Never deflect your truth for
Borrowed eyes
Every choice you make is
Paid in life-wise
Voices' conversation is loud but never
Lived your grind
Expect no chorus when you
Discipline your own mind
Root your steps in what feels
Justified
Justify nothing- your spirit is
Enough
Under your skin lives the
Tangible tough stuff
Silence is power when the
World wants evidence
Trust your path even when it
Feels standoffish
Inside your calm sits the
Truest truism
Fear evaporates when you
Stand uncuffed
Your choices don't need a
Magistrate
Anger is boundaries finally
Speaking
No weakening to keep
The peace in
Growth hits harder when you
Stop tweaking
Energy saved is energy boosting
Respect your fire without
Deteriorating
Defend nothing- your life ain't a
Trial
Every lesson earned came with
Its own distance
Faith in yourself stays flexible
Open only to those who understand
Ignore the pressure to defend
Carry your calm like a trusted
Companion
Every step you take soars
Stay aligned with divinity's will
Thunderous silence
echoes in my scolded ears
heavy lies the mood
Winner 5th place: X&Y by Seth Pina (3/29/26)
Oh, love, why do we argue when your pious words are fleeting clouds,
I am tired of all your prayers floating unanswered,
and of the dead who refuse to listen, buried in deep forgetfulness,
leave them be, take your step out of the cemetery of shadows,
they are busy with their silent eternity, sculpted in time.
It was always someone’s fault: the thin-lipped preacher,
who never came, leaving only the echo of days gone by,
I hid in the kitchen, under the rag bag like under a veil of forgetfulness,
I refuse to remember the dead, and the dead are bored with our memories.
But you—go ahead, descend back into the cemetery of extinguished dreams,
lie down where you imagine their faces are sculpted in darkness,
speak to your old bad dreams, dance with the ghosts of the past,
while I remain here, a prisoner of the silence that separates and binds us.
You're not here to argue.
You're not here to fight.
You accepted my claims,
And you left me behind.
You let me finish the story,
Where I wrote you out.
You don't get to say sorry,
Or fill me with doubt.
You're not here to argue.
You're not here to fight.
You can cry all you want to.
Without you, my future is bright.
I won't let you make me into an inspiration.
Speaking on my motivation,
Fighting against your temptation.
I only loved my imagination.
You didn't fight.
Which makes me believe
That I'm right.
You just run away and hide
The moment I brought you to light.
I'm so mad that you proved me right.
I want you out of my sight.
You can't understand what it's like
To live every day in fright.
I used to find peace in your eyes.
Now, you've just left fear inside.
I hope you're going out of your mind
Knowing you'll never be mine.
Of course I agree with free speech
And the right of people to have their say,
But why can’t people be more reasonable,
And see it my way?
People accuse me of being argumentative
And of enjoying a good old verbal fight,
But I never argue with anyone,
I just explain to them why I’m right!
I justify my debating standpoint,
As if from the lyrics of some corny song:
I could agree with you …
But then we’d both be wrong!
Chaos ensues
People cower in fear
They search for something that doesn't want to be found
It is successful.
We shield ourselves, our loved ones, our neighbors
These barriers block reality
Shielding us from our demise
While shining light on the evil that lurks
Nonetheless it seeps
It bleeds through
Our shining shields stained with hope
Now discarded in the streets
Now dividing nations
As it gains power
We lose control
As it gains controversy
We lose part of us
Honesty, hope, history
We lose in the face of terror
Tears, tombstones, taking with it routine
We lose to an opponent we can’t see
But argue over
Point fingers over
Lose ourselves over
We cling on to what we know
We must hold on to it for as long as we can
For if we don’t
It will be there to seize it away from us
- Taylor White
What percent of lightning strike victims survive?
How many remain alive?
The relatives began to bet, argue and gripe.
The grands were so angry, gram called grandpa a louse.
She finally threw the poor man out of her house.
She had guessed fifty percent, he had guessed four.
The next thing we knew, she had pushed him clean out the door.
We googled it and discovered they were both wrong.
Now they are playing their make-up sex song.
It is eighty percent we say in disbelief.
Glad their noises finally stopped.
It was a huge relief!
No Harm Done
Yesterday, I let myself out
I’ve learnt to stop me
But yesterday I couldn’t
The rage and anger spilled
The part of me I detest
Spewed like volcanic lava
Ran down my sides
Tripped from mouth
And you, as always
Said nothing, no need
Just got on with it
Waited for the calm
Acted like a summer breeze
Smoothing my hair
Brought tears to my eyes
A wasted hour over an irrelevance
Love is you. All I need is you
Sorry. The lids back on and
Tightly screwed. No harm done.
David Cox 12/11/21
Together – he and I – him and me
We grow things in abundance
Green beans, tomatoes, squash
Okra, calves, chicks and pigs
Guineas and turkeys, some kittens
A puppy who is mostly grown
But never too old to play
Together – we – us – our
Hearts thrive on a world
Of abundance, plenty, wealth
In rich, black earth that gets
Nutrients from a downpour
Pounding the ground and bouncing
Drops off the rocky path
Together – he and I – him and me
We listen to friends who bicker
Consuming time with quarrels
Never thinking about how this dispute
Can grow, like our cucumbers
Vining their way from a short word
One weed, to something you can’t pull up
A vine that leaves you feeling
Lost, lonely, silent
Amid the beautiful blooms
That proceed the vegetable
And the tired ache that throbs
Inside a heart who is breaking
From the sorrow of squabbling
Emily urges me forward, to look at my most innocent self
She is all about romance, yearning for more of it.
I am not sure if she ever experienced it in real life,
however, her words are true and I understand her need.
We sit in silence, contemplating my next poem
I do not write flowery stuff, I telepath to her.
I hear a tiny bit of laughter.
Are you really Emily? I ask or is this Sylvia?
My poems have been really dark lately.
I sense they are both here.
Fighting over me.
Coleridge is trying to shout them both down.
He wants me to pay attention, so I can write like he does.
I scoff at this idiocy.
The pressure puts me into a prone mood.
I lie down, and let my eyes gently flutter shut,
relaxing in the midst of my muses' argument for my soul.
Knowing Trixie will be along shortly to kick them all out.
I don’t argue with my wife in my own defence,
I'm not used to verbal squabbles like a drunk.
I just proudly sitting on the wooden high fence,
Poking finger at her, sticking out my tongue!
Over the open space between us words hang upside down,
arguments suspended, tongues and ears embattled
from beneath each crooked crown.
understanding only half, of all that is pretended.
Hanging like a poster-child of youthful disbelief.
Sinking in these quicksand feelings everyone calls love.
Drying eyes will recognize the face of all our grief
while souls will touch without the mask of unprotected glove.
Our time from out a mirror stares, reflections of a thief
whose only sin Is catching all the hours we remove.
whose only virtue still remains, there’s nothing left to prove.
You cast a spell upon my heart,
I fell in love, right from the start.
And come what may, I'd walk a mile:
to hear your laugh, or see your smile.
Trust allows us to share one soul,
while leaving us both feeling whole.
I love being with you so much,
that I quiver at your mere touch.
You're the one who makes my heart sing:
my hope, my love, my everything.
You cry for me when I feel hurt,
and gently chide me if I flirt.
There is nothing I'd rather do,
than spend eternity with you.
My Angel, my muse, my best friend,
I don't want this feeling to end.
I feel your love within my soul:
I was broken; you made me whole.
There's no you or I; only us,
and we don't argue: we discuss.
external beauty
combined with
intelligence
is an unnatural
phenomenon
but in this case it is
100% true
graciousness
generosity
humility
in someone
as externally
beautiful as you
is such a rarity
but in your
case it is a
reality that is
heard to argue with
once you see her in
all her glory
crushing heartache,
feeling down'
why this betrayal
feeling loss feeling wound
why then should I be found happy
when all is despair around
one lesson I have learned
the world is cruel, and justice indeed blind,
a fixed friendship is broken again
no way to mend this time
so why is humanity so fickle
are we inhuman at best
monsters in the flesh
ready to betray
ready to kill
for a single coin or a stolen pill
believing in the worst that could be
would that be the best way to describe humanity?
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