Poetry (1) Jade Edition
Autumnal Manoeuvre
Today is Matin's Birthday
Cosmic View
That Foreign Student
Autumnal Manoeuvre
Transformation can be a painstaking process, but eventually, cathartic. Removing veneers from the face that defines your true self, is truly liberating. ‘Autumnal Manoeuvre’ describes the travails experienced in this emancipating and healing process
There is little
in the name of tangible objects
that can comfort me
A lot is gradually shifting
inside of me
with autumnal manoeuvre of wind
Temporary home of my soul
craves dissociation
from invisible mortal wounds
Shattered promises
merged with the pathways
where unfulfilled dreams once lay
Time, like an evil djinn,
doesn’t let the future arrive
until present becomes past
Unthinkingly erasing
the labels of relationships
that once defined my identity
Sliver of moon
in the darkness of night
defines the traces of my life story
POET
A multipotentialite, Suneet Madan is forever connecting the life dots with insatiable curiosity. Over the years, she has evolved as a poetess to develop a style of her own, expressing myriad thoughts in a minimalistic manner. She has won many awards and laurels in poetry. Her works have been widely anthologized. A travel-buff, Suneet’s exposure to different cultures and rituals has enriched her in multiple ways, impressions and expressions of which can be found extensively in her artworks and writings.
Today is Matin’s Birthday!
Isolation and sequestering are the unsavoury by-products of the pandemic years. Matin’s birthday becomes symbolic of the forced separation from dear ones, experienced by a troubled world.
you say. 13?
My, how he has grown since the pandemic swept in.
I wish we could see him,
Visit him, hug him, tell him I love him.
Everything has change.
I remember holding him, he was weeks old
I remember feeding him apple sauce, pushing his stroller so he could see trees,
So he wouldn’t be inside all day staring at his mother’s back.
I remember holding his hand and walking by houses to kindergarten,
I taught him to count, to know colors, the alphabet,
To enter the covered slide alone
And I would wait at the bottom to catch him.
He was naturally well behaved, (except for those terrible twos),
I taught him how to box, defend himself physically and verbally,
How to talk to girls.
I see his face on video calls,
He says he is OK, but his face says DEPRESSION:
The war has changed everything.
POET:
Stephen Page is part Native American. He was born in Detroit. He holds degrees from Palomar College, Columbia University, and Bennington College. He has 4 books of poetry published. He loves his wife, long walks through woodlands, nature, solitude, peace, meditating, spontaneous road trips, motorcycles, smashing cell phones with hammers, dog-earing pages in books, and making noise with his electric bass.
Cosmic View
The poet draws up some breath-taking images of natural beauty and sets them in lyrical verse. The image of an evening where stars gather on tiptoe, walks the reader into a world of calm beauty and serene charm.
Evening
Evening
above the railroad hill
stars gather on tiptoe
to wink or stare
us closer.
At the proud top
we’re precious
little nearer stars, moon
than where we stood
below.
And though we read
the moon keeps moving
two inches
farther from Earth
each year
its long quivery fingers
still braid us quick
with silver
before a train whistles
us home.
POET:
Carol Kanter's poetry has appeared in over seventy journals and anthologies.
She describes her poetry as “accessible.” She and her photographer
husband have put together three art books on Africa; India, Nepal and
Bhutan; and SE Asia. See DualArtsPress.com
That Foreign Student
The poet sketches the woes of students, who have come to foreign shores to carve out a bright future, but find themselves alone, outsiders in a new and alien world.
“Butterflies, red and blue,
alight on golden thistle.”
He’s from a river province.
That’s what he tells his classmates if they ask.
Like he says he came to America
for a Western education.
It’s as meaningless to them
as the books he reads,
all jumbled characters,
like something more at home
inked on an upper forearm
than the page.
In the park, by himself,
he’s writing a letter to his mother,
a heavy-handed calligraphy,
lying about the friends he’s made,
how well he’s doing,
unable to sketch the solemn phrase,
“I’m too homesick to study.”
Then he opens a notebook
of some poems he’s written.
Nearby, butterflies, red and blue,
alight on golden thistle,
just like he said they would.
POET:
John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Sheepshead Review, Stand, Poetry Salzburg Review and Hollins Critic. Latest books, “Leaves On Pages” “Memory Outside The Head” and “Guest Of Myself” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Ellipsis, Blueline and International Poetry Review.