Patricia Carragon | Wild Is the Wind

photo credit: Roxanne Hoffman 

Wild Is the Wind

(sung by Nina Simone)

 

do you hear the wind?

see that scarlet leaf

dance on concrete?

 

I am that wind

I am that leaf

I am that dance

 

in the distance

Ms. Simone sings about

spring & kisses

 

in a dervish trance

you cling to that leaf

embrace the wind

 

the wind is wild

and logic & fear surrender

to oneness

 

the wind is love

and love is the light

that has no end

 

 

Published in Jerry Jazz Musician, February 17, 2022

__________________________________

Patricia Carragon is the author of several books of poetry and fiction. Her most recent poetry collections are Meowku (Poets Wear Prada) and Innocence (Finishing Line Press). Her debut novel, Angel Fire, was recently released by Alien Buddha Press. Patricia hosts the Brownstone Poets reading series from Brooklyn on Zoom and publishes an associated anthology annually.

Megha Sood | The Season of Fall

The Season of Fall

Warmth of a hug
Closeness under a blanket
Fingers warming to a cup of coffee
Calmness of listening to him
Endlessly

Falling leaves of the orange-tinged fall
Brings back all the warmth
Intertwining of fingers
Till the palms start sweating

Sharing earbuds 
Swaying to the same rhythm
Heart singing the same beat
The twinkle in your eyes

Fleeting smile on your face
Spoken words;
And unspoken vows

Tis the season
Each falling leaf is a bookmark
In the book of memories
This is the season,
The season of fall.



__________________________________

Megha Sood lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. She is Assistant Poetry Editor for the UK-based feminist zine MookyChick and is one of the editors of The Kali Project, an anthology of art and poetry by women of Indian heritage, to be published by CrossTree Press. Megha’s recent publication credits include several print anthologies, among them Adelaide Literary Award Poetry Anthology 2019 (Adelaine Books, 2020), Fallow Ground (Inwood Press, 2020), and She Speaks (Sierra Club Books, 2020), as well as Life in Quarantine: Witnessing Global Pandemic, a digital initiative of Stanford University.

Charles Pierre | Green Vistas

Green Vistas

I walk the hard and darkened streets
of Manhattan as winter thaws,
where steel and concrete choke the earth,
where nature can't unfold or flow.

Gaudy neon and bits of glass
sparkling in asphalt swell the night
with portents of spring that lead me
to a park on the river's edge.

My left hand flies from its pocket
to test the air. The air says, Write,
until trees are flaming with leaves,
until waves are emerald fire.

Title poem of Green Vistas (Halyard Press), first published in 1981 and reprinted in 2009.

_________________________________

Charles Pierre was born in New York City in 1945 and raised in Centerport, New York. He studied at the University of Virginia and worked as a copywriter in Manhattan, where he has lived since 1973. Mr. Pierre is the author of five poetry collections: Green Vistas, Father of Water, Brief Intervals of Harmony, Coastal Moments, and Circle of Time.