Teddy Bear

By Casarah Nance

His fur
Cuddles softer
bringing laughter
sweet smiles
this teddy bear I swear he knows
how to make the whole world glow
his plastic eyes /….….\ Filled /………\ with warmth
black and beady \…...../ but not\………/ dark and needy
right above his stuffed bumpy nose perfect for poking
(((Ready for kisses)))
((A nose never misses))
And then his great big grin of a smile
Goes on and on and on and on
\__________For a mile_________/
\______________________/

This little bear

is held close to my heart
he knows he is a part of my life
->HUGGABLE LOVEABLE with his big fluffy belly and paws HUGGABLE LOVABLE<-
Stretched ready for a great big huggable
Lovable oh so completely fluffable hug
He fends off the monsters under my bed
He snuggles with me and doesn’t shed
I change his name a million times
And fluffy bear doesn’t mind
He always smiles and plays my games
He loves me and I feel the same.
With his great big floppy feet
he is the best of friends I ever did meet
\TICKLE TOES) I tickle his nose and toes and he know I love him and his (TICKLE TOES./
BrokenHeart

By HGarvey Daniel Esquire

.................. L I L O
Y F Y V
M H E M G E
F O R E V E R E T E R N A L
L E N O R E L E N O R E
E N T W I N E D E N T W I N E D
Always with my HearT I Always with true Feeling
Love You, my Dearest WIFE ALWAYS with Emotions
My Love grows like an oak My Heart beats for YOU
Mighty and E v e r l a s t I n g MY TEARS are Real
YOU are M Y STRENGTH Yet My Heart still Aches
FOR YOU LIVE in ME Though You live with GOD
ETERNAL B L I S S YOU wear the gown of Angels
INFINITE P U R E YOU carry my Heart in Yours
You grow in my heart EACH and EVERY Day
The LOVE grows and I am at Peace KNOWING
As LOVE Grows In my BROKEN Heart
Constantly Knitting cracks and Fissures
My Dearest Beloved Tenderly Mended
Repairing Loneliness My Wife Lenore
Angelically Smiles Eternally Loved
MY Only Most BELOVED
L I F E L E N O R E
Always FOREVER
YOU My Heartbeat
Are My S O U L
MY W I F E
One Breath
Never
Alone
YOU
And
I
Cats Cats Cats

By Dane Ann Smith-Johnsen

on... Oh! Oh!

What? What?
Do you think of cats?
We have too many cats.
At least, they feast on rats.
Cats. (*) Cats! Cats! (*) Cats.
What do you think of that? I
have seen them with a mole.
Dead, pulled out of his hole.
A delicacy I once was told.
My cats are: Meow.
Some big fat- Meow!
Rat-eating cats. Meow!
I never see them eat a bat.
I guess at night, they sleep or chat.
Cats do not have wings. They cannot fly!
My, oh my, will they wish someday to fly?
At early dawn it is time to prowl. Not for owls.
Meow! They hunt for snakes, insects, some fowl.
Silently, sneakily, stealthy, spying, they P-o-u-n-c-e-!
It’s survival of the fittest, kitty cat style. Buy a bell.
You may see them on the ground or in a tree looking
down. Meow! Sometimes they will play in the sand.
Rolling, flipping around on every inch of ground.
Or you might find them upside down flexing,
Anticipating their morning prowl. Meow.
By and by, success is found.
In their kitty bowl... Meow.
Smiles! Meow, Meow, Smiles!
Birthday Extravaganza: Lovely Roses On Your Special Day

Lovely Roses

HHH
pAAAAp
YYYPP @ PPYYY
YYYYP @ PYYYY
pAAAAp
HHH
Y
@7@ *
@Linda@ B
@P(O@T)D@ I
@Linda@ \ \ \ R
@7@ T
H @7@
D @Linda@
A / @P(OCT)D@
Y/ @Linda@
* @7@
T
O
YOU!
pretty birthday roses
sent with bright smiles, hugs and kisses
to a very special poet sis and best friend
whose birthday is globally celebrated again

roses placed atop of the sweetest birthday cake

I lovingly baked for you with my best wishes, will you take
I wish you good health and hope your happy times multiply
depression divides,frustration subtracts, then joy and success add up many times

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
May you have a Very Happy Birthday!
POETRY CAKE

By Galeo DS

() ()
A L
N I
N S
YIIIPPPEEEEEE!!!
JULY23232323<2<3
I BAKED THIS POETRY CAKE FOR YOU,
I FLEW COLORFUL BALLOONS,TOO
NOW THAT YOUR SPECIAL DAY IS HERE
ICINGS ARE MY BEST WISHES, HUGS AND CHEERS.

LET’S DANCE A CHACHA THEN WE’LL DO A BALLET

EVERYBODY WILL SING TO BE HAPPIER AND GAY
AND LET MY SIMPLE POEM CELEBRATES IN A SPECIAL WAY
FOR THE CELEBRITY IS SO SPECIAL! HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Her Stilettos

By Raul Moreno

. The sound of
Stilettos coming home.
The echo reverberates
In the empty hall,
My heart
Salivates,
And my soul
Is at pure ease
To know that
Its soul mate
Has come home.
In the morning
Stilettos make
Deep sounds
Of their lone
Departured echoes.
My mind
Yearns and
Waits for
The sound to return.
The satisfying sound of resounding
Steps from the one I love to satisfy
Step their way down the long corridor.
The countdown begins after the evening news
I like to wait and listen to the beauty of
The last 10 steps reciting their poems in
taps
In a rhythmic sequence of poetic bliss.
10 -9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1...I’m home.
Dreaming With Butterflies

By Sharon Smith

FLUTTER BY BUTTERFLY

DANCE YOUR WAY ACROSS THE SKY

WITH YOUR TISSUE PAPER WINGS THOSE DELICATE AND DAINTY THINGS

FLASH WITH COLOURS OH SO BRIGHT STILL SHINING IN THE MORNING LIGHT

NATURE’S GREATEST WORK OF ART IT CANNOT HELP BUT STIR THE

HEART

TO SEE THIS SPLENDID CREATURE IS THEIR NOT A BETTER FEATURE

OF THE BRITISH SUMMERTIME THAN SUCH AN INSECT SO DEVINE

EVER VIVID ALWAYS TRUE OH I KEEP THE BRIGHTEST HUE

WRAPPED INSIDE MY MEMORY FOR HARDER TIMES AHEAD OF ME

WHEN I’M IN NEED OF A SMILE I’LL STOP AND RECOLLECT A WHILE

THE BUTTERFLY’S HAPPY DANCE AND WITHIN MY PEACEFUL TRANCE

I FIND A SENSE OF CONTENT AT THE SUMMER THAT I SPENT

DREAMING WITH BUTTERFLIES

With Your Voice I Sail

By Anne-Marie Coreggia

With Your Voice I Sail

My voice
may stumble, failing
a clear path to trace but
your smiling voice always steers me
clear of snags and boulders and, as I pass
through stormy waters, you alone can light
the clearest path to shore. With your voice, songs,
fragrance filled, unfurl their sails and freely flow
on the streams of my mind, and my grief now lies at ease
as dark words like giant fallen trees are left untouched

on some distant battlefield, and I can glide out of

the wind’s shadow, in the rhythm of time,
words billowing soft out of my mind.
Teardrop

By Doug Vinson

I
ask
you to
mind our
earth, heed
our existence
upon it, care for
our lives and all that
will occur if we cannot
consider beyond ourselves,
if we are guided by uncertainty,
when we fear the unknown, when we
shun those who differ from us in skin color,
in sex, in persuasion, if we turn our eyes away,
when we dance upon the hidden strings of politicians
or cunning puppetmasters, when we swallow the lust of war,
when poets languish in isolation, without ear or encouragement,
when we torture, when prejudice blinds us to the humanity of another,
when our deluded misconceptions will go public with ready trigger finger,
when we mistake violence for the solution, when we fail the worthy person,
when we won't bother to look past the wheelchair and to whom he really is,
to say his real name, when the most expected thing we will share with him
is discrimination, when we forget that here in space we are in this together,
when tomorrow is the day that old and young will die in roaring explosions,
in quiet corners without notice, when people are driven from their homes,
when women must live in fear, when we steal identities, when evil hides
in anonymity, when we rest in apathy, indifferent to the pain of others,
when our fellow creatures are in chains for our profit and amusement,
when hunger and hatred are accepted, when malice shrieks loud,
when we cut baby girls due to generational gender inequality,
from psychosexual ignorance and hard superstition;
when we deny justice to one lonely voice,
our world falls, stretching itself
into a teardrop.
It is Written in a Star

By Elaine George

. *
*
*
I
am
the
star
that
shone
brightly
in the East
that night
so long ago
A heavenly light
that guided wise men
to the place where He lie
In a manger on a blanket of hay
* * * * *Christ -Immanuel - a radiant child - a gift from God* * * * *
His only son who died on a cross
for teaching us to love and
help one another
for this is
the only
way
there
Will
ever
be
peace
on
Earth
*
F-5 Tornado

By Raul Moreno

The warm temperature drops outdoors,

And first drops of fresh rain sprinkle.
The thunder claps right above me,
As lightening is striking afar.
Dust is blowing in the wind,
Trees are bending fiercely,
A train horn blares,
As the core nears me.
Then sudden silence,
A calm reappears.
Electrical fires start,
For a moment one
Thinks it’s over,
Then it starts
Again quickly.
Passing by my
Home taking
My neighbors,
Tin flying by,
The tornado
Fades, look
At all the
Damage.
And I
Am
Uns
c
a
t
h
e
d.
The Eternal Tree

By Kristin Reynolds

I am Alive Forever and always Essence Rebirth Renewal

I have earth to ground me I have wind to move me I have fire to cleanse
my spirit I have rain to quench my thirst for growth
I have sun to enlighten me feed me I am my own mother
and an extension of the whole I am Earth wind
rain sun fire I am as old as life and I am as young
as time I am shelter to those who seek me I am a bird a flower and the breath
of the earth itself I am exactly where I want to be I am life
I am first and last the beginning and the end I am one from many
I am what I am I live I grow and I die. I am Reborn unto myself
I am the great circle
My limbs know no
Boundaries; while
My leaves whisper
The one truth of the
Whole through the
Seasons changing
Colors that I wear
Upon my heart's
Sleeve, I'm home
To Earth Mother’s
Melodious Life; I
Sing for the whole
World to hear - trees
Are Earth Mother's Song
Blowing 'round the leafy
Globe; eyes of the world song
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ Of the Mother breath of the living soul of the earth }}}}}}}}}}}}
A Concrete Snowman

Written by Brenda Meier-Hans

THE BLACK
SATIN HAT
SAT TIGHT
ON THE YOUNG MANS BALD
HEAD. HIS
EYES BLACK AS
NIGHT STARED INTO
NOTHINGNESS. IN
FRONT OF HIM
WERE 3
PATHS WHERE THE
CHILDREN HAD ROLLED
THREE BALLS OF SNOW MUCH EALIER THAT VERY DAY.
PATCHES OF GREEN GRASS
STUCK THROUGH PACKED
FREEZING SNOW.
IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS FACE
A CROOKED CARROT POINTED TOWARD
THE HOUSE WHERE CHILDREN SAT LOOKING
OUT THEIR WINDOW AT THEIR NEW FOUND
FRIEND. HIS BUTTON MOUTH SHAPED FOR
HIM TO LOOK HAPPY SEEMED TO SMILE
AT THEM AS THEY STARTED TO BLOW
KISSES AT THEIR WONDERFUL
NEW SNOWMAN.
This scar of mine

By Bella Cardenas

There is a scar
On my face
Small, steadfastly placed
One only notices if they are this close
To kissing my soul
On my cheek
Below the eyes and sideways
Beside the bubble-gum sweet
Mouth, vivacious story teller
like an upside down
sharp angled half moon
The endless emotions of my sky
So attractively rough
It attacks the delicate features of my face
Allowing my streetwise beautiful
Personality
To shine through, I don’t hide thetruth
It’s as plain as the scar on my face
Life isn’t ugly, you make it that way
Some days I wish it wasn’t there
But I always
Appreciate it’s presence
I won’t ever forget
When I received
The blow to my vanity
From a fight over youthful yearnings
Inside this
Is my learning processes
Scars hold history
I shall carry with me
Through tough times
Soft and easy, peaceful
To remind me
Of me
A Totum Pole Ode

By Carrie Richards

forever gazing
cold, blazing
eyes in the
sky, where
wings of the
grain, have weathered many rains….
~~~~~~~~~~~
deep, fluid etchings, carved in the wood, stetching high over the hood of earth…
a thunderbird’s wings, perch a lofty plateau, above a graveyard of tales long ago…
over years, the curious swell, enchanted by spell of legends dwelling here

emerging from gold lands

so far and near
skin and bones
through windswept loam
thick with thistles,
with courage and fear
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a river on their back
and a cloak of home
draped across shoulders
in a world unknown
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
tears ran rivulets on the white man's ground
drenched with forgiveness, from a crying sun
and the eyes of time, from a tribe now gone
~~~~~~~~~~~
as wind spins, curls, and winds
around the spine
~~~~~~~~~
of native vines... unfolding
old tribal codes
~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~
stories are told with
each turn of the pole...

in the totum pole ode

~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~