Michael Stefan

Michael Stefan Jan 2021

My words are broken,
While others choose theirs wisely,
Mine flow without filter
Free as a bird...
And ugly as the pit,
A well from which they're borne
I'll never shake this view
Which haunts me like a scent,
Sweet honeysuckle,
Drifting through open windows;
A poisoned tipped blade
Whose hilt I find
Buried in mine own chest

Jan 2021

ju

Today

I’ll walk clifftop.

Watch the sunrise fractured by a hundred different puddles, made whole again by the sea.

I’ll bleed peace and spill calm over ground that should’ve been cared for by now, and I’ll draw maps of the old season in battleship blue and a half-healed ****** crimson.

I’ll love them: Today they are mine.
Tonight I’ll give them away, and I’ll love them more.

I’ll walk clifftop.

I’ll pause. Watch the sunset rain copper-coins into a rolling-smoke sea, and I’ll miss him.

#children #work #journey #bruises #love #christmas #neglect #peace #reading #poetry

Jan 2021

Brian Turner

Echo chamber

With mighty aplomb
You drop your vitreous 'view bomb'
With unorthodox precision
You squander my decision

You have one filter
And that is to kilter
The views that don't come from a stranger
The views that echo in your echo chamber

Fair pity to those who reach out with an olive branch
To give you another chance
A chance to move away from grief
A chance to turn over another leaf

I learnt about "Echo chamber' behaviour today and how it can apply to extremists. Some people have reached out and changed their views. Echo chambers exist on social media too.

#echochamber #socialmedia

Jan 2021

Khoisan

Third world child

Though time has built
an
endless warp
of
suffering and pain
the
ancient dust of Africa
is
breaking down the chain
can you hear
the
winds of change
shifting
through the brain
the
ancient dust of Africa
makes
diamonds
in
the
falling
rain

a message of hope to all parents
Of
the
Third world child

Michael Stefan Jan 2021

what shouldn't go outside

i'm your cat
who's lived a life of comfort
and once you open your door
i bolt and i am gone

i'm your brand new painting
meant to be protected
as i move from door to door
but as the weather changes
i bleed upon the street

and i'm all of your problems
held in you so tightly
never let them see me
or they're sure-
to lock you up