thank you,
for reading my words.
this community is so welcoming
and im never afraid to show what i feel.
every like, love, repost,
makes me feel proud
(not something i feel often)
and every comment
makes me cry
to know someone spent their own time
on my poems.
and those comments move me and my poetry forward.
we are all evolving together,
and we are working towards something greater,
and you poets are inspiring
individuals like me
to express ourselves
so thank you,
to all the poets before me,
remembered or forgotten,
I will always remember how you've embraced and lead
communities like us,
and still do to this day.
thank you,
to all the poets of the new century,
for opening our minds to something new,
nothing stagnant.
thank you for accepting yourselves and your words for
what they are.
continuously remember how much you influence our generation,
the students,
the teachers,
the parents,
the children.
Each.
word.
counts.
thank you
from the bottom of my heart.

Ashley Marie

a calm, celestial space of mind
where the piano key meets with
the still water
in its dark teal reflecting the silent heavens
and each droplet ripples smoothly
like lotion on skin
water beetles glide across the lake
as tiny dancers influenced by the piano
guiding the waves to the others
the mist dances too,
with the moonlight sonata
lead by the fingertips of the breeze
waltzing to the tranquility of the nightfall

plastic petals live longer than roses
roses will die
but plastic petals will not
they were not alive in the first place
a facade of what they are
supposed to be

The last time I felt the touch of your frail fingers
Was the dawn of your dynasty.
Doubts, questions, confessions.
"No,
you, my love,
do not have to say anything."
"I was able to love you more,"
You say,
And that was enough.

Do not wake the lady from her sleep,
I say.

Shall your lips tremble again,
Mine will quiver a million times more.
Shall your eyelids flicker open,
Mine will forget to blink.
Let the riverbank gather.
Let the moss amass.
Let the trees collect frost.
Let the snow glaze past.
And let their leaves starve and die.



This moment of stillness,
Where I carry emptiness,
Shall never be forgotten.
The weight of my lover’s last breath upon my shoulders,
This is where your dynasty begins.

We are one of a kind,
You and i.

Creatures of a similar feather,
Similar face,
Similar mind.

But we become named
Becomed blind.

The name and the nameless
At best beauty and the               .

The truth is for only yourself to find,

The true names of the blind