of overcrowded news
in spring air, grinning

scrappy species
two birds that pitch and swoop
                  an operatic flow
their sheen of relatability
                   braided together
a courtship gallantry
                   in circled bolts

when two birds fly about you
            suspenseful joy
like an untroubled sigh
             re-directing thought
             seasonal movement
             a flight of promise
                           that opens to the sky

Copyright © Brian Sambourne | Year Posted 2022

Reservoir

Poplars
 
against the rising moon;
filled full of roosting cormorants-
sleeping;
as 
long shadows,
rippling between
reflections of scudding clouds-
where evanescent images
settle.

Copyright © Brian Strand | Year Posted 2007

The X Spot



There was trouble written all over her
like a treasure map, gold buried deep
between the missing ampersands 
where to begin, 

X marks the spot

Y chromosones
like quicksand YX
rolled up, a necessary
reoccurring addiction
sage smoked slowly

then fed to the sharks 

gold buried deep
between the missing 
ampersands
the better treasure 
hidden

XX marks the spot




Candide Diderot. ‘24.

Copyright © Candide Diderot | Year Posted 2024

A Dreamed Story That Never Happened

One Blackberry winter in the cliffs of Ireland
An early woodpecker passed by
And a red robin flying so high
Colored like chrysalis in an orange land

A white clown I am, peace and wind
  I see, feel around
Early winter in plain view so far by the harbor
Peace, joy, contentment has a realist painter
Sun and sand minichu over the ground
The winter gift I wished this day engulfed

Sands of time of motherly wind
Turquoise TriSaratop dining out
Blueberries released three inches by wind
Flies, mockingbird and butterfly eating out

Flushed mind, not of the writer's friend I recall
Laughed at the white clown discovered by one and all
Purple sage of golden fall, magically mingled almost fall
Tattered but warm, Australia down under brushed strokes
  in hibiscus flowers of the coming Fall

Pink cotton candy I missed like Sp
Not Spam of the drenching rain in flight
Smell like tricolored cat, not Rocky
Busy as ocean waves but behaved when she met the master

Cardinal beauty in the whisps of Spring
Hummingbird intrigued by a kiss of sunshine bring
On the old wooden bench I sat and dross
Number "10" I saw carved on wood so gross

Two birds suddenly appeared
Drenched like butterfly kisses on spilled coffee brewed
One Rutabaga cooked with liatis for me
Cold was I, splitting an infinitive of me

Two days later he gave me two pink birds
And I named them in Italian, "Pane e Tulipani"



"Story written, commending a dreamed poetess
 Titles written by the same revered poetess
 Only some titles named and  listed
 Many of you already knew and bested."


(Prosebite)

Copyright © Clifford Villalon | Year Posted 2023

Winter Solstice and Musings On The Entropy of Love

Unable to sleep or pray, I stand  
by the window looking out—  
at moonstruck trees a December storm  
has bowed with ice.

White Oaks and Maples concede  
beneath the crystalline weight,  
their branches falling brittle upon  
a frozen tableau of memory.

Love—that old revolutionary road,  
veers sideways toward scrutiny;  
where I've wandered, reliving moments  
at the long junction of unease.

But make no mistake—  
The trees themselves, as in winters past  
will endure their burdening; broken thrive. 
Am I less to You, my God, than they?

What does this have to do with love?  
I shatter a mirror just to glimpse  
the shifting umbra that lurks behind,  
searching for the source of wholeness.

I hear it—the mutability of love in stead,  
its voice, cutting a swath through leavings;  
worn, blessed, shaped by earth  
while rising out of what was lost.

I pull thread by thread, at memories lost,
as if to weave them back together;  
but each attempt reveals the tear  
in every promise once coveted.

Is love then, nothing but a gap—  
a space we fill with longing,  
a promiscuous fire lost in the cold  
leaving us searching for its light?

The trees, staunch, their silence deep,  
and in their forboding, I see more  
than in the frantic rush of hearts—  
they bend and splinter yet carry forth.

Love is not the comfort we expect,  
rather the oscillating tension  
that reveals even in ruination, there  
is life's will stirring in the dark.

Copyright © Darius Benhaim | Year Posted 2024

Reclaim Your Domain

I wish I could plug
A flash drive in your ear.
I would wipe clean the worries
Hidden deep inside there.

I know they've been hiding
In camouflaged space.
Your very own virus
firmly in place.

Spreading infection
Every which way.
Squeezing the happy
Right out of the way.

It's time to recover,
Diminish your pain.
Pick up your tools.
Reclaim your domain.

Before long, I promise,
With daily scans,
You'll reboot and function
With plenty of ram.

Copyright © Deb Adams | Year Posted 2025

My Words

Closely feel my words, they carry you in,
from herein, to the world,
only for you these words yearn,
my words wriggle, wait and burn.


Copyright © Dr. Vandana Sharma | Year Posted 2025



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