sucCessFul
~Scarlett

Waiting by the phone.
My life is on hold
Twenty two and dying.
So many things to say
but I’m running out of breath.
Coughing. Praying. Struggling.

The phone starts to ring.
The call I waited for.
The call they never expected.
A family losing their son.
Healthy new lungs for me.
Mourning. Praying. Rejoicing.

Two years pass by quickly.
Living boldly to honor your son.
Studying to become a doctor.
Your family is always on my mind.
Your gift has given me a future.
Breathing. Praying. Loving.

*

Untitled
~Barry Carter

I observed myself for the
first time in a dream,i
was looking through a
telescope viewing dried up
streams of Mars and preserved
in my static face i could see
lines created by the earth this
strange pitiless place. I didn’t
want to see wars only my face
and that of the sun, in the street
i could hear guns as i looked up
at the night time sky, gun runners
and drug dealers couldn’t see this
cosmic mystery. Vainly i tried other
telescopes hoping to be given sight
and on a bridge at night below me
was water of red, i put some money
in a telescope and could see the
empty streams of Mars with dried
up river beds.

*

Death Watch: Haitham
~Bronwyn Winters

We sit together and hold our silences,
Your eyes fluttering against such grave
weight- lids like tiny wings-
struggling rapidfire to regain the nest,
whipping
The void with fine dark feathers.
Drops skim off your frantic lash-wings,
and with my fingertips I press a kiss
into that salt.
Insh’Allah, soon, my tired child, you will
catch the updraft- Find the
Eagle’s purchase, and trace each new
wingbeat’s arc
a weightless infinity from where we
sit.