“Summer Visions” Post #1: “New Spring” by Logan Sayer

LOGAN SAYER

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“Mystery of Love, History of Hope 2.0” Post #22: “Come Fly”

DIANE M. LABODA

Come Fly

Come fly with me, says the wind.
Come. Believe in the journey, the curious
excitement of being curious,
the miracle of wings.

Come with me below the surface
where you’ll discover more than
you bargained for, bursting beyond
into starbursts of insight.

Come, look into future connections,
allowing your eyes to stay open in bright
light and shadowy darkness
to see the unseen.

Come. Your visions of sugarplums
are short-lived. Today you see with
your aged eyes—faded edges,
mixed colors, capturing between brushstrokes

the genius of surprise. Look.
Laugh in astonishment, and bow your head in awe.
Monet had it right when he refused
to have his eyes fixed. “Come, see with me,” he said.

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Book Launch Party: Amy Higgins: “Between Seasons”

“Mystery of Love, History of Hope 2.0” Post #21: “Haiku(s): Love. Eternal and Universal”

SARAH SMITH

Haiku(s): Love. Eternal and Universal

A universal
language, understood by each
and every creature

experiencing
the mystery of love on
this very earth. To

be alive is to
love: another, a passion,
beauty crafted in

the details of this
life, in the pieces of home.
A universal

feeling witnessed by
the souls present today and
those who’ve come to pass.

Love remains a gift,
an eternal legacy,
presented to all.

 

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“Mystery of Love, History of Hope 2.0” Post #20: Three Poems

SARAH SMITH

Quality

Side by side, the sacred breath of hearts beating— 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘱— such a human sound.

Bringing both comfort and solace, for it confirms that you are alive and we are in love.

Side by side, fingers intertwine, seamless: delicate cotton string carefully threaded through a needle, fine.

Confirming what I’ve known to be true from the moment I met you. Love eternal, this is quality.

—

A Better Way

A perceived threat by some, perpetual hope for most. True equity brings opportunity.

It does not take away from the majority: it provides, so equality can be achieved

by all.

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Fibonacci(s): An Infinite Love, A Welcome Complexity

Angst
and
worry
flee us both.
Peace of our own, made.
In the other we seek and find

the
home
yearned for
this entire
time. True love, cherished,
continuing to grow, always

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“Mystery of Love, History of Hope 2.0” Post #19: “Lexicon of Love”

J. M. EVENS

Lexicon of Love

It happened, I know
It did. It slipped
Into the lexicon of our affection,
But when?

Did it know the exhalation
Of reprieve—your clarion hello—
Heralding one more victorious
Instance of recognition? Or did it
Arrive when words had fallen
Off the bone, eyes holding all—
All love, all terror.

How can I not know for certain
The very moment I first kissed you?

Our love’s asymmetry defied
Category—I, your daughter;
You my…grandmother?
Asymmetry, but not imbalance—

You, my first chosen family—You
My first ’til death do us part—death
Closer than we imagined—not
unthinkable, just un-thought of.

And what happens then?
When one is left behind
with half a life to go?

Your slight frame—weighted
By your hospital gown, vulnerable
And still—you received this presumption,
this intrusion with passive grace.

Pure, untutored impulse, my lips
Met your forehead. It was a kiss
A mother gives—I know this
Because it is the kiss I give
My daughter after sweet-dream-spray
And when she sits in her chair at breakfast,
And at lunch, and dinner, and when I file her nails,
And when she sits on my lap and we listen
To robin songs or Suzuki strings or symphonies…

My dear friend,
The place you carved
In me is not empty.

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“Mystery of Love, History of Hope 2.0” Post #18: “Adam”

J. M. EVENS

Adam

_____Every year, approximately 18,000 new species are discovered
__________—Michelle Peters, Natural Habitat Adventures

Fuhluh…fuhluh
fuhluh…fuhlaaaaeeee
raaaahbin
wurrrmmm…

“It’s good” That’s what He said,
When Adam began in Eden
Still naked and unconcerned
Still un-encased by shame—fully
Wondrously attentive to the
Impossible variety and abundance
Of standers, runners, jumpers—on twos and fours
Flappers, up-visitors sweeping overhead
In the vast unreachable blue.

Adam could’ve gone about his day
(there were days, they say)
Savoring nectars (spoiler—not apples)
Lounging, warm in the sun, napping—
Surely, there was napping in Paradise…
He might have been content to simply
Coexist with the many beings, also milling about—
The Others, shall we say, the Not-Himselfs,

But Adam, made of clay and breath,
Had found his calling: Science,
with a concentration in Biology
For what else is it, to awake
To God’s inexhaustible
Variations on the Theme of “And”

To take a closer look,
To notice the details
distinguishing butterfly
from moth, and to give
each a name of its own

…Iguana…Tardigrade…Wandering Tattler…
Celestial Monarch…Resplendant Quetzal…

“And it was good.”

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“Mystery of Love, History of Hope 2.0” Post #17: “To My Daughter, Viv” & “Viv and Luci”

LENA PITCHFORD

To My Daughter, Viv

You are not from this land. That was the one thing I was sure of.

You tried to steal from me—my city—when you first arrived to my world. I almost killed you,

yet you stuck around.

A moth to the flame, a lamb to the slaughter: you had no idea what you got yourself into.

I took you on as my student and taught you about weapons, culture, and the state of our world.

You thought you were small, yet the sun god MalMua melted in your rays.

I took on the father role you spoke so highly of.

I never had a child.

Not until you.

There are two things I am sure of:

You are not from this land,

and you do not have to be.

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Viv and Luci

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