her moist, ruby lips
yielded the sweetest kisses.  
the taste still lingers

The lust of the eye
...who can tame its allure
it beckons your glance
like an ache for a cure

Desire misplaced
graven images provoke
and what was permitted
"is like a bad joke"

Blood surging impulses
chasing ghosts of the past
you keep going nowhere
and going there fast

Hidden passions
creep through your veins
while the voice of the pure
is held up in chains

Remember karma
she hunts for her prey
and when she finds them wanting
she'll rule on (that) day.

For the eye is never satified
never at home with its own
denying the true grandeur
of the bone of your bones

One day you'll look
for the one you didn't see
and by that time ...
she will have broke free...


By Erica L. Odom

I was sitting on the grass, sad,
Though I don't remember why,
this was so long ago.
I was sitting and thinking
and sobbing.

My brother came and sat next to me,
he looked worse,
he looked as if he had seen something terrible.

"Can you give me a hug, Jude?"
He asked
and I thought, with my child mind,
"I am the older brother. I have to act like a man.
I'll put aside my sadness
and comfort my little brother.

So, I hugged him.
Then I asked him
"What happened to you?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm fine"
he answered
"But you looked like you needed a hug".

That's when I knew,
no matter the age,
my brother was older than me.

I always thought we were the perfect match.
But matches are meant
                                   to ignite
                                         and burn out.