Carlo C Gomez

Dec 2024

sonja benskin mesher

now your name may be redeemed
your wanderings freed into new

adventures

or maybe you will still stay inside a while

inside the boundary lines

four fields

corona

Dec 2024

Nick Moore

In the morning

I woke to find
Everything packed away—
Carpets rolled up,
Bare floorboards
Revealed for the first time.

No one around,
My footsteps made
A strange
Sound

Then Gran came in.
"Your mummy and daddy
Aren't getting along."
This truth,
I learned too late,
Kept from me
Until this morning.

A day my mind
Will never forget,
A secret now
Unfolded.

We traveled to the new town,
My face
Wore
A
Frown.

The door slammed shut
Too quickly,
A bad case
Of homesickness.
What was severed
Now crystallized.

Now,
I never fail
To remember
Every
Detail.

#divorce #moving #secret #childhood

Dec 2024

Liana

Terrible Realization

Going about the day
Tiresome or exhilarating the same
Becomes unbearable
When the knowledge
Breaks the window to your head
That you have school tomorrow
You don't get write, read, walk, or create all day
You just sit there
Listening to and then discarding useless information

D(r)ead.

School could be replaced with work if you've passed those days

Basically every Sunday

(This note was written by the stone that broke the window to my head who didn't want to be an accessory to the crime)

Dec 2024

Jill

Mantra for adulthood

I was trapped, but
as noisy-quick triggers burn
adult options wait, smoke-obscured

Now I have agency

I was naïve, but
as searing-shame echoes blush
tenure-chastened growth sprouts verdant

Now I have wisdom

I was wounded, but
as oily black trauma smears
injure-blemished skin heals tougher

Now I have scars

I was confused, but
as guileless young stories waste
lesson-laden tales are woven

Now I have clarity

I was in danger, but
as painful new learnings flow
hard-won armour fends when needed

Now I have shielding

I can decide,
and I know
I am strong
in clear-eyed
protection

I am grown

#healing #adulthood