Prison life Tragic stories are common, I’m in a parallel Prison By Peter M. Dunne universe, ...Lights on. Noise. Waking. Sweating.

Where life is smothered in dirt. Freezing. Coughing. Alone in a crowd By Michael Lanning Earth consists of bullet scarred cement Spitting. Washing. Radio. Reading. Heading He’s not anyone walls, out. Moving. Morning chow. Not even another someone And stars assassinated by halogen bulbs. Noise. Cold slop. Dirty tray. Noise. He hides behind a crowd. Bright eyes dissolve until there’s nothing left, Cockroach. Stale bread. Noise. His voice never becomes loud. Just regrets. Heading out. Moving. Sitting. Waiting. Noise. Born with a bad heart, Hence, I live in the abyss, Programs. Work. School. He was kept apart. Surrounded by razor topped electric fences, Noise. Sitting. Waiting. Anxiety. Anger. From those who run and play Senseless guards, armed with semi- Depression. Noise. Heading out. Having fun throughout the day automatic deadly weapons. Moving. Afternoon chow. Noise. Cold He stayed in the house My strange existence. biscuit. Dirty cup. Noise. Female Quiet as a mouse Officer. Breasts. Ass. Silence. Rotten apple. A good little boy If Prison Takes Me Away Noise. Heading out. Moving. Who played with his favorite toy. By Russell Dunn Yard. Weights. Rust. Cold metal. Silence. From the beginning If prison takes me away would you run or Plotting. Cutting. Bleeding. He has kept silent would you stay? Silence. Baton. Handcuffs. Sergeant. Nurse. While others are sinning Will our world continue to stay blue or Silence. Noise. Weights. In a prison that’s violent. suddenly turn gray? Rust. Cold metal. Heading out. Moving. It kept him safe, Will you atleast come visit or write me once Noise. Radio. Reading. Noise. In this bizarre place. a week? Or will you forget about the magic Shower. Freezing. Scalding. Noise. Sitting. He is no one, nights we shared between the sheets? Waiting. Mail call. No mail. Yet he sees everyone I know that you’d never leave me behind. Anxiety. Anger. Depression. Noise. Heading It’s not just what he’s becomes But if the cops come and we lose out. Moving. Evening chow. It’s what he’s always done. everything, would you continue to stay by Noise. Cold spaghetti. Burnt Patty. Dirty

my side? spoon. Noise. Crash. Silence. A Song of Freedom By Chad Frank Would you forget about the happy times and Melted sherbert. Baton. Handcuffs. I watched only remember the bad? Sergeant. No nurse. Silence. Noise. Bird on barbed wire Start some phony argument to find a reason Heading out. Moving. Waiting. Sitting. Noise. Sing a song of freedom to be mad? Programs. Work. School. Then escape into open sky. Would you ride like a true Queen and stay Noise. Sitting. Waiting. Arguing. Fighting. I sighed. focused on our plan? Or talk about my past Anxiety. Anger. Depression.

cause you want another man? Noise. Heading out. Moving. Lock in. Sitting. Parallel Existence By Jonathan Escalera If prison takes me away, would you Noise. Radio. Reading. Everyday waking up in a cold place, no disappear like all those fake friends? Do Washing. Noise. Writing. Noise. Writing. place, something you would never do cause you’re Noise. Writing. Smiling. Just a name and number. running low on end? Noise. Writing. Laughing. Noise. Writing. As hunger pains rumble in my soul, I think Would you blame it on me for leaving you or Crying. Noise. Writing. I’m going under. would you pray that we both make it and Writing. Writing. Noise. Yawning. Lights out. Yes, minor blunders will rip you asunder. want me to believe in you? Noise. Silence. Silence. Between the tension on the yard, If prison takes me away, I’ll miss that smile Relaxing. Silence. Thinking. Thinking. To these punk ass pigs faking like they’re and those beautiful eyes. Relaxing. Silence. Imagining. hard, Pray to God to keep you strong and turn Yawning. Relaxing. Sleeping. Dreaming. Are you really going to question why I’m self your words to lies. Stirring. Waking. Sleeping. medicating? I know you. You’ll be hurt and missing me, Dreaming. Dreaming. Dreaming... Wasting a mind is a terrible thing, But I can’t but will you feel my pain? seem to find my way. If prison takes me away, I’ll think of you all Prison Suits Me By LeRoy Sodorff Day after day, demons are urging me to lay the time and hope that when I return back A wrinkle in the fabric the yard down with a banger. home, On the table again Anger can’t describe it, fight it, life is a daily I can still call you mine. A pattern laid out battle fighting under tyrants. Sewed up and hemmed in Silence is solace in a world where the Ruffled around the edges flawless get demolished. And in the buff In a box I exist, but that’s it. Pinned and needled And if he listens...well, at least “hear” himself Can someone please help me… Now off the cuff close enough, then he’d recognize that even Dressed down the very language he speaks is all “prison If These Walls Could Talk With sadness as a cloak talk”, daytime gossip, blabbering about By Ernest Medina Then a change to suit commissary, channel check, chow hall…”I If these walls could talk, I wonder what Like common folk got a case.” would they say. This new change in duds But he doesn’t want to hear about the Would they speak of the tears, the fears, An endeavor to enhance relevance of his prison condition, how the and the years gone by? Huffs and puffs consequences of his actions had made him Measured in pants exactly what he is: A prisoner. One within If these walls could talk, I wonder what Buttoned up his own mindless perception, mentally would they say. Tied one on subdued and shackled behind cold steel Would they speak of the dreams, the Then out of my comfort zone bars, cinder blocks and razor wire of screams, and the nightmares they’ve seen? To greet the dawn incarceration. Did someone say, “Rack time” or “Lock If these walls could talk, I wonder what Caged Bird By Tiser Turner down”? Count time, perhaps? would they say. I fathom why the caged bird sings. But seriously, John Doe, you’re dead, and Would they speak of the hope, the joy, and I understand why it tweets from its beak. have been stripped of one of the six senses the laughter they’ve heard? I’m that caged bird and now I speak. that you’d probably had never used in the first place, which is obvious that you’d been It is the adversity it took for me to get to this If these walls could talk, I wonder what absent of the rest, for such a very long time. point, the pain that was inflicted throughout would they say. So run, without the means of your legs. Lie history, which tells the tale of my story. It is the loneliness that compels me not to still upon your favorite deathbed, while the Freedom Is Her Name By Isiah Thomas move forward. truth has ultimately silenced your eardrums, Freedom is Her Name The disappointment from mankind’s as you continue not to hear. When you were in my life I housed you bibliography. In my youthful ignorance I didn’t appreciate Raised In The System By Shawn Hunt you I’ve become quite comfortable within these Being suppressed emotionally and now So when you left me I didn’t understand walls, being captured physically. A great love affair slipped through my hands No one can harm me, In a cage of the mind, being in a cell of the body. No one at all. Freedom is Her Name To be liberated from these walls, would free For years I have fought to get you back me from this misery. I’ve become quite comfortable with nothing I have changed my life - this isn’t some net Maya Angelou's interpretation as to why the to do, You’ve made me fall in love from afar caged bird sings rings differently to me, Except make my bed and straighten my This is a fact, freedom… Yet it’s all the same when it comes to being shoes. free from slavery. Freedom is Her Name I do know why the caged bird sings I’ve become quite comfortable to one single Your disappearance has taken me away because… size bunk, From my children and family I’m the caged bird without feathered wings. And an old gray container to store my junk. Causing me to grow up alone and lonely

My inner strength has kept me fighting Deaf John Doe By Clarence Wilson I’ve become quite comfortable to living in my For the day when you come back to me… John Doe seeks ample means to run, cage, though his legs are truly crippled in his mind, Year after year as I gray with age. Freedom is Her Name while the reality of his death lies entirely I’m sure we’ll meet again some day exposed. I’ve become quite comfortable, dreams I Then all will be made right, and He says, “Don’t tell me about prison - I don’t have none. Sweetheart, you will say, want to hear about prison! No plans for the future, “I’m yours for the rest of eternity....” Yet doesn’t he know how his life has been No, not one. impaled, maimed, absorbed with confusion? Pre-Meditation By Leroy Sodorff Confined? Imprisoned? I’ve become quite comfortable, too Awakened in the darkness He eats prison food, smells prison air, wears comfortable indeed. From a slumber sleep prison clothes. I’ve become institutionalized 2

With a presence of mind Underneath the dirts of time A work in progress- with no progress And senses piqued Within a 8-by-8 casket These are mean times, in the meantime Placed in a dark hole, There’s a rhythm to my heartbeat that’s Rolling out of bed For you who loved me enough Faster now than it has ever been Cold feet on the floor To bring flower throughout the years And I speak to my heart in meditation Raising the arms I never forgot your face, The self selfing the self Stretching the care But all you unconditional phonies Try to whisper an apology You're pissing on my grave We are not at war A body set astir Won’t help the flowers grow. The flutter of my breath on my lips tells me Bathing beauty or brawn? That I shaved today Measured steps Joy! Joy! Joy! By Michael A. Anzaldua’ Though I realize that is not wisdom, I should Awaiting the dawn Bars on the window, be less aware of that Birds dancing joyfully just below. Thinking, I am thinking Indulging the reverie Dust mites dancing in the light. And not meditating Yielding to thought Roaches dancing jigs of joy above. (which is failing to meditate) Jangly nerves But for one fragment of a space between And feeling distraught Victim By Luis Buchanan breaths The jury condemned me I am off, I am with, am not alone as I As such, per se Disembarking that train of thought I’m sentenced to life Reprieved of this iteration Abandoning the rail My victim and me And can believe (perhaps, tentatively) Leaving all baggage behind In a sense, have both died That I will be released. I will prevail I didn’t make them suffer I’m just not that cold Freedom’s Call By Archie Smith The Inside Looking Out By Leon Benson Twelve sadist and others I hear it in the air I breath Act I Chose to torture my soul The wind blowing it to me I had the ill pleasure *** Sending echoes of, hope, love and dreams Of witnessing my own demise The judge sits in a chair Things yet to be seen. While I sat in a courtroom As if it’s a throne It whispers in words I read. Of just-us Mighty, Godly, and Fair In books, letters- where I write Vicariously held liable, Man, get the hell on It comes to me day and night I saw and heard the intwined Delusional Egoist It shouts of places and people I know. Laughs and cries As if you’re without sin Loving faces- my home As a hooded shadow A stone in your fist Screaming of a new life Severed my existence Throw it then One without bondage, restrictions or strife. With an axed gavel *** No more darkness- only light. Some say I should pray But why, if I’m cursed It’s voice feeding off my wondering mind. Act II It won’t open my cage Drinking from my hungry heart Then a guilty sentence Nor prolong the hearse And even behind the walls Was recited as gloomy I’ve accepted my fate I can still hear freedom calls. As that of an eulogy, Cause I won’t live a lie But instead it commemorated my life Just feel my pain Untitled By Elisandro Antonio Nava II As an habitual felon People open your opens I close my eyes and search for silence, And saluted the hellish afterlife *** Of the kind heard only in my dreams, To embrace me, Political Times I begin to see a cascade of visions, In disbelief I was watching An unjust system My mind breaking at the seams. My own funeral Vote it just fine Celebration. To make me a victim Lost lovers saying things they never would, In a place with no dimension, Act III I Shall Be Released By Mary Steele I try to force my mouth to say, Yeah, I seen who was there It may be years before anyone sees me What in the past I did not mention. As the pallbearers here at all Carried my defeated body away, My transition is a conceptual art installation To bury me breathing Everything seems to escape my grasp, 3 Prisoner Express 127 Anabel Taylor Hall Ithaca, NY 14853 I question my own vitality, Is broken An illusion of the heart She brushed lightly next to me, In a different way than me And awakens a dormant muscularity. I don’t want to fit in in here I walk in the madness Or out there Serene! Ever loneliness does me keep, I just want to be free Holding to the night, In this place of quiet noise, Have the right to be me Within a quiet dream. As I play in the depths of sleep, Be able to walk through the dark Where emotions are the only toys. Watch the street lights Cold tears, warm blood. Drown out the stars A last voice. Crimson sheets blow in the wind, Feel the cold air I walk my path, Music sways in the echo’s hold, Catch in my throat Crystallizing my choice. Tears form in the crease of eyes, And run a chill up my arms As sorrow inside my dome unfold. While the cars Still nights, Pass by headlights Left in the hands. Desire is wasted on solitariness, Slicing in brilliant arcs Few will know me, When reality itself reveals, Some turning left at the light None will truly understand. I am swallowed up in emptiness, Some speeding straight by And on through the night Of what my exiled heart feels. A home by circumstance, While others slow down Made into a temple. And signal a right Precious sights I can never own, Blessed by a fire, Forgotten as soon as light falls in, A life made simple Gone away like dust wind blown, I love this the best The moon becomes rare, Erased like the forgiven sin. This autonomous restlessness In a long stare, The frosty breathlessness I change to rage, Fogging like a good drag Those who rest are brought to life, Loving the nightmare. Off a cigarette I don’t have Just as if it was yesterday, Coiled excitement Death cheated for a solemn moment, Still nights, Like a trip to the dope man Where does the soul truly lay? Or should I say. Sudden hunger filling me “Steel Nights” Like a broken dam flooding me A cut in scene as I turn on my side, I survive today. With a thoughtless plan A glimpse of the stone wall. To go where the wind blows I begin digging myself back in, Not by faith, To forget everyone I’ve ever known It is too soon to leave it all. But by might, Disappear out the window To living my life Just a transient melting Traveler’s Plight By Geneva Phillips Within steel nights. Into the shadows I have lain with demons Counting stars under And mistaken them for Gods Rural skies far away Social/ Justice Issues The fury of their pounding From fractions city life I have confounded Forgotten and far away Lonely Things By Chad Frank With the beating of my heart Burning bridges Disconnected phone numbers.

Just to stay warm today and gone Letters, returned to sender. ‘Till I fell a Tomorrow without excuses Missing person flyers. p Given or borrowed Empty diners. a Travelling light Thrift stores and shelters. r The traveller’s plight Forgotten memories. t Trade the rest of my life Abandoned cemeteries. The ending becomes the start For a year of new sights. Me. I am f l e

a l n Still Nights By Bruce Feaster The Darkened Heart By Marshall S.Soshy Apart Welcome to my world, I am a soldier, The pieces don’t fit right Where beauty is dark. Who loves the safeness of the darkness, Still trying’ to get right A mist upon the void But fights for the light. Everything around me 4

When he walked through our front door When he could grab a smoke out there Who lives in the Darkest of Dark He did Where all there is, is constant war, All those times he gave me twenty bucks But he never really got a break Among each other. I don’t recall him ever placing a condition on Or a lunch it Or had the time to take a shit The feeling of war, He never demanded I do anything Because the phone never stopped ringing Trying to replace the feelings He never motherfucked me For twenty-two-years That my heart lingers for deeply. He just pulled the trademark fold of his bills And handed one over Sometimes But to no success, He went out to the bar For the heart knows what the heart wants, I had an early intercourse with his duties at And played the Last Good Time Charlie And that is to love and to be loved. his job: But he usually sat in his bedroom at night The phone was always ringing And read every book ever written And yet when it falls in love, People who didn’t understand English And he cooked pork chops in amazing It gets betrayed, always needed directions sauce And falls into despair and hopelessness. “Twelve B, McClaren And he sliced tomatoes; For that is why it turns to war and death, No, He slaughtered them lovingly To try to heal and hide from the pain, Twelve, In mayonnaise and salt and pepper Of rejection and handyness. Twelve, He positively baptized TEE- Orange and yellow bell peppers In extra virgin olive oil The Breadwinner By Sean Dunne WELL- And sometimes All those times he gave me twenty bucks VE, He got out of his depression He had to work for over an hour to get it Yeah, Around 8 o’clock Beleaguered in his office behind bullet proof Yes, And sometimes glass YESS, He sang a capella doo-wop Getting yelled at by understandably angry TEEWELLVE B, people No, B Because BEE I stood outside his bedroom door to listen He was the face of the company that stole BEE!” their car The gate incessantly needed to be opened As the walls were animated Getting motherfucked is how he put it and secured cause By the texture of each tune All those times he sent me packages Motherfuckers The platitudes of common toil And put money on my books Were always trying to sneak in the back Transformed into beatitudes And bailed me out Picketing out front Only the cat and I were witness And paid my fines Assimilating themselves to terrorism To the stage of these tableaus And bought me cigarettes and food Meanwhile Only the cat and I were witness They were motherfucking him C.H.P’s on line one To the stage of these tableaus Blaming him for their evictions Irvine P. D on line three And each line that he sang was an opus to Demanding restitution for the food he stole An irate private property contract client on me from their children’s mouths line two And each phrase was a study in blue Screaming at him Cause drivers are towing cars illegally “How can you live with yourself?” Some guy wants is stuff Until he began to ask himself the same But he ain’t got no ID The People’s Ghetto Trap question An old lady wants her car By Quincy Leon Leonard But she ain’t got no money A junkie running to the pusher man, Massive accident at the 405 and Jeffrey For twenty-two-years they motherfucked him Small dead infant found in a garbage can Driver’s not responding on the radio And each day he came home Two story building people living without “9-8, Do you copy?” With the inexorable transferences water or heat The warehouse in the back was a haunted Of blame Confused hungry children, running the house of fatal wrecks Inuring him to the stark consultations streets It was ghosts Of what might’ve been in once upon a time Rats nibbling on a baby while sleeping in And grease Demonstrated bed And the smell of WD/ 40 By the way he hunched his shoulders Street lady found in a alley dead 5 Prisoner Express 127 Anabel Taylor Hall Ithaca, NY 14853

Welfare mother’s spending their money on Would you give praise to the Hood Soldiers Helpless as a woman on her back dope and wine who died valiantly while still in their prime? We are trained for that, at least, in the end And helping a player to keep his shoes and Or tell the tragedy of a war that exists solely To bear it. Stoically. Well used. caddy shine in their mind? Words are the clarity in my own tale to the Cops getting paid off not to see wrong world Young girls getting turned out on their own GHETTO DO YOU HEAR ME? I, too, would stop talking and break free A gambler is shot for hitting seven too many Dear Ghetto, Yet how can I? When I know we are all times If your voice harmonized with the supposed to 13 year old boys running numbers for dimes wind, what songs would sing? By force or wisdom, stand in the open and A school close down, because very few Would you sing the ballad of young lovers, open them went, in the hood, living wild and free? Or the sad For each other. Young boys and girls was too busy sniffing song of the single mother, selling her wares My sister living for release in that slow coke and getting bent cause she has kids to feed? prison A boy kills his abusive father, while the old Would you sing the gospel of the lady sitting So alive. So abandoned. man nap, in her window, staring up into the sky? Or of “Yeah,” just another routine day in- the devastated mother, asking GOD, why Park Avenue By Muzaffar Khan The people’s ghetto trap. her baby had to die? Silently you stare out at GHETTO DO YOU HEAR ME? This city that never sleeps Going Back By Marshall S. Sosby Dear Ghetto, Listening to the words of my ole man, If you could display the Hood upon 125th street Son! Live your life as best as you can a canvas, what pictures would you reveal? Show your age and never run Would you paint a playground scene of Children run around you, laugh, play and die Let your last resort be the power of a gun children’s smiles as they skate and bike? Or But not always in their sleep Love your woman, give her all due respect, dip your brush in the tears of the kids locked Some will not even know how you But make sure she loves you back. in a closet while their parents get high? Treated their grandfathers If you have kids, son! Always claim, Would you draw the innocent friendship that Take responsibility and give them your vowed that nothing would ever come 119th street name. between? Or the friends’ headstone pictured Be better than me Son, let your family come in the wind of the LIFER, writing this letter, What you did to their fathers first, asking, GHETTO DO YOU HEAR ME? And how you broke their mothers’ hearts Take control of your life, don’t catch my with cruelty curse A Woman’s Blues By Geneva Phillips Each day you bring people that never look He said, I love you son and I won’t steer you That woman is born in ash like a woman in Above their newspapers wrong, the kitchen Then go have at night and snicker about Make me proud of you today, tomorrow, In daydreams our ideas are winged with What they didn’t see even after I’m gone. grave pleasure Back and forth they head home You’re my son, good or bad, In courtrooms we look like fear or poverty Make your family proud of you, son...I wish I Oh the downtrodden, we crouch against the Castles in the sky had walls Where they tell each other that this must be And when life seems bad, and when things And become a sign of the institution what seems What prisons are the Doorways of Life? Hell looks like Not to go your way, No one comes out an embodiment of the Complete with dirty streets and burnt forces I’ll leave you with these words, beautiful And still they snicker, telling each other Don’t give up but try the next day. Years of Trouble That people seem so happy down here To come through invisibly with intricate It’s not so bad Dear Ghetto By Luis Buchanan shadows

Dear Ghetto, Demarcating gradual patterns of dysfunction If it ain’t then how come you don’t If your streets could talk, what Is usually sufficient to silence women who Want to come down here and stories would you tell? would spring up Share our happiness Would you glamorize the Player, the Dope Against the insufficient light, the oppression boy, and the Thug? Or tell of the corruption Those who partially break free Into The Flame By Todd Henry that engraves the fate of our youth on a Into utopian worlds with healing waterfalls slug? Sisters do not belong in boxes Independent of logic trying to make sense of 6 it all Through your eyes I will. Grandmother’s house Escalating problems and alcohol fueled The storeroom in back sat across from their dysfunction My mayday is heard, living room In these times of crime and corruption You help me see ways to grow, When you were inside the store Absolute madness changing chaos and Beyond safe harbors. And I was only in there one time social injustice You couldn’t see what was behind the And another black kid shot in the urban Wherever you are, curtain in back metropolis Broadcasting your mayday, Rarely would you see any employees So I’m expressing my emotions emptying I will come for you. There were hardly any cars out front my mind And nowhere for them to parks anyways Like rivers flowing to the ocean *Mayday is an alteration of the French term It was something akin to the Twilight Zone Of ministers and maniacs in dilapidated m’aidez, which means “help me.” My childish instincts told me many times housing projects There was something going on in the back Where your thoughts don’t move at all I didn’t have a clue as to to what exactly it Broken Beauty By Molly Ledbetter And the heavy weight of your social role was She has such a pretty face starts to fall But at that age I had never heard of the CIA The boys give her a chase Into vortex of man’s expansion And they would they be in Tompkinsville I wonder if they knew Bit poverty remains the same like a moth to Kentucky anyway That inside she’s always blue its flame It was abit more than mere common sense She’s broken down, damaged to the bone Trying to find temporary relief from pain Telling me that there was something Sitting in the corner crying all alone Leading to the habitual escalating existence happening there She only knows one thing into addiction. At that building that sat far from other For many years it’s been the same merchants Her foster home to foster home shuttle Where there was hardly any traffic Shooting Gone Viral By Elizabeth Hayson Has given her many struggles It really stood out it did Waiting for the tank to fill So she picks up the knife But then at the same time it didn’t We watched the man run But not wanting to end her life It has taken a monumental amount of Bare footed bare backed Just a little pain, so what if it’s insane convincing me The road unpaved If she wore a short sleeve shirt About the CIA’s chipping of many American His arms didn’t pump but flailed The faces of the boys would make her hurt families His hands empty, fingers splayed Ugly, freak show, outcast To cause Bruton’s Hardware store to stand His bare back churned sticky terror Their facial expressions and words will last out A fearful stench poisoned the air I wish I could just fly away to a better day Like it does and did But we were saved by vaccinating shots And put the demons at bay Once again can you just imagine if you will But I have to deal with the scars inside and A well-stocked hardware store Pop pop pop out Clean as a whistle The man pitched, titled, tipped So I raise my head, look you in the eye and Separated from the shopping district in town The body does fall in separate motions say That rarely has any business to speak of By fading raising dist, frowny notes hanging I am beautiful without a doubt Next door to an older lady

With a small pet monkey in a cage We stood gaping our blood astonished by Bruton’s Hardware By Billy D. Cates In a town with a population of about 7,500 his The hardware was a mystery within itself With the residents sitting and lying Gasoline wetting our feet Even as a child I noticed something about it Approximately 40 feet away from the Though I could never explain exactly just stockroom Now watch again what it was For many years yes many many years Doing laundry But in retrospect I see all the strangeness If you could only see the store Doing commercials Like they never hardly had any customers Where my Grandma’s house was they have Driving They has all sorts of shiny merchandise since torn down Until we see nothing Sitting out front next to the sidewalk How close they sat in proximity But wasted gasoline However they practically never sold anything You would probably say something like Bicycles and lawn mowers and tillers There was something going on with all this. M’aidez By Kurt Michaels And red wagons and swing sets and

Help me see the truth, wheelbarrows

All the possibilities, It sat immediately across from my 7 Prisoner Express 127 Anabel Taylor Hall Ithaca, NY 14853

Makes Me Wonder/ Oblivious And cried with ebbing pain Found dead in the park By Sean Michael I’ve felt the water in my lungs Is that my baby? Heard they found the body of a boy near the Precipitate is bane Some lady riding a bike tracks I’ve dropped from gibbets lonely arm They all look alike Shot to death And rode in sparky’s chair The street lights were dim. Like the tracks in my arms Scalped with dull and rusty knife Having an alibi It’s life that isn’t fair Can you identify The news is rambling on about some I’ve felt the mace, the club, the sword That’s him! That’s him! famous couple’s split Starvation, burns and plague Is that my baby? And some fashionista bull-shit And too the bombs that rain from Yes! sky I wonder how many people are starving this And nay a death been vague Oil Toil By Msgriffis year I’ve been both drawn and quartered The oil continues it’s leaking And why the rich pay a lower percentage in Poisoned, stabbed and shot Whilst BP continues the sneaking taxes than the poor I’ve died a hundred thousand deaths The lies being told I wonder why the government treats its And never one forgot Verbose and tenfold people like a cheap whore I’ve tasted pain and torture too Like rubbish it’s taken to reeking Fucking them and leaving them to fend for The guillotine to quick themselves There’s nothing like uncertainty Growling and now are immense That comes with mortal sick None of which make any sense Heard they found the body of a runaway It’s life that’s slow and painful They pledge and they swear She was murdered And death the final gift With both here and there And left in an abandoned building I’ve died a hundred thousand When needed is vast recompense deaths Allow me now to drift. The news is rambling on about the Bachelor They woo us with fairies and fables or Bachelorette Mud pumped through underground cables And someone famous checking into rehab Is That My Baby By Jerome Fitzpatrick But crude keeps on flowing again Sirens wail Not stopping or slowing People yell See now the change on our tables Standing in the middle of the street. I wonder why “John Gardner” only served 5 Move the crowd years Red Lobster requires a waiver Crying out loud Then got out and raped and killed two little To sample their new seafood flavor To see who is under the sheet. girls New meaning to shell Is that my baby? And there are people serving life sentences And drinks from the well One night of rendezvous for petty theft It’s SAE 40 you savor Promising to stay true Laws or contradictions? But now look what is done. The film that you see on your shrimp The belly begins to grow The news is rambling on about the traffic Your waiter with cane and a limp How do you know and weather This crude Texas tea Because you was the only one. Clear roads, sunny skies, a lovely day Has set them both free Is that my baby? And the king of the sea is a pimp! Making good grades I wonder how many foster homes are as Got it made messed up as the previous homes Definition of Me By Savannah Shotter The next college star. I wonder how many kids don’t have homes You don’t know me It is reality And how many parents don’t care Nobody really does The police brutality And they wonder why the kid is all fucked up They only know the old me In the backseat of a police car. But that wasn’t who I was Is that my baby? I’m so different from you Fantasy Death By MsGriff Stay away from danger There’s a side you don’t know I’ve died a hundred thousand deaths Don’t talk to strangers You’ve barely reach the surface And this for you to know Be home before dark. You’re not even close The only time I suffer Stalked by the obessed So let me explain Is the time before I go Tore off her dress I’ve danced the morbid dance of death To you my dear 8

I’m tailgates and cold beer What America has given us- liberty And the joy of victory, how great the taste! I am my daddy’s failure, Can’t change the past My mamma’s mistake Nor make it go away I have no worries, or fear of failure, but only I’m the one who always bares But the America’s Justice System Fire Faith! More than she can take. Takes it all back- freedom, Because against this brood of vipers, no I’m my papa’s baby, To have us imprisoned in dismay. other route is safe. My mama’s love. Seeing what America has done for us- So now I sit and watch the light, get brighter She’s looking down on me nothing every day; Watching me from above Forces us to be segregated in poverty And if they come and brings their worst, All I’m a mother Hat causes more debts and pains. I’ll do is pray. Not a good one as you can see But seeing what lies in the hands But I would die for them Of America’s justice System- murder United We Stand By Larry Harris They are the reason that I breathe Is more family tears and blood stains The planes hit the towers with such a mighty I’m alone The past is far gone, sound Even when I’m in a crowd But we are still lost in the distance Without any warning they both fell to the Everyone’s yelling Between the doubts and hopes we hold on ground But I can’t hear a sound to People came together in the terror that we I’m broken and together Stagnated, faced I’m lost and I am found Watching history repeat itself White, Black and brown it didnt matter what I always try to keep We would’ve never made it through the race. My feet on the solid ground Because of how we choose to stop growing. So i guess you thought you knew me We can continue to look back A gunman gone crazy just shooting for the Thought you knew who I really was To know where we’ve been thrill Everyone thinks they do But keep moving forward Walked right in the school, how many But nobody really does. When we know where we’re going. children did he kill? We’re so far away from freedom! People came together helping families torn We’re So Far Away From Freedom apart By Jerome Fitzpatrick In The Hole By Brian Glick White, Black and Brown they all gave from Pain is what we should feel Here I am, in “The Hole” of desolation- their heart When we look back into history The only salt to taste, is from my Seeing how life was so much ado. perspiration. Several deadly tornadoes crossed many Guilty is how we should feel I have no rights or hopes or dreams, but states today Erasing the truth from our memory, only dire straits; Ripping lives apart as they showed their Forgetting what the “people” went through. I have no rights or hopes or dreams, but powerful ways The slavery. only dire straits; People came together rebuilding what they The racism. How lucky to be a citizen, of these United lost The riots. States! White, Black and Brown no matter what it The struggles. cost. The imprisonments. I’ve lost so much I can’t describe; how heavy The yesterdays America says was the toll, Bombs went off as people crossed the finish That no longer exist. Yet even still they grab and take; even line But they do exist! pulling at my soul. Another act of terror, what a cruel and They exist in the todays So now I sit and watch the light, as it gently heartless crime That come from the yesterdays we missed, fades away, People came together in the midst of all he And they will remain in the tomorrows And the tunnel just gets deeper, and darker fear Because of the days we chose not to resist. by the day. White, black and Brown to show that they The days we didn’t get up were here. The days we let up. But one thing’s left that they don’t know, my The days we didn’t stand up. one ace in the hole; Floods across the cities as the waters clear The days we gave up. I can smile at these circumstances, because their path The days we didn’t fight. GOD is in control! Several homeless families that will face the The days we believed Now I’ve found my strength, by Amazing aftermath That we still have equal rights. Grace, People came together in the storms that 9 Prisoner Express 127 Anabel Taylor Hall Ithaca, NY 14853

brought the rain Brief, scintillating, white I would pledge to you the Rose White, Black and Brown we all cried and felt Because a rose is what you need. the pain. A whisper of friction against Its petals to remind you, The soft trailing devolution of That all is never lost. One thing is for sure, we can shout and The chiming of the bells So let your heart be felt as well, proudly say… Beneath her skirts. So silky and so soft. “United we all stand and God bless the An aroma that will entice you, USA” She went on To breath it’s pleasant scent. A whisper of friction against It worries about no other Love A measurement of time that We too should be content. The sun would slant through- The thorns a constant warning,

Beneath her skirts It must be held with care. “A passion for oneself leads to a world of Like people all around, convenience not love” - Jesse Aich The aura of her perfume Treated honestly and fair.

Wafted in behind her like It’s leaves a glossy green, Chasing Love By William Hill A wrestler moving in for With just a touch of pearl. Let’s chase shadows; let’s make the moon A thundering salvo Like it we too are different, dance. Yet belong to the same world. Let’s stay up all night; let’s make a little Let’s not forget its color, She went on romance. We find in shades of red. Eyes huge, her mouth set, I’ve lived this moment in my dreams; I’ve A universal reminder, Barefooted and she was wearing longed for it so many years. That we too have bled. Barbarian hordes of The gentleness of your touch; helps me let So i hope in your mind’s garden, White shirtwaist and black skirt go of my fears. That I’ve planted this seed.

I’ve seen our future; I know what’s meant to So I’m sending you a rose, Ivory tatted collar: be. Because a rose is what you need. Marched directly across the room, You’re meant to chase; to chase the A woman of the world shadows here with me. The Day I Met God By Cleo Michael Pania And her self-possession was Peer into my eyes and you’ll be hooked; you I first saw God unshakable. place your hand in mine. As he urinated into the red river

I will always be with you; we drift through the Enroute to yen bay And then she was gone. maze of time. Vietnam.

Caught in a moment of golden silence; I feel the warmth of you inside. Time By Troy Glover With massive ebony arms and thighs Now you are really mine; as you have Is time an illusion Solid rippled abs, always been in my mind. Or reality? An AK-47 slung over one shoulder, Is love a blessing And a dark unbelievable root Or a malady? Ambient Veranda By Michael Autrey Spewing a steady stream Can a heart be captured She went on Of hot piss! At first sight? The aura of her perfume Wafted in behind her like Can a dream come true I grinned like a hungry fool, The soft light of dusk- At first light? Offering my drooling mouth, Desperately without reason Will the troubled soul A loving sheath for his throbbing tool; Ever be at peace? And I watched in horny awe Will the tormented spirit A whisper of friction against As he smiled at me and stroked ever be release? Deep caverns of the night His swelling manhood into a log Can a risk be taken A dark moil of feathers Beneath her skirts. With out danger? This dark-skinned African amazon Can a person find answers Within a stranger. Nodded towards the nearby woods She went on And strode proudly away The aura of her perfume Without putting his ebon I Pledge the Rose By T. Glover Wafted in behind her like Staff away If I had to make a pledge, Chinese text in French translation- Protruding In action word or deed. 10

Pointing the way As Long As I Have You Your skins becomes wet To paradise. By Tony D. Grandison And all I imagine The world can be such a harsh place Is how you must taste I eagerly followed Leaving you tired, worn and battered Like a submissive sheep If only you were left standing after a trillion Will you allow your thoughts To its welcome slaughter gathered To drip from your tongue None of it would seem to have mattered So I can know how to treat you I fell upon trembling knees As long as I have you Creating your perfect pleasure My quivering lips Mere inches from his dripping If I had a billion friends Grant me a taste of you Quivering organ Who decided to pack their bags and scatter As I give you my emotions I wrapped my nervous hands If the sky was falling and the world came to And swallow you whole Around his immense erect phallus an end Leaving you bare And silently prayed to this None of it would seem to matter Anomalous God. As long as I have you I will teach you how to scream As pleasure consumes you “The Beginning!” If my heart was trampled underneath a I will watch you drown thousand feet As I taste your flesh Left scratched, cracked, and about to shatter Even if it was shredded into a million pieces A taste of you God’s Paint By Porfirio Mendoza None of it would seem to matter Is all that I will ever need Looked out my window, As long as I have you To intoxicate my soul Seen the way God painted, painted the sky And make you whole. Asked if he could paint a picture, paint a Lady Rose By S. Joshua Balistreri picture of love, I break my flesh upon the stones I see your skin, anticipation Picture of love in passion, picture of love in And from my body my life blood flows Wanting me more beauty I beg forgiveness from you still The cool wind of my breath Picture of beauty in love, a love of no deceit And stem the flow I shall not do Making you quiver A love that knows nothing else but how to Unless to heal it be your will love, A taste of you But for this picture…“I” Take my hand and pull me up And the secrets that you hold I can only express the way she would make And lift me from my wounded pose Is a dish I will love me feel, To stop the blood and take the pain Devouring you with satisfaction The way she would feel, whatever she felt I And walk with me into the mists would feel, And be again my Lady Rose All I need And I feel, if you would only paint this Is a single taste picture, Friendship By Akai T, McRee-Tran A single drop A picture of awe, picture of sight, a picture of As lovers carve their initials on the And a moment within you. calm Heart of a tree does our friendship intertwine Picture in peace, as wild The Relativity of Sorrows By Yang Marni Whatever it takes’ paint a picture for keep’s, Vines interloop together….we can only grow When a life has learnt too well Picture for keep’s, I picture her for keeps stronger, For its years Looked out my window, As a seedling is put in a pot to becomes a Of the dust and ashes of things Seen the way God painted, painted the Sky, beautiful Of the cruelty of lust and the fragility of love Asked if he could paint a picture, Flower as does our walk through life we can He painted some “I’s”, painted some “loves”, become When the innocence of trust painted some “you’s” One as does two different seeds join Learns how great Painted some violets, painted some blue’s together to Is the misery of human passions Said he painted the world Becomes one true loving tree. Then begins a journey of a thousand tears And for me, Lost soul!

He painted you. And the immortal malice of days A Taste of You By Bruce Feaster As time passes unheeded Dripping from my touch 11 Prisoner Express 127 Anabel Taylor Hall Ithaca, NY 14853

And threadbare dreams And glittering flecks of gold Murmuring like an empty shell What comes from your soul? Inside her a churning stormy sea Of the sea and of the waves The twisted thoughts of your mind. How can a stormy sea one hold Evil in your heart, Charm her heart I wish I could When bud and blossom, leaf and fruit I see your imperfections, My words minced meat upon my tongue Are made to perish in its barren breast Only to want more. Chopped by butcher’s knives on the block of And no safe haven can be found I imbibe in your song, wood To place its tears Which is alive. My tongue is torn from my mouth And from the hole that’s left blood spills When hungry hope eats itself Imperfections of truth, And pours out in a rush from bleeding heart And anneals the limbs and the heart You pick up all that is wrong, Until the beating of which stills Which cannot seek abeyance And hold yourself open to me. How I long to hold her close and touch In such a grieving ravenous sea. The softness of her supple skin Crazy, the addiction, The finest silks and satins made Addicted to Imperfections- Song Poem As I crave to know you, Yet how I know not to begin By Bruce Feaster Never wanting you to change. In her eyes I search for signs Tainted attraction, But what with me a wretch she’d want And in that thought my answer lies I see the flaws you hold, Be imperfect for me, I knew it when that dress I saw And I become spellbound, So that I can find you. She never could be mine. Addicted to imperfections.

Be imperfect for me, Beautifully Stained By Bruce Feaster Strange we are strangers, To feed my desires. I looked within my heart Meeting so unexpectedly. And what I’ve seen frightens me Our paths crossing, Be imperfect, I am forever stained. A new journey begins. If only to love me the wrong way

Tainted! Your so unusual, Tainted attraction! My heart beats irregular, As imperfect as the soul Addicted to imperfections! And my blood contains its traces. I long to love you,

And become addicted. Dei Supercilious By Yang Marni Beautifully stained! O arrogant heart! I see my heart as its own truth, Talking of truth, That the world should lie dormant Hidden deep within. I pull you closer In your cocoon

Knowing you cannot lie, And tempestuous storms Watching my stain, Because of imperfections, Should calm their fevered throes On my still beating heart, you reveal yourself to me. For your passing I realize who I am. Your body a sand-glass

Tainted attraction, As though time, in its infinite wisdom Stained and flawed, I see the flows you hold, Would stop for you, My journey screams of pain And become spellbound, Perhaps pause for a moment And whispers of hope. Addicted to imperfection. To consider your worth That you might loom larger in its eye Never has anyone known you, Than all of heaven’s fems Beautifully stained! As you feared to be imperfect. And your song drowns all the anthems My choices characterize me, Hidden under a mask, Of the morning stars. And I am always hard pressed. You show the world perfection The Red Dress By S. Joshua Balistreri Hoping the pressure creates a diamond, Time allows us to grow, She comes to me in a dress of red I write down my thoughts And your fears die. Though the dress I do not see And my stain grows deeper. Wanting your imperfections, All that i see is so much more You removed your mask, Beauty in her eyes of green In it’s depths, So that I can see you. Like jade they shimmer pail in light Secrets unfold malformed, Or formed by the malice of my thoughts. 12

Your soft caress Yet each “Leah” I penned craved more Beautifully stained! This damn picture taunts me Offering the only moisture I look through a small window, It makes me mad Available, visible, even conceivable And my eyes are blurry. By showing me all While lost amidst this desert of hopes That i once had. deserted. Seeing only fragments of my heart, Each drop of your name This stain becomes a part of me, Enlightenment By Yang Marni Veritable waterfall, Reflected in my vision. Where the mind is without fear and the head Befouled but still strangely satisfying. is held high An ebda-laced The windows to my soul closes, Where knowledge is free (or at least e.coli-choked) As this stain creeps within, Where the world has not been broken up Mountain stream in flood season Reflecting me. into fragments Within and infinity Beautifully stained! By narrow walls, Within and infinity My heart beat slows, Where words come out from the depths of Leaving me momentarily sated To disguise my only truth. truth; (and thus addicted) Where tireless striving stretches its arms The only reminder of life-sustaining fluid But ultimately Hidden in my stain toward perfection Inevitably Is the faith that I’ve lost, Where the clear stream of reason has not Painful and debasing But this stain has provided for me. lost its way Maybe eventually heart-bleeding-from- Into the dreary desert sands of ignorance Where the mind is led forward into ever- every-orifice Like an invisible friend, widening Deadly. This stain is beautiful Thought and action And the only part of me that’s real. Into that heaven of freedom, let my mind Wanting to Sin With You

awake. By Bruce Feaster

Wanting to sin with you, I approach in

space. In a Picture By Ronin Wolf Leah, Leah, Leah With a universe between us; This damn picture taunts me By Alexander Mahon-Haft And void to replace. It makes me mad During “group therapy” today I see the tears on your face. Buy showing me all I jotted your name 352 times on a single Your past was the frozen cold of Hell, That I once had. handout And you fell. I mocks me with As I daydreamed through class The wounds on your heart had a story to tell. A silent voice Itself a bog of morose mountains, eternal But I hear the words confusion clouds As did mine, “You made the choice.” Languid landscape So let us find There’s the body Veritable desert of hopes abandoned. In the similarities of our misuse I use to hold Theoretically, I aimed to cover A divine sign The warmth at night All the “negative space” That we are meant to sin together. To chase away the cold. On our therapeutic worksheet Your broken laugh is a relief to the lies I am There’s the lips But I settled for the practical version told That I once kiss Drowning in your “Leah” As you tame a beast There is the smile Every inch of margin or white space Without knowing he had a lost soul. I mostly miss. As the two are not the same We dip off in the shallow waters and Your nose, your eyes Filling all my negative space a Herculean crashing waves Your ears, your hair pipe dream. Our bodies misbehave I can see but can’t touch it’s just not fair. Every burst of Leah In the urging of oraves Can’t hear your voice A scorpion sting with a cactus needle Long forgotten in the days. Your girlish laugh. Dusted with rock salt, chased with lime juice Can’t smell your scent A mainline tequila shot, painful After your bath. Kissing in emotions so rampant But offering only the shadow of a buzz Can’t feel your hands We can’t vent. Highlight the hangover Upon my chest The waters evaporating, spent! Amplify the neurological damage Can’t feel your love From the flames lying dormant. 13 Prisoner Express 127 Anabel Taylor Hall Ithaca, NY 14853

Unable to halt the spinning world we away close, when you could hear created. Let it rot The sound of their voice The sun is pulled towards us Watch it decay. Saying to you In our lust Turn back to dust and Oh how much, they love That is overheated blow away. you The angel and the demon Till nothing remains Remember me Both fearing to open wings No evidence Think of the time Sinning, as we caress further That we were here When you were mine In the tides of being. Taking space Forgotten memories and a lost faith, Just my memories Beloved By Yang Marni We love in haste Of your face You’ll know I’m gone Treasuring the sweet taste The sound of your voice By the blackbird’s angry tears With no time to waste Echo’s like the trace You’ll know You open your waist. Of your scent By the chill wind’s mournful song Sin, in the existence of love and pain. You’ve left behind Rain falling down as a sign that When you were mine. You’ll know I’ve slipped away We’ve been slain By the flutter of ravens taking flight Given to the forbidden nature that drives us I wish I could burn On their way to somewhere better We touch. You from my mind Like lingering footprints in tall grass Not enough but too much Play it all back, let it unwind And we burst into flames. The way you laughed You’ll remember me Wanting to sin with you That special smile In the shadows that lay softly on the I never knew You just gave me, when pavement That life could be strange and new you were wild In the decaying memory of the past Like dew Just let it go That lies wrapped in the mantle of dusk’s On grass my tongue allows you to Make it go away violet cloak Forget the past you knew Instead it stays Whispers on your hill In my mind You’ll see my face Made you feel I think of it In the drifting clouds Like I was killing you. From time to A silent testament Only my words were the haven you never time To the passage of time and seasons been to Of when you were mine Wanting to sin with you, I take you apart When you were mine When autumn leaves fall, defeated Leaving only your heart I could behave To the unforgiving ground So that we can be in the dark I didn’t rush, on to my grave You’ll hear me Opening to the sin I could laugh In a world turned silent by the snow we are ready to commit. Knew how to smile

How to be The rains steady whisper Legacy By Yang Marni kind, and all the while Might be my voice Grow strong, my love I could sit And the bare branch scratching at the That you may stand And just relax window Unshaken when I fall, that i may know Take a deep breath In winter’s grey slumber The shattered fragments of my song will I had style come But that’s all gone A wistful sigh just beneath the wind At last to finer melody in you Gone with the time Speaking softly to remind you That i may tell my heart that you begin When you were mine I’ve shut the door Where passing I leave off, and fathom more. I’m here no more. So if you hear

When you were mine These words of mine Haunted Love By Bruce Feaster By S. Joshua Balistreri I hope you think, back on a time Poisoned by your touch All I want is out. When you were in love I seek a non-existent cure Need to find a way With someone dear As I lie to myself Everything we’ve built, leave it and walk You held them That you are not the one 14

Which still courses through my veins Can we pretend? Play disillusioned? Ill, I lie awake I’ll be content to live in the shadows of what Watching you through my soul Is it vain to love we were Fearing my own self In the haunting of pleasure Beneath dark clouds awaiting rain knowing that you are killing me Try as I might, it will never rinse away This is my vision. The strains imbedded deep within. Dark nights! A valiant, but half hearted measure We love so strongly The Fallen Man By Muzaffar Khan And I succumbed to pleasures of the tainted As time becomes immortal How often have I not given of the richness of flesh And death a longing myself A willing companion to love and watch me To another? die No, my immortal! At night when the silence of darkness But I threw you to the wolves… Death is a dream for fouls whispers, I have With that being said, they were still hungry. Who has never been haunted by love Whispered back. In fact, they were quite ravenous. I have surrendered to circumstances and to So I sacrificed myself to feed their needs Just as in your absence, all meaning has These words I say to you songs and left. “The moon is our home, Promises and cheating hearts. A weary heart patiently functions, As the darkest hours feed us. My spirit is light from surrender, it shall seep Hoping the next beats bring the end. I’ve never known freedom out through wounds I’ve offered 2 million apologies, Until ecstasy was born. in my heart and shall reach the heavens one But not one will sufficiently forgive me Binding you I become unbound day. To do it all over again.. And the ties to our love… My spirit shall be free and it will soar across Oh, you cry from pain the sky Loving the touch of me. Past the place where daylight meets Kansas Summer In Memory of Scott Alan Closed rooms and open-minds darkness for the night kiss By Billy D. Cates, You are the haunting of love.” And the stars shall sing The sunshine of june was full and intent I have fallen and I shall get up again. As it warmed our summertime thirst of yesterday She reads my words One day I was born and one day I will die Riding in your Trans Am V8 so loud And acknowledge her own own truth I have given up on life only to pick up again. With dual exhaust and turbocharged As my darkness traps her love I have felt the cold of winter and the heat of I’ll never forget the orange lights on the hood And makes me free summer. That lit up in stages of acceleration I have been asleep and awake. Conway Twitty singing “Hello Darlin’ ” The ghost of my touch lingers What you feel with your heart, I am yet to Before we even arrived to see Mitch in As the haunter becomes the haunted find Mankato And she learns her mistake What you have seen with your eyes, Rolling along those Kansas two-lanes In loving me. remains a mystery With mirage-filled black tops To mine. I have not gone into your days and your With farmers riding atop their tractors It has always been me corruption In wheat fields galore The pleasures within her shadow Has not corrupted my soul. Waving at us like friendly Tennessee I frighten her Look into my eyes and drink-- my soul is farmers do Yet relieve her fears sweet. Drinking Coca-Cola Classic the American She watches my moves I have walked across continents through the drink My calculated steps of pleasure ages and Patriotic as Kate Smith on July Fourth In the midst of pain and sorrow Your corruption has not corrupted my soul. We’d sing along looking at each other

Smiling from eye to eye without a word I haunt her now Gross Negligence By Seth Bagwell We were just that close with love With my essence A weary heart faithfully functions Celebrating the purity of true friendship With my love of the taboo But exactly to what end? You were my best friend With my very will Why persevere when there’s no purpose? Wherever we have been I haunt her I’ve stuck fire to bridge again We were laughing together

And through the ashes, I diligently sift Just you and I in our youthful bond All because of the taste of her poison To absolutely no avail. Of gratitude and respect 15

From our upbringing- much alike When I see or wear something We shared so many days in the sun From you as a gift, I guess. I promise i would fix it We’d just begun Like the long sleeved burgundy robe I promised they would pay. The Carpenter’s would sing You slipped on naked She stood upon the ledge Of a better place and time Just to sense what it would feel like Her tears a testament. From when you went away Touching my own skin I thank God for all Or refreshing thought that your bare breasts I fell upon my knees The memories Once pressed lightly against the soft My hands held out to her Of you. material I knew just what she wanted Like the memory of you I’d wanted that way too. Passing of A Dream By Clarence Wilson Deracinating my medulla. I knew not whence you appeared to me, It is your love that was last I poured in my desire But behind closed veils you came to be. With none ever since I spoke in terms of hope. For I had no thought of passing hour, No matter what you choose to believe I prayed that she would care How sleep could reveal such a beautiful otherwise She turned away- embraced the air. flower. It strikes me most, I think, When I first wake up in the morning And beyond my control to reminisce, I thought that I could reach her And remains long after I’ve sipped A premonition would fail to come to this. If I ran and jumped right then My first cup of black instant coffee, But there you were on an errand of night, But i stayed where I was No sugar, no cream. I wondered how this moment had taken Kneeling, waiting for my friend. Or in the middle of the night flight. I felt your fingers touch me with grace, After some enigmatic dream They say that if you love it Lovingly, softly, tender upon my face. Jars me to consciousness Then you must let it go Without words it seemed you understood, And sleep refuses to return But what if she lets go as well How a moment like this could feel so good. Not even early the next morning. And both of you just wait.. My desires for you were beholden- so When I am most vulnerable again strong, Drained and disorganized Another Dream Without a guilt of consciousness to prove And miss you too much. By Elisandro Antonio Nava II me wrong. As I focus in on a new dream, So it seemed to me that I should chance, Her Dreams By Alan Hepfer I no longer sense emptiness, To savor the sweetness of your romance. We met up in the hallway But evil has broken in, And so far I knew no weight of shame, Our faces telling lies. There is hatred in the mess. To bade me care from whence you’ve came. She knows as well as I do

Though in truth I knew for all that seemed, The horror of goodbye. Her eyes are dark and lips are cold, That soon I’d be awaken from the passing of She never spoke with words As she whispers ugly things. a dream. Always with a look Drifting since the times of old, Always with a touch When she ruined many kings. Valentine’s Day 2014 (For W.L.T) Always with a lie By Jimmy Pesci She places a ring on my nose, Pondering how the years have transversed Her half truths rounded down To lead me as she will wish, Without any traces of you these days She never lived her words Through the air I suppose, The phone doesn’t break this silence It always sounded food And even among the fish. With your honeyed North Carolina accent Desire always does. Nor is there a letter or card Scenes are played to break my heart, Assuring me of something, anything She asked me what I wanted The sadness stabs at me. During my most vulnerable moments I told her to get high. She quietly takes me apart, And mental escapades We went up to the roof top And I feel the child I used to be. When your departure invertly accentuates She asked if she could fly. The love, trust and the emotions breached I turn to run and begin to fly, One can only describe while scratching I asked her not to go Not turning to look back. metaphors I begged for her to stay. Above the trees into the sky, On paper with only the sound of lead. Her eyes were all a shadow I escape the worldly black. Sometimes it strikes me Her face was pure dismay. 16

I take this time to let you know As I look down I can see lights, IV. How much I really care, Where other dreamers as still chained. As our heated flesh repeatedly joined into And it gives my heart so much joy, Struggling in their quiescent fights, one flesh, and our scorching love was To know that you are there. Where games are played in vain. nightly set aflame and we bonded as only You’re on my mind day and night two lovers can! We chose not to think of The sweet things that you do, Vanished wings cause me to fall, blame. There was no blame, no fault. It was Which is why I write to let you know Awakening me with a jerk heavenly to love and to be loved and How much I think of you… I lay still and remember it all, wanted; to have the power to make As I get ready to go to work. someone smile, while expecting some Nature bastard’s random bullet to find you, leaving

me to trod alone this final mile. And when I have spent half a day, Bob’s Roach By Gabriel Roberson

Doing the things I do. The cockroach was ugly and brown V. I try to recall the dream what may, Whenever I saw him I’d frown Hatred is such a destructive force, hateful And find I only think of you. The sight of him made me ill words of homophobes who so piously But my revulsion couldn’t make me kill condemn us to a fiery hell, never thinking Eulogy For Michael- II our hearts to probes. Now, Michael, I By Cleo Michael Pavia Sometime on my shoulder he sits commend I. Being touched by him is the pits

Life without you is more than I can bear. I am daily weary and nightly distressed. I Waiting By Jason Morris So together we live to this day have searched in vain for peace of mind, for Waiting for my life to come or waiting for my This Cockroach just won’t go away! someone else I could belong to- But you life to go were the best. I have tried to comprehend My dreams so close yet so very slow Knowing Better By Christopher Dye the meaning of life in a lonely joyless world The clock winds up and then back down. I saw without your love; but sunrises and sunsets Over and over, round and round. A forest just seem so unfair, with me left down here I can’t decide just what to do Of Trees. below since your ascension above. So I close my eyes and dream of you I stood. This time won’t be a was to me Knowing II. As soon as I am set free A forest Each morning I awaken to a day of a day of For even in the blackest night, Of Trees. despair, each night I try to sleep, dreaming There is still hope in the faintest light I walked without pleasure. I arise again at another And as I open up my eyes, In a forest. daybreak in my fruitless search for just one To the brightest of blue skies I stood moment of happiness that I can treasure. I leave behind all life’s harms, With one tree. Beset by memories of your manly arms, As you leap into my arms. Silent your love, by memories of your fiery Still orgasms, your lusts so strong! Yet finding Prevailing By Brandon Rushing In light. naught in this world more precious, more By love I saw blissful than our love, that some said was so Life’s true feelings One tree. wrong. Through struggles overcome Unique beauty A journey that tests his measure Through struggle Prevails III. Reaching for heaven.

You manhood was my master, it’s willing One tree Thinking of You By Gary Holmes slave; and when it awoke at my slightest Seeking light. I miss you more than words can say touch and you proffered it for my trembling I saw not My heart belongs to you, pleasure; it’s massive ebon crown almost A forest. I think of all the things that we’ve done seemed too much. Yet, in the war torn I saw And all that we’ve been through jungles. I pleaded for its measure; and One tree. When I close my eyes, I can see your face beseeched you to give me it’s nectar to In that Tree A smile so bright and warm, devour, I saw God. It’s the thought of you that gives me hope As I suckled like a hungry baby for your Whispering molten treasure. To know I’ll soon be home, 17

“Thank you”, Describing the Storm By Paul Wegele I was free and not alone I bowed. Storm clouds reveal their blazing bosom of I felt your arms caress me I walked forth. lightning I remembered the smile on your face Better knowing with the womb of heaven giving birth to cries I was transported to the past, One tree of thunder A very happy place. And a forest. See the naked horizon in volatile violet and No pain, no chains, everyone knew my piercing pink name. White Mountain Peak By Antonio Serna Like a gift of the atmosphere given to our I wish I could’ve stayed there, As stand at the foot gaze My life is not the same. Of the white mountain peak Children tremble at this voice of the skies I hold on to hope and try to stand tall. Look’s as high as heaven And lovers grow closer in cozy hearths of Beauty is never wasted, My heart skips beatin’ intimacy Not even behind these concrete The voices of those before me Eloquence is remiss to characterize this Prison walls. Alive… and dead speak majesty I know the danger will bring a thrill Leaving the inimitable firmament with no September through November I will start out alive true comparison By Mark Hayes But, mountains kill Except that miraculous ascension upon the There lies a sunset somewhere, for dreams The clouds look heavy wings of her beauty to congregate Full of rain… The Journey startin with High above my ocean of tears with its A beach beside some ocean, on darkness laughter hurricane heartache do they wait But… Soon will come the pain Spinning like an inimical vortex of Cupids And then with deft precision, their target they The Valley’s deep malice do find Beautiful...the white mountain peak All this opulent prose delivers light to the To each a mission given, to each a soul Half way up...Only half way to go imagination assigned. Have reached altitudes Yet is eclipsed by the simplicity of So when mine came to visit, I held her as Of...fresh fallen snow experience my own, I see lips… where lips should not exist So listen to the sonorous songs of this Just long enough to fall in love but now I I know climbing...the mountain tempest must atone Was like… giving death...a kiss Like the larynx of a galaxy so infinitely Now another souls visits, thus I have set her And, that… my friends wondrous free Is... the white mountain peak! And in whose vast shadow we find ‘Till one day when that fate is mine, the Lord ourselves will care for me, Hellbent LeRoy Sodorff Discover that your dreams like curious And if I find in hindsight, my dream could not O’er an ocean of troubled water cumulus formations come true Rolling with the tide Remain as lofty and unattainable as It was well worth the wishing, September Now ashore is this indignation perpetual elevation through November Saddled up and climbed astride Now this polarity wields a blade like With you. Revelation Rode hellbent for leather With a sudden strike as violent as the birth Thorn In My Flesh By Eric Gonzales Thru and array of states of stars For falling in love with the Rose Enroute to an exiled abode Cue those brilliant, jagged beams of electric I pay its price, a thorn in my flesh Where time and space awaits fury Looking at your beauty and delicate features With their anfractuous veins in the flesh of You entrance me and I began to smell to the Crossing the netherlands the sky point Whether a high spot or depression And consider this strange and celestial Of touching the Rose on the stem Thru a range of emotions wonder Hold and behold a thorn in my flesh A curse of a blessin’? Rises above description It’s a constant reminder to hold your beauty

With my leg up A Single Flower By Morales Treddy Here on there By Jeremy Brown My back to the wall a given God’s beauty is never wasted Swimming in the ocean A breakthrough in meditation Not even in this concrete zone. Feeling, sensing the breeze Now this is livin! Today I saw a flower amongst Beauty everywhere Dirt and stones. For a moment All a tease 18

At peace with myself sun An open sky Midwinter By Aaron R. Estes As they gently kiss your face Marijuana, breathe The beauty of autumn’s death Leaving you blush Spiritually high Leads to the cold chill of realization And wrapped in warmth? No more goodbyes Growing wings of wax Ground iron hard, water like granite I have come to know the mystery and feel Flappity flap flap flap Gray skies push down upon the earth the warmth Flying to the Moon Bone pierced through by frosty winds When I have seen your smile Jumping in a crater Skin numb from exposure Heard your laugh No more people And felt your love. No more haters Beneath the frozen ground No more fear The earth lies dormant Withered Dreams By Isaac Ochoa Is it in my crater Reposed and still, as if Seeds cast On the moon In a kind of glorious sleep By careless hands Just drinking a beer Into the air. Beyond what we feel and see 13th Year Meditation By Jimmy Pesci After harvest and before seedtime Blown away The scent of orange blossoms in March There is this necessary time By a mother’s sigh Escape distant and unseen orchids A certain kind of living Of despair A silent yet breathtaking wind song Here in a small caged courtyard In this season we are invited Dreams to be sown With a fence line To let our breathing be deep and slow On fertile ground Topped in concertino razor wire To enter our place of rest and renewal By love Where little hope is exhaled. Feel the rhythm of our Creator’s heart There’s retention pond as calm as glass Upon cursed earth Well over 30 yards away This is not about all that has passed away Strewn everywhere In the vast farmland of Southwest Florida. But what lies ahead...waiting to emerge. Gators nest somewhere under muddy banks The River By Jason Geray Turtles crawl as slow as this indefinite For Taylor By Aaron R. Estes I once knew a river detention Have you ever seen the snow fall in the That travelled faster than most, Of mine that acts like an anchor summer This river was magic Coots squawk like monkeys Quietly dancing through the air, delicate And it snaked through the California coast… Marsh hens wade Lightly landing, then disappearing At this river Creating ripples behind them Without making too much of a show? You can throw your problems away, Like the depression of too many embellished It’s just like skipping rocks annual reviews. Or at least that’s what locals say… This is where I seek out peace Have you ever looked into the night sky Just cast out your problems With my hands high and fingers gripping Saw Jupiter and Mars beyond the moon Cuz the river’s on the move, The thin steel stands of aluminum fence And realized that somehow You can sit safely on the sidelines My eyes scan the horizon like a hawk. They are unaware of each other? And the rocks were river smooth… Broken by the distant tree lines It really was no secret I will never walk through Have you ever stood where the ocean laps But surrounded by California pines, Docile Sand hill cranes. Over your feet, feeling the pull And it was worth the trip Packs of wild hogs rooting beside their Sensing the mystery Each and every time… sucklings Just beyond the horizon in the deep? So we’re walking on the trail Occasional herds of skittish deer. Which goes on about a mile, A rare glimpse of a fire engine red Cardinal. Have you ever walked through a lush, green But as soon as you reached it This conflates to a psychological escape: valley You couldn’t help but smile… From the reality of As wildflowers, butterflies, and honeybees First you grab a skipping rock More than half my life, sadly Wave, dance, and serenade And write your problem on a note, Spent looking through fences just like these. Your every step? Throw it at an angle At other elements, unseen particles And the rock will appear to float… So many take for granted. Have you ever seen the wind or touched the The second thing you do 19

Is be patient and wait, Swaying in the Springtime breeze And when your problem sinks to the bottom Spotting a view of some monumental buttes Winter’s Edge By James David Proctor You’ll start to feel great... They resemble a familiar backdrop Upon the precipice, perilous I stand, From an old-time movie from so long ago Spying a deadly, glorious land. Mode Ovation By Justin L. Bentley There’s no other place quite like this I’m motivated by the breaking down I see firsthand why it’s cherished Trees, as death’s cold fingers do appear, Casting rays upon my being A piece of Heaven on earth perhaps Not a sound...nor whisper do we hear. I’m also moved by subtle whispers A sample of future harmony and delight Those inside that give me strength. Designed for love in mind Skies flush which elaborate, ardent colors, A morning dance brings me to life. The people of Sedona welcome you. from the god’s own breast, Vibrations emanate from me drawing me to Symbolic, of the inevitability of man’s eternal others Untitled By Luis Gonzales rest. Along the same wave in this ocean we sail Roses are red, violets are blue, in. Oranges are orange, and tangerines too. Do we, deny the winter in us all? I’m motivated by the winds of change Where I’m heading with this I haven’t a clue, Should we, forget man’s fateful fall? And the turning of the seasons. I just don’t have anything else to do. As I journey from spring to winter, Ignorance at its best, can indeed be bliss, Birth, growth and decay allow me to Roses have thorns that make you holler. But it comes, at a terrible risk. transcend each day. Orange is a fruit, and it’s also a color. For history, which too often repeats, And as I silence my soul at day's end, Violets are expensive- it’s only a flower; May yet yield a day, when man cant exist. To search for that soothing emptiness But you can buy tangerines for under a I prepare for the rising pewter moon dollar. Major Axis By Todd Henry That darkness...that is welcomed. Present moment of humanity For I know that I am always motivated Well this is my poem, I hope you like it. Connecting pieces of you and I By the coming of another breaking dawn... I know it’s simple, and will never be a hit. To all eternity

I wrote it down while taking a shit. A Day In Oak Creek Canyon Painkiller By Matthew Fox By Billy D. Cates Roses are red, violets are blue Painkiller be my guide The gradual descent from Flagstaff An orange is orange, and tangerines too. When hope feels lost Down into the Oak Creek canyon In the passages of the night. Around and around the curves come and go Roses have thorns that make you holler; US 89 twisting and winding into lovely Orange is a fruit, and it’s also a color. Shatter any illusion Sedona Violets are expensive- it’s only a flower. Of what promises to be The full cottonwood trees tall and stately But you can buy tangerines for under a To see with sight All green and yellow and white dollar. And not just my eyes. As they stand beside the clean roadway The tops of mountains jetting out So don’t expect flowers coming your way, From the top of the trees and overgrowth Pain so deep, does it breathe? I’m buying you fruit this valentine’s day. Continually spreading from a century ago It’s steady pulse, beats

My little dog sitting atop my shoulder Thriving along that thing The Field Mouse By Lou Tompkins Driving a bit slower so she wouldn’t slide Called Life, the raw nerve The owl in the treetop spread its wings wide, Down into my lap while driving Where only pain endures. Flashing white against an indigo sky. The winding road curving into canyons It blinked at me and I ran to hide Created by God very long ago And strength I never knew The owl in the treetop spread its wings wide During a sunrise of His Something quiet yet iron, And swooped down, scooping me up for a All creatures great and small Despite its denial ride. The Lord God made them all I can say still grew I struggled and fought; soon I saw I would Living happily together in this wonderland die. The flowing creek so full of soft stones Aside a fatal nostalgia The owl in the treetop spread its wings wide, The kind that feels good on your arch That I oblige Flashing white against an indigo sky. As you cross the creek Even though it bleeds me

With its fresh cold water babbling Begrudging it, painfully, I survive. Navigating down a steady stream alongside Life, Time and Death 20

Painkiller it was never Was a fool he danced day and night to the Through my chubby cheek, The gold, but the test harlot’s tune Holy love saturating That was the treasure. And squandered his wealth on the Reverberating magician's tricks Through my infant being. Woman- Child By James David Proctor And opposed every law that the Queen had Woman-child, within the same skin arranged or fixed Those first moments Touching my heart, time and again. Your love and dreams Hardwired Minds By Bruce Feaster Shared, Both in need, of a loving touch The memory pulls from the hard-drive, Rampant crazy emotions Which I do wish, to give so much. All that is programmed, internal, Hope-love-worry...fear The workings of the “Analyst” The woman is wary, and wise Born to the tech of tomorrow A photograph imprinted As the child, doeth keep joy alive. I learn the language of the world Perpetual memory- Positives and negatives Of mother and child Woman, life’s daily trials must survive Impulses from past. In Child, from its inflicted pain does hide. Silent lucidity It is no longer yesterday, Separate one from the other, and neither Yet the central process of life is instilled All Souls’ Day By Aaron R. Estes would be whole Ones and zeros Early this morning Only together, can they face each day as it Rights and lefts. I visited the dead unfolds. Or did they visit me? My “Motherboard” raises me, Bones and more bones Excavated; dug-up Woman, and child are family of mine I am only a replica, Protruding from my own skin Each visits, as they require my time. Until I become aware, Rattling But the chip still contains “80088” So my windows are never mine. Tumbling headlong No matter, which may comes to me in need. Tranquil and still For these precious souls, I must care and Yet still alarming feed. It is hard to bridge the gaps, Most, whose souls As the few teach the many The personal computer that I an Have taken flight To care for them, is a natural thing, Is only a facsimile. Others, to whom For both, simply make my heart sing. I have become dead

The real me is yet to be born Faces alive in Royal Fool By CL Nobles Or even brought to exist The eye of my mind I woke up this morning and felt like a king As the A. I is Voices heard and with no throne Autodidacte interpret of self Joined in laughter And the empire I had built was gone Until my awareness is made real Friendships gained and lost No queen or princess not even a prince Love defined As i observed there was no water in my Feelings of sadness, sorrow, regret So hardwired, minds are shepherd trench Now lay heavy on my chest Herded by the programs of school No festival celebrations or wine in the Longing from memories stirred Not knowing they are slaves still courtyard Rattle crypts in

Where is the royal family? Darkened recesses First Moments By Aaron Freeman Where could they have gone? My eyes become First moments of life The drawbridge was up no sign of scaled Pools overflowing Nestled comfortingly against walls First loves The contours of your chest What’s a King without a queen or heirs of Second thoughts A perfect little angel the thrones Lonesome but not alone Beautifully content How could he even rule or have a legacy to On this journey Suckling his reign? For I walk with the dead From life giving breast. No history of a Kingdom, no history to his Beyond All Souls’ Day name. Your heartbeat a drum But ole yes there is history this king Pulsating love 21

Travelling With Company To dance and skirt around risk You appreciate your woman’s worth By Duquoin “Infinited” Barker That jig of adversity avoidance Without asking for anything more, I’ve carried you on my shoulders That polka of solely safe decisions And still make it with what you have As we’ve traveled many and many miles When walking a road With my intentions to get you to safety But that self-protective jitterbug That becomes a lot rougher than before. And find some help for you somehow Must be danced eternally alone You look at life and smile When I first heard these words While for those that line footloose Because of the beautiful creation They caused me to become aroused Dumping caution for a night with chance You molded from within. Unaware of where this voice was coming Even occasional throes of hurt Knowing that life from Match the beat of life’s bass line Is a growing part of you, So I stopped and looked around Spotlight their natural rhythm You would never end a life That’s when I heard another voice say Before it begin. It’s okay my friend, but now you must let me Racing Against Time You took life by the hand, go By Shun Pierre Pinkston To guide, Why is that? The other voice declared (To Antoine Hutchins, Mother Emma M Ingram) To provide, Full of anger, as if he was determined to Time waits on no one, it runs at its natural And to overcome know pace The struggles that you made it through. Is that a question you need an answer to? How can one out race time? But no matter how bad life gets, I thought you said you wanted to grow! Can you make it to the finish line? Don’t let go because life needs you! And I do! I really do! You cannot win this race. Time is ageless But who will keep me company, if I let you And has no face Untitled By Troy Glover go? Faceless, and leaves no trace We went as far as the car would take us, Replied the man who was carrying his friend Are you capable of making time go in slow And took nothing but the clothes on our Too scared to be alone motion? backs. Well honestly I can’t answer that yet What kind of power, secret, or magic potion We ran out of gas right next to a bus, Though I’m sure someone will come along Do you conceal? Time cannot be revealed Here we bought tickets so we could relax Don’t talk like that, we’re meant to be! Time will not stand still, time will not There was not a formal destination No buddy you’ve got it wrong! increase A certain place that we wanted to go. Tired of listening, I covered my ears Time will never miss, like trying to avoid, Nor were we enjoying a vacation, Then screamed, what the hell is going on? Inevitable death. These are some things that we want you to That’s when I heard, I told you, I told you! Something that can’t be prolonged by know Now we must depart, but stay strong Considerable wealth, We were not running from some sort of See I had a million questions to ask Like a twenty-four-hour glass threat, Though before I could the voices were How can you run pass? There was not a danger to life or limb gone... How can you stop the sand from running? This was not some elaborate made bet, Or the hand on the clock from turning time, This was all done you would say on a whim. You cannot find, forward or rewind, The rat race of living is so hectic, Untitled By Alexander Mahon-Haft Time is divine, only the majesty knows No one for long really stays there on top The inevitable penance This mystery holds the key Our cars be it hydro or electric For the opportunity to bask Racing against time, you cannot win, Will eventually come to a stop. In radiant golden-burgundy swirls There is no end, where do we begin? So much of the world left undiscovered, Catalyzed by gulps of undiluted In the moutains, forrest and in the sea. bliss Take Life By The Hand So many things here to be covered Must be By Jerome Fitzpatrick Locked away secrets waiting to be free Intermittent spells of anguish You have come a long way Can you now understand this adventure Progeny of vulnerability and Being the woman you are. And why you must get the most out of life? pursuit Never changing, Unto living you must be indentured Spilled howling but breathing But making the difference And so I travel this world with my wife. From between vulnerabilities legs In the world around you. We do not know where the journey will lead Even when times got heavy Or the dangers and pleasures on the way. The chase of all that life can offer You still carried on, We do not know the things that we will need, Costs periodic swells of pain Leaving the deeper impression Or the places we’ll eventually stay. Unbilled to those choosing Of your struggles behind you. The time is short for every living being, 22

Forever will the sun set in the west. phosphorescent light Lifer, Somethings will not change you know what I Hollering, “I got tickets!” I can become you mean, Mindless hucksters buying and selling My movements and members seized by So for now you can only do your best. anything at all inertia We’re off again to whatever awaits, Echoing like clamoring voices in an endless My blood frozen like a lizard in a blizzard We have obtained the ultimate freedom. hallway Apathy splitting the heaves in my chest There is nothing more important than that, Forever clinging to the angle Until shallow breath is all I have left All the riches of life we don’t need them In the shadow of the street hustlers they The world outside of here is hard to live in, So don’t let anything stop your excitement, once were too Do not keep living your life in a rush, Our body, vehicle of enlightment, Still others are like donkeys that have been We gathered in a huddle after the N.A We want as far as the car would take us. given a nice sweat suit meeting to say the Lord’s Prayer And a watch I wanted to disappear in their voices Someone Else’s Shadow And a new pair of Nikes Thy kingdom come By Lou Tompkins And an iron, a radio and a flat screen TV Thy will be done A shadow crossed the floor in front of me, They meticulously hand wash, steam press But no matter how quiet I was (even inside A startling and unnerving sight it was and fold my own head) A shadow crossed the floor in front of me- They make fantastical protective cases I could still hear my voice mixed with theirs From where the shadow came I could not They scrub the dirt (real or imagined) with a see toothbrush and O’ trapped between the devil and the deep I could not tell its nature or its cause A special concoction of homemade blue sea It abruptly forced my heart to pause detergent A changeling you would be A shadow crossed the floor in front of me. They are careful never to walk on dust Holding closer to hope in your unyielding Maniacally creasing, folding and pressing hindsight Will Today Be The Day By Greg Murray They are fanatically possessive of their Asleep Men are born males but not every male is a possessions You can’t rise from beneath the blanket of man Too stubborn to see this dream The rise always seems greater than the fall Inside them still beats the heart of an ass Clawing and ripping at the tangled mess of When you don’t know where you stand And a donkey is still a donkey with a nice your sheets You keep putting off today for tomorrow pair of shoes Swimming endlessly to the illusion of So all you got is yesterdays surface The sorrow is that tomorrow will be no My favorite type is like a feral cat In an undignified death different A feral cat is proud but he is not stupid And unable to die Until you change your approach to today A feral cat is always on the lookout for Will today be the day you get out of your trouble Bleeding By Bruce Feaster own way. He doesn’t usually gang up with other cats With pain in my heart, He doesn’t need anyone And tears on my face, Lifers By Sean Dunne He doesn’t bother anybody I bleed out my sorrow. Some of them resemble dying trees A feral cat is a loner Slumped over in the ground But don’t you forget that he still has to eat From tears in my blood, The threadbare fabric of their old clothes To veins filled with pain, Is like moss and cobwebs growing up their Lifer, Bleeding I wait for tomorrow. sides Through me They are like hurt trees You see the desperation of the streets In the essence of life, Still folding in the edges of humanity beyond I find what is wrong, Resigned to fall over in the forest these walls As time slowly kills me, With no one around Remember the crack houses! I hate to live so long. To hear them make a sound Remember the needle ridden alleyways Don’t forget about the night’s when you were With deep cuts, Others remind me of the ghosts of ticket cold and alone My blood pours like rain. scalpers With nowhere to go Vivid is my sorrow, Standing beside the onramp to eternity It isn’t easy out there either As I release my pain. Dissipating and reforming in a 23

Mixed emotions of suffering, Examined, exposed Learn new things I pull myself away. Why such a thought How to play the piano Bleeding, I become so cold, Should be And how to sing. As I die today. Someday I’m gonna A new me is reborn, The Folly of Vengeance Write a book From the blood that I have shed. By Robert McCracken Or a love song Pain becomes hope, From wisdom himself, I have heard With a jazzy hook. As I love amongst the dead. My own thoughts turn to words. Someday I’m gonna Quickly, lest I forget, Start to work out Bleeding, I am alone, With this pen I preserve Watch my weight Holding open my heart A gem- of whose price And walk about. Walking on a path Was no less than a life, Someday I’m gonna That has led me to the dark. And from He who had paid it, Make new friends It is to I that he gave it. Contact old ones Bleeding, I cut deeper, “Friend…,” he said, Tie up loose ends. To sever my truth from lies With his last breath. Someday I’m gonna Bleeding, I live, “There is no revenge…,” he said, Spend more time With the pain in my eyes. “There is no revenge in death.” With my family Now, I may be a fool, Just me and mine. With pain in my heart, For he did not tell me why, Someday I’m gonna And tears on my face, But surely, I thought, Stop saying I bleed out my sorrow. We are of a like-mind. Someday I’m gonna Thus the reasoning of I. And just do it. Must be the same as if thy. From tears in my blood, That reasoning, of course, To death in my veins Parting Gift By Michael Griffin Is that all men must die. I live until tomorrow. With life’s final breath For a mother to be Everything is Dust By Todd P. Henry Or child that’s dying A Thought By Aaron R. Estes Everything is dust seen as a series of I make this decree: I would be thought of reflections If i were not here Why accept delusion of anything At least, thought of differently Take what you need In the mirror only consciousness remains I would not be a thought pushed aside But need what you take And everything begins and ends A thought trying to be forgotten I offer these organs Starting all over again ageless, changeless A passing thought, better past For God and His sake and dangerous Or passed upon, instead of My liver, my heart Exploring space and time in my individual thought Take both of my eyes mind I think upon how i used to I hear the pleading Creating the unseen in between two Be thought of, or The prayers and the cries thoughts How i would like to I can’t take it with me Where peace is supreme Be thought of still And don’t think I’ll need So what we think will be true for us Alas, I will never be thought of A lung or a kidney And that alone is worth knowing The same again Where folks never bleed Transcending all your comings and goings In a moment’s time thoughts After the harvest So I’m running into the wind Of me changed The rest goes to science Letting go of everything awakening in my So much so, that what I thought My old skull and bones dream I thought of myself A student’s appliance And those left behind fall in time Is no longer thought The gift I am giving Everything is dust seen as a series of I question every thought i have of The last I can give reflections Who i was The parts sorely needed I’m flowing into action Who i am That others might live.

Why i am Someday I’m Gonna By T. Glover Where i am What is Life By Jerome Fitzpatrick Someday I’m gonna Every thought, scrutinized Life is a challenge...meet it! 24

Life is a gift...accept it! Every cut redefines its maker To marry my tears, silent sorrow rejoice. Life is an adventure....dare it! Desperation has such a gentle sound Life is a game...play it! Skin and blade part quickly According to Google By Chad Frank Life is a mystery...unfold it! What is lost cannot be found I’m a doctor… Life is an opportunity...take it! And my bellicose nature I have no patience, Life is a journey...complete it! Is the riptide pulling me down. But I’ll still take your prescription. Life is a promise...fulfill it! Life is a song...sing it! Glare By Anonymous I’m a comedian… Life is a blessing...praise it! I glare into the depths at the center My life is a sitcom, Life is a struggle...fight it! Point of air between my folded hands But I don’t host amateur night at an L.A Life is a duty...perform it! Wondering where my grace went nightclub. Life is a puzzle...solve it! Gathering courage for a span of light- Life is a goal...achieve it! hearted I’m a child pornographer… Life is a heartache...overcome it! Prose That’s not me either, Life is a feeling...love it! Will I conceive of a better word At least not any more. Life is a tragedy...face it! Of a fettered sword Life is a sorrow...survive it! Will I become in distance a rose or I am, however, a poet and writer For that matter a door Eager to yell my own story. What is life if you don’t have the will to Will my ear turn the rhythm I hear The question lingers: Will anyone listen? endure all these conditions? Toward a field of crushed bones No life at all! Adorned with the jewels of teardrops “Words” By David Behrmann I stare into the breath of the scars A bite from the tongue, Writing Anointed with the passengers I’ve Or spoken from a hard heart. Refused to let go wandering where Said in times of anger, or My faith sends me gathering courage Bellicose By Geneva Philips When love plays a part. For what other selves know I grab the quiet moments Wish you could take it back, Still i deceive the dawns of the worriers As many as I can You spoke through hurts fury. The pawn is the warrior I fold them into tiny birds Wish you had the courage to say… Still I beliece in the instant of And cup them in my hand Shyness hides your glory. Awakening or for that matter I turn them into pretty words Words can tear like bullets. A barrier And write them in the sand. Words bring hope to despair. Still my flesh burns the rhythms I feel Words can heal like stitches. Forever imprinted upon the record Words can clear the air. Bellicose by nature Of mankind’s endeavors Words can leave you breathless… A solitaire in its cage Scribed with the ink of every last By love or by hate. Where are you when I need to fight? Breath’s death rattle Words can be right on time, There is no one to engage I dare entry into dementia’s glorified Or a bit too late. So I smear the ink on paper Daze Casual, or shouted, or said And walk upon the stage My vision topples that dragon once called In a whisper. I put violence in a poem impossible It just might depend on Then crumple up the page How you deliver.

Naked In the Rain Sometimes words will fail you; I invite heavy silences No crystal warrior, I, and this Sometimes they’ll pull you through. I pour them in a glass No phantom battle in my heart, no kiss They’ll stutter, stammer, be uttered At first they settle quickly For the dead or dying dream In bad grammar...sometimes Them dissipate like gas Which eludes the sun’s everlasting beam They just won’t do I rub them in every surface Words lie silent on my tongue, unspent Guard your tongue and you will Still they evaporate too fast Lest I repent Find, words are of your making. I plug them in my ears Words become burden, hence Angerm love, from the heart or mind… But they never last. No gift, nor any recompense. For the sake or forsaken

Only the sibilant voice of the rain Words can be forgiven but to Iron and salt mix slowly To carry the silence, to bear all the pain Forget could be hard. Then patter upon the ground Only the rains soft, sussurant voice Words can be taken wrong 25

When hurt is in your heart in the mood. Because in the end Think before you speak is the I’d be more beneficial, by becoming fish We all wind up on Boot Hill. Best advice I heard food. Because a lot can come or I don’t know what is happening, or what’s Epiphanies: Smoke if ya Gotten Go with the power of a word. going on. By Michael Autrey On this chess board of life, I’ve become the I. expendable pawn. The aroma of legends Craven By Justin L. Bentley When will this end? How long will this last? Rises from the hash pipe to Crave the sacred hum and din Or like everything else in my life, has my Float through all the histories And a piercing round or magnum time come to pass? God has forsaken to the Pay homage to an icon Vacuum of eternity. A machine that scars our holiest flesh Homage By Unknown II. Stigma! O’er the dark in ye glory consumed The Dead step on Emanating pain and pleasure Do indeed ride if only cockled bones. The toenail chippings Beauty captured pore by pore Beyond interment, thee fountain subsumed Of the Almighty Art splashed O’ master inkheart of lyrical tomes. Wandering in On a body of the finest canvas, Beastly nay! Neither nor ye bridled stones A paradise To create a lasting image through time and But thy pens dirk hath dredged humanity. As empty of space Whilst ye flies the nether, be yet at home. Riches as an Memories are buried colors, right beneath And our sad hearts of years remember thee. Opium den. the skin Our vaulted bank lives within libraries. III. The final picture, perfect art. Where no doubt thy wild spirit doth reside. Even tho’ the smoke burns The creation of a masterpiece for a world of Regaling time and hearth from the dreary. Their eyes and makes them choke eyes to see. That thy soul in page and script abide. Supplicants still brown-nose Forever inked and proud. In true visage as ghost or wraith appear. The Grand Distributor And I will name thee well, William Their god who dismisses Motivation By Abdul Fowler Shakespeare. Them with a wave of His Motivation, Motivation, where have you Negligent hand. gone? Religion/ Prayers IV. Why have you left me, stuck here all alone? He tamps haybalad sinners into

Where have you been? Where are you at? His pipe bowl, then angels Boot Hill By Sammy Lupo But what’s more important, is when are you With cigarette-lighter swords strike Who is this god you speak of? coming back? The damned to ignite the Is he some kind of legend from far above? Ever since my motivation, has drifted away. Holocaust of his addiction Is he imagined, or some unknown creature? I’ve been stuck speechless, with nothing to V. And if he’s so godly, say Sprawled on a ziggurat Is he not the ultimate teacher? And it’s been this way every day, and every In the lair of heaven night. He smokes a million a day- No matter how much I try, I can’t come up Humans seem to need Covered with ashes and dandruff with nothing to write. Something to believe in, He lazily picks his teeth For those who don’t know my writing, means Or else their life is unworthy With the bones of immortals the world to me. And filled with sin. While his cronies shiver Yet my thoughts seem to be locked away, They want to hope for From delirium tremens. and I don’t have the key. Something more after death, VI. Maybe writing this poem, will help give me Yet most likely, Blowtorch angels dogfight that spark. All they’ve done is drawn their final breath… Over scraps of manna Or am I aimlessly wandering nowhere, just Whirling like angry sparks stuck in the dark? Are you for certain that Around the Throne of Light Rather it’s a letter, poem, or book, I’m just Religion isn’t just a scam, The smoking God looks on coming up blank. And that the wolves aren’t slaughtering Only with disinterest. Maybe I’ve outstayed my welcome, and it’s The helpless lambs? VII. time for me to walk the plank. To each his own, The voice of the whirlwind- Because if my brain is shut down, and never Believe in what you will, Which never knew

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Mouthwash- Gabriel played the trumpet Or a lover’s or a wife’s Howls prophetic stench of With Jericho Jazz and he Are forgotten, and violence Misery and Sounded the Armageddon- And curses are rife. Ashes Hail and fire mixed with blood- Like a fall smoker’s cough From a lungful of Bulgar Open your closed mind, Stimulating And when he broke the last set Look into my world and see, The fire A silence covered the crowd An ugly, horrible place Of harsh mortality For none could learn that song but You wouldn’t want to be; Which burns lives down Them who were redeemed of earth. To stubbed-out Where violence is the way of life, Butts. He smoked the Book of Revelations, Sold and bought for a fee, Blessed is he that heareth. Where staying to yourself, Testament Is the only survival key. He smoked the Book of Revelations Scrolled round Turkish-and-Domestic blend Where hearts and anger And smoke like prayers of saints ascended Heavenly Grace By Diane Spencer Takes it a sad toll, Over the tribulations of brass. What pain do you carry? And no one cares if his name’s Why the tears in your eyes? On God’s sacred scroll. Behold a door was opened Do you not know there is healing, It was a trumpet talking to me From all of the pain, grief and lies? Come walk a mile in my shoes, And I didst enter among ‘Pick up your mat!’ For just one weary day. A host therein, immediately Jesus Christ has made you free… Then see if you can’t find I was in the spirit for Your sins can be forgiven, A happier, better way. This cat sat an old cane chair as if He shed His blood at Calvary. Do you understand He had a choice? It were a throne, the guitar Put your trust in God; He was but only flesh and blood, a man! On his lap rubbed raw- still he picked it- Refuse the devil’s pay. But sacrifice and His only Son’s life And from out of the throne proceeded And let God’s praise Were part of God’s master plan. The lightnings and thunderings Be the words you say. Who is it that you know Of one who’d drank of the wine of wrath Of one who’d left his first love That would carry all your care? Don’t walk where I’ve walked, But remembered from whence he’d fallen What friend do you have If you don’t want to live here. Even cast into prison All of your burdens freely bear? Read daily the words of God- Repenting murder and adultery You may not understand it, Study, listen, and hear. The lightnings and thundering Or yet fully realize...But, if you just submit

Of one who’d overcome sat a throne your will He won’t put more upon your back And bore the testimony… Eternal life will be your prize! Than you can bear. Round about the throne four-and-twenty What do you have to lose? Just follow his pathways - Elders garbed in white showing An empty life of misery? He really does care! Gold gave glory and honor to him Call on the name of Jesus

But neither repented they By God’s grace, you’ll be set free. Their sorceries nor their theft Lest their jazz be left bereft of soul… And the kid on the horn, clothed Prison Life By Bleo Michael Pavia In cloud, a rainbow of stage lights on Welcome my friend His head, sweating opiates To a world of strife, Prophesied there should be time no more Where smiles and liberties Yea, Babylon is fallen Are a forgotten way of life; A new Jerusalem cometh down. Where the touch of a friend’s hand

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CTA/ Alternatives Library Non-Profit Organization 127 Anabel Taylor Hall US Postage Paid Ithaca, NY 14853 Permit 448 www.prisonerexpress.org Ithaca, NY 14850

PRISONER EXPRESS

Poetry Anthology Volume 17

Artwork By Eric Langley

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