Encore after the final curtain -

Beautiful Sunshine by MALIZ ONG

Encore after the final curtain*

Into the tiny sparkled city of Wove
One former resident drove
Her face had been scarce
In recent years past
She gripped the wheel hard 
As she drove

This former resident of the
Sparkling city of Wove
Revisited her last rooted strength
As she drove
Felt tired, sad cells, at last
Stir, surge and split 
Happy and fast
As sparkles danced down
To her gas pedaling toes

This former resident of Wove
stopped roadside 
and watched crows soar 

into a slice of blue sky 

As she let go and dove 
Into her rain sopping heart

Found a sunshining grin
A new start within her
home place to begin
In that tiny be-sparkled
city she wove 

* for those who are pulled down by sad poems on Sundays....

At Mother’s Bedside

Black Water by Darren Lewis

Black Water by Darren Lewis

At Mother’s Bedside

One wove on a weary loom

The other two stared silently

Searching for always-

scarce-now-absent-smiles

as the revisited rain fell

into rooted resentment

the scent of sprouting

new vegetation

swirling in the air

sweeping last robust cells

with all eroded

sapping her

strength to stop their

flight before crows dropped

the final black curtain on the

sorry business of it all

The Time Of Repair

Healing Powers by Petr Kratochvil

Sunlight After Storm 5 by MALIZ ONG

The Time Of Repair

Now is the time to repair

driven to think of that misty

night of a no-mesh-tear

Now is the time to repair

the slate-buried-hope

under the empty-room of

longing waiting with a bent

key to become one of all

Now is the time to repair

battered-broken promises

of long-ago ones

and followers crying out

with righteous passion

ringing the cracked bell  

for freedom, justice

and the elusive-exclusive

pursuit of happiness

Now is the time to tenderly repair

the ripped flesh of

this nation's intention and integrity

to match positive action

With pluralistic voices

clear as any celestial choir

ringing healing through cracks, 

shining light through fabric-fissures, 

smashing stonewalls to dust

Now

is the time

of repair

consigning hatred

to the misty ambiguity

of evaporated memory

Now 

let jagged fragments flow and

meet in a more perfect union  

for all

Now

Old Head

Old Head 

they said

she had 

an old head
under the
bouncing
black curls
and the flashing
eyes that
looked back
and forward
intently present

why?

why?


the clink of chains
long silenced
and yet the click
of metal
kills
still

conscience lies

conscience lies  

in remembrance of Trayton Benjamin Martin*

there conscience lies together molten in mistake

fluttering like a note in the whirling wind

sense having taken leave as tossed together

jury boxed friends did not second guess, chose to

rest, to translate and left the lab of truth for others

to detect – in the stain. 

this poem speaks to the what I perceive as a blatant travesty of justice in the verdict of acquittal following the trial arising from the kiling of Trayvon Martin - I believe and poets and writers we have an obligation to bear witness and to further the movement toward a more perfect union of our collective humanity.

A Dark Night

Regarding the US case of a young man shot and killed by a neighborhood watch citizen and the resulting acquittal of same last night. IMHO we as citizens of the world must bear witness and continue in our pursuit toward peace for all. I thank the many who responded to this post. As poets and writers I believe we share a responsibility to communicate. Peace and good will toward all..

My heart breaks - My mind is boggled - I am reeling - For all mothers of sons who are young and have dark skin, for all dark skinned men, for all of us of any gender, race, or religion, Americans ALL who must at the lowest bar of morality be sickened by the travesty of the verdict this evening - where a young man on foot wearing a hoodie on a misty evening is deemed a threat to the life of a man following in a car, whose level of perceived "threat" rises to such unimaginable proportions that he EXITS the car and kills. The situation is a travesty of our justice system, which although far from perfect, continues to try to move toward a more "perfect state" ... but more than this this horrible verdict validates the killing of a young man for doing nothing more than "looking suspicious" in his father's neighborhood while returning from a family errand. As a New Yorker, I was warned by family members who live in the state of Florida that there would be no conviction - I chose to believe in the justice system - and that this time they would, on the basis of clear and compelling evidence get it right. Once again, to my heart-break they did not. The shame of this verdict falls on all of us who do too little to bring such injustice to a complete and total halt... I ask forgiveness for those who may misguidedly mix me in with the those who are so blinded by hatred, and ill will that they cannot see evidence clearly before them. Tonight, I hope that there truly is a Higher Power somewhere who can help the misguided. It is a sad night for those who identify themselves with the United States of America. There is little that "unites" us tonight but much that can. Let us see where the opportunity for healing lies in this still bloody gaping wound.

Kaitlin Voices

Kaitlin Voices*

Kaitlin voices drift

Pealing syllables climb

Up the scales

Risk vanishing

Into the smoke of memory

Where I sit bereft

A mother in the ever-

stench of scare

It happens, they say

The impossible

The sundressed child

Running barefoot into

Never-to-be-seen-again

It happens they say

The impossible

It might I must admit

Under pressure of

Universal orders

I shall neither accept

Nor understand

Ever 

*this poem is one of a series of Kaitlin poems (a raped-murdered-four-year-little girl character) 
who is the current subject of a WIP - Missing Kaitlin - for other Katilin poems in the series search this site.