7 Gates Between Heaven and Hell (Unedited)- (Louis Toliver Jr-Austin, TX)

After 7 days stuck in Hell

I had arrived through darkness

Tired

Wired with fear

Uncertain of the future

To a narrow tunnel

At the end of Hell

The angels of hell guided me here

Faith in me

They wouldn’t let me stay

I was a way

A bridge between dark and light

I was willing to fight

Hell was out of my sight

I crawled through the tunnel

Claustrophobia came

Shame

Guilt

Suffocated my body

Yet I pushed through

Loneliness would not take me

My body barely fit through

I squeezed onto a dark surface

7 gates were before me

“They sent you away I see,”

Someone spoke from the darkness

Only piercing purple eyes

No body, no face

“Where am I? I asked

Light showed from behind each door

“Between your destiny,” the eyes spoke

I became ill suddenly

Then I vomited a bright purple key

“It is you,” they eyes moved closer

They spoke again, “Open your path.”

The key hypnotized me

I looked at all 7 doors

Colored light came from behind all of them

Red, yellow, orange, blue, green, indigo

But there was only one purple gate

“This is YOUR path to heaven,” the eyes assured

“Navigate your light wisely.”

“What’s behind the other gates?”

I was curious to know

“The fate of others, now go,”

The eyes went black

I stood with the key in my hand

I chose to better myself

I unlocked my gate, to my destiny

…out of Hell, into Heaven

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 ...

Dysfunctional (Taylor Coen - Lafayette, LA)

The flower sits before the tree, it is like an antagonist of nature. The rainbows fall against the clouds: colors burst into a buffet of light. Rain travels down into a puddle of water portraying the sight of an ugly ox. The strength is weak; it collapses to the ground, life flows out like a stream of consciousness. Back to the daisy and the overpowering oak, A lightning bolt strikes both. The war fades over, the mist evaporates, and sunshine gli mmers down upon a hidden valley.

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