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Amir Murtaza Feb 7
Questions are vital,
Life thrives on questioning—
Yourself, others, the world.
Without questions, you cannot grow,
You cannot think,
For questions ignite thought,
And thought fuels change.

Yet, there are those in power,
Strong in might but fragile in mind,
Afraid of questions.
They silence voices,
Suppress bright minds,
Youthful minds,
Minds that dare to ask,
"Why?" and "What if?"

Across the epochs of history,
There have always been
The brave who question
And the fearful who evade.

Do not be afraid.
Raise your questions boldly.
For it is through questioning
That you challenge rigid thinking,
That you confront the immovable,
Even the most powerful.

Raise your voice,
And let your questions
Shape a better tomorrow.
anna Feb 5
Fog
For the second time, I'm five
watching the rain pelt the ground outside,
contained behind the glass which
fogs with the heat of the kitchen.
My granny laughs at her own jokes,
leaning over the kitchen counter cutting
up vegetables into boiling water.
Abi Feb 3
The sun shines bright on the dull colors of the world
my life is full of love and unjust cruelty swirled

Like a moth to the sun, unreachable and dangerous
Love partaking in the risks that may injure us

Though I must shy away and find this supposed inner peace
It’s hard to grow up and turn a new brighter leaf

So much movement with little energy
I hope not to live like this till i’m elderly  

I want to move, to heal, to grow, and to rearrange
I want so much but there is little left in me working to change
My first published short poem! Feedback appreciated!
Miss Masque Feb 3
I wouldn't change who you are
for anything.
You could never be anyone else
and I wouldn't want you to be.

That's what he said to me.
My love, my hope, my fluidity.

There is a stillness
In the deepest
part of the night
When everyone
has gone to sleep:
even the cat.
I can hear her
dreaming
in the silence.

Stretched out paw
She reaches out,
Knowing she's safe.
Knowing she's loved.
Knowing she will
Never be abandoned.

I changed to get here
Under the heavy blanket
of eleven thousand nights
of stars.

Did you see what they saw?

Why do you think it's red?

The silk I drape you with,
I forged in heat,
In fire. Blisters,
Boiling flesh
Give way to
Soft hands
&
timeless debts.

I will never stop
Struggling,
Reaching
Working
For Humanity
to be able to
Live Abundantly.
Live Fully.

Be in the Moment--
Wish I could erase the fear--
Bombs in the building next door,
Where the next meal will come from,
Medicine shortage,
Families torn apart,
Lives gone in seconds,
Contaminated water.

When someone reaches their
Hand out in a gesture of faith,
Of hope, of desperation,
Meet them with kindness.
Meet them with warmth.
Even when you don't have a thing to give
in material, it is immaterial
To offer a slice of the humanity
We have all been gifted.

Not all of us are safe,
Or have the comfort of love,
And many have been abandoned
By family, by society, by anyone
that feels
it is hard to look at someone
that you find pity for.

Look. That is where you will find
the deepest expression of humanity.

It's in the purrs.
It's in the exaltation
of the burden.
My people struggle.
But we have *******
Been. Through. It.
Let me take it on.
We know how to
*******. Thrive.
In. Struggle.

I swim with weights.
I have trained for this.
You wanna go toe to toe?
Let's ******* dance.
Be strong when you can be. Show your vulnerability to your social support when you are weak so they can be honored by it and meet you where you're at and that feeling amplifies the joy on the other side by sheer force of opposites. Push, challenge, dissent. Be willing to struggle for the right thing. Be willing to stand up and say "No" when you don't agree with the status quo.
Kate Feb 3
My only crime was to have been born a woman.
a crime with no trial, no verdict, just sentence.
The world does not break us all at once;
it whittles, peels, pares us down
until we fit the hollow it has carved.

They say we are too much.
Too loud, too soft, too sharp, too small.
A contradiction they built,
then condemned for its shape.

We fold ourselves into corners,
tuck our rage beneath our tongues,
wrap our worth in apologies
and call it survival.
That is not living— it is simply existing.

But we are not ghosts.
Not echoes of something lesser.
We are steel spun fine,
fire woven into silk—
soft does not mean breakable.

We are here.
We have always been here.

And we are not leaving quietly.
Berlin, Berlin, just what art thou?
A cake of layers baked from fates
by many bakers, cold and proud,
who filled it with chunks of bitter dates.

The cream on top is cloying, sweet,
to compensate for the stale flour
and brownish yeast of marching feet
with bruised crabapples, soft and sour.

To try a slice of this complex taste
isn’t easy: It’s baked in haste.
Inspired by this photo I took of a traditional Berlin pub: https://bsky.app/profile/jackgroundhog.bsky.social/post/3lh4trjdxnk2d
Up hiking on a hill that once housed a king
whose golden age had gleamed long ago:
His former realms filling all that I’m seeing
but little trace of him now, just shadows.

Standing alone, his abandoned throne,
overgrown with brambles and weeds
that crack its old stone, unbemoaned,
while the vines spread more of their seeds.

Many years later (or less?), a hiker will pass
up and down this very same hill
and look back on us past, wondering at last
why our gilded age didn’t last like we’d willed.
Inspired by this photo I took of a neo-Gothic stone seat overgrown with weeds and vines: https://bsky.app/profile/jackgroundhog.bsky.social/post/3lgvntghchs2i
Everything’s under control.
Sure, the controls are a bit old —
nah, it’s not quite like a dice roll,
it’s all still working, kind of, all told.

Not to worry, everything’s fine,
all systems are still online
even if it looks like some redlines
are warning us of flaws in the design.

Sure, a failure happened before
that had lots of troubles in store,
hordes of red flags that could not be ignored
but were anyway. Led to one or two wars

but it’s OK, we fixed it back then
without needing to count down from ten.
Shut down your doubts, say yes and amen —
What, me worry? That’s our kind of Zen.
Inspired by this photo I took of a decrepit looking utility access point on a semi-abandoned 1970s concrete and aluminum building in Berlin: https://bsky.app/profile/jackgroundhog.bsky.social/post/3lgyhhnr5vc23
Winter sun
kissed by the breeze
shakes the limbs
of starveling trees
wakes the bones
of each bare bough
and tells the spring
it’s not long now
*Finnish for awaken
silvervi Jan 29
CHANGE in feelings and life's circumstances is natural.
Accepting this may help to live life with a lighter heart. 🙏
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