Poem by Keith Nunes

THE FLOURISH AND THE FALL

Lying down to
Take it front-on
Look-see
What the hell is
Coming this way,
Catch a sharded reflection
In the corner of an eye,
Bending with the soundwaves,
Staccato rap all the way
To the found and forgiven,
Acted dumb so long
It won’t go away!

After the flourish, the fall,
Darkness sweeping over everything,
Spreads like dense smoke, someone is
Pulling a blanket over me,
Over my head,
Am I safe or
Am I suffocating?

Poems by Jeffrey Side

WE ARE TETHERED

Now location dissolves.
No nadir exists for these,
my kin, birthed from my essence.

We carve beds within charnel houses,
upon coffins draped in
snow.

Crowns of barbarity
adorn their heads—a gaudy
display that masks the
unease.

The reward, though scanty,
holds a slight appeal, yet the path
remains covered in mist.

We are tethered to a zone,
restless and forever
on the precipice of the uncharted.


TIME OF WHISPERS

Between echoes of forgotten
laughter and unseen spaces,
I feel the ticking seconds,
where memories linger
in the quiet places.

In an old photograph,
blurred by touch,
your essence remains,
as a trace of existence,
fading into the known.

Unspoken conversations
of suspended words,
silent in the air like mist,
taste of what could have been,
now the fabric has gone.


LYNN’S BIRTHDAY

I was a kingfisher in your hand.
I was a man who licked the land.

The switch is off but the light is on.
Sometime in the future you'll be gone.

No more men will struggle in the sea.
I’ll refuse the fish that are brought to me.

The keeper of the snakes has you hidden.
Like a man on probation your'e forbidden.

Eldred walks the fields when the day is done.
He reads too much of Blake and Tennyson.

Simple measures, simple pleasures
You don’t have to count other people’s treasures.

I touched the ruler with the jagged edge.
I have not found the golden hedge.

Niobe weeps upon the floor.
She cannot find what she is looking for.

Through our many endeavours we learn what is right.
From the days of our worship to the curse of the night.


I'M NOT DISAPPOINTED

I'm not disappointed.
I came here on my own.
I can't even imagine
the way it might have been.
I'm waiting here for something,
afraid in case it shows.
I'm not disappointed,
but nobody knows.

I'm not disappointed.
I've had love and I've had care.
It was a long time in coming
as far as I am aware.
I had everything I wanted,
more than I could see.
I'm not disappointed,
what use would it be.

I'm not disappointed.
I continued to climb.
I knew at the start
it was a waste of time.
I couldn't even tell you
where it is now.
I'm not disappointed,
though I don't know how.

I'm not disappointed
now that I'm back.
When goodness came to me,
I still felt some lack.
There are much better places,
I have to assume.
I'm not disappointed
I can't find the room.

I'm not disappointed
she drew back from me.
It should have been expected,
but I couldn't see.
When I leave tomorrow
there will be no regret.
I'm not disappointed
that I lost the bet.