On an island kissed by sea and sky,
Where winds blow soft and people sigh,
Lived a girl named Masumbuko—
Her name meant pain, and life moved slow.
A house of many, food was thin,
Love stayed quiet, locked within.
Mama was tired, worn and gray,
Baba stared as dreams slipped away.
Masu, strong but still so small,
Carried water, cleaned it all.
School was rare, chores were deep,
She cried in silence, fell asleep.
She met a man with golden charm,
He held her hand, he meant no harm.
He showed her places, skies so wide,
She thought she'd found a place to hide.
But dreams can break like waves at sea—
He left when she held life in thee.
With child inside, she walked back slow,
With heavy heart and eyes of woe.
No one yelled, and none forgave,
Their quiet stares became her grave.
But Mama’s hands began to hold,
In silent ways, in gestures bold.
She worked and worked with baby near,
Fought each day through pain and fear.
From cleaning homes to washing plates,
She saved each coin, she carried weight.
She dreamed of thread, of cloth and style,
Of Mama sewing all the while.
She joined a class, she learned to sew,
And slowly, slowly, she did grow.
She bought a machine, a little stand,
She stitched with love, with careful hand.
Masu Styles began to shine,
With colors bold and crafted line.
Two girls she trained, gave them a place,
A job, a dream, a little grace.
Her daughter laughed, her Mama smiled,
Her Baba’s heart grew soft and mild.
She learned of business late at night,
Still worked by day with all her might.
She found a voice she never knew,
She loved herself, she loved truth too.
Now women come from far and near,
To learn, to heal, to drop their fear.
She gives them skills, she gives them pride—
She helps them walk, not just survive.
Masu’s name once spoke of pain,
Now it shines like gentle rain.
She proved that with a bit of care,
A girl like her can rise from despair.
Africa is full of light—
But it needs space to grow just right.
Not just strength, but open doors,
A chance, a path, and something more.
Masu’s story is a flame,
That calls the world to change its name.
From sorrow deep to dreams that fly,
She is the reason hope won’t die.
Copyright © Azfaria Abou | Year Posted 2025
Little feet tender and coy
The streams mirror her luminescent joy
Golden locks cascading down her arms
White dahlias cupped in her palms
She roams endlessly the mountain of rocks
Frolicking about in her bright frocks
She stands clad in a white veil
Her tears a muffled wail
White ribbons harass her wrists
Church bells resonate through the trysts
White visatrias' frangrance wisp away
As sweet as her innocence is stripped astray
Pray tell, the wretched life of a dame
We preach in God's name
Copyright © Prathiksha Anbazhagan | Year Posted 2025
God or voodoo, I cannot decide
Spiritual witch doctor, spellbinding inside
Possibly made of stone or wood
Resting on a rocky column
On sacred ground you may of stood
Horns on your head point east and west
On one there is a face impressed
Angel or Devil it is not clear
A cone in the middle is one to fear
Two haunting faces looking at me
But look quickly and only one i see
Musical scores scattered all around
Dark and mysterious you certainly sound
Copyright © Tina Andrews | Year Posted 2025
I have to come clean as I return to see
your ashen corpse and dried leaves
My survival became more important than yours
but now I feel badly.
Humans choose to love their own selves
More than anyone they choose to love
Don’t believe what they say in their poems
I loved you because you would tempt me
to hear the silent moment
I will never forget your beautiful nebari
Funny, I learned that word when I met you
I put you under the cruel sun and fed you
It worked as long as we were together
We were both once green and authentic
We come from the same mother
I wish she had given you feet and legs
Then like me, you might still be alive
She put us in a tea cup of naive cruelty
Well-meant intentions cannot sustain life.
Maybe my departure made you wish to be dead
I once wished for that too
Copyright © Gary Baldwin | Year Posted 2025
Before the first moonlight spilled down upon us like winged doves from the sky
we were fettered together like lovers were,
In passion not yet transmuted into devotion to one another.
Above us rose a virgin sky void of stars
of constellations that would map out our cosmic future.
You, son of Adonis in my wide eyes, me, an idol of Inanna,
Convincing the future to never let this die,
Not knowing as of yet that Amphitrite and Poseidon’s coercive alliance
would coax us down the coast where we would seek refuge
in the surf and away from the trappings of winter’s swirling snows
and snarling winds.
Many years into a union of rings of gold and diamonds,
tumultuous at times but mostly heaven falling with her
heaviness upon us.
We fight side by side for a peace that seems so easily bestowed
upon others
And yet, like the ashes of Kilauea we rise without choking
At night we listen for the songs of our children
Born and unborn
reminding us we are wrapped in the protection of cashmere Carolina twilight.
Copyright © Gail Beckstein | Year Posted 2025
No name
no echo
only blood flowing
skin without edges
as you stumble through life
the breach
within a wound
opaque origin
before form
missing beat
when you believe you feel
a hollow
in the bones
uncreated
the body
before the body.
Copyright © Antonella Biunda | Year Posted 2025
E ver was there an amazing poet
L avishing us with your poetry
A nd
I ntriguing our minds
N ever will there be nearly
E nough of your poetry for me to read
G oing to all poetic places
E ver searching for more
O ver and over again
R ight on you are
G iving so freely of yourself
E very word coming straight from your heart
Thank you Lainie you are the main reason I am here today.
When I came here in 2006 you gave me the courage to keep writing.
Anyone who has not read any of Elaine George's poetry should check it out.
Written by: Carol Brown
Written on: 01/18/2012
Written for: Missing Souper, We Miss You !
Requested by: Cyndi MacMillan
1st Place Winner
Copyright © Carol Sunshine Brown | Year Posted 2012
Telling a white lie
Sure is easy, am I right?
But dig further in your mind
Why must you lie?
Is the truth not good enough for you?
When you were a kid
Did you say you wore a tutu
When really, you still slept with your teddy named moo moo
It's alright if the truth isn't cool
But think about the lasting affect
Don't make yourself look like a fool
Be kind and tell them
Copyright © Abi Buck | Year Posted 2025
I am always willing to learn, I am curious to learn about myself
And I am man enough to admit when I need help
Accepting of my mistakes even if I don't know what it’s for
My radiant smile will always testify to me being honest and filled with candor
And I know how to adjust, my personality never festers
But what else do I excel in, as a human or as a creature?
What else makes up my glorious features
My work ethic is established, I am a go-getter
I’m not scared, not afraid, and not at all apprehensive, as a whole
And if you know me personally, you know I will hit my goal
Because that’s just who I am, I know what’s within my hands
A person who has the mentality of saying “I can”
I would find a solution even if there was a road with dead ends
That’s how you know already I’m determined
Last attribute I see that shines from within
And how do you know I want to see my peers win?
I’m a natural leader, I don’t follow a stigma
Blessed about me is my natural charisma
I know myself well, I appreciate everything that I have shown
And I know for me that I glowed within my ode
Copyright © Butali Butali | Year Posted 2025
Rushing into the battlefield with all the might,
No turning back, fighting for what is right.
For the country, for the motherland,
Those hundreds for thousands, with rifles in their hand.
They have nothing, but memories of their loved ones,
All for their dearest motherland.
When we sleep in cozy beds,
They sleep on cold-stricken ground
When we eat heartily, they would rather go hungry.
They are an integral part of our society,
They are offering their lives for us.
What do we give them in return?
Nothing they have but their most valuable lives,
To offer to their dearest Nation.
We stand here alive,
Because they are fighting for our lives.
How breath is necessary for man,
Soldiers necessary for a nation.
They rush into the battle field with all their might,
With their heart burning bright with untainted light.
They leave their house when they are a youth,
To fight in the front, North or South.
All for their Motherland, all for their nation,
All for something precious than their lives.
They are like a huge, resilient and great wall,
Through which no enemy would pass.
They burn themselves like a candle,
To give their light so bright to others.
In a battle or in a plague-stricken city,
No matter how ferocious and gory, they are in front.
There is no love without sacrifice,
They love their nation, they sacrifice their lives.
Their lives they offer, for they know,
That their nation is exquisite than their lives.
A big salute to those soldiers of truth,
Those Hundreds for Thousands in the field of War and Ire.
Copyright © Cecilia Calliope | Year Posted 2025
It's a promise to laugh at the good.
Be silly, spontaneous and comfortable being yourself.
It's a promise to be supportive.
Be the shoulder. Be the rock.
Be the hand to hold each other up.
It's a promise to accept.
Accept the flaws-the big and the small.
It's a promise to disagree.
To argue and get mad.
It's a promise to forgive.
To listen and understand.
It's a promise to compromise.
To make decisions together.
It's a promise to share.
Share your hopes and dreams.
Share your crazy ideas and fears.
Share your bed. Share your heart.
It's a promise to give.
Give each other attention.
A touch. A look. A smile from across a crowded room.
It's a promise to show how much you mean to each other.
A goodnight kiss. An I love you text.
But most importantly,
It's a promise to be true.
It's a promise to always be there.
It's a promise to love.
Copyright © Lisa Collins | Year Posted 2025
Cold, warm, horrifying, inviting
Grinding away at the last pink and grey pustules
pooling at the bottom of my
Skull
Gods own light pushes and claws helplessly
against thin nylon
Its primordial importance
Toppled by billions and billions of bright bulbs
Burning and boring into my eyeballs
Spiralling and spiralling down
an everlasting pit of fluctuating fun and fear
And skin and sin and guilt, guided
Down as fast or as slow as
You want, your choice
Quick glimpses of the very bottom shoot sharp
Icicles of despair into my sedentary soul
Thick mist
Clears temporarily from my
Glazed eyes, I push and claw helplessly against images
Of razed villages and burgundy-bloodied bodies,
Kicking and
Screaming against the unfeeling and undulating
Dilated eyes
of fellow billions
Copyright © Daniel Crawford-Lynch | Year Posted 2025
I always had the words
You wanted to hear
But my motives
Always arose from fear.
I teased you with
What the future would hold
But a tumultuous reality
Would soon unfold.
I hoped that time
Would camouflage my flaws of character
But I did not realize
All you wanted was a life-long partner.
I’m sorry I took from you
Everything you could give
Not believing love could be finite
Because life is not a test drive.
Copyright © Steve Crismond | Year Posted 2015
Water Draws Near
The rush of a wave in the ocean, the babble of a creek, the stillness in a pond and warm wet cords of relief in the shower, water draws near. It’s the Living Water that took me here today, to tell you all I wish I could have said back then. To tell you how many of our moments I recall in the car, Kathryn with Catherine. Treasures made of Gold. As the water draws near rain frozen to snow thawed for in time of dew. It speaks to me in its muffling rushing way, in its silence in the still cool refreshment. Water draws near my face, I think of you it washes over me when I swim, engulfing the entirety of my skin. There I stand as the spray hits my face in the wind, I can hear you calling. Much is my same voice, two we were but single as one in the Living Water. As water draws near, I try to catch it in my hands but it pools and swirls, falling over the side’s dashes to the ground, me next in humble stance. I speak your name, you look back and wonderful water draws near I see you there floating on a cloud, water drawn around you, you smile and say my name back, I tilt my head back and there it is, the water draws near.
Ernestine Dianetti 2022
Copyright © Ernestine Dianetti | Year Posted 2025
The Unmoored Ship
I waltz through the ship,
Yet not dancing like the eerie drizzle in my mind,
While footprints dissolve into the quiet embrace of the deck.
The laborers pace back and forth,
Hauling their burdens—
Just like me, struggling to steady my steps,
Misaligned with my thoughts.
I beg the tranquil wind
Not to whisper my prophecy to the sky,
But the sky knows—
My heart is rumbling, just like the restless waves below,
Ready to make the ship quiver with an untold feeling.
Just as I thought this feeling would fade,
At the edge of the deck, I saw a beautiful stranger lit from within,
Glowing through every inch of the deck,
Piercing my heart on the verge of darkness.
The way the rainbow shimmered in his eyes
Made me realize—
I wanted to love my life again.
Copyright © Syinta Astagina DJ.Salam | Year Posted 2025
Whoosh, the wind through olive trees,
tugs my dress with gentle ease.
It brushes neck like whispered breath,
soft and quiet, light as rest.
Flit-flit, white butterflies fly,
soft as ash, then say goodbye.
Chirp-trill, birds sing wild above,
messy songs full of love.
Buzz of heat on sun-warm skin,
wind curls slow around my shin.
Agolli spoke of roots and rain,
but I was born of sky and pain.
Let others burn or sink or drown,
I float where silent dreams fall down.
My breath is light, my heart is bare,
you’ll only find me
in the air.
Copyright © Rina Doro | Year Posted 2025