He stood tall and strong
A rock where someone could rest
A place of solace and contemplation
After a lengthy, trying test
...then, he fell
She was absolutely perfect
The picture of peace and shelter
Circumstances rose and fell
At the fire of God that seemed to melt her
...then, she fell
A leader that commanded attention
When he walked in any room
He balanced politics and religion
Like a weaver handles the loom
...then, he was no more
An inspiration to all in a world of despair
She brought food, clothing, shelter to the poor
She loved on orphan children and vagrants
Like Jesus, opening giant ornate doors
...then, she was no more
Funny how TRUTH ruins everything in her wake
The uncovering of what was held dear
Shows the worshiper that isolation
Is that best way to hold fear, near
...until, we are all human
Written by Trudy Schrader on 09-02-2026.3
We can build an orrery
Yet turn the sky into a junkyard
We're abecedarian, quirky contrarian
Stare decisis from cosmic ovarian
Subaltern, suborbital
Small steps on the heavenly stairway
Pedestrian stardust walking around
Tariffing penguins to tear up the ground
But the stairway is spiral
And it's spiraling down
No escape from the gravity
Found all around
Eyes searching the cosmos
For myopic bliss
In a fallacy galaxy
Far from star-kissed
We're worst when we're first
At least in our mind
Quoting chapter and verse
From each tract that we find
On the ground underneath us
That shifts with each step
Tract's gotten infected
Yet onward we schlep
Each bearing the burden
Of truth stumbled across
When we can patch the thatch
On the roof that we've lost
In that storm of ideas
That threatened the shelter
We've built for ourselves
Unstable ideas full on the shelves
We've forgotten to look
For the beauty inside
While we're gathering dust
From under our feet
Instead of uncovering
What's come from above
While planting our hopes
In the promise of love
The Call of the Sea
The ship breathes lightly,
pushing with a sway,
away from the dock
to glide towards the call
of the seas and a watery ease.
The ship slips across a
shimmering polished body,
waiting to be clutched by
wind, wave and welcome
folding into a blue, muscular rhythm
surging, urging towards distant lands, distant sands.
The sea patterns and pulses,
whispering secrets from its depths,
“What you can’t see is what you don’t know!”
Then for hours, the ship is gritted with determination
shuddering, stretching, straining its low bow
in search of a hidden horizon
but, instead, uncovering a punch of a storm.
In time, night follows surreptitiously
in the vessel’s wandering wake
painting a thin, watery darkness
while the storm’s aggressive beauty…. drifts,
leaving lightning behind to scratch the heavens;
offering a brief pathway of light.
The ship, with a sense of swagger,
a lilt of shashay….rhythms onwards.
Ian Souter
Lowered shades
on searching eyes
blue sky greyed
by clouded mind
reliving segment
uncurved by life
fleeting joy
of passerby smile
immersing self
in pool of regrets
tears undried
words unsaid
waves of mind
resurfacing rancor
memory fragments
not circled by time
grace blown ashes
uncovering fire
wiping tears dry
warming heart's ice
igniting soul
to reflect God's light
pulling ego reins
from past to now
on saddle of present
Spirit guided
chiming joy
of unfolding life
rainbow of flowers
birds' new arrival
heart overflowing
sweetness of pardon
obsession with past
like dew in the sky
soul and body
in unison
magnetized
spinning around
truth
of cycling life
with hope of ice tears
sparkling to smiles
Ninth Place Winner- Brian Stand: Premiere Contest 1475-5/26/26
obsessive mind is wit seeping in need
fills gaps with missing pieces external
desperation not love, pleading to seed
gardens to harvest fruits' tasty kernel
fragments illusive prideful love or work
person paints rigours as necessity
grips grey matter, unrealistic cork
attraction clutch mind, a complexity
balanced stability rests hovering
realism swallowed by clawing shadow
higher self cringing waits uncovering
delusions or compulsions dance backflow
urges or repeated thoughts lead to naught
heartfelt spirit will not rest till peace sought
In the age of AI,
I am uncovering myself.
Trying to find my authentic voice.
It feels hidden behind a mask of falsehood.
All people want is a voice that is perfect,
here I am looking for my own voice,
my own words.
Yet lost in a hollow,
lost behind a wall of blank noise.
A static so loud it blocks my authentic self.
A voice screaming out to be heard,
yet,
falling on deaf ears.
In the age of AI,
I find myself lost.
Lost behind things that don’t fit,
appearing real.
I stand here looking in a mirror
Yet,
I am fading into obscurity.
To see the world just as I wish, it is,
To feel the breath pass through a quiet chest,
To wake from dreams and find the morning bliss,
And let the weary, rushing spirit rest.
The sunlight strikes the dusty window pane,
Uncovering a world of simple light,
Without the urge to measure, sort, or strain,
Just viewing all things, in the moment, right.
No shadow lasts, yet every shadow shows
A hidden beauty in the structured day,
A deeper joy that only presence knows,
As scattered thoughts begin to melt away.
Awareness wakes, not sudden, nor with noise,
But gently claims a calm, enduring poise.
The flower is there, but not the flower's design
until I sing its petals like the sun:
the nectar trembling in the flower’s throat
is sweetened by the trembling of this string,
which links the purple voices carved from silence
along one single curve from then to then,
which is the flower’s design.
The flower’s design is what the flower is for:
it grows to fit itself to what I sing
and finds itself for once forever whole,
since in my song its bloom and bud are one,
moving in harmony.
These melodies hold nothing but its life.
The flower’s design is what the flower is.
These cypresses and poplars have a motion,
a gesture, and a speech no wind instils:
my song reveals them as a kind of rhythm,
a flexing of their being, which is joy,
a dance existing only in my music,
as do the sky, the mountains, and the sea.
My songs are to the light as light to darkness,
uncovering the dreams enwrapped in day.
Without them, all our vision sees is blindness,
and all our utterance announces death.
-------------------------------------------------------
You glowed bright in my eyes that night,
Not a tear, not a doubt in sight.
Winter crept colder, quietly teasing,
Yet I learned to live with its ache -
Even as trees dried, I kept flying.
My soul knows life’s silent games
And its carefully hidden wonders.
Still, my heart leaves no trace of hope,
Beating to its own uneven rhythm,
As though seasons no longer existed.
As they say, nothing is permanent.
The love of my life slipped away,
Leaving behind an apology letter.
I froze though it was summer -
Trees stood healthy while I withered.
I was not alone, only drowning,
To my diary, line by line, clinging.
The warm sun tapped my shoulder,
Uncovering buried wonders
Blooming across forgotten seasons.
Now I walk forward holding love
Smiling with summer,
Singing with spring, running with rain,
Walking beside winter,
Turning rejection into wonder.
Brightening my mood,
With the colors I used,
They fill me like food,
Changing my attitude.
Gratitude is spilling in,
Filling in the spaces,
While my brain chases thoughts,
Paint stains a cloth.
The picture it brought,
Taught me what I know,
I fought hard to grow,
Leaning into the shadow.
Seeing the embers glow,
Smoldering in the sorrow,
I blow through another color,
Uncovering more mistakes.
Taking me deeper,
Awakening the sleeper,
The keeper of secrets,
Making me see clearer.
Appearing before me,
A new energy,
An image of an entity,
Peeking out a sea of detail.
Becoming part of the tale,
The story i tell,
Well into the future,
Suturing a wound,
A stitch attuned to the soul,
The colors now healing the whole.
What should I write about today it's all the same
Always on repeat the days
Soon the tape will run out or break
How does what you do today Change the out come of yesterday
Gaining the strength to stand on your own two feet can take you there
Writing down visions and thoughts can guide you on
Letting the ones you love finally see you can change a course
Fighting through the depression the negative thoughts can set you free
In this world of so much repeat
You can break the cycle
Seeing past what scares you the most will take you home
It's an adventure a treasure hunt to discover what you still hide
Uncovering the past recognizing your faults cutting your demons down.
We let you see at the end of the journey is a destination not to filtered not to be imagine
It's the reality that all of us have the same fears and insercuties but if you let that in life will always be darker. We all have the light within to see us through
To the very end . The question is when will you see the answer you need
Where am I?
Am I in the sky
Or in the ground
Certainly not, this, walking ‘round
Only dust left when gone
No such circuitry can perceive
The beauty of dawn
Or the glooming of eve
When the dust settles
Where have I gone
The dew upon the petals
Faerie Circles on the lawn
Something stirs in between
And remains for us, unseen
Not, will ever be found here
All here is dust, that much is clear
This place seems a shadow from high above
And no, I’m not going to say a place of love
Love keeps us happy to continue the charade
While somewhere something-
Plays with what it’s made
Did it count on us making the best of it
Enjoying each sunrise and its benefit
Discovering art, taking the world apart
Uncovering science
While it marveled our defiance
To not just be rats in its cage
But to evolve into cultures
That foresaw their futures
Still using wisdom as a workaround
And ingenuity to make life here more sound
Though I sometimes still wonder where I really am
Sometimes I don’t really think I give a damn
As long as I’m happy in this short dream
I’ll rave and I’ll laugh till I run out of steam
Leaves are starting to fall to address the mother earth,
While flowers are stacking in tombs with steady increase in warmth
The sounds of chirping birds are the remainders of approaching dawn
As the stars will start to fade uncovering the beauty of daylight
Are the proofs of wonderful day, in summers of mid May.
Began chatting, then as talking.
Talking, to safe haven.
Safe haven, to unfolding the dark tucked away.
Unfolding, to sharing years of distant memories.
Sharing, to unloading your internal warehouse.
Unloading, to tears flowing.
Tears flowing, words stinging.
Words stinging, airway burning.
Relief, haunting at bay for a passing moment.
Healing slowly, piece by piece.
Uncovering layer by layer.
Tear by tear.
One hour used to feel endless, now one hour feels like minutes.
Like meeting a friend, you felt you always knew. All the masks fall, no more camouflage, no more sabotage.
Just healing, growing and learning.
Such a sensitive soothing sound,
As the words float around,
My thoughts are bound,
To what I've found,
A profound state of bliss,
As I witness it all unfold,
Uncovering the gold in silence,
The power in presence,
As my essence flows through reality,
Affecting all I see,
Knowing it's a reflection of me,
A river of energy,
Flowing through entities,
Words creating realities,
Bound by gravity,
It's s everything you see,
A symphony of sound,
Always floating around,
Creating this world I found.
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