A Continental Handshake.

To dream is to
(ex)pire,
to exhale;
inhalation,
(in)spire.
That elusive enchanting moment that connects
(in)hale.
This pulsating universal vibration
(ex)hale
now.
This point in time.
A fleeting breath of essence.
Maybe beyond
indecipherable
imagination.
Universally shared.
The Koan core cracked by a Buddhist monk.
Sheer veracity coiled by a Zen Master.
Intellect rain bowed on the magician's staff.
Pure elegance.
No morals abiding.
Insecurities nonexistent.
Invisible as we know it.
Striped naked "molecules".
Let us breathe this word;
(in) spire
(ex) pire.
Forever this hand shake.
This greeting
across oceans...........................

by Gail Goto & Robin Marchesi

Crocus too early

i see the oak has wavered his arms
to shadow your perennial
outbreak
which moves too early
solstice came again with the sun
drooping in the valley
of souls - only to lift his lion head
and rise
(rise)

crocus

you are the birth of my death
a signal of the first sprout
wrapped
and wounded once in spring
then the sun was high (triumphant
in summer, he was beaten and slowly
falling
(falling)

open and open and shine yourself to the sky
i am you and you are my
flower for my death
and for my birth, you are my breath

by Christine Ann Kelley

Winter Storm at Tregardock

Peregrine cliffs, shearing skyward in dark slate stacks,
hurl back the echoes of the roaring sea.
The gale incites grey water to attack,
re-group, and come again against blue rock.

Pale sunlight flickers on monochrome, racing clouds;
ever-changing light moves across the shore.
Squalls of rain and salt-spray beat at my face,
lightning arcs the darkening sky above.

On the treeless cliff, gorse and grasses thrash.
Thunder murmurs as the storm matures,
while the metronomic crashing of the waves
adds rhythm to a symphony of sound.

I shiver with the cold and wet, transfixed
and overloaded with sensations, scents
of earth and salt and something on the wind
that faintly smells of chamomile or thyme.

by Trevor Hewett

A Poet's Last Words

The traces of my life,
Are the scars on my hands,
The wrinkles on my face,
Are the maps of foreign lands.
The cane in my hand,
Is the experience I've gained,
And the grey in my hair,
Is the dignity I've maintained.
I have roamed all over,
This forsaken place,
Only to find nothing changing,
Except this withering face.
I've written many words,
Flowing from the depths of this mind,
Searching for something,
After there's nothing left to find.
My peace is just a dream,
That I once saw on T.V.,
Time has taken it's toll,
And I'm dying to be free.
I strain to remember,
The different lives of my past,
I beg to understand,
Why those memories didn't last.
Now I lay down,
For I think the last time,
I just hope I find peace,
With this . . . my last rhyme.

by Peter Q. Mazzucco

I'll Be With Thee

I'll be with thee when autumn dies.
When birds cease soaring in the gloomy skies.
When leaves wither on the dying vines.
When clouds shed tears in your distant eyes.

I'll be with thee when your life is harsh.
When misery whimpers in shadows sparse.
When your heart throbs to ease the pain
When your soul yearns to be cleansed by rain.

I'll be with thee in your deepest dream.
When silhouettes emerge with raging scream.
When you weep for fear of being torn apart.
When silence echoes in your empty heart.

I'll be with thee when our hearts are one.
When peace and harmony finally succumb.
When your voyage of life fouls aground.
When your dreams and visions cannot be found.

by Ross H. Bruce

The Virgin Desert

The sun shines
Through the dark sand
Of sky.
Over the dunes
The footprints leave
Their temporary traces
Undisturbed
For a moment.
The sand can erase
This blackboard
In its living motion
As the unseen wind
Restores its lost
Virginity.

by Don J. Carlson

With You

You leave today
a forlorn place with not many memories.

I am rooted here for
reasons beyond me but,

take my dreams with you
they need a breath of fresh air.

by Pranit Bhasin

Ink Shores

unraveling moon silks
spinning daydreams and nothingness
brings memory slide images of you
my eternal nomad drifts inside
desert sand moments, many distant
love mirages fade, reality shines
a new dawn on your oasis
replenished by your olives,
the oil soothing my parched landscape
warm tides of your ink shores
glisten the sands of my beaches
sea foam steps, beautiful impressions
among my scattered shells

by Deborah Russell

Evergreen

I am but a sapling
In the great forest of life,

My branches reach forever skyward
Growing towards the light,

Upon my withered trunk
Troubles form as leaves,

As I await the coming fall,
I realize I am Evergreen.

by B. R. Jording

Witches Tongue

Witches tongue,
Cast the ghost
And come un done.
Into red blood.
The master of my soul.
Cast to darkness.
Bitter pain of a lonely cry.
Beyond the clouds of pink.
I see her hair.
Her face of dark green.
Feeling her world.
Shake into snakeskin.
Flow around her den.
Wrap her up into death.
Witch, black skin.
Burning with the night into a dark soul.

by Misty Lynn Shuler Lackey

Behind the Black

Behind the vale
Behind the shade
Inside the shadow
Outside the gate

A cloak of black
Shrouds your body
A cloak of black
Everything knowing

Never a random pick
Into the deep black thick
You serve the purpose
You take them quick

Behind the black
You see them pray
Safe passageway
Through the valley of death
Steel away their breath

by Sean Ryan Ellis

Pages

Out of the Shadows
Comes the light of creation
Revealing the truth

by Marie Summers