Poetry Corner Part 2

Poetry Corner 2

Four walls

These four walls can get you down. Time begins to drag. A sea of anxiety in which you could drown. Your energy levels sag. You start to forget how it felt, to roam around and be free. You feel it too, I know you do, but the end is in sight, trust me. It’s typical isn’t it? It’s sunny outside but you’re inside looking out. The sky is blue, not one cloud, but already you’re starting to doubt. Why am I scared to go out my front door? When this lockdown ends, what then? Will it ever be like it was before? What if it comes back again? We don’t have all the answers right now. We don’t know everything yet. But we’ll beat this disease, this Coronavirus, we’ll do it soon, I bet.

We have each other, you’re not alone. Call your friends for a chat. A friendly voice on the end of your phone, nothing sounds scary about that. So why not make plans? Relax, sit back, watch a movie, or read a good book. Those four walls have a weakness, a crack, you just need to know where to look.

Scream

In a small room, Lights bright,

By Kit Williams Kit Williams has worked as a Parrot Keeper and an Animal Management has worked with animals and students for the last 15 years, and has many hobbies including reading, wildlife photography, crafting and creative writing. Whilst working with FE students aged 16+, Kit has experienced the importance of maintaining both physical and mental health. Mental health and wellbeing is one of the most important, but lesser discussed, elements of day-to-day life. By removing the stigma and openly talking about people’s personal issues, awareness can be raised and experiences shared, with useful solutions provided and further help signposted. After working alongside multiple scenarios of poor mental health, Kit regularly small. By Michelle Mead Michelle Mead is a writer from Upstate New York. She has edited two print zines, Artless & Naked, and Whimsy, and has been published in various print magazines (Polluto, The Thirty First Bird Review, Trespass, Blinking Cursor, Capsule Stories, Words@Deakin Press, The Chronogram, Montana Mouthful, etc.) and e-zines (Gutter Eloquence, EMG Zine, Apparatus, Under The Juniper Tree, etc.) as well in her poetry books, Moongirls and Nightdreams and Divided Together (lulu.com). She is currently working on multiple novels and a poetry collection.

All night,

So,

Michelle Mead is a writer from Upstate New York. She has edited two print zines, Artless & Naked, and Whimsy, and has been published in various print magazines (Polluto, The Thirty First Bird Review, Trespass, Blinking Cursor, Capsule Stories, Words@Deakin Press, The Chronogram, Montana Mouthful, etc.) and e-zines (Gutter Eloquence, EMG Zine, Apparatus, Under The Juniper Tree, etc.) as well in her poetry books, Moongirls and Nightdreams and Divided Together (lulu.com). She is currently working on multiple novels and a poetry collection.

Tombstone

If I’d have known. But how was I supposed to know? If I’d have known, it was our last car ride. I would have said something heartfelt. Instead of walking away. If I’d have known, I wasn’t going to see you again. I would have given you a hug. I didn’t know. I didn’t understand your darkness. I hoped it would go away. How was I supposed to know the pain? That festered in your soul. The maybe and what ifs are going to be hard to live with. But you know that better than anyone. Why didn’t you wait one more day? Everything was going to be different. I lied. Everything was going to be the same. But how was I supposed to know. I listened. But didn’t care. I was hurting too. I want to tell you so many things. Ask you so many questions. But how was I supposed to know? A tombstone won’t answer.

By Steven Kish Steven Kish has been a high school coach, nursing assistant, lifeguard, father, and writer. He has endured childhood trauma, and is a survivor of suicide. As a survivor of suicide, Steve is an advocate for people who suffer from mental health issues. He a constructive way through writing. He believes his poetry can bring awareness to mental health and heal a community he has lived in since 1984. Before Covid, Steve would attend and hopes to get out into the community and bring awareness to mental health.

Shooting Star i.m. Alice Augusta Ball, 1892-1916

and see your name between Florence Nightingale and Marie Sklodowska-Curie? And, if they do, how many know what you did for the lives of those leprosy It would have been long odds against you, a black woman. holding two degrees aged twenty-two, publishing in the American Chemical Society’s prestigious Journal, and gaining, after a master’s degree at the College of Hawaii*, a professorship. Knowing the chemistry of kava plants led you to study chaulmoogla oil –the traditional remedy for leprosy, but with erratic success (too sticky as ointment, too thick for injections, too unpalatable to keep down). Your skills in synthesis enabled you to make the oil’s key component absorbable, but you died young –of TB, it’s said – leaving a colleague to take the credit from the injectable treatment you had pioneered, which killed the need for quarantine in colonies like Molokai’s, once labelled Your ex-supervisor restored the credit rightly yours, naming the ‘Ball Method’ and, later, the University’s historians dug out from archives the work you’d done. A plaque on the campus’s lone chaulmoogla tree commemorates your achievement, the University awarded you, posthumously, its Medal of Distinction, and you’ve been honoured *The College of Hawaii later became the University of Hawaii.

By Mantz Yorke Mantz Yorke lives in Manchester, England. His poems have appeared in print magazines, anthologies and e-magazines both in the UK and in ternationally. His collections ‘Voyager’ and ‘Dark Matters’ are published by Dempsey & Windle.

between Florence Nightingale and Marie Sklodowska-Curie? how many know what you did for the lives of those leprosy It would have been long odds against you, a black woman. aged twenty-two, publishing in the American Chemical Society’s and gaining, after a master’s degree at the College of Hawaii*,

Knowing the chemistry of kava plants led you to study the traditional remedy for leprosy, but with erratic success too thick for injections, too unpalatable to keep down). enabled you to make the oil’s key component absorbable, of TB, it’s said – leaving a colleague to take the credit from the injectable treatment you had pioneered, for quarantine in colonies like Molokai’s, once labelled

Your ex-supervisor restored the credit rightly yours, naming and, later, the University’s historians dug out from archives A plaque on the campus’s lone chaulmoogla tree commemorates the University awarded you, posthumously, its Medal of Distinction, *The College of Hawaii later became the University of Hawaii.

Mantz Yorke lives in Manchester, England. His poems have appeared in print magazines, anthologies and e-magazines both in the UK and internationally. His collections ‘Voyager’ and ‘Dark Matters’ are published