Poetry

Submission Guidelines

• All formats of poetry accepted
• 1500 word maximum
• Do not put your name inside the document
• No submission limit
• Submission Deadline: December, 7th 2018

The following selections were published in the Spring 2019 edition of the Wildwood Journal.

Insomniaticallnighttilldaylightblues

Ylynne Baskerville

Until the sun returns

I’m stuck in my thoughts

A beautiful moon child

I write research and read

write research and read

write research and read

pages scattered

Check the floor for my roots

Wander about in the spirit world

Meditate on my prayers

Like hey god

Are you listening?

Can I be an elephant for a day

Big heavy and strong

Moving my problems away

Then I listen, and he says no

That is my job

I run wild encouraging the stars

I used to glance at them

These nights I have time to see their value

If the moon was I and I was it

I would love the view

Each evening something new

Crime doubles in

the dark

Secrets climb charts

The sleepy ones are lazy to me

I’m sure they see me the same way

Browse the web for a spider or two

Find something anybody left behind

Darkness shines in the shadows

This world that others dream through

I weave and waltz about

Attached to the silk blanket of night

I might

Drink coffee just so I can write

The change of the day

Sleep will not come curled up and comfy

Only 2 hours till dawn

Here I am

Upright and ugly

Matriarch

Ylynne Baskerville

When I was born

She was not my mother

But took responsibility

For the loss

My, what a burden it must have been

Dragging a weight

That was not yours for 25 years

When I met her she was concerned

And ever since she worries

And remains in that state about me

Who would have thought

I am welcome now even more than the day I was born

Adoption separated no blood in our veins

She is still grand

I, still her baby

I, ever excited to hug and hold her

Protective over my soldier

Fond of her busy fussing

Mary Jane

The simple symbol of what love looks like

Smells like

Is to me

See, my mother struggled with her past

And it spilled into her present

Soaking up her future

I could’ve been her saviour

But fear wouldn’t let her carry another failure

Leaving my life to chance

I suffered

The same bruises as she did

Made me wonder how she lived

Beyond the moments that we both were plagued by

I found time to look past her flaws

Only to see

Her mother’s

Great attributes buried inside

Forged in fire

We, all of one flame

I, the one to claim

I didn’t even know my name

Until she called me Phyllis

And birthed me again

Bound not broken

Ylynne Baskerville

We used to begin our days with knocks on the door—our roosters crow

To a new chance at last night’s schemes

Just trying to fulfill family dreams never caring about the means

She beside me, feeble and weary

Would whisper her needs to me for the day

Good morning, I’d say

Too slow to make it to any bathroom close by

She would explain every accident as she made them

I’d reply

It’s all in a day’s work

Our conversation’s one a passerby

Might have eavesdropped on

So we spoke in hushed tones

Praying not too much got away to the wrong ears

For she taught me consequences were certainly not worth it

If we were found out

Time capsule 7 long months

Seemed like years

Our moments together helped overcome our fears

One day I’d say, everyday

You’re gonna run again

Pain is just a state of mind

Hopefully making her believe me this time

We played cards

Took life in two rooms

To new destinations

I knew she was growing impatient when chasing

Death was something of conversation

I, her devout confidant

Could never convince enough that it was not where she would go but when

Her passion made me

Run harder

I walked blocks to satisfy the joints that held her hostage

How could I do nothing

And let her wither

So at all costs I was with her

We became bitter

People came and went

Received and sent

But never stayed

Time no one had to offer in surplus

She was enormous to me

Someone’s enemy someone’s friend

But the giant they abused

Was still mine to depend

So I carried her

From shower to chair

Giggled while combing her hair

Swallowed my stomach keeping her care

Crusaded on her behalf to my church members and friends

That she needed all the help God would grant

Just to make life easier

She just really wanted someone to be with her

Being lonely was not free to her

It was worse than the locking she endured

Forcing her to groan and wonder

If she fell would she be caught alone

I, key maker to joy, just made enough time even if only to annoy

But no matter how she felt she still called to me in cheer

Are you still here?

Yes, Auntie Cheryl, your hope is near

When the cold came and we had bad days

I still could not stay away

I prayed for forgiveness for the things that I said

Hoping she forgot them

And not me

I wanted her to crawl in my body and feel free

But she kept on

In her same physical state

Carrying on about who came late

Who was tripping

Who did not know so and so

And I’d listen

Laughing knowing

I did not know either person she was referring to

Our bond was inflamed

The bigger I became with new life

A new face a new name

She looked forward to January 12th like Christmas

Told me not worry she would take care of everything

I had never felt so blessed

I knew I had to guard my angels

Because God doesn’t tell lies

Then the phone call came

And I had just said a prayer

Time stood still

I lost my air

I knew my baby was still gonna be

Because I promised her, and she promised me

I spoke on my way there

That she wouldn’t leave me alone

But the screams echoed and they

weren’t hers on the phone

I’ve been waiting for her to call me since

December 1st

How selfish of me

But I know that she won’t

I mean I know she can’t pick up

If she could we would sing again

Harmonizing and going on with our duet

But every song has to end, and every sun has to set

So, goodnight

I will see you in the morning

The Woodsman

Jordan Esposito

It was by that shore we met.

The blue waters glistening in glee

from a plethora of sunbeams.

The ocean swaying by the will of Neptune—

and his trident of bone.

Oh, do sway! The water, child of the Gods.

Sway in merriment, and delight.

The sand, wet by the advancing ocean,

congregates to our feet greedily as we walk

hand-in-hand to perpetual paradise.

In memory, that day lives forever.

Memories do not age like the body.

They only ripen by the passage of time.

An ode to the past I contemplate

to be sung, and mourned, with complacency.

Under the watchful eye of the priest, and

your legion. Our faces drenched by the dew of rue.

You, my love, emptied of the breath of life;

sleeping in the Bocote overcoat of my craft.

On the porch of what we called home,

I sit and gander at teardrops falling

from the heavens amidst the tall oak;

from where you dream in eternal silence.

You, my love, emptied of spirit;

Loved even by the Gods.

I know that you wish for me to be happy.

For me to be as deliberate as the rising sun

spreading its light in the darkest of corners.

Unbound, and unsullied, by the dark’s rough tides.

The Lawrencian Sonnet

Lawrence Kastriba

I stand accused of something without trial,

The joy in me could not have been so grand.

What could be done, it helps that I am vile

The verdict please, I’m guilty where I stand.

I question everything you seek to teach,

And more and more, I started to have doubts.

Your inconsistency, attacking speech

“The words don’t matter it’s the number count.”

“You can’t create unless it’s by my rules,

Don’t self-express unless it’s by my lines. If

you don’t get it you’re considered fools!”

They say he is the greatest of all time.

You fail to see the folly in your thought,

Shakespeare the great is dead and I am not.

Chances are he was not real anyway.

Trust

Lawrence Kastriba

Integrity

has to

establish clear

thoughts

resolving

actions

and emotion

in man.

Why Did I Walk

Lawrence Kastriba

Why did I walk?

Let’s think for a second,

Condition an answer,

Look at me when you talk.

Why did I go?

Im tied to the truth,

You hide in plain sight

I can see you through the smoke.

There must be a reason they asked me your questions.

I could have stood up and taught all of your lessons.

The result of the class would be better I’m guessing.

You have little valor and it’s deeply depressing.

But have no fear I can solve your issue.

You think I would just kick back

and diss you.

Like I had some power I could wield and misuse.

Hey, wait a sec,

I hit the nerve without trying too.

So why did I walk?

Let’s try this again,

You have the time,

Look at my eyes when you talk.

Why did I go?

A tide of the truth,

I wash away lies,

Anything left is a joke.

You know what

is really sad?

The major reason

It went so bad.

All the chances

You thought you had,

No more politesse

Let’s slay Galahad.

This is the end of the road.

Well, not for me, I have farther to go.

I am not hampered with your student loans.

If there is penance to pay, it’s a penny a load.

Not holding back this mountain of fear,

Your pile of trouble is perfectly clear.

In reading this you smirk and you sneer.

I beat your game and the ending is near.

Now I can walk.

In clear conscience,

Without flinching

I break you when I talk.

Now I can go.

This is the truth,

You know you lied

We are all watching you choke.

Reality

Lawrence Kastriba

Nature is victim to Time.

Time is always moving Nature.

Nature will decay in Time.

Time will go on after Nature.

Lullaby

Rachel Lenich

When I crack open my window at night I let it slip in:

the light of the moon, the cold breath of wind,

and the steady drone of a million cars drifting through.

The hum of the highway I make my home,

And this meaning rings true in two parts:

It whispers stories to me from my childhood and

I count the days until I can leave it in the dust.

From past lives I can still recall waking up to:

screaming babes, ocean waves, echoes of bird-blackened skies,

the scorching screeches of cicadas, and occasionally

silence.

But nothing holds me as sweetly as the steady sonic hum, An endless film pierced by:

engine backfires, truck horns, and motorcycle roars.

And sometimes birds do sing,

And swarms of bugs buzz in the wrathful heat,

And children scream with joy as they splash in the water. But the highway never stops to take a breath.

It is one lonely note stretching into eternity,

A path leading me to a world of dreams.

Glissando

Ray Sherer

November twenty-first I stand

at an upper office window. The sky

is luminous, gunmetal blue,

and without thinking I begin

to whistle “The Twelve Days

of Christmas.” Right away

I’m back in the lounge

of Old Main, freshman year,

the air murderous with term papers,

the blood-red of onrushing holiday.

Heavy-shaven college men,

clowning sophomores singing

“four bayonets, three bowls of borscht-,

two Das Kapital, and a portraiiit

of Leon Trotskiii…” It was

the Christmas after that I had mono

and bought her from a New Yorker

ad a Neiman-Marcus pear tree brooch

but her letter came before I

gave it. Senior year I gave it

to the woman I married half-way

through grad school and then

there were the years the famous

TV animals sang and the savage,

comic pig trilled “fiiiiive go-ooold

rrrrrings!” The girls would pause

in the whir of their pre-Christmas

capers to join in before the set,

TV colors flashing .over their foreheads

and eyes, then back to making cookies

or begging to sleep under the tree

and now they are both women, far away.

I See You, Student

Wendy Bratina

Today you told me how you tried really hard to get your writing correct

Today he invited you over, beat you, and assaulted you; I appreciate your courage in sharing with me and allowing me to help

Today you got the APA reference correct after several attempts

Today you came to class with your baby as your childcare plan was disrupted; I appreciate that you still came

Today you got a good grade in class and your face was beaming with pride

Today you told me that you couldn’t come to class because you needed to give your relative a ride to the doctor’s office since you are the only one in your family who can drive; I marked the absence excused as I get it

Today you presented to our class and showed us you have a VOICE

Today you emailed me that you would be late for class because you had to handle a crisis at work before coming in to school; I am thankful you showed the courtesy of contacting me

Today you told me that you are going into rehab because the demons have returned in your life; I’ll support you in this tough decision

Today you smiled as you had an “AHA moment” and understood; I smiled inside and out

Today was the last time I saw you as you disappeared; I am still worrying

Today you asked insightful questions

Today you wrestled with the choice before you of an unplanned pregnancy; I hurt for you

Today you are in my class again after a previous bad semester; You will get through this time

I see you, dear student. I share in your success, your failure, your stress, and you come home with me in my thoughts. You are so resilient. Maybe someday you will know it, too.