Rage

by Sheryl Joy P. Olaño

Peace…now flickers
Almost an exile
As a ruthless blare
Of spectrum red blinds me

My blood
Stirs restless,
A sea of wailing hunger,
Pulsing hate

I'm nearly stripped of reason
Gentleness is mauled
Stuffed with heaps of
Unshed, hardened tears

Words now come, cropped and quick
Sharp as knife glimmering cold
In smooth threat of
Steel and stealth

Lava surfaces on my brim
I can no longer fight it.

The Quilt

I was scouring through my old closet the other day
when I found the patchwork quilt Granny once gave me.
It looked soiled with a tinge of orange and yellow
and a portion's torn out just a little down below.

The black triangle that served as axis to the rest
had turned to grey with a whitish crest.
It was surrounded with greens and soft earth tones.
Quite a hard mix, it seemed overblown.

The colors on the left are quite a delight,
an array of pastels all stark and bright.
The patterns vary from yellows and blues.
What a slew of exclusion and excellent hues!

The orange swatch made all the overt difference.
It was so dark and vivid, it gleams with luminescence.
While the block at the right stars in beaming pride
with all the reds and pinks sewn in gleeful vibe.

Whatever the reason why Grandma made it for me,
be it a legacy or a mere present for my birthday.
I would forever hold it close and shall never part
for this is how much she loved me, she gave me her heart.

http://zyphe.blogspot.com

Dregs

Last fire of winter, first fire of summer
Built with dregs of last pickup load of firewood
Smudge the room
With Datura, rosemary, lavender and mint
Throw a pinch of sand from Chaco Canyon
On the coals

When the flames are high
Gently lay the last notebook on the logs
Send prayers up with smoke

by Frank Vehafric

You

by Rachelle Arlin Credo

You are a silhouette, hazy and gray
But a vain creation of lover's memory
A fair illusive vision everywhere displace
With a shady luster away from my yearning embrace

You are a lamplight glimmering with surprise
A semblance of beauty that surpasses the skies
Endowed with charm in a form of airy grace
Embellishing the black immensities in a peculiar maze

You are an innocuous moonlight angel
With the loveliness exceptionally real
Across the cold and misty moonbeam
Where no twinge of conscience can deny in any theme

Oh, you're but a being matchless to compare
A creature so alluring, how I love to touch your hair
But alas! You glided away and faded out from my vision
And only the whispers of your heart beats in slumbrous fashion

In the nocturne rhythm of the night
Where my perception was deceived by my sight
I was swept by the waves of realization -
You are just a dream, a product of my imagination

http://zyphe.blogspot.com

Breath

Front door open, summer evenings
To catch a cool breeze
After the sun goes down

Every once in a while
The dogs bark and bristle
And we listen together
Then go back to what we were doing
My book, their naps

Two or three times a week
A slight whiff of skunk
On the night air

Each of us
Is carried on the breath of the world
Following the rise and fall
Of the mother’s breast
Skunks a part of it all, too
Making their rounds

Turning the wheel


by Frank Vehafric

Incubus

by Rachelle Arlin Credo

There's a sudden strange silence
Amid the busy whirl around me
Disclosing the scars of my innocence
From a dreadful yesterday

Shadows paint the spectacle
Of a vision that used to be enchanting
Catching me half a miracle
While a song consumes my thinking

Gradually I drifted into another reality
Like a wind from nowhere blown
Lost in a paradise of adversity
Only to find destiny on my own

http://zyphe.blogspot.com

Chimera

I can't tell my exact post with mere intuition
I am completely lost, uncertain of my destination
It all seems that I'm only running around
In an endless circle without a cutoff bound

I've been searching everywhere but I can't find
The threshold of the hub is way too far behind
I feel so lost in the midst of darkness
Where I'm left alone contending every sadness

All the way I strive in an incessant maze
But all I could find is a cloud of struggle's haze
I'm almost certain to give my hopes up and everything
When finally I see a ball of light shimmering

I trudge slowly to find out the spectrum's origin
Hoping to finally escape from the torment's scene
Rushing towards the source of hope that silently awaits
I was gob-smacked to find... Heaven's gates!

by Rachelle Arlin Credo
http://zyphe.blogspot.com

The Way of a Nightmare

i
tried to search
a meaning
for life
when
i didn't care
find
myself.
a
sojourn
without direction
a direction
without bearing
in countless walks
in endless circles,
picking
up the pieces
along the way
but never
patching them up
just collecting
nodding
existing
knowing
i've failed...

by Bryan Clayton

Still

Maybe I'm screwed up
Or maybe just a bit confused
About what's going on inside me
That I can't seem to muse

Maybe I'm surprised
Or maybe just not used to
But I know this brewing
Has something to do with you

I can't seem to forget you
No matter how I try
And the more I attempt to
The more that I backslide

Sometimes the feeling just hurts so bad
That all I can do is sit and sigh
And when the pain just seems so much
I can't stop myself from starting to cry

I know I can't do anything
To bring back our past
But still I wish that someday
We'll be one in heart at last

Now, I have to forget you
I have to go my way
I know I must move on
And keep the past at bay

But though we part our ways
and sorely say goodbye
I will and love you still
If I must keep it belied

by Rachelle Arlin Credo

Power

The first thing when I come home after work
I let the dogs out
And turn on my computer
To check e-mail messages
Having done that
I make a cup of coffee
Take it outside
Walk through my garden

Now, the datura is blooming
When I touch it, it leaves a distinctive smell on my fingers
Potent, almost toxic, peppery
It’s hard to describe

I keep going back to it
There’s power there

Some days it seems
That the world is vibrant with power
The plants, bees, hummingbirds, jays and air
Shimmer with it

This is the contrast
This is the discontinuity in our lives

We go from work to home
Home to chores
Chores to our beds
Our beds to work

At any moment
We can step outside
Outside of it
All of it

by Frank Vehafric

Torn

Pang vanquished all my emotions
Clutching my heart causing unbearable pain
Tearing my past behind desperation
Refusing to halt its wrath leaves me forsaken.

I struggled away from the sad reality
But I ended up distraught and desperate
As I wait for the old pomp to revive with victory
I was left in an ebbing crave's state.

With poignant memories casting a light of endless gloom
The incessant mourning eventually drives me insane
Only to break in a lonely ember's doom
I find myself cowering in so much pain.

by Rachelle Arlin Credo

Have I Missed Something?

I walk this little corner of land
And pretend I'm in another country
Because, you see, I've only stepped
Across the river into Mexico
For a short time
And drove a bit of Canada
One long night

I've never walked
Rod's sandy beaches
Nor sailed his oceans

I've not had as many loves
nor
Loved as many lovers as he

I was content with my one love
I only wish he were h ere now.

Norma E. Mizer

Vulcan's Child

A raving beauty relinquished
From the earth's molten sheath
Vents her wrath
Upon a spellbound victim

Like a monster enraged
She strikes a frail creature
Without mercy
Without thinking twice

Strewn with rippled light
And furnace's soft flames
She vanquishes
His resistance at will

With her hands clutched
Tightly into her captive
His freedom is
All hers to hold forever

by Rachelle Arlin Credo