Performed by Val Cole

“Sword of War”, from “Of Virtue, Love and War”, by Ryan Christiansen

Would I were a soldier still – would I were yet still a knight
A servant of the beautiful – honor bound to all that’s right

I’d marsh’ll out to meet the foe – for her return to fight
Would I were love’...

Performed by Val Cole

Genre: Historical

A Civil Soldier's Tale

"Lie still now, soldier", the Union General said,
As he knelt down beside the boy's bloody, wounded head.
The dying young lad, no more than fifteen, if a day,
Wore the blight of cannon, from being in its way.

The General swallo...

Performed by Val Cole

My mountain to climb by Bethany Zare

Diagnosis cancer,
like others have had.

My type is common,

so not really that bad.

The experience feels

like an amusement ride,

With ups and downs

but nowhere to hide.

Each test brings more questions

no clear path t...

Performed by Val Cole

Isolated Vodka, by Lizbeth Wartemberg

Last night I died
I cried and I cried and I cried
I drowned all my pride and I cried
and I cried and I cried

I drowned all my pride and I cried
and I cried and I cried
I tripped over half a bottle of vodka
Did a U-turn on my bed
Whe...

Sovereign Wisdom, by Kamanadine

Dancing on the razor’s edge

No mind

No body

Zero point

Shunya

Free falling in space

A fractal of light

A crystal skull starts vibrating

And shining iridescent

Never seen before

Patterns of light

Seeing through the eyes of Goddess

A lens of purity

Of ...

Performed by Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

MILKSHAKE, by Leslie DuFresne

In having everything and nothing to do all at once,
this mother strips herself bare
of dignity. I do what I have to.
The happy meds I fed my mind this morning
kicked themselves in
far past the buzzed feel-good uprights
landing amidst a stad...

Performed by Val Cole

Rust
By Kelly Loraine Stearns

collecting old keys
seeking answers unseen
lost in a puzzle
of amnesiac complexities
the clock chants why
timeless moments pass her by
orchestrating a symphony
of a perpetual dream
silence whispers
echoing particles of dust
a young womans de...

Performed by Val Cole

Dedicated to the Unknown Woman
Listen to the drums
Echoing through the valley
See the demons fly
through the night

Hear the old woman
Cry out with fright
As a young woman is stripped bare…
Violated, beaten and bruised
She lays
With unseeing eyes
All she hears
Are the silen...

Performed by Val Cole

INNATE SOARING, by Edward Longo

This is a poem dedicated to those

Men and women who cannot help but follow

The unspoken meanings of their soul;

who will search or soar until

They unite their personas with their innate

Motivations; and

Whom will continue soaring

T...

Performed by Allan Michael Brunet

Aaliyah, by Pete Borreggine

All throughout my life,

I’ve searched for love alone,

A quest I made to find that love,

Was something I would never know,

For years I’d wonder where true love was,

And why it had forsaken me,

Years of turmoil and being left alo...

Performed by Allan Michael Brunet

(Bhagwan is God! or O God!)

As I passed a lonely temple in the after-evening glow,
On the banks of the Ganges where the quiet waters flow,
When the sun had sunk to rest and cool softness touched the air,
I saw a dark-skinned Indian and I heard him chant this pr...

Performed by Val Cole

A Rescues Song, by Tommy Anderson

Once upon a time I was a lost dog. I was abandoned, lonely, forgotten,
and praying for a home. I had no place to hide, no place to go,
no one person who would love me and let me love them.

I had been abused, starved, left alone out in the...

Performed by Allan Michael Brunet

Aaliyah, by Pete Borreggine

All throughout my life,

I've searched for love alone,

A quest I made to find that love,

Was something I would never know,

For years I'd wonder where true love was,

And why it had forsaken me,

Years of turmoil and being l...

Performed by Allan Michael Brunet

----

Before I read Lorca
My words were blunt swords for
Slicing rotted wood
Constructing
Rackety trellises
To fortify
Pathetic castles of sand
Praying never the waves
Or even harsh winds
Ascend to my feeble heights
Where from above with disdain
Cupid mocked
My...

Performed by Hannah Ehman

Performed by Allan Michael Brunet

-----
-
Prayer of Loss

Oh, Lord, please take away my heart
and tear the foolish thing apart
and put it back again, I pray
so cold and hard that none
may find a way
to enter there again.

Excuse me, Sir, for this bold request
but I must have your very best....

Performed by Hannah Ehman

WILD HORSES, by Katrina Plumb

Hooves hurl havoc on heathland.
Manes and tails whirl with the wind.
Their wide nostrils snort
As the horses cavort
Plumed perfect as fishes are finned.

They rollick and roll in a whirlpool –
Palomino, pistachio, pink.
They fight with d...

Performed by Hannah Ehman

Wave by Debbie Fersht

A man holds a body of water at gunpoint. Roll over says the man from shore and the water does so. The man's toes get wet which makes him angry. He can't stand to be only partially wet so tells the water to lie still while walks in clothed until t...

Performed by Hannah Ehman

A Sleepless Reverie by Rebecca Wason

'Won't you stay a little longer?'

Sighed the moon to the night sky.

We have barely started our talk

And I have a thousand things to say

Of life and poppycock.

'Oh, but it is forbidden',

Replied the night to the moon.

We ...

Performed by Hannah Ehman

TRUST? No!, by Peter Borreggine

Forgiveth not, what comes thy way,
‘Tis but a speck, in the dawn of a day,
Thou must not begin to finally feel,
As if thy heart, is in a reel,

Thou pain, is wrought, deep inside I fear,
For to giveth its wrath, is not what I hear,
‘Tw...

Performed by Hannah Ehman

FRAGMENTS, by Donna Greenberg

I forgot how you tasted
The day your ship left my shore,
Only the rage of the waves
Reminds me.

I waited with arms wide-spread,
Legs tingling,
The imprint of your touch
Still longing…

Even the strong wind
That tore my heart
From my skin...

Performed by Hannah Ehman

Lessons of Imperfections, by Laleeta Tongo

When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was to write, write and give speeches about.
But then I turned thirty, and I wrote nothing but text messages flirty, and my hidden urge was also turning out.

I saw an ad in the newspaper...

ODE TO THE PRESIDENT, by Frank Vespe

He just turned legal, plays guitar, his craft.
An Aries like me, a Graduate student of math.
I taught him to dribble, now he beats me,
Swoosh! a three-pointer, from the top of the key.

I fear for my son.

Threescore ago, another Irishman won,
Escalated a co...