I have no eloquence left. All of the poetry in me has drained out. I am simply screamingrage, bleeding, unanswerable questions… How could this have happened?! How did you not play this out in your head for lifetimes before allowing this to happen?! How could…

The land knows you, even when you are lost. It remembers your first steps and cushioned your fall It guided you to cool waters on a warm day as you dipped your toes in And pointed you to the bluest skies when your kite wished…

I saw people I haven’t seen In years now Living in the same city But absorbed in our own lives We come together in happiness We come together in joy Scattered throughout my life We hug And whisper proclamations Of love and adoration I saw…

Dear, teacher: Ramona at 36, desperate…near quitting   I see you sitting in the rocking chair with that baby-near-toddler in your lap watching Def Jam poetry listening to Taylor Mali’s poem about what teachers make – falling apart because you know you are buckling under…

It approaches my own witching hour, 3:33 My lover grows tired.   Bell, book, and candle now take up Then raise your cup Renounce your lord You’ll be adored Raven, rat, and blackest cat On shoulders sat Sing your virtues And take your dues The…

You and I   YOU angry, bitter hurting, screaming, fighting man, warrior……woman, nurturer crying, loving, writing compassionate, tender ME     (A diamante consists of seven lines: line one (A) and seven (G) must be nouns and opposites. Line two is two adjectives that clearly…

It was a good idea at the time But I didn’t think it through Snap Quick decisions without high precision Now I’m in it With a choice to quit To give up Forever before me Now that I’m thinking it through What will I do?…

Brain Wrote to Heart:   Hey idiot, you do us no favors when you long for him pine for him, obsess over him, how tedious! Do I make myself clear?   You think he is a ladder to a higher plane.   But he is…

Those days when I would go off by myself into the woods, grandma’s admonitions ‘be careful’ ‘make sure you don’t go too far’ ‘Too far’ was never really delineated As an only child alone with grandparents each summer, all summer, my independence struggled to keep…

“Is There Ever Such A Thing as Lost?” by Mandy Austin Cook Is there ever such a thing as lost? we think as we look with limited eyes only able to see a tiny puzzle piece of the entire pieced-together radiance of the horizon.  …