Inside this painted room
the lamplight pools like honey on the floorboards,
softening every corner into a place
where the world cannot intrude.
A kettle hums its small, steady song,
and the window holds a square of winter
like a memory pressed behind glass.
The colors breathe warmth
reds deep as hearth embers,
yellows that feel like held hands,
browns worn smooth by years of belonging.
Even the shadows seem gentle here,
as if they’ve learned to rest
instead of reaching for anything.
A chair waits by the fire
stitched with the quiet patience
of someone who mends more than fabric.
A book lies open on the armrest,
its pages curved like a sigh,
as though the reader stepped out
only long enough to feed the birds.
Holodook’s world holds stillness
the kind that remembers
how to cradle a life gently~
a place where nothing is hurried,
where warmth is not a luxury
but a way of seeing.
Inside this cozy, painted room,
even the silence feels like home.
Who knows what happens in a cloud?
Before it goes, just disappear.
I'll step inside if i'm allowed
To look around its atmosphere.
And if I find someone I'll ask
Who knows what happens in a cloud.
Reveal life's secrets truth unmask
Remove the universal shroud.
I'd then stand tall and shout out loud
About these mysteries I've found.
Who know what happens in a cloud
I'll spread this news to all around.
The wonders I may find inside
To meet and greet another crowd.
And learn what's on the other side
Who knows what happens in a cloud.
Colours make my heart dance
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
“I make no distinction between
painting and poetry”.
Joan Miro
…………..
See - my dreams break through
this white veil and emerge into form,
crawl across the canvass
in the unscripted language
of the inner mind.
I float in space tethered
to an umbilical line, become
a moon, a constellation of stars
and a menagerie of creatures
escaped from time.
I am nearing the point
of dissolution, becoming
either a part of the great sublime
or a phantom born out of
the absurdities of my own mind.
If you’ve ever wondered where you might find,
the answers to the endless questions sought over time.
The sense to the insanity, the radical of the norm…
the settling waves of frustration, the calming of the storm.
Deep beneath the layers of what most don’t see,
are the answers to those endless questions… beyond reality.
There is a world in a different color... the shades some may never find.
Lighting the world of imagination inside a writer’s mind.
If you look passed the confines of discretion,
you’ll see more than black and white.
You’ll discover the shades of expression I share when I write.
Though some may never see the colors this poem is trying to instill.
I am without any doubt
that a writer will.
Inside a cloud the lining shines with hope,
on paths that slip and slope, we grip on tight
to rope made from our inner strength to cope,
we always find a way in life to fight.
The road to happiness is felt within,
as soon as we begin to realize,
the win exists inside a smile or grin,
as letting go is worth the compromise.
The stresses and the strains will fade away,
good attitude today can change tomorrow,
allay your fear, removing all the grey,
alleviating grief and painful sorrow.
With positivity you’ll lead instead,
when little problems build inside your head.
the walls sweat like old drunks
union correctional, they call it—
correction my ass,
this place was built for breaking.
men bleed here, quietly,
a shiv under the ribs,
a mop bucket wheeled by,
nobody looks too long.
guards strut fat on overtime,
pockets heavy with side deals,
they sell cigarettes like gods
and laugh at the rest of us starving.
chow hall—if you can call it that—
thin stew, one slice of bread,
you walk out hungrier
than when you walked in.
nights are worse.
screams in the dark,
steel on flesh,
the silence after.
the air hums with rot,
paint peeling off like dead skin,
even the cockroaches look tired,
like they’ve seen too much.
and you think—
maybe the world forgot us here,
maybe that was the plan.
they race in and out chasing each other with gusto and vim
oops spoke too soon two dog tails just ran back in
one jumps on the couch, and the other is up there too
they are pony dogs, one weighs 80, the other 122.
They love us to bits, have no idea how strong they are
One jumped to the recliner, it moved back quite far
The other one is jumping on top of the TV
122? Says my husband. I thought he weighed 123.
We are cognizant that these pony dogs are stronger than us.
They are chasing through the house right now, stirring up dust.
My asthma kicks in, and I land down on the ground like a dog toy.
Two dogs on my stomach, delighted, that I am down for them to enjoy.
In depths of space where branes collide,
The truth is stretched and folded wide.
A hologram, not quite a sham—
But deeper still than who I am.
Each flicker here, a distant gleam,
Encoded on a cosmic screen.
The walls of black holes hum and burn
With secrets that we can't return.
What seems to move, and breathe, and grow
Is math behind a subtle show.
The edge contains the boundless whole,
A paradox that shapes the soul.
Your breath, your thoughts, your trembling hand
Are ripples in a shadow land.
No center holds, no solid floor—
We live on light, and nothing more.
The universe? A whispered lie
That sings we never truly die.
DEEP INSIDE A SHELL
With lyrics that do not connect
And no shiny surface to reflect
Odd choices one doesn’t expect
To get the meaning of that song
Perhaps you faked it far too long
All when living deep inside a shell
There’s no entitlement to respect
In messages that one can’t detect
It must be earned, albeit indirect
Can it be time to bang that gong
But just maybe I’ve got it wrong
All when living deep inside a shell
Talent that can be hard to detect
More a crouch than standing erect
Just the choice of words, in effect
Some of which just do not belong
Like one taking tricks in Mahjong
All when living deep inside a shell
The body gazed through the bar,
Regarding how rivals dashed from far—
Tears rolled down my cheek;
Because I've not once taken the risk,
Locking up in a stir.
My mind stood before the rim,
Grilling the part gazing from the dim—
Why couldn't elude from the plot,
When the omen says you have to desert?
See! Now staying inside a gloomy room.
Hah! What've done to folk?
Why they don't want the crow of my cock?
Verily! Verily! The judgement is near—
For who hate but I call my dear;
For this, you're already on the clock.
Locked inside a summer dream that never ends
I am a breathing tree, a pushing flower, a seedling
Hemmed in by a sun that shines and never spends,
I am a rose in a garden, filled with mystical healing
Enfolded in the hour I am a sunny season of joy
laughing, giggling, scintillating, playing with the wind
Concealed with beauty that never ends nor deploys
I am June, July and August, rushing in without rescind
Immersed in the scent of sweet mulched fruits
I am an apple in the orchard of crimson cherry red
Soused in heat I dip into pacific waters find my route
I am all the things you can imagine in your head
Locked inside a summer dream that never ends,
I am hemmed by a sun that shines and never spends .
"I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart) I am never without it..." E.E. Cummings
My heart's ultrasound check - your heart, would find inside.
Eternal love for you - my ticker will abide.
Things one cannot resist - gravity, the moon's pull,
Alone, I say goodbye - my solo heart feels full.
sometimes I feel like a two way mirror,
people look at me and I look at them,
with that hint of recognition,
do I know you, my friend?
And they'll say, "I've known you my whole life"
the truth concise, and said so nice,
it almost made me want to believe,
and so we go on playing pretend,
that friends we are and friends we've been,
but plainly put it is to see,
that look on you when you see me,
inside I twist unrecognizably,
But on I go playing the part,
for friends I have to share my heart,
I won't, but it's nice to know, you know,
sometimes you're a little less miserable,
so thank you friend for seeing me,
and possibly deceiving me,
I'm glad we've had our little rendezvous,
but I'm getting so sick of trying to be you
A country like no other,
Our citizens are like brothers.
Our country anthem,
Has made so many come.
Bring us your lost,
We will help them at no cost.
Bring your extended family,
You will all live happily.
My country tis for thee,
And all those in need.
The Oklahoma red dirt,
Is yours to convert.
Come join us in our country,
You won’t regret it, trust me.
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