Asteria

July 2010 Issue

ALL THE DUST

© Asteria

I see all the dust from the dusks of yesterday

Reflecting in the sunrises of tomorrow

And I realize in my hand I have the power of life.

Not in the shape of a gun,

Not in any type of steel like a knife,

I don’t hold any drug of today,

Nor is suicide a friend anymore.

Life is not controlled by these things,

So don’t be fooled.

The power of life is not only in my hand,

But it is also in yours.

This power is from a concise brain.

A brain able to reason between right and wrong,

Good and bad.

To see things without fear or anger.

To take things as they happen.

Controlling the way you a bad situation, to make it good

Brings you that much more power in your hand.

For after all, without power our machines of life

Cannot run.

And without your life or mine

The world becomes that much more weak and lifeless.

April 2010 Issue

Your Future Path

By Asteria

Secrets hide inside of you

I know I’ll never know

How can I touch your soul

If all I do is turn and leave.

Hope and dreams are what make life

But you say all of yours are gone

Fine, if that is how you truly feel

Then why did I bother to call.

I bothered because you do count and care

Cause no matter what you say

I know that you want life to be sweet

As the smell of flowers and rain.

So why not try living that way for once

By taking on the shadows and fight

You may not realize the strength you have

But you can go all the way.

Because sometime after the battle is won

There is a life you want to live.

Without the pain and fear

And tears are all worn away.

Believe me my dear friend

If just this once

The battle won’t be easy

Oh but the wonders you will win

It is worth the scars you might obtain

While fighting the battles in the rain

Yes hope and dreams are worth the fight

And I will be here at the end.

January 2010 Issue

UNIFIED

© by Asteria

When dancing in the waves

Do we not feel the sand

Gritty between our toes

Never drying to become land

As we zoom down highways

Do we not see the lives

Daily living and working together

Never united as all man

But hope binds us together

This mortal coil shall stand

To life and all the living

Death does all command

Dominic Brecken

April 2010 Issue

SEVEN HAIKU

© Dominic Brecken

Insistent ocean

You beguile me with your dreams-

Beckoning always

_________________________________

Thoughts like autumn leaves

Twist into fluttering piles-

Or drift on, alone

_________________________________

Gentle forest path

Whisp’ring pools of light, green gold

Butterflies, birdsong

_________________________________

Soft city lights shine

And those velvet heaven stars-

The eyes of strangers

_________________________________

What is there; will be?

Atoms, sunlight, fire and dreams

Everything; always

_________________________________

Suddenly: a girl

Sunshine, perfume, swaying hips

My poor heart explodes

_________________________________

Springtime promenade

Sun-kissed girls and sweet perfume

Tomorrow? Who cares!

Lynda deGreif

July 2010 issue

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL, DID YOU KNOW?

© Lynda deGreif

Please hold…we will be right with you

I’m sorry you were holding for so long…please hold

Yes, thank you for holding…oh, I am sorry,

I don’t handle that question, I’ll transfer you.

You have reached the customer service line,

If you have a problem with your service press 1

If you have a problem with your customer press 2

If you have a problem with this message, please hang up and call…

Hi, I can’t answer the phone right now

I am either away from my desk,

I am on another call or

I have been fired for never calling anyone back.

We all are sitting here, phone in hand

Talking as we are sipping coffee

Talking as we drive,

Talking in a movie or concert

Talking apparently just to survive.

Dear Alexander Graham Bell, did you ever imagine

Your invention that opened communication

Would be the death of interaction?

April 2010 Issue

YOU

© Lynda deGreif

A fresh page

Blank and calling

For ink or pen

Color or shade

A familiar face

Kind eyes and smile

Looking at you

Happy and sad

A bit of truth

To be told or kept

Investigating deeply

Falsehoods shed

And all of tomorrow

You keep for me

To share willingly

Passions deep.

SPRING

© Lynda deGreif

The time has changed.

We’ve lost an hour.

Spring has arrived.

Here come the flowers!

January 2010 Issue

HAITI

© Lynda deGreif

A rumble, a tumble, a heart beating fast

Shaken, disrupted, fear

Time stood still for seconds

And life changed directions

The rubble, the sorrow, lost in fright

Darkness, lonely, solitude

Hope was there beyond

When life changed directions

A Mother, A priest, a daughter in college

Waiting, calling, praying

The city stands together

As life changed directions.

Mike Devita

September 2010 Update

VISIONS

© Mike Devita

Visions

Of faraway places

With strange-sounding names

Penetrating my brain

Way too often

At inopportune times

Visions

Of journeys past

And of those planned

And of those yet to enter that stage

Penetrating my scrapbook

Of places visited and yet to do so

Goals of times to be

Visions

Of confectionary delights

Active always in my thoughts

In all colors of the rainbow

In all stages of desire...

Those "forbidden fruits"

Penetrating my mental taste buds

Most of the times

Visions

Of diets present and past

Of clothes no longer practical

Of walks I wish I could still take

Of food I wish I could still eat

Of health I wish I still had

Of friends who could care less

About diets and clothes and forbidden food

And help to keep me in the proper mood

CUSTOMER SERVICE

© Mike Devita

A thing of the past.

No one answers the phone

Unless you wait for half a day

To finally get through to

A live voice, not from India,

Or some other foreign country

Where no one understands anyone.

No one arrives when they

Give you a schedule and

Tell you they will be there

At a certain time

To resolve a problem

In fact, sometimes they

don't arrive at all.

A window for on call

Resolutions: 7 am to 10 pm

What a joke.

And what do you do

In the meantime?

Twiddle your thumbs?

Or you stand in a box store

Waiting for someone to help

You find something or to give

You instructions on a product.

And you keep waiting, and

waiting and waiting, and

waiting some more.

Whatever happened to

Customer satisfaction...

Customer care...

Civility.

I must be a relic.

August 2010 Update

THERE ARE FRIENDS

© Mike Devita

It is a good thing to have friends,

Or so I have been told.

I guess there are all kinds of friends.

The close ones who are there

Through good and bad times, thick and thin.

And if you disagree about something,

You work it out and keep on going.

And there are others who are there for you

When you can do something for them, but

Who can just as quickly pick up stakes

And move on to other so-called friends.

Sounds like a bee flitting from flower to flower.

And when the flower no longer produces,

The bee just keeps moving on.

I have had friends like that, not too many though.

I don't spend much time trying to cultivate them.

It isn't worth the effort.

I like friends who stay despite any

Idiosyncrasies you may possess,

Who stand up for you when others are talking about you

Who don't talk about you behind your back.

Who listen and try to understand your point of view

Even if they don't always agree.

Who really care about you, and what you think,

Who really want to be with you.

I like friends with whom you can gab for hours

Mostly about nothing or nothing extraordinary.

It doesn't matter...It is the mutual chat that does.

Especially those friends who are not always saying

"Sorry...gotta go...got things to do".

When those things don't amount to a hill of beans.

Things to do never go away.

Friends do.

Good friends don't. Unless they have no choice.

So I have come up with a not so earth-shaking decision.

Life is short...we all know it. Minutes count.

I choose to spend the little time I have

With friends who really care about me.

Those who want to be with me, and share the minutes.

Those who have no always -pressing engagements.

Good friends are better than any amount of gold.

Such are the kind of friends with whom you can grow old.

July 2010 Issue

MEMORIES

© Mike Devita

Memories from the past

Call us back to calmer, slower days.

When the world was not in such a rush

To go nowhere in particular.

When playing in the backyard

Was all the fun kids needed.

When a good radio show could make

Us laugh or cry or get scared because

It was all in our imagination anyway.

A time when we could go to the local store

And pick up a brown paper bag full of

All kinds of Candy delights for only a penny,

Where the term "penny candy" came from,

And the delight in making those choices

Is unmatched by any such thing today.

When a quarter allowance was a big deal

Cause we could spend a whole Saturday

At the local all- day double feature movies,

Stuff our bellies with candy and soda,

Laugh with our friends or hide behind the seat

If the movie got scary,

And the whole day was only a dime,

And we still had fifteen cents left for the rest of the week.

A time When kids behaved in school because they knew

That if they didn't, they would get it double at home.

A time when Mom was always there when we got home

To provide a nice snack after school before we

Went out to play before dinner.

A time when our decision making was whether to

Play tag or hide and seek or dodge ball

Or cowboys and Indians, or some other simple game,

When we didn't need the "toys of today"

To keep us from getting bored.

How often I have said: if only the kids today

Knew what they are missing.

And then realization sets in.

They will say the same thing about their

Kids some time far away in the future.

I have heard some scientists say that we

Live on several planes at the same time,

That yesterday, today and tomorrow

All exist at once.

That is too difficult for me to remember.

Besides,

I prefer yesterday.

April 2010 Issue

APRIL 

© Mike Devita

A special time to think about the man who saved the world

Pray that he is watching over present conditions

Remember the purpose of the holiday

I know everyone likes Easter Eggs and Chocolates, but

Love is the reason for the season

Sad Departure

© Mike Devita

So many people look forward

to the coming of Spring.

To the reawakening of nature

as it displays itself in the

brilliant colors associated

with the season...

the vivid yellows

the soft purples

the bright yellows

the sprouting light greens which darken

the too-soon-gone whites

And before an eye is blinked

Summer is here with all its heat

the mosquitos

the humidity

the perspiration with any distance walked

the constant weeding of outdoor gardens

the screaming kids no longer in school

And before we blink again

It is back to Fall

the leaves turn more brilliant colors

Than we ever imagined in Spring

The golds, the browns, the reds

And then we are back to winter once again

And the blessed coolness that I always love

And miss when Spring takes it all away

And makes me sad and wish for its return.

And maybe, just maybe, we get more snow.

But in more moderation than the Winter of 2010.

Winter is much more my style.

January 2010 Issue

GLORIFIED

© Mike DeVita

The arms of the earth

Broke through the sod

And clenched his fist in derision,

For clay knows not the might of God

It has but earthly vision.

The finger of God wrote in the sky

A sign of mighty fire:

"Reach up to me for I am life"

But earth could reach no higher.

With strength of muscle,

With might and main,

Earth struggled and then defied,

But God stretched forth His Hand of Love,

And earth was glorified.

LOST LOVELINESS

© Mike Devita

A voice of velvet

Softly dispels melodious notes

Amidst the surrounding cacophonies

It enunciates each word

With perfect diction

With emphatic clarity

With astute phrasing

With deep feeling and emotion

As it competes with the jarring rumbles of noise

The rap, the hip hop, the whining voices

Forever searching for a true note

And then it quietly departs

For days, for weeks, for months, for years

Silenced by the excuses that some call "music"...

Music without harmony, without resonance,

Without apparent melody, without real feeling,

Blaring voices that trip the scales with insecurity

In a world that accepts what it hears as proper

Until an occasional whisper of a former time

Recalls what once was taken too much for granted

The voice, once again, calls us back

To the beautiful sounds that still reside

On long forgotten or seldom played vinyl

Sometimes resurrected on a web site

Or in a television documentary

To remind us of

What we no longer have, but could

What we now accept reluctantly, and shouldn't

What we need to bring back

If for nothing else,

For the sake of beauty.

For the sake of loveliness.

Emmanuel Jakpa

September 2010 Update

PLANTS

for Ajum Syl

© Emmanuel Jakpa

Have I conspired with the plants

to soften your hearts,

away from the hostility around?

gun powder and the typhoon.

I wore a white shirt,

with a pair of white trainers.

And the tall trees behind me

are all fresh with leaves,

as if it’s a picture for something else.

The meaning of green, and all

it implies, the beauty of growth,

the richness of light,

this consciousness, we are born into,

part of our flesh, and bones,

this circle of nutrients,

born into all of this, witnesses

to this terrible innocence,

like the elbow of Gaul in the clay.

William Kamen

September 2010 Update

LOST LOVE
© William Kamen

A virtuous love she once had,
Lost, like footprints in a changing tide,
on an avenue of conflicting emotions,
reflecting the vulnerability of her heart.

Time slowed, like broken hands on a clock,
and could not ease her pain, and pacify her mind and heart.
Feelings of hurt and betrayal confronted
her tamed nature of reality.

When she is lonely and full of despair,
and in the depths of hopelessness, she looks to her soul,
and dreams of the love her heart once knew,
and seeks solace in a lost love song.


THE STORM
© William Kamen

On a warm Spring morning,
Children are laughing and playing,
Fathers are spraying their young lawns,
And Mothers are planting their gardens.

By afternoon the sky quickly blackens,
Day becomes night, darkness induces fear
Among the residents,

The unruly wind blows the rain,
And the rain adheres to the leaves with tears.
The wind intensifies.
Birds struggle to fly.
Children are crying.

Suddenly a snake like cloud appears over the picturesque hills,
Fear turns to panic.
Residents attempt to find safety from the approaching storm.

A young mother and child,
Struck down by the wind,
Struggles to stand.
A father and son alone in a church,
Crawl under a communion table,
Praying for protection

In a moment, which seems like a lifetime,
The storm is over.

Within the shattered homes and scattered rubble,
A dying woman is found with her baby cuddled beneath her crying.
A father and son are found beneath the communion table in a church,
The entire church is gone except for the father and son and that table.


August 2010 Update

TIME AND LOVE
© William Kamen

Waiting, longing for love, slowed time.
Quietly sitting dormant like a volcano,
the slow pace of time tormented my soul.
I failed to see the signs appearing before my eyes.

The passage of time, darkened my sorrow,
like the night sky bringing sadness to a few.
Day after day my soul bides time.
For all things to pass.

Time did not rest, finding love was quickly fading.
The cycle of time awakened my soul,
to a clear knowledge of a time past.
Bonding time and love eternally.


July 2010 Issue

BLACK TIDE
© William Kamen

The seabirds circle above the darkened water,
beholding the water's repelling betrayal.
The flightless penguins without sweaters
struggle for survival,

Whereas man thrives and preens,
seabirds and penguins can no longer.

The tainted seaweed cries,
lies hidden under the sunlight
binding without salvation.

Paradise lost in the circle of life
to satisfy human self for wealth.


THE LAST VOYAGER
© William Kamen

The summer oasis held their cravings,
escaping from the clamor and bustle
of the heartless reality.

The nurturing summers
unlocked his emotional isolation.

Drifting away, they would
Come back on a
Crest of a new day.

Sailing on a vessel of embodiment,
Cherishing the freedom from within,
Realizing no man can be an island.

The raging sea,
The untamed waves
Crushing her heart.

Beneath a moonlit sky,
Adrift in pleasure,
Bonding their love together.

Many summers came and went,
her love never swayed
in celebration of their summers together.

The ruby canvas,
aged and tired,
yet her appearance
still pleasing to the eye.

Beyond the twilight,
They cast off to a distant star.
Their final voyage.


HIDDEN LOVE
© William Kamen

Standing in silence,
where land meets the sea,
I have come to talk to you again,
with unspoken words of love,
frozen in time,
not stripped away by the passage of time.

Like a beach-pea blossoming
and binding the sand,
a brief vision of all that is
beautiful is but a memory.

Time and affection abandoned me,
concealment surrounded my being,
words overshadowed with silence,
my soul conditioned to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Where faint hope could never have soared,
someday you will die in my memory.


June 2010 Update

SENSES OF LOVE
© William Kamen

As I lay here with you,
in the still of the night,
watching you sleep,
I feel love that I cannot express.

As I listen to you breathe,
like a gentle sound from a wind instrument,
I start to reminiscence.

I render a gentle caress which
brings a wondrous bliss to my soul,
As I can feel my heart pulsating faster and faster

I render a gentle kiss and taste the nectar from your lips,
like a hummingbird tasting nectar from a flower.

As your sweet fragrance fills the air and becomes one,
Our love becomes one.

Love remains an eternal mystery,
which I can sense but not explain.


May 2010 Update

DARKNESS
© William Kamen

I am with her waiting for darkness to come
The time will come when her eyes will see
As darkness will be bearable when the angels descend

As the light on her face fades to dark
she whispers low into the darkening night
“you have given me the best in you everyday
now you give me piece of mind and comfort to my soul”—

As total darkness descends on her ,I look into her eyes and I
see—Forever Young


LIFE AND DEATH
© William Kamen

My life is a perpetual struggle between body and soul
My body wants to enjoy the world
My soul wants to better the world

My Life is full of fear and pain
In which soul and body must endure
Faith will cure then love will endure
Love will conquer wholly

Love empowers life until death
My soul beacons to the heavens above
While my mortal body turns to dust

Dennis Aaron Wellington

June 2010 Update

LOVE AND HATE
© Dennis Aaron Wellington

She’s a friend.
She’s understanding.
She’s willing to learn from me and I’m also open enough to try to learn from her.
We try to do everyday what takes a lifetime to achieve.
Learn one another.
We do all the time what people search for all their lives.
Love one another.
That doesn’t mean I have to like you though.