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 Jun 2024
Grace
the wind is a song
that bends those velvet petals
for the lips of bees
 Jun 2024
Anais Vionet
People came and went all night, welcomed by the warm evening, the 12-piece jazz band, rich restaurant aromas and the boundless night sky. I hear their enthusiasm as they’re escorted to their tables. These Geneva people seem more Germanic and reserved than the French, although they’ve stolen our language. Maybe they license French or subscribe to it, like Spotify.

Peter (my bf) and I danced, unburdened by tomorrows, on a terrace of frozen-ice like, pale-blue tiles. The spilled star-field glittered like fireworks on a dark canvas of a new-moon, black sky.

The distant, snow-covered Alps seemed to reach for the glistening cosmos, like spilled water rushing across a floor or children grasping at toys. Compared to this celestial gallery, the Geneva skyline looked as sad as an old stage prop.

The air was scented with blooming jasmine, baking bread and coffees. A breeze, in turns warm and cool, wrapped around us, sharing the dance by pressing my dress to me one moment and throwing it away the next.

The dress I picked it up in Paris earlier in the week - a svelte, Chiuri Dior, ‘New Look Silhouette’ in Prussian blue Chiffon and cobalt crepe - felt as lightweight, breathable and cool as workout-mesh.

Peter’s a good dancer. He’s firm yet gentle, guiding me effortlessly, in a lazy, jazz way, from the waist. When we’re in the flow, our choreography’s guided more by the unseen music than a set dance.

Our evening - I think it’s fair to say we owned it - turned into an unhurried night, before easing, unnoticed, into morning - as summer evenings tend to do.

Our words, in hushed tones, were washed away on the breeze and the music, lost to anyone but ourselves. Time never seemed more of an abstract and irrelevant construct - and if there was a world beyond those moments - it went unnoticed.
.
.
Songs for this:
Good Luck, Babe! by Chappell Roan
Lose My Breath (Feat. Charlie Puth) by Stay Kids, Charlie Puth
Stumblin’ In by CRYIL
**** to someone by Clairo
Our cast…
Peter (My bf), is a bearded, 27-year-old from the sage hills of Malibu, California. He’s 6’1, too thin, and his hair is an explosion of uncombed black. Until last week, when I tanned him up, his skin was pale from over exposure to fluorescent lighting. He earned his PhD in Applied Physics last year and now he works for CERN here in Geneva. He’s smart, quiet, awkward and he can be too serious. I’m unreasonably cRaZy about this guy.

Svelte: From the Merriam Webster ‘Word of the day’ list: something sleek, like a greyhound or racecar
Poems,
like unsend letters
Putting it out there.
Sending them to the universe.
Like traveling stars from afar.
Hoping they reach their destination.
For the one to read and understand.




Shell✨🐚
A star for you.
There is something beautiful here
The grass getting burnt
The scent in the atmosphere
The pink sunset in the front

The post sign vertical still
Cutting in the sky
That old house up in the hill
To where I point the eye

That big tree that is wide
And forms a round circle
The castle lit in the mountain

There is nothing aside
The time is slow and a turtle
Is crossing nearby a fountain.
Sometimes the days go by and we can sense that everything is where it is supposed to.
 Jun 2024
Traveler
In the blind spot
of the transparency of soul
it seems I know more then I know.
I possess the answers
the cures of dis-ease
It’s been there all along
creative energy!
Traveler 🧳 Tim
Under the mango tree where the shade is dark and deep
she waits with years on her skin.

The face though weary with the burden of time
has not yielded to the fate
of having once loved and lost.

She believes the winds from the barren field
will one day carry the rustle of footsteps
raising a song from within earth
that the moment is arrived
for the dead river to rise in tides
and flood her cheeks with the sapplings of
all the unplanted kisses.

When the nights come
the fireflies would sing
love is such a beautiful thing
basking in the glow of her heart.
 Jun 2024
Barbara R Maxwell
Imagine walking into a forest full of pine and other trees
They are all colors and sizes

As you stop amongst the trees, all you can hear is the deep silence
and the sound of your boots as you walk along on the dirt path

A slight cool breeze rustles through the trees moving the limbs
as the branches sway back and forth to the rhythm of the breeze

It is pleasant and calming
There is a scent of freshness in the air
It is invigorating

The sky is clear, and there is a glimmer of the sun gently hitting the path ahead
As you look up through the trees, the sun seems to shimmer

You keep walking
At the end of the path, is a small log cabin with
a fire burning in the fireplace, waiting quietly for its owner to return
You can smell something baking in the oven

It’s a perfect summer day
 Jun 2024
Pagan Paul
I am birthed from an egg in the forbidden land,
standing proud I stretch my arms out wide.
I open my eyes and open my heart,
emoting memories pour into my cold mind.
And the flames, and the flames and the sacred flames.
carry me out to the infinite stars of knowledge,
to where the Twin Goddesses of Truth
petition the serpent to deceive the future.
The barge of the Gone Forever sails past
and it bows its bows to the flail and the sceptre,
turquoise and gold with the face of millennia,
its image forever burnt into my countless lives.
I, Mighty One of Enchantment,
now fly from the shell that holds my long sleep
to the thirteenth direction of my smile.
And the flames, and the flames and the sacred flames.

I beseech and invoke, with secret Words of Power,
the hidden wisdoms of the ancient spell.
I scribe, weighing words in their charm
to call forth the Magic of the Dark Night.
And the flames, and the flames and the sacred flames
of he who abides throughout all time,
consume me with a thousand thousand names,
and make me the Lord of All Laws.
All Hail! to the girdle of the stars.
All Hail! to the secret glyphs.
Guide my journey through the eternal time
and take my Sphynx as your devoted sacrifice.
I, Mighty One of Enchantment,
now sail my boat of millions of years
to the thirteenth direction of my smile.
And the flames, and the flames and the sacred flames.
I posted half this poem before, but have written a second stanza so now posting the full version that will be recorded, added to a soundscape and released later this month.
 Jun 2024
Thomas W Case
Mom took my brother and
I to the cemetery when
we were kids.
Her mother and grandma
were there underneath the
grass and dirt.
The spring breeze felt
good on my face.
We put carnations and
lilacs on all the graves.
She told us stories about
our dead relatives.
The tombstones, with the
dates seemed ancient and
final.

After flowering all the
graves, we went to
the pond and fed
the ducks and swans.
There was a fire in
their eyes.
They were always
hungry.
They gobbled the bread
and swam in circles.

When we became
teenagers, Mom took
us to the cemetery, and
taught us how to drive.
She said it was
safer there.
We couldn't ****
anyone.

Many years later
I took my little sons to
cemetery.
I showed them all
the graves and told
the old family stories.
"That's your grandma,"  I said,
pointing to the tombstone.
"She brought me here,
when I was your age."

My oldest son, Zach, who was
seven at the time said,
"When I get old,
I'm going to bring my kids
here to visit the family.
Will you come with us, Daddy?"
"Sure", I said.
Let's feed the swans.
Check out my you tube channel where I read from my recent book, Seedy Town Blues Collected Poems.
Here's a link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0-hHZ6O8u0
 May 2024
Cliff Perkins
Nature finds a new design
Repeats it endlessly
Out of utter joy
Like a baby
With a new word
The classroom window had a clear view of the park
and when the July clouds painted the sky dark
the boy would start to cry!

Why, the teacher exclaimed, why these tears
it's all so pleasant, and there's nothing to fear
the rain is so welcome, it does only good
so why boy it finds you in such bitter mood!

Saying thus, he would walk back to his table
by the rain upon windowpane, I was inconsolable
brisker than rain were the tears in my eyes
in the thought there would be flood, water would rise
the walk back home would be a herculean feat
with the street flooded, hidden manholes beneath
I was haunted by the spectre of how the water rose
crawled past my chest, and reached up the nose
the swelling river would find me an easy victim
the teacher didn't know, I didn't know how to swim!

When the school bell finally rang, they ran joyous in the rain
splashing and soaking merrily, their way was heaven
only I stayed back, as if my feet had grown roots
late evening I reached home, in heavy sodden boots.
 May 2024
Sally A Bayan
☘️☘️☘️

It's wonderful to be
a freshly blooming rose,
seen by everyone's eyes
given special names,
and compared with other
grown blooms.

But...

I'd rather be free from
everyone's attention,
i prefer to grow, to bloom
without much effort,
to sprout amongst the grass,
on some random garden spots,
to persist to exist, to breathe
even among crevices.

I'd rather be a wildflower
unannounced, unmaintained
yet, beautifully unique,
and with much freedom.

Upon me, others may tread,
but, i don't die easily,
i persevere, and then
in due time, i rise again.


sally b

© Rosalia Rosario A. Bayan
MAY 16, 2024
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