August Issue: Poetry Section

1. Letter from the Other Side of Silence — Stephanie L. Harper
2. Because The Deacon Couldn’t Sleep — Dina Friedman
3. One Day At A Time– Kavita Ratna
4. YOU ARE– Mahvash Mohtadullah
5. Gypsy Woman– George Bakola
6. For Angie– Rachel Ikins
7. Rise And Fall– Lynn White
8. Canary’s Plea– Agaigbe Uhembansha
9. The Lost Pages– Sabreen Ahmed
10. VOICES: Three Haikus by Daiypayan Nair
11. Lipstick– Kalpana Singh Chitnis
12. She Rides The Bus– Marianne Tefft
13. There Is A Desire– Trijita Mukherjee
14. My Inner Voice– Shailja Sharma

Rise And Fall— Lynn White

We buried the monster with a stake through it’s heart

hoping that would kill it dead,

hoping it could never rise again.

Sometimes we almost believed it

but only sometimes 

mostly

we weren’t optimistic but we tried.

What else could we do?

And we created something better

with our blood and sweat and tears.

We saw the rain wash away all the traces.

We saw the sun come out.

We saw the colours of laughter in the streets.

We hoped it would stay there forever.

We doubted it, but what else could we do?

We feared the monster would not die.

And we were right

the monster was not dead

just lying dormant

it’s heart still throbbing

pulsing 

thrusting

out the rotten stake.

And now there’s no laughter in streets

full of grey people

carrying grey umbrellas

knowing that it’s raining again

washing away the sunshine this time,

waiting for the blood to flow.

And here am I

re-reading the old words

re-living the old times

re-viewing the album 

of old photographs

of people locked in their past

forced to live there again

history gone in a flash

then

now

renewed

placing us on a treadmill

taking us back

to the beginning 

to start over

as the clouds gather

and the rain starts to fall.

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