POETRY: "The Beauty of Your Words" By Joshua Merchant

"The Beauty of Your Words"

By Joshua Merchant

Your looks are beyond comparison to any other.

Your smile draws out the happiness hidden within me.

Your eyes are a portal whose beautiful shade of blue

brings me to a place I like to call Euphoria.

But your words sing to me a sweet song of ecstasy.

POETRY: "My New Beginning" By Joshua Merchant

"My New Beginning"

By Joshua Merchant

Most fear the concept of death, but not me.

Most shudder at the thought of eternal slumber,

yet, these are the thoughts that ease my mind.

The constant rhythmic beat of your pulse,

ticking like the watch of life, until, finally,

the watch just comes to a stop.

POETRY: "The Poor Frog" By Zachary Velarde

"The Poor Frog"
By Zachary Velarde

All morn the poor frog!
For he has lived through torture!

POETRY: "The Kids" by Glacys Agustin

“The Kids”

By Glacys Agustin

This one’s for the kids who have it made-

The rich kids, the popular kids.

The one whose father is a CEO,

The one whose mother is a movie star.

The A-Listers and hotshots

Who were born in the spotlight.

This one’s for the kids who’ve lost their way-

The outcasts, the misfits.

To the ones who’ve fallen far from grace;

to the ones who think they’re far too flawed

for this world, let alone heaven.

POETRY: "Over and Over and Over" by Glacys Agustin

"Over and Over and Over"

By Glacys Agustin

"I promise. I really mean it this time."

You might as well be brandishing a knife,

telling me you're not dangerous.

Don't you think I know by now?

What are you?

A broken record?

A residual haunting?

No.

More like a serial murderer.

POETRY: "Ocean Eyes" By Christina Adepoju

 “Ocean Eyes” 
 By Christina Adepoju                                                            

                          

She says she doesn’t want to love anymore,

the pain is too much to bear.

I sit by her side and ask her why,

her mind drifts off, forgetting what was asked

But instead remembers the horrible memories of her past.

POETRY: "Mirrors" by Erin Burrows

"Mirrors"
by Erin Burrows

She had the faith in her heart.
Faiths. Both of them.
The one bursting with love to do anything for Him,
because even so small, she knew her mission in life.
But somewhere along the way, her smile got chips because she realized
that maybe she put her trust in the wrong people.

POETRY: "Poetry" By Shanice Skyers

“Poetry”
 By Shanice Skyers 

The brilliance of this fiend,
is as a condescending paradox. Poetry is seductive,
poetry is offending,
poetry is vile.

POETRY: "A Lost Paradise" By Kaylyn Koutz

"A Lost Paradise"
By Kaylyn Koutz

Time slowly passes every second,

every hour of every day;

it’s a barrier

leaving us lost-

we can’t reach our destination.

Cars and airplanes leading people to their destination,

Their pre-planned places, 

every friend, friends of friends born in different places-

America, England, Australia, China,

POETRY: "Our Unbreakable Bond" By Kaylyn Koutz

"Our Unbreakable Bond"

By Kaylyn Koutz

We were like sisters,

Spending hours upon hours together

“attached at the hip;” 

We were inseparable from the start.

No one could break the bond formed

from the moment we met; I knew our bond was unbreakable,

like the beat that flowed around us,

the rhythm taking control over our bodies

POETRY: "Choosing" by Erin Burrows

“Choosing”
by Erin Burrows

Your arrow came zipping from 
your infectious personality.
Your words are 
winged creatures of their own.
Your voice fills the room, 
lifting every ear from the 
dull world of monotone
Your voice avoids, 
and instead turns to the beautiful sound 
of spontaneity. 

POETRY: "Reality" By Shanice Skyers

"Reality"
By Shanice Skyers 

You are the dissatisfied father,

I will spend the rest of my life trying to please,

but will always disappoint. 

With you, there is always lack,

never fulfillment, 

never completion,

always room for revisions,

always room improvements.

Nothing I produce,

will ever be brilliant in your eyes,

nothing will ever be worthy,

nothing will ever be acceptable. 

POETRY: "Nightingale" By Christina Adepoju

"Nightingale"

By Christina Adepoju

The nightingale gives me peace

its songs shiver down my spine

as I listen to its melodious voice;

hearing the pitch-perfect harmonies,

is as calming as the summer sea

POETRY: "In My Heart" By Ashley Barron

“In My Heart”

By Ashley Barron

In the beginning-

when I was a different girl-

thought I knew

where it was that I belonged.

Hair ribbons and twangy guitar,

mournful love songs in Southern dialect

thought they were for me.

Tried to forge my identity

out of what everyone else

seemed to want me 

to be.

POETRY: "In Address to the Unseen" By Ashley Barron

"In Address to the Unseen"

By Ashley Barron

Other half of my self,

Spirit that is not mine, 

but that belongs to me all the same.

Presence that I feel

when I am alone in the dark,

lost, afraid,

in need of comfort. 

I see you not,

and yet I know you are there.

POETRY: "The School Cycle" By Emily Waters

“School Cycle”
By Emily Waters

At the end of summer,
I want to go to school
like a small child who sees something
on the airplane of a spoon zipping towards him.
Then, the middle of the year hits,

POETRY: "Picture of Innocence" By Emily Waters

“Picture of Innocence”
By Emily Waters

A child and a man stand side by side,
one holds a gun,
one wears a plaid school dress
and teeters on a pair of roller skates.

How could this be?

POETRY: "Art Project" By Larry J. Knight, Jr.

"Art Project"
By Larry J. Knight, Jr.

She found herself within
soft brush strokes.

Her canvas was more than
a surface for creating; it was
an outlet, a medium with which
she discovered her soul’s depth,
a slate upon which she hid
emotions too raw and too painful.

POETRY: "What Sounds Like Paradise" By Ynden Lizardo

"What Sounds Like Paradise"

By Ynden Lizardo

I look in the mirror and am disgusted

by the debilitated woman who stares at me

with lifeless eyes.

I loathe the person Age has turned me into.

POETRY: "It's Your Birthday (Bet You Didn't Know)" By Ynden Lizardo

"It's Your Birthday (Bet You Didn't Know)"

By Ynden Lizardo

You’re made of stardust.

Not the kind pixies throw around

to make you feel all giddy and good inside,

but the literal clusters of atoms made

within gases of burning light,

fused with other evanescent elements,

trillions of years ago.