POETRY: "Intellext" by O.J. Huckleberry

Her words, concise,
Brief, like these lines.

Filled with landmines
of explored rhetoric.

Her articulate tongue able
to dance with syllables

Like lovers at an elegant
reception.

...

She's receptive to my
knowledge, taking in
My heavy vocabulary

Regurgitating her thoughts
like well planned blueprints;
she's meticulous with her words.

Our ideas take flight
with every additional
contribution, we learn

Better from each other
than from the professor.
She asks me:

"What is love as you
understand it?"

I reply, "It is a relationship
in which you never cease
to learn, one where you grow

together."

...

Is this what it feels like
to be in love?
Or, is this a mere infatuation?
Her intellext is attractive for sure.

And I know she's intent on
loving mine.
Her third eye scintillates
like the stars.

She is sequacious and
seductive, smooth and
salacious, slender and
slick.

I surpass her aesthetic
preferences and mental
expectations; she knows
I can be quite arrogant.

I breathe easier knowing
she's formulating ways
to impress me, instead of
stress me.

Dare I say
I've met my match?

Copyright || 2014

POETRY: 'Eyes Wide Open' by Kabriel Moorehead

Eyes Wide Open
By Kabriel Moorehead

Somewhere in between being short on change,
And being unable to afford not to,
We crossed paths.
Unknowingly a casual smile without a stutter
Caused my soul to grow wings and flutter,
A few steps ahead of my mind.
Because something so pure,
Wastes no time waiting for reason to catch up.
Sometimes the pressure inherent in words ruins
The beauty created by a moment birthed of innocence,
And nestled in silence.
As the final fleeting seconds of our encounter unfolded,
I mustered the courage to ask for your name.
You smiled once more
As I awoke,
Finally facing a reality more regal than my dreams
Copyright 2014| Kabriel Moorehead

POETRY: 'Mess To Masterpiece' by Jazelle Handoush

Mess to Masterpiece
By Jazelle Handoush

You poured ink onto my skin and said,
"This is what you are.
A mess.”
But I contradicted your claim
and used that ink to twirl black holes and starry cosmoses
across my arms
to make the mess into a masterpiece;
an art.

Copyright 2014 | Jazelle Handoush

POETRY: 'A Signed Declaration' by Kabriel Moorehead

A Signed Declaration

By Kabriel Moorehead

Do I dare disturb the universe?

Remove the rustic shackles from my mind

And proceed to rise without a quiver in the face of my captor?

 Do I dare dream,

Of concrete fashioned into roses

That arose in spite of bitter luck

Do I dare speak?

For fear of repercussions has left many like me silent

As the world blinds us,

With images of cruelty interspersed with decadence;

Causing our minds to wander off to the same old tune

Of change with no action,

Love with no romance,

And feasts with no flavor.  

I dare to write,

To love,

To speak,

And to dream,

Boundlessly.

Because it’s the only way I know to truly be free

Copyright 2014| Kabriel Moorehead

POETRY: 'Gorilla' by Kabriel Moorehead

Gorilla
By Kabriel Moorehead

Breathe,
Let it all sink in
Relax the body to uncover a soul
Burdened by a weight I alone must carry.
A two ton monkey on my back
Attempting to impede progress.
I can't let you win.
Its a struggle to retain humanity under these circumstances,
Night in and night out as you berate,
Chastise, and undermine my efforts
Consistently adding to the load I bear
How much is enough,
When more is always the answer?
I must unleash this beast,
Rid myself of this cancer!
I can use the fire in my belly,
To subdue the Gorilla on my shoulders.
And lose myself in the process,
Or use the weight I've lifted,
To find the strength to soldier on a little longer.
Remind myself that this load I carry,
Is only a temporary companion,
Testing my character with company

Copyright 2013| Kabriel Moorehead

POETRY: 'Respect' by Cheryl A. Baldwin

Respect the mother with the Angel baby

Whose love is hidden and suppressed by love lost

                Loved and lost again

…and again

She reaches towards the heavens with a question

Why me?

“Why choose to tease, when you know how to ease my aching soul.”

She said

Why must I go through this?

 

Lurking behind the chambers of her heart lies a memory

…Senses of a child unborn.

Clutching her stomach daily because she just can’t knock the feeling that there was,

 and still is something there.

Respect her, for her baby will never crawl, walk, then run,

…but flies towards the sunrise.

And still she pushes on…

Praying like it’s all she’s got.

Only through faith does she achieve it.

Every day, trying to catch up with a never ending plight to sanity.

 

Just take a minute to Respect her for all she has had to overcome,

and let her know that you are with her.

 

POETRY: 'For Madeleine' by George Abraham

For Madeleine
By George Abraham

To the girl I danced with at freshman year homecoming,
I apologize for stepping on your feet.
As if our dance wasn’t already awkward enough,
My lack of coordination didn’t go well
With the fact that you were barefoot, and I had wooden loafers on;
So I apologize for any bruises I may have left that night;
Maybe this was the reason you didn’t dance with me again
Until the time I decided to step on your feet at senior prom;
I’d like to say I improved my dancing over the course of
4 years of attending sweaty, cramped, orgy-like high-school dances,
but that would be an understatement-
perhaps the only thing joining the step team did to me
was help me learn to step on your feet more elegantly…

To the girl who sends me random snapchats of her cat,
I swear you’re not a crazy cat lady.
Yet.
And sadly enough, you’re not my only friend who
Snapchats me pictures of their cats;
In a digital world where exchanging perverted images can be done with the swipe of a finger,
It’s nice to have friends who sends me pictures of cute animals every now and then;

To the girl who got an awkward tanline when she crossed 2 bandages over her freshly-done bellybutton piercing before we went to the beach,
I think that outline of a cross on your stomach was the closest thing you ever got to a baptism.
And no, I don’t apologize for not warning you when the tide washed upshore
And got your whole torso soaked;
Sorry, that was for the time you gave me an awkward nickname,
And embarrassed me in front of everyone at a football game;
We have a healthily unhealthy back-and-forth, at-each-others-throats relationship,
If I had to give you a spirit animal, it’d probably be a barracuda

To the girl who invited everyone to her house to jump on her wet trampoline after a day at the beach,
It still angers me that your deep-fryer broke just when we started making wings.
But that movie you wanted to watch about flesh eating bacteria really made me lose my appetite anyways;
Those were good times-
That week before everyone went their separate ways for college,
And all we could do was kill the time we’d look back and cherish one day…
Because beneath the hookah-smoke-leaking smiles, and grains of  sand and shell fragments that littered our car floors,
Beneath the white lie excuses we’d give to our parents, and the nights that ended when the moon consumed our eyelids,
There was us.
And we were happy.

To the girl I danced with at freshman year homecoming,
I don’t know why it took us till senior year to become friends.
Maybe it was because my dancing turned you off,
Or maybe it was because we both needed time to come out of our shells;
Whatever the case may be, I apologize for any bruises I may have left-
That night, or any other;
Because being that pair of friends who fights every day can get exhausting;
I never thought I’d look back on my battle scars and smile,
And all I can say is, being your friend has been
The best boxing match I’ve ever fought.
I hear you may be going camping with us when I come back for winter break.
I guess that means round 2 commences….


Now.

Copyright 2013| George Abraham