Daddy was already dressed with his leather bible in his hand when my brothers and I woke around 8:30. Church clothes were shirt, a tie and a pair of black “Payless,” shoes. Perhaps I would own a pair of “church shoes” like daddy when I get older as opposed to the “multipurpose” shoes I wore [...]

Tags: black, church clothes, church shoes, class, dad, daddy, doesn, event, everyone, everything, few minutes, god, gum, half, leather, leather bible, leather shoes, legs, maam, none, offerings, pack, pair, Payless, payless shoes, reason, shiny leather, shirt, smile, someone, special occasions, stewardship, store, Terry Brown, tie, ties, time, tithes, two dollars
Filed under: Fiction

Plum blossom vision, fragile red amongst cold gray. Beautiful, wandering girl pitched smile of humbled radiance/ desire to hold her gingerly in gloved hand but fear she will drift as flurried snow. Scattered sun-glow beam searching in damp scented night for rest of ground/ bed of shade, vanquished deity, seeking earthen refuge. I can not [...]

Tags: artifice, bank, bed, blue skies, breeze, Cee, com, community activism, cool, cool breeze, deity, domestic violence, earthen, eloquence, fragility, freelance journalist, hesitancy, hushed tone, Infrequently, literary journals, murmur, plum blossom, radiance, Ree Cee, refuge, repair, revenant, sapphic, Scattered, shadows of yesterday, smile, snow, st louis mo, sun glow, twilight, twilight fields, violence in the home, wandering girl, yesterday
Filed under: Contest Winners

Walking through the small borough today, life bustled all around… Passersby nodded, children laughed, the hum of life buzzed on… And then, suddenly, there was silence …. Life continued its trek all around me, but I was at rest…. And all that remained in my world was the grass that surrounded me …. It waved [...]

Tags: Awakenings, beams, beating of my heart, breath, bustle, butterflies, Center, chaos, copy, countenance, eternity, expression, eye, fellow traveler, freedom, frog, grass, heart, instant, journey, kindness, lips, miracles, nod, peace in your heart, Place, poe, ripples, simplicity, smile, song of silence, spiritual, steve robison, stevie ray, stillness, time, wind, year
Filed under: Poetry

The sun had faded and the darkness had come, casting its final shadows until dawn. Now awaken, I stand amidst a hallway facing the stairwell. A stairwell that is forever frightening and forever soothing. Each story, sometimes cleverly hidden, but always yearns to be told. Each step and story we take, represents the unknown ascension [...]

Tags: agony, amidst, awaken, beer, body, chatter, closing my eyes, cold metal, content, cool touch, cries of passion, disc, Exhaling, falling snowflakes, feast, few words, head, head in my hands, heart, Khan, mangus, Mangus Khan, metal, metal frame, nearby tree, nectar, open spaces, Opening, page, parking, radio disc jockeys, safe distance, small bird, smile, stairwell, story, surface, sweetest flower, talk radio, truck, Uncle, womanhood, wrap
Filed under: Contest Winners

I Īshwar was born from the heart of Sarasvatī-Devī As a white-skinned boy smiling so sweetly His power lay in the strings of his mother’s vīṇā plucked for her amusement Nāga flowers cover the surface of the shiny jackwood kudam Sniff along the dandi etched with the sacred words for Gāyatrī-Devī It is the scent [...]

Tags: abode, apsará, atriya, baath, bed, blood, calligraphy, chalices, dandi, devotees, eternal union, filthy, fresh milk, host, incense smoke, lesson, Mah, midnight, milk, monks, moonstone, mouth, ndra, nobility, power, praises, Ruffling, rya, sacred divinity, sacred words, skin, smile, spiky, sunil, Sunil P. Narayan, sweet perfume, turquoise stones, village, warm eyes, woman, yatr, yuyudh
Filed under: Poetry