Thursday, January 21, 2016

Jonathan Beale- Two Poems


Jonathan Beale has 400 plus poems published in such journals as: Decanto,  Penwood Review,  The Screech Owl, Danse Macabre, Danse Macabre du Jour, Poetic Diversity, Voices of Israel in English, Miracle-E-zine,  Voices of Hellenism Literary Journal, The Journal, Ink Sweat & Tears, Down in the Dirt, The English Chicago Review, Mad Swirl, Poetry Cornwall, Leaves of Ink, Ariadne’s Thread, Bijou Poetry Review, Calvary Cross, Deadsnakes Review, The Bitchin Kitsch, Poetry by Birkbeck alumnus, The Dawntreader, I am not a Silent Poet, Pyrokinection, Festival of Language, ‘Don’t Be Afraid: An Anthology to Seamus Heaney’, Ygdrasil, the Four Seasons Anthology, The Seventh Quarry and Van Gogh’s Ear Anthology.
He was commended in Decanto’s and CafĂ© writers Poetry Competitions 2012. His work has appeared in such books as Drowning (Scar publications), The Poet as Sociopath (Scar publications). His first collection of poetry ‘The Destinations of Raxiera’ is published by Hammer & Anvil.  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Destinations-Raxiera-Jonathan-Beale-ebook/dp/B018F6GWQ6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1452199641&sr=1-1&keywords=jonathan+beale
He studied philosophy at Birkbeck College London and lives in Surrey England.



This simple life

This simple life, a Carthusian life if you will
From what is here and is in reach
The thread one day on to another.
The sky offers the long blue carpet
Rolling on to St Bruno and the hills. 
The leaving is just, leaving a vacancy
No epitaphs as non is needed
Here, names are dispended with
as the candle is extinguished
with that final breath. 


The choice

The choice is written among the grains of sand
It takes absolute abstraction to read and then
Ultimate abstraction to understand. The owls
Versification and the foxes alchemy create this
Universe. The world once full to the brim of
Icebergs slowly fades into a pear and drips
Drips slowly slowly away.  Action are carved
And alter-action made from the shavings and
Sculpting’s.  The type is set. The page is printed
The bronze cast. The prophecy fulfilled   


Lily Tierney- A Poem


Stained Glass

Trembling hands with a key to
a door he kept locked.

His nakedness reflected in
stained glass as the light
knelt at the altar.

His body and soul
in a chalice lifted by
his own hand.
 
 

Monday, January 18, 2016

Bruce Mundhenke- Two Poems


Wonderful

He is Wonderful,
Counsellor,
Comforter,
The way, the truth, the life,
Who blazed a path
Through darkness,
That we might again
See light.

Stardust

Stardust in our dreams,
Stardust in  our waking hour,
Stars that shine while sleeping,
And dust awakened
To Love's power.


 
Bruce Mundhenke lives in Illinois with his wife and their dog and cat.
He has published poems in Calvary Cross, Dead Snakes, and has a poem scheduled for publication in Plum Tree Tavern.


Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Bruce Mundhenke- Two Poems


Before The Flame

Candles are we before the flame,
Receiving the flame, but not higher,
We are fashioned to serve the flame,
And the flame will serve the fire.


Little Candle

Little candle
Burning in the night,
Soon you will be helped
By morning's light.


Monday, January 11, 2016

Linda M. Crate- Three Poems


eternal forgiveness

we are masters of our own chaos,
but You forgive all the darkness
in me
when i but ask;
sometimes the hardest thing for me
is to forgive myself,
but You tell me that i must—
You always soothe
my deepest
fears,
and make me feel as if i'm good enough
when the world makes me feel
rattier than a tattered and torn blanket.



calmer of storms

i can be kind to others,
but sometimes
i forget to be kind to myself;
but You commanded
us to love our enemies and so i know
i have to love myself
sometimes it's just hard to be kind
knowing all my flaws and weaknesses
remembering things You've already
forgiven
wondering how i could have been so foolish,
but You still my mind from the thoughts
of these calamities
sometimes You are the only one that can calm
the storms in me.



shattered masks

You shatter masks,
and still i go after people wrong
for me;
You close doors that i open
sometimes it isn't until i'm hurt that i
realize You were trying
to protect me—
i always try to believe in people
even when i've seen their
worst
because You love me even when
i'm dark and at my worse;
i forget everyone
doesn't have a heart like mine,
but You're the one friend
that's never let me
down—
the only one that always forgives me
for any slight i've ever done and do.



Donal Mahoney- A Poem


Believer

The older he gets 
the darker the bedroom
and the brighter the light
streaming under the door

when he wakes up again
in the middle of the night 
with pain and thinks about 
what's on the other side. 

Far better than the gifts piled
under his parents' Christmas tree 
when he was a boy laughing down
three flights of stairs to see. 


Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
 
 

Bruce Mundhenke- A Poem


Master Poet

His words span the ages
While we stutter in a flash of time.
He made all things
Our words describe.
He scattered beauty everywhere.
It always scans,
It often rhymes.
His work is awesome,
His spoken Word sublime.

Bruce Mundhenke has worked as a laborer and a registered nurse. He is just beginning to submit some of the poetry he has written to be published. He lives in Illinois with his wife and their dog and cat.