“Anxiety” by Victoria Carter

Dear anxiety,

I once knew you as innocence creeping up my spine. I saw you as a deranged smile upon this face. Now I know you are the poison filling my veins, the dark side of peace, and the one thing that keeps me from believing. But I know you aren’t there, because you only exist in my faded mind.

 

Dear anxiety,

Go away. I hate that you keep me breathing. I hate that you keep me from believing. But I know you’re there, because I see you when I look in the mirror. You feed off my emotions, and cling to my fear. So…

 

Dear anxiety,

Let me live my life. I don’t need you guiding me. I only need you behind me. Don’t look me in the eye. Don’t feed me your lies.

 

Dear anxiety,

I’m gonna get well.

“On Fond Memories and Unspoken Words” by Abigail Tiska

My heart beats faster under the underpass and

all I want is to make this last.

City lights reflect off the lenses in your glasses and

I can feel your heart get warmer

just from holding your clammy hands.

They always did shake.

 

(you’re the reason I love brown eyes)

 

Dirty parking garages and

new surprises around each corner.

We really had a thing going—

Remember that cab ride in Philadelphia?

 

Now I’m riding alone

paying more for less

you still haven’t been back.

Phantom pains in my hands where yours used to be.

I keep checking the mail

but to no avail do I find anything from you.

Only cobwebs and bank statements.

If you won’t write to me just promise that

you’ll write about me.

“For Gawain” By Mike Tucker

An emerald, a clover, grass that’s waiting to be cut,

cat’s eyes and Sheehan’s light, the beam of a young man’s heart.

Beveled glass in the morning light, palm fronds, pumpkin stem, chameleon’s  default.

Please don’t lose your head.

 

Merlin’s cloak, sheep’s pasture, a fresh and virgin spring.

oak leaves and holly sprig, m’ lady’s velvet robe

A Season in Hell all bound up tightly in green.

Please don’t lose your head.

 

A chapel in the wood, dense and overgrown, lush leaves and

ivy creeping up the walls, the smell of rain, the apple worm,

sea glass on sandy shores, the tree outside my window, cracked.

Please don’t lose your head.

 

Gaian mind, moss creeping over rocks,

smooth surface of the water,

sharp flash of the glittering eel

like Mercury on white-crested waves  or

a snake in the grass

in the nick of time

he  slinks off

into one more starless sun rise

off he swims

away he swims

carrying your head

as the last leaf falls

from off the tree.