A Leaf for Hand in Hand (by Walt Whitman)

 

A Leaf for Hand in Hand
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1867

A leaf for hand in hand;
You natural persons old and young!
You on the Mississippi and on all the branches and bayous of the Mississippi!
You friendly boatmen and mechanics! you roughs!
You twain! and all processions moving along the streets!
I wish to infuse myself among you till I see it common for you to walk hand in hand. 

 

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To read other Whitman selections in the Crisis Chronicles Online Library, click here.

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Nobody Knows This Little Rose (by Emily Dickinson)

 

Emily Dickinson

[1858]

Nobody knows this little Rose —
It might a pilgrim be
Did I not take it from the ways
And lift it up to thee.
Only a Bee will miss it — 
Only a Butterfly,
Hastening from far journey — 
On its breast to lie —
Only a Bird will wonder — 
Only a Breeze will sigh —
Ah Little Rose — how easy
For such as thee to die! 

Zero Gravity (by Leila A. Fortier)

~Zero Gravity~

I

Have

Brought

Back with me

The residue of a

Taxed & anguished

 Energy~ Not all things

Should travel~ Not all

 Things should be

Carried~ Freedom comes with letting go~ A prying with

Water- splitting fossils of tired thinking~ An undulating

Persuasion into separation~ Memories stiffen the

Soul with excess weight~ I must give myself

Back to water~ Bathe in my beautiful

 Amnesia where I may find

My buoyancy~ Truth

Wades within

 The depths

Of sea

Far

From

Its own tide~

Far from its own state of

 Being~ Cradling nothing within

Weightless limbs~ Swimming in

The stardust of deep~ A liquid

Form of sky~ Euphoric

As zero gravity

~*~

 

Leila A. Fortier is a poet, artist, and photographer currently residing on the remote island of Okinawa Japan. Her unique visual poetry is the specially crafted formation of abstract designs, often accompanied by her own multi-medium forms of art, photography, and spoken performance. Much of her work has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, German, Hindi and Japanese in a rapidly growing project to raise global unity and understanding through the cultural diversity of poetry and literature.

Her work in all its mediums has been published in a vast array of literary magazines, journals, and reviews both in print and online. In 2007’ she initiated the anthology A World of Love: Voices for Carmen as a benefit against domestic violence and in 2010 composed a photo book entitled Pappankalan, India: Through the Eyes of Children to benefit the education of impoverished Indian children. She is also the author of Metanoia’s Revelation through iUniverse.

A complete listing of her published works can be found at: www.leilafortier.com.

Subliminal (by Leila A. Fortier)

~Subliminal~

*

How

 Mindless are we~

Blind-stepping into the

Damp of cosmic moss beneath

Our feet~ This nighting is how we

Are threaded amongst the stars to

 Sing with constellations…How

Mindless are we~ That we

Have become unnoticeable even unto ourselves~ Our

Watermarked passages appear only between the

 Pages~ Here, solitude is the flowering of

 Stillness making love to silence~

Bearing no definition or

~Dimension~

*

We

Are

Strung

Only by senses

To find perfection within the

Abstraction~ A call to consciousness

 Lest we be stillborn into a galaxy of closed

Eyes~ The nature of our divinity is revealed

 By subliminal soul-utterance~ A soundless

Vibrato of bodily music where the notions

Such as coming and going become

~One motion in the same~

Leila A. Fortier is a poet, artist, and photographer currently residing on the remote island of Okinawa Japan. Her unique visual poetry is the specially crafted formation of abstract designs, often accompanied by her own multi-medium forms of art, photography, and spoken performance. Much of her work has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, German, Hindi and Japanese in a rapidly growing project to raise global unity and understanding through the cultural diversity of poetry and literature.

Her work in all its mediums has been published in a vast array of literary magazines, journals, and reviews both in print and online. In 2007’ she initiated the anthology A World of Love: Voices for Carmen as a benefit against domestic violence and in 2010 composed a photo book entitled Pappankalan, India: Through the Eyes of Children to benefit the education of impoverished Indian children. She is also the author of Metanoia’s Revelation through iUniverse.

A complete listing of her published works can be found at: www.leilafortier.com.

A Glimpse (by Walt Whitman)

A Glimpse
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1867

A glimpse through an interstice caught,
Of a crowd of workmen and drivers in a bar-room around the stove
     late of a winter night, and I unremark’d seated in a corner,
Of a youth who loves me and whom I love, silently
     approaching and seating himself near, that he may
     hold me by the hand,
A long while amid the noises of coming and going, of drinking
     and oath and smutty jest,
There we two, content, happy in being together, speaking
     little, perhaps not a word.

 

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To read other Whitman selections in the Crisis Chronicles Online Library, click here.

Drink It All Away (by Christy Patterson)

 

Drink It All Away
by Christy Patterson

Daddy called it Paradise,
A place filled with scents
And sounds
Mirages of things unseen by anyone else

Daddy said that sometimes
When the lights were dimmed
And Mommy was asleep in bed
He would go to Paradise

Claiming it was real easy to get there,
He told me
All you had to do was get to the bottom of a bottle
And when you look into the musty room within
You can see the birds of Paradise
Singing to you
Enticing you to join them

Mommy never did let me near one of those bottles though
She would always scream at Daddy when he told me the tales of Paradise
Then she would drag me to my room
Tell me to pack my stuff

But Mommy never did leave
She always came back after a few minutes with Daddy
And whisper for me to unpack

Still, every time Daddy told me about Paradise
She would repeat the process
Like it was a needed ritual

Injustice began to cloud my judgment
I wanted to see the Paradise
Daddy got to see

One day my resentment boiled over
Injustice settled into my bones
Rusting my joints and greasing my brain
To the point where inaction would have surely driven me to madness

So when darkness settled like a shroud over the house
And even the ants had been put to sleep
I went to Paradise’s cupboard
And sip by sip
Giggle by giggle
I made my way to Paradise


* * *

About the author: Christy Patterson is a sophomore in Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center where she majors in the Literary Arts. She plans on going to England for college.

No Labor-Saving Machine (by Walt Whitman)

No Labor-Saving Machine
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1881

No labor-saving machine,
Nor discovery have I made,
Nor will I be able to leave behind me any wealthy bequest to found a hospital or library,
Nor reminiscence of any deed of courage for America,
Nor literary success nor intellect; nor book for the book-shelf,
But a few carols vibrating through the air I leave,
For comrades and lovers. 

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To read other Whitman selections in the Crisis Chronicles Online Library, click here.

Garlands for Queens, May Be (by Emily Dickinson)

Emily Dickinson

[1858]

Garland for Queens, may be —
Laurels — for rare degree
Of soul or sword.
Ah — but remembering me —
Ah — but remembering thee —
Nature in chivalry —
Nature in charity —
Nature in equity —
This Rose ordained! 

Roué Let (by John B. Burroughs)

self portrait by the author 

Roué Let
by John Burroughs, from The Eater of the Absurd [2012, NightBallet Press]

I’d sell my so
for a yes and no

I’d hold you to
the sale without
fail if you’d bail
me in once more

My in
you’re all
most out

You time
whore eye
lover more
lick like
chime

I’d slime you
for a bite at
your pear and
delight in your
stare for a dark
door ramble
with my avant
in your garden
and repeal the woe
boat go law mow
shatter glow forage

Jack pot

Spin my rainbow
wheel make
a deal lie back
love whip crack
squeal

I’d sell my hot
for your trot
rim shot plot
slot naughty
ex in oh
party casino 

My out
your in
win win


[written 12 November 2012]



* * * * *

John Burroughs is the author of many chapbooks including Electric Company [Writing Knights], Water Works [Recycled Karma Press], and The Eater of the Absurd [forthcoming, NightBallet Press]. For nearly a decade around the turn of the millennium, John served as a full-time playwright and occasional music director in residence for the Ministry of Theatre at Marion Correctional Institution. In 2007, his blog earned a number one ranking on MySpace.  He also co-founded the Lix and Kix Poetry Extravaganza and annual Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest. Since 2008, he has served as the editor and publisher of Crisis Chronicles Press.

Here the Frailest Leaves of Me (by Walt Whitman)

 

Here the Frailest Leaves of Me
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1867

Here the frailest leaves of me and yet my strongest lasting,
Here I shade and hide my thoughts, I myself do not expose them,
And yet they expose me more than all my other poems.  

* * *

To read other Whitman selections in the Crisis Chronicles Online Library, click here.