City's Gleamin Eyes (Annette Redmond Walters-Lafayette, LA)

I stride across the visibility of a city’s gleaming eyes. Out here your presence seems so meager and I have to really disconnect to feel it. If I close my eyes I can see the shadow of disappointment and my heart is almost shattered to the point of falling tears. Strong as I may be, I can’t deny the darker side that sends me sliding in between the cracks or wets my soul as I evaporate into a cloud of fire and mist. There are no presumptions here, where I feel safe. No procrastinations to make me think twice. All my fears are pushed behind and all my dreams are high above. All I see here is a gate to a path to something inconceivable. I only whisper at the lock, too numb to remember a code. All the while, pretending there is nothing beyond this safety, until you step in and show me more worth fighting for. Then, somehow, I find the courage to express my thoughts. I can show how every limb trembles in your beauty and every tear is not sadness, but gratefulness of your touch and every part of me wishes never to separate from your trust. When I am crushed, you lessen the weight of the load upon my soul. When I am down, you point to a dream soaring high above. When I am lost for words, you kiss my heart and know my truth. All my laughter is for you, all my treasures I give to you. All my love is you.

Comments

Come Hither (Annette Redmond Walters - Lafayette, LA)

I meant it not this way but the tears just flow and my makeup smearing all the more, leaving behind that familiar filthy residue. I may have begun to drive myself away, dragging you down as well. But it's done, I've flipped the switch and now it's dark once more. How painful is the music to my ears, I can't stand to be alone in it, yet here I am again. I pray you fly back and safely and warmly to me, though I fear I've dug the grave too deeply. As the dirt shifts within my soul, I choke on those loving words I'd meant for you. All the fragments of light I see becoming smaller and I wish to be near you in your embrace that might make me feel the warmth I'm missing. And in reality, I doubt I'd breathe another breath without you. So come hither and quickly soothe my dying heart, you are the only cure I know. I cry and cry again, come hither to heal and love me. Come hither and help me dry my tears.

Let That Fucker Burn (John Chenvert - Napoleonville, LA)

Let that fucker burn. Let the fire crackle like the whips once did— like bone meeting leather, like screams swallowed by the trees. Let the white columns crumble to ash. Not as tragedy— but as truth, unearthing itself from beneath generations of silence. Nottoway is not a mansion. It’s a mausoleum. A lie carved in stone to honor the hands that held the whip, not the backs that bore it. They called it the “White Castle.” A place of beauty. A place for weddings, for photo ops, for pretending that horror can be made elegant if the curtains match the guilt. But no paint can cover what happened there. Blood doesn’t wash out with white linens. And pain doesn’t forget just because you renamed it history. I’m not Black. And I won’t pretend to carry that weight. But I also won’t ignore it. My people—the Guanches—were taken too. Our language silenced. Our land stolen. Our names nearly erased. So yes, I know colonization. Yes, I know what it means to be disappeared. But I also know this— my skin ...

Lunatic (Lily Lechler - New Orleans, LA)

“Lunacy” comes from the moon, Who cycles through brilliance and darkness Bipolarity’s patterns are not so easily assumed Opposites not so well harnessed Who cycles through brilliance and darkness? The girl who sits in bed, wrestling with Opposites. Not so well harnessed As she thought, her brain gives reason the slip The girl who sits in bed, wrestling with Her body, depressed, her thoughts manic. As she thought, her brain gave reason the slip And gives the gift of life in a dreamlike panic. Her body depressed her thoughts. Manic Lunacy comes from the moon And gives the gift of life in a dreamlike panic Bipolarity’s patterns are not so easily assumed

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