That summer of 1969 in Venice still resonates within me...
A Slovak boy, Mario, and an Italian girl, Laura – fourteen and thirteen years old.
She had long chestnut hair and captivating eyes…
We sat on a bank by a bridge in the evening,
while illuminated boats floating on the lagoon.
The song Sotto le stelle, Beneath the Stars, played from a nearby bar.
I listened with amazement to that melodic speech, watching her charming gestures.
I didn't understand a word, yet I felt a blissful warmth in my heart...
Suddenly, heavy rain began to fall; Laura gave me a quick kiss on the cheek
and vanished under the arcade of a weathered building.
Just then, a shooting star fell...
I have carried the imprint of her lips in my heart all my life.
If Romeo and Juliet could meet
And mate enmasque a thousand years ago,
Then our short period of trick and treat
Could generate a love none would outgrow.
For we hid not behind a frightened mask,
Nor sought protection cleverly disguised;
With eager joy we warmed up to the task
And found ourselves most pleasantly surprised.
Discovery and moonlit interlude
Replaced by coffee bars and taxi rides;
No balcony to climb, no attitude
To change, our long-developed love abides.
The Bard wrote “star-crossed lovers” with his pen,
But we are not; let’s do it all again!
As men, disguised oak trees, detach,
The snow clings to the roots of fire.
Flicker of white, a battle match,
As men, disguised oak trees, detach.
A rooftop Juliet of thatch.
The lyric flakes - a soothing lyre.
As men, disguised oak trees, detach,
The snow clings to the roots of fire.
Where is my Juliet?
Romeo thinks about you all the time
I think on the time I climbed to your balcony
Our eyes met for the first time
Conversational into the kiss
I knew then that I was your Romeo and you were my Juliet
That very night we broke out in passion
The Moon was full and the stars glistened in delight
Kisses were enchanted
True love is no fairytale as it is the true heart of romance
It still beats for you Juliet
I know it’s been a long time
Time accelerated
You moved on within the colony
My life turned into a different direction
Your image always be my selection
I hear your voice in whispers in my ear
I dream of your lips against mine once again
Romeo needs your love
You are all I think of
Next to paying my Rent
Search for me my true love Juliet
I will never stop looking for you
I am walking alone in my own horizon
Sunsets seems far and long
My heart beats for your rhythm
My inner soul wants your embrace
Juliet, I will never stop loving you
Interim honest
Let the name of Romeo and Julie reign once more
My heart will never go away as it is nothing but fondness
Oh Juliet.
They wonder why I don't write about love
Love is hard to describe cause it came from above
God loves us and we should love Him back
He forgives us of all our sins we can't keep track
Don't know what this did to us human beings
We don't love each other like we love earthly things
Feeling like Tupac he did speak truth
Thinkin 'bout getting on a beat from Charlie Puth
Men do really love they might even sweat
They living like Romeo finding their Juliet
Might even drink poison to follow the heartbeat
And come back to life and do it all on repeat
Hope Juliet faithful when Romeo not around
Not when he goes away then she goes out of bound
Might throw this away right after I'm done
Papa Romeo finna put on my head a gun
Life
for the living
Time
for the dead
Prescience
betrothing
Knowledge
— unwed
(The New Room: March, 2026)
Anthropology studies human societies,
human culture, humankind, human us.
You were the anthropologist that sifted through
the baubles of life I mired in the fissures
of the way I spoke impedimented English.
But you were my diction that weaved between
the w’s I mispronounced and the ph’s I forgot to shape.
I reached for the dove's excalibur to accept that you, my love,
have bewitched the melody against the carnage that consumed
all my adoration for you, only to be transfixed
by the Black Excalibur in your virgin hands.
And I had to relearn how to survive, how to stand,
resurrected from being a cold, dead man.
I am the Romeo that breathed first.
In the doomed book I refused the poison.
And you married Count Paris.
Our doom painted blue and red on human society.
Now the anthropologist observes purple remains
stained on the ink of dirty historical papers.
Under your balcony
I sing for you an aria
and hereby do profess my love to you
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
Romeo and Juliet were fiction
as if that's not enough
her balcony in Verona
originally a medieval sarcophagus
no more than a tourist attraction
may also have been a water trough
and the Dal Capello family building
where he posed 'through yonder window?'
'but soft' and completely off-the-cuff
to which it's now attached
was once a 13th-century inn
but as stories go really quite unmatched
With apologies to William Shakespeare
Juliet,
Just thirteen, yet
Had a go
With Romeo
From Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Love is not won by conquest,
But by love.
If you really love someone
Don't force her
To go against her nature.
It's by far a disaster.
Don't wait her speak first,
When she's most helpless.
She will be moved by compassion,
And anger later.
He who initiates love most
Receives the love he deserve.
Love shared by two
In war and peace,
Is the most epic of all
Ever written in a love story.
The love that knows no boundary set by clan;
The clans that know no love except for war;
The flower that dares to bloom, but never can;
This then the story Shakespeare told, in core.
And what the nature of a petty feud?
Where pride replaces peaceful, prosperous life;
Where little things as mountains are construed,
And things far greater die within its strife.
How might a lesser quill have writ the tale?
One family good, the other dripping ill;
The timeless lie, the righteous must prevail;
And happiness the final act to fill.
But not these things, you had much more to say:
And that is why we think of you today.
‘Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?‘
(Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2)
By Shakespeare
that night they were to meet
but Romeo got cold feet
on Valentines Day
he went away
Romeo was afraid to commit
because he would have to submit
her sweet exterior
hid her real demeanor
she passed herself as shy and sweet
but he knew he would take a back seat
so, he sent her a short letter
saying “I’m outta here!”
Loving you
with all my heart
the distance creeping in
With each tryst
creating space
your vision growing thin
The more I try
to hold you close
the more you slip away
Until I’m left
alone again
— in passion’s yesterday
(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)
Star-Crossed Cat Love
A domestic Manx, hopes torn stream and tossed
Pines and purrs for a stray cat so very lost
Their souls ache with delight
Through the screen door at night
A true love forbidden at a heartbreaking cost
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