GUEST POST // Brokenness by Madhuri Katti

Brokenness

Sometimes I wonder,
Is it the brokenness
which holds the world together?
a crack that still holds parts?

Is it the brokenness that
unveils the Whole?
The imagined whole –
That never will be or
Maybe never was…

Even if the cracks give away –
Can broken pieces be
whole parts in themselves?
Or maybe broken parts
Will create a kaleidoscope

Sometimes I wonder
Is it the brokenness
that holds the world together?

What purpose does the Whole serve?
The Whole which excludes,
smugly nestled in itself
Till a crack breaks the egoistic shell
The Whole will never be a whole

Sometimes I wonder,
Is it the brokenness that
holds the world together?

Borders divide land and humans
But yet, when challenged
The humanity that rises,
Is often more than the sum
Of the broken souls

Sometimes I wonder,
Is it the brokenness that
that holds the world together?

by MADHURI KATTI
© All rights reserved 2018

GUEST POST // Within by Niharika Jaiswal

I see people scowling and screaming
Raging and waging war on others,
Angry at each other or something else
But most of all angry at themselves.
They need to win a fight, any fight.
With whom, for what, it doesn’t matter,
It’s not about wrong or right,
It’s about the fight,
A way to take the anger out,
The anger that’s burning them inside,
The anger at nothing and everything.
I have been there myself at times,
And after you win the fight,
For a moment it feels like you can breathe again
It’s a good moment, you feel light
But in a little while, the anger returns
Deeper and spreading like a fire.
And the thing about fire,
You can’t throw it out the window
And on to the streets and get rid of it,
That only increases its reach.
To extinguish a fire one must remove
One of the three things that create it,
Heat, fuel, and air. The way I see it,
Pain is the match that creates the heat,
Our insecurities are fuel it feeds on
And our ego is the air that fans it.
I see people burning themselves,
And those they love, those around them,
Burning their houses and their cities,
While fighting fire with fire
And looking at the skies for a rain
Never realizing that the fire that starts within
Can only be extinguished from within.

by NIHARIKA JAISWAL
© All rights reserved 2017

a Pissed off Muse

Do you think
that your Muse is dead?
Balderdash!
She is tired.
She is just flat on her ass.
Yes! Dash it all, yes!

She couldn’t bear
your endless snivel,
hysterics,
binge drinking…
You, pathetic Creator!
She dumped you, dumbass!

Two talented lines
aren’t worth two wasted years… yes.
Muses can fuck up.

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2015

GUEST POST // My Forest by Purple Creature

Walking in my forest, huge trees are blocking the light,
I am walking, and now cannot see.
I hear creatures stirring on the forest floor,
Crawling over my feet, hissing in my ear, they are all around me,
I fucking fear…

My heart is racing, my fear is growing,
I want to run, so fast, I can’t think straight,
I want to leave this God forsaken place, as fast as I can.
I am alone, I am bruised and battered, I cannot win this fight.
I have done this to myself, for I have walked into the forest willingly,
Knowing what the forest beholds…

Ego… self-righteousness, false confidence,
call it what the Fuck you want,
I am here now, me, in the darkness, in the forest…
Dealing with it… badly.
More creatures, of all shapes and sizes are coming out.
Noises are getting louder, hisses, are getting louder…
The forest is alive I realize, a breathing, living being of blackness,
Tears are its food, Fear is its oxygen.

Then, in the distance, I see a faint light, fluttering in the forest.
It’s waiting for me, calling for me, like a beacon in the night…
Has it always been here… Have I just been blinded by my despair,
That I haven’t seen what has been in front of me, all this time…
I concentrate on the light, and follow it through the forest,
ignoring all else…
It’s just me and the light…
Before I know it, I am out of the forest and into the light,
with cascading waterfalls,
And beautiful flowers and colors everywhere…

The light, I realized, is the most beautiful, colorful, exotic,
butterfly I have ever seen,
The butterfly gazed at me one last time, smiled, winked at me,
and flew away, into the sky.

A single tear formed in my eye, and over flowed down my cheek.
Thank you, sweet butterfly,
For waiting for me,
For staying with me,
For guiding me out of my despair… out of my forest.

by PURPLE CREATURE
© All rights reserved 2015