Poets: Leila Dexheimer, Samantha Miller, Naomi Starling
Leila Dexheimer
I’m not crying this time.
They don’t deserve to drink my tears
Or bathe in my agony–any longer.
It was my fault that I did not crawl
to the finish line when it was moved again,
and I did not sew my lips shut
when I saw the blazing lies burning down your legacy.
Monsters lurk in the shadows
So cling to the candlelight
until they blow it out again.
They moved the checkered flag again.
I don’t cry anymore
because I did not make them proud.
My name isn’t flashy
My wallet isn’t heavy
My heart is too patent
So they wiped away the white line.
Therefore I cannot save you
because I did not save myself.
My knees buckled long ago—
But know you’re not bloodied alone.
They took me too.
I won’t cry
They don’t deserve to see me break again.
Don’t beg for dignity that will never be given
or they’ll just move that finish ribbon until you can’t crawl anymore.
Samantha Miller
Picture Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Picture fields of flowers the colors of a sunset and
the most vibrant of greens and
dewdrops sparkling on leaves like diamonds.
Picture all this surrounding a tree, one
so luscious and beautiful,
bearing the ripest of fruits.
This tree is not only alluring physically,
but it carries with it all the knowledge and
secrets of the world,
just as Mother Earth has so many secrets to share with us.
Picture you are Eve,
standing at the base of that great tree with a
serpent’s tongue whispering in your ear.
Picture approaching the tree and
wrapping your hand around the fruit and
plucking that forbidden apple from its branches and—
It’s ironic, isn’t it?
Ironic that temptation is what brought
the fall of Eve and
that it is temptation and greed still today that bring
corruption to the earth:
The exploitation of her resources,
the burning of her forests,
the scars raked across her body as we dive deeper into the mines,
the animals we kill for miracle medicines,
the oceans we pollute,
the boarders we splice as we decide what is theirs and what is ours,
forgetting that all of it is hers.
Have we learned nothing from that day?
Learned nothing from Eve’s weakest moment?
We call Eve mother, yet
forget Earth is mother of all.
We think we are so full of knowledge, yet
keep making the same mistakes.
Have we not learned that it is by observing earth,
by working in tandem with her, not by theft,
that we are able to flourish?
There aren’t many apples left on the tree.
Naomi Starling
The sun has fallen from the sky
It dips below horizon line
Then, inky darkness starts to bleed
Into the canvas, diamond beads
We watch the comets from my roof
Your smile: it becomes my proof
That this, my dear, is going to last
So let’s just both forget the past
And love the night that closes in
Listening to tales the other spins
Night is quiet
Night is peace
Night is beauty
Pitch-black fleece
Until daybreak
The stars we keep
Lock them in bottles
Who needs sleep?
Naomi Starling
A book is a window
With no pane and no frame
But a book is a window
I see through it the same
Into the life of another soul
Where life and love and deaths take their toll
And there’s laughter and joy
There’s beauty and pain
There’s a day that pours the harshest of rain
And there’s music from strings
There’s a song in a heart
The girl holds a necklace of melody’s start
There’s jailbreaks and romance
There’s starry night skies
And there’s the very last moment to say your goodbyes
Oh, I love them dearly
I cherish them up
The authors, the stories, the brand new fresh start
A book is a window in the strangest of ways
So go create windows
I promise, it pays
Naomi Starling
The broken glass
My shattered heart
I should have known it from the start
Through stormy gales
Through wind-swept skies
Now no one hears me when I cry
A silent girl
I walk alone
Through endless tears
Through streets of stone
The empty is my only friend
Into the day the darkness blends
Year after year
In hopeless time
Until the grand clock’s final chime
But still, I see the hope within
The world, the glass, the wretched sin
Broken like me
And bound to fate
What would it be to away with hate?
Naomi Starling
Within the eye of grace I see
My Savior hung upon a tree
To pay my debts
To right my wrongs
All things I have to him belong
The world was dark
Bruise-painted sky
That’s what I saw in Grace’s eye
To bring us hope
His blood was spilled
And suddenly, my life fulfilled
A final breath slipped from his lungs
It was finished, it was done
Three women came to see the tomb
To weep for him
To see the wounds
But a blaze of light left them all stunned
And angel sat
Said Christ had won
He freed us from our deadly prison
Now He’s alive
Now He has risen