Aspiring Poet ..........................................................................................................................pages

These Things Are Serious, By The Way

Kallista Stamenov

I just want to go to sleep, but a wasp has managed to sneak in a window a door a portal (at this point I can only wonder)

I once found a sunflower with multiple faces a mutated maiden with that part in the center almost completing a full circle different she may be but maybe that makes her all the more beautiful

I have a cat who likes to hunt. There are coyotes in our neighborhood so we keep the cats inside, but still he goes on the prowl running down the stairs chasing a mouse filled with catnip

I’ve had a backyard light post that I just installed it didn’t need direct power, only solar for years it has patiently sat tucked away in a garage corner because I have no electrician skills

I like to separate my aloe vera plants, putting them in multiple pots so they don’t get crowded. Now I probably have 80 aloe vera plants.

Broken

Danielle Clark

It started out playful Something like a friendship We had no idea How it could have ended

Your touch sent me soaring Something like a wake-up Under the influence It wasn’t about love

And it was so twisted. Now I’m kind of missing you.

Come what may I thought that we could be together You and I I thought that we would last forever

But I was wrong. Once again.

Now here I am, broken.

Picking up the pieces I was so in love But my love would never be enough

So here I sit. Alone again.

Hoping that you’re broken.

It was like a wild ride I had to close my eyes But it was just the cold breeze Underneath a dark sky

The feeling left me breathless I was just so weightless You left me confused Your kiss lingered on my lips

And it was so twisted. Now I’m kind of missing you.

But here I sit. Alone again.

Hoping that you’re broken.

Consumption

Chimara Okeke

Synopsis

Humans often desire to tweak one aspect of their lives or the other. Be it in a physical sense or personalitywise, we delve into ourselves and find flaws. That is an innate, inevitable, and normal phenomenon undeserving of shame. But at times, we let this tendency subsume our thoughts, rendering ourselves timid and ever-wondering whether these projected flaws do indeed hold. Never was I one to ponder past and current social interactions. Perhaps this disposition stemmed from my juvenile naivete towards body language, mannerisms, and micro expressions. After all, a fifteen-year-old me hardly knew that there were several meanings behind an action as crude as a glance. From my numerous encounters with people, I have noticed a trend that irks me so incessantly. Unless alone, everyone I interact with directs all their attention to the other party accompanying me. This situation knowns no deviation. As such, I have since abandoned my former conviction of indifference towards socialization. It began as a simple query of whether my introversion warded people off. But now, this daunting thought dictates my every move in the social sphere. This worry has consumed me.

I am an introvert with my moments of shine, Who comes alive when the moment is right. When people I cherish surround my table, I am glad as chinks begin traversing my mundane mask.

It is easy to socialize. Right? Or did I miss the crash course? I do know this; I possess warm yet fleeting memories of high school pals. They were blunt but never shunned me in the face of others. Their body language, I understood. Their mannerisms held no pretense.

Today, I encounter an entirely new experience. Before people, with an acquaintance by my side, I seek counsel on personal matters. Yet these people remain obliged. Obliged to devout their undivided attention to the said acquaintance.

I have taken note of this as a recurring experience. Yet I wonder, Why is it so? Maybe it is my approachability or lack thereof. Whatever the reason, this phenomenon controls me without consent. I now have a looming fear that I roam this earth unperceived.

It is a given that I will go on to meet many other people in my lifetime. Whether I eventually untether myself from this paranoid mentality, That much is unbeknownst to me. I can merely wish and wait, one day, For this consumption to take its leave.

Dreaming a Little Dream

Remi Jenkins

Dreaming is believing I feel at peace at the circus Fun has begun, it is time to explore Games, giggles, and gooey snacks Animals wearing tights and tiny tutu’s I take a trip to the circus Smells, sights, and screams I don’t want to wake up I stay asleep and set to sea My friends and I spend more time in pretend Excitement fills throughout my body Smells of buttery popcorn and sweet cotton candy Fills through my nose and brings a smile on my face with it Such smells and sights to see Such little time... We get to our final destination It is almost time to wake up and shape up I want to stay forever, however I must dream another I feel at peace at the circus Floating aimlessly and steady at sea See you later my friends, this has been fun I will cherish the good times forever See you again in my next adventure As you’re invited whenever

Muse of Narcissism

Abigail J. Bartley

Don’t look any ol’ gift horse in the mouth, they said to me eons ago, don’t bring your youthful, pallid face near it’s teeth. But when the thing handed to me my very own human weakness, beheaded on a platter, it’s soundless, toothless grin implored me oh-so sweetly. By the time I’d grasped enough, to bear a verse or two, the beast’s offerings had done away with my human inhibitions. My patron- a mute, edentulous thing- carried me through the valley. But now it feasts on my own turn of phrase from the palms of my hands. We, it and I, haunt their cracked steps and old paper mills, where the air is still crushing, nourishing us, breathably acrid. Grieving the old ink-and-quill days, the days of unchecked waste, when we had reign over all. We’re a ghastly sight, don’t think we’ve forgotten. But rightful, for a pair that’s still somehow thriving.