a note from a late romantic
by Bonnie K., San Antonio, TX
meet me at the coffeehouse
after the concert
the orchestra can play
that adagietto movement for us
and as the harpist plucks
chords
we will be gently falling
into crevices
of curls and cadences
landing on lips.
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Autumnal Freedom
by Jessie L., New City, NY
Autumnal freedom spreads its wings
For me today
Catches onto the flutter of
Caramel and ruby foliage
And rests in the tranquility
Of colorful piles of November
Autumnal freedom spreads its wings
For me tomorrow
To awaken the sleeping spiral of
Passionate ...
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Brilliance and Red
by Allie H., Herndon, VA
Who are you, Baby Blue?
Do you have a wish in your soul?
Where are your tigers, your renegade fire
That sings with colors you stole?
Teal eyes ablaze on an overhead screen
Tapestries toppling your cranberry dreams
The world has been your popcorn machine
But now you ...
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Circles and Life
by Michelle O., Ottowa, ON, Canada
let the earth swallow her,
hold onto this broken body
like a mother’s own flailing child
screaming to be loved,
nurtured into silence.
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College Bound
by Caley M., Elmira, NY
As the radiant sun rose over the hillside,
I jolted awake with pure excitement.
After months of counting down, and
crossing off calendar days, the day had finally come.
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Dear Momma
by Alexandra S., Napa, CA
It flushes out your throat
Drowning out the lump of guilt that lodges itself in you
A burning hole in the back of my chest
Eating away at my flesh
Flaking away and blowing to the wind,
The pieces of me that are you
Inhaling and holding your breath
Waiting for the smoke ...
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Do The Trees?
by Annie W., Dayton, OH
There’s too much noise around
The rapid chatter of toothpaste advertisements,
Vocalizing their fine print
The clap as a stack of books sinks heavily to the floor
The biting hiss of the heater starting up for another cold night,
Reluctant
The fatigued creak of ...
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Eradication
by Christine S., Arlington, VA
Eradicate me from this garden of sin
Replant me beside the roses
The angels’ ever-faithful spaniels
I do not deserve this dust and dirt
This chalky soil which fails to feed me
Give me rain and I shall blossom
Give me rain and my roots will shatter the earth with ...
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Picture Perfect
by Dan R., Traverse City, MI
Somewhere,
in a high-clearance government building,
in the middle of Maryland,
there is the Department of School Photography.
For a study made long ago
revealed that teenage egos
are simply much too large.
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Prying Eyes
by Niki W., Baltimore, MD
You glare.
It makes my eyes burn.
I look away.
I still feel your stare upon my skin.
It claws at me,
Like a cat at the door to my soul.
Ripping and forcing through.
You break inside,
Unwelcome.
A burglar in the night.
It makes me sick.
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Scar Tissue Sidewalks
by Kady M., San Antonio, TX
Time to go back to
rhythm and readiness and
stop this music
this time
as beats lay
rhyme in your scheme
this taste in that seat
prey on rays of wailing woodwinds and your
weeping guitar
cry
cry cry,
let her sob in tune to stop this
seat in my beat in ...
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Sunday Morning
by Melissa M., McKees Rocks, PA
The pews are hard on all of us at 8 a.m.
We squirm discreetly, trying hard to be holy
As Saturday night’s sins swim through our brains.
Our lazy eyes roll about dim yellow lighting,
And narrow at wailing children.
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Tango in the Leaves
by Juliana S., Rolling Hills, CA
They dance in a whirlpool
of color
Their movements
mimicked by the yellow
leaves spiraling around
them as they glide
through the paint
Her blazing orange mane
soars above them as
they dance
her face rendered insignificant
Her brilliant
red dress ...
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The Whitewashing
by D.B. H., Mountain Home, AR
you whitewashed my indian summer blank.
(or blanc.)
torn from leaves i became a poet
and i began a career of procrastination
as a litterbug.
i leave poems on subways and i drop words in
Brooklyn Heights.
i am all the poetry is.
coffee and tic-tac mints.
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Trash Talker
by Sarah M., Vancouver, WA
I am the rind of an orange
tried with eager mouths and tossed
into the wastebasket
with a handful of other
almost successes. The outside
of a world plump and full of
oozing joy, sugar mixes with tartness
in the spirit of equilibrium.
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Turkey, Dark and Light
by Brianna M., San Diego, CA
My shaved-head-pierced-
Gay-pride-shirt-wearing best friend
Came to Thanksgiving this year.
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