there are many things
i do not know
even after
40 years and i tell you
i haven’t stopped
this searching
since first i awoke
to the world
always so concerned
so amused
so incredibly internal
to a degree i cannot
describe or fathom
i only wanted
to love
and to help
and to create
and instead
the earth opened
and i fell
to another
place.

You are the contrast between the sun and its midday shadow
The quiet soul with the pulse of a deer caught in headlights
You carry your words in your throat, your thoughts in your heart
You feel like a wrecking ball waiting to be swung
But you are a reckless force, a mountain that never cries

You string the laughs of those closest to you to wear as bracelets in your worst of times
You dwell on the insignificant things because that’s where you divide
You are the east and the west meeting at a central line

You are here in the present surrounded by people
You tell stories and you listen, you laugh and you embrace
But your head is in the clouds somewhere far away
And you look towards the windows to remember who you are
You’re struggling to be present because you’re already somewhere far

She’s ran across the river streams
She’s danced inside sunlight’s beams
She’s climbed the most highest mountains
She’s traversed the steepest canyons

She’s jogged across wide plains of grass
She’s stared at life through sheets of glass
She’s dove into the deepest seas
She’s floated high with the softest breeze

But still she keeps searching for more to see
The greatest wonders not enough to thee
You may be wondering why she needs
To continue to go through these deeds…

It is because she is trying to find a place
A place in which she could embrace
As one place that she could call home
A place where she won’t be on her own

— OrcasTogether

can I have a shoulder for a minute?
where I can rest my head
and put my mind in peace

can I have a hand for a minute?
which will be holding me
when I start to tremble

can I have a pair of ears for a minute?
who could just listen to my thoughts
without judgment

or

should I just have someone for the rest of my life?
whom I can lean on
and be in my vulnerable form,
someone who can make me feel
that I am not alone in this oh so cruel world

from the sun-dappled emerald green plains
to the mountainous tides of the deep blue,
i will search for a dream settled in the history of our time.

my dream clouds will sit atop the north
like pillows placed on a bed
too materialistic to sleep on and too minimalistic to dream about.

caged?

Vadym Komarov, June 20th, 2019 - ******

hold me down.
i can see the story fluttering in the light,
but they do not let me out.

they keep me caged like a siberian tigress
bound to the melting frosted forests
our planeted body had provided for her.

they keep me caged.

whirlpool

a step in the sandy dunes of the Sahara has me dry.
the only thing i inhale is silence and sand.
the grainy ridges seen in the distance slowly weather,
until they are nothing but quicksand whirlpools.
as i fall into one, i can only think, “let me out of here”.

it holds me down.

Obed Nangbatna, May 25th, 2019 - Crossfire

spotlight

Lyra Mckee, April 18th, 2019 - Crossfire

in which the moon dances with the sun in a waltz.
even dancing with the moon,
the sun sprays its spotlight on the earth.

what is that?

it shoots its rays on a portion of our world.
look, there it is,
dancing amongst the skyscrapers,
galloping among the spray of bodies.
i wonder if i should follow it.

Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela, January 16th, 2019

i follow the spotlight.

birthed

troy gave me my name.
the civilizations of Ilium,
the villages of Rhodope Mountains,
the flat plained city of Thessaloniki.

i want to run from them.
i can’t, so i run to them.

i find something.

crossfire

point blank guns are zeroed in on me
earthquakes rumble under my feet
as i stumble ahead.

refugees,
immigrants,

Leonardo Gabriel Hernández, March 17th, 2019 - ******

i guess we’re all the same.

Mojamed Ben Khalifa, January 19th, 2019 - Crossfire

monarchs,
Norma Sarabia Garduza, June 11th, 2019 - ******
tyrants,
Francisco Romero Díaz, May 16th, 2019 - ******
presidents,

different shades of governing bodies which diverge from our own political awareness

saints and sinners alike,
it doesn’t matter how much your soul is tainted.
we are all sainted souls that have sinned.

it just depends on whose part you play in the crossfire.

Amjad Hassan Balkir, June 18th, 2019 - Crossfire

tear

we live in ignorant bubbles,
cages of sort.
they are never ending
chasms of expectations and anxieties
our minds have conjured because of our complexities.
they prevent us from catching our stories, attaining our dreams.

i’ve fallen into whirlpools, followed my spotlight, retraced my birth, and plunged into a crossfire trying to escape my bubble.

i’ve followed my dream,
Jamal Kashoggi, October 2, 2018 - Dismembered
now will you follow yours?

housekeeping

i will make my bed,
fluff the pillows that were once
filled with my aspirations.
the pillows, now flat, vacant enough
to let new dreams puff them back up.

i make sure to leave the comforter untucked,
so the next dreamer can slide in easily,
slide into a place that once  sustained my adventures and stories.
i leave it untucked, leave the lights dim, and leave the door ajar.

i do not ever enter again.
A star-lit ballad plays for the dreamers who pursued their dream to the very end.

if i take that breathless step towards oblivion would hope follow me or would this emptiness swallow me whole?