I struggle between the truth and peace
Balancing on this crystal beam—
So fragile, on the edge of breaking
As I try to make myself lighter
To keep it in place.

I keep it in place
And it keeps me in pieces.
I would shrivel to nothing
For this.
I would disappear—
Just say the word.

I’m sorry.
How many more times
Must I say it?

I’m sorry.
You never said that to me.

I know I’m the one in the wrong
But it hurts like white-hot tongs
And I cannot ever sing you this song
So I let go of the pain and move on.

A warped mirror perhaps?
My face always twisted,
always grimacing behind a dry beam.
Two Tylenols are never enough.

Ella.
A lump caught in my throat.  
Her scent walks by,
uninvited, yet welcomed.

A blurred outline,
a cutout blocking the light.
I yearn to sweat nightmares
out of my pores.

At night, her voice still fogs
the thick wall of silence—
muffled.
“Are you listening?”
Obscured echoes stir
down the pit of this endless night.

Tulips grow somewhere
on the side of the bed,
where it whirrs and beeps,
and reeks of alcohol.  
But the night is ever still,
unperturbed, as it sleeps in my arms.

Murmurs drift like dust motes,
caught in a sunbeam—

Ella.
I chase shadows of her laughter,
fading out against gushing white noise.  
Fingers twitch to speak,
for words are somehow
lost in static.

The walls hum a song,
croaking with hurt it sounds—
“Stay with me,” it pleads,
but my indifference swallows
the words.

In the spaces between breaths,
I linger suspended.
Ella might be digging me out.

I feared her beauty
And held my breath
The things unspoken,
Left unsaid
Fragments broken
Like shattered glass
Show a time
That came to pass
A veiled mirror
Reflects the truth
She is not me
She is not you

words that can only be whispered
in dreams and midnight longings;
the melancholy lilt of a time fading
echoes into the silence, unbound

Its been Over a decade
one would think we’re inevitable
Friends who never became lovers
Bond so strong we’re untouchable
The thoughts crossed my mind plenty
Are we possible ?
We are so farm from love
Yet we are unstoppable
When we’re together , the world stops
Picture perfect no crops
Could we be?
Healthy?
Or is a friendship like ours only once in a lifetime
Friendship until the last lifeline?
Distance has & will always be our what if?
And if we ever did work
you’d have to come find me
Cause we’re a long distance from love
So until then we’d never know

-Flo

As bitter brew meets parted lips, do tears accompany my sips?
In shadows cast by memories, do cries echo through the eclipse?

With every whispered plea for closure, does anguish tighten its grip?
Why did you choose her over us, leaving love's vessel to slowly rip?

In this café of shattered dreams, do my heart's cries reach your ears?
Or are they lost in the cacophony of our unspoken fears?

As bitter brew meets parted lips, do you taste the salt of my tears?
Or have you moved on, leaving me to drown in love's endless spheres?

(inspired by Malia’s poem ‘crack the code’)

the unspoken poems
are the loudest
the ones you don’t utter
the times you don’t bother
symphonies of silence
votes of no confidence
trust marbled with rust
what's become of us?

Let me:
Sail into your dreams
Cuddle your fantasies
Hear your silence
Utter your thoughts
Read your unspoken words
Touch your imagination
Embrace your desires.
Sing to your heart
Kiss your soul
Taste your sweetness
Touch your kindness
Feel your happiness and
Dance inside your chest

Let me be:
Your gentle breeze,
The spring of your life
The inspiration of your love and
The whisperers of your being

Hussein Dekmak