THE POETRY JUICEBOX

issue 30: bleeding heart

Petrichor

- kristine ann gajitos (bio)

Raindrops fall on my head

And it wets everything in sight.

I stand here drenched,

Enjoying the rain wash over me.

It reminds me of you,

And the times when we were together

Under the eaves, whispering

Sweet nothings, promising

Each other the heaven;

Drunk in the scent of each other

Raindrops fall on my head

And it soaks me thoroughly.

The cold penetrates deeply,

And I shiver violently.

I am alone in the middle of a crowd

With no one caring at all;

And still I remember you:

Every smile and every tear.

The rain reminds me

Of every time you made love to me.

Raindrops fall on my head

And I drown in the rain.

Gasping for air, I collapse

Still holding onto your memory.

Seeing your back retreating from me

As you left me alone in the rain

Of my tears in the end of summer

As the first showers start to fall.

Homecoming

- kristine ann gajitos (bio)

Once again I find myself

In these Plutonian shores,

So strange yet so familiar

Like a dream long forgotten,

Like a nightmare long forgotten

Red moon rises from obsidian peaks,

No light accompanying her wake.

Sable sun flies away,

Innocent stars hide their faces.

Shadows cower within shadows.

And thus she came to me;

Neither friend nor foe,

The one i banished from long before.

She returned to me.

Came home to me.

She embraced me,

Never warm, always cold.

She kissed, me not sweet,

And she took my soul.

Meteor

- kristine ann gajitos (bio)

The moon is full tonight

While I am empty inside.

The darkness holds me

In its cold embrace

And I am comforted.

Stars blaze below me

And above my head.

I drift in space alone

As galaxies die around me;

I am comforted.

Silence envelops me,

And I feel nothing around me.

My heart throbs as it beats

Slower and slower;

I am comforted.

Sound rushes into my ears

And my limbs are on fire.

I am falling out of orbit,

Burning upon entry,

All comfort leaves me.

I hit water and I sink;

Down into the dark depths.

My burns bubble and

My skin sloughs off

I am longing for comfort.

Until darkness comes again

And the cold embraces me anew.

Broken and in pieces, I rest;

I lie under a blanket of muck;

I am comforted.

The depths rise again

And become one with the heavens.

Still, I am encased in basalt

Surrounded by darkness;

I am comforted.

Until the mountain turns to stardust

In the end of this world

I will stay curled up and cocooned

In my stone prison.

Until then, I will be comforted.

3 Months and Counting

- c.s. (bio)

It's official, I cry when I think of him.

I miss the times when I lived with him,

missing so much that my emotions erupt,

tears down my face like an Ocean's opened up.

It's now been three whole months.

I haven't seen him and he's my own son,

I'm forgetting his voice, that's tough,

regretting every choice, but that's love.

And I don't know how I'd explain it,

but I had to go, she wasn't changing,

nothing else was and it drove me crazy.

It was abusive, she was lost in the head,

resentment was awfully kept,

but as often it'd get?

I'd try to be stronger than them,

but one day we broke up, I woke up,

had you in my heart and I left...

because if I didn't?

I'd be behind bars instead..

I wont let anyone imprison my love,

even knowing in my heart I'm dead.

All this shit is just done,

every day I get up and I live for my son,

all that weight on my shoulders is gone,

your thought is always lifting me up.

I miss you.

Love, Dad.

A Chance Encounter

- jeremiah p. tidey (bio)

Tottering down the midnight path, I saw her

Sat among the swaying trees

And laughing at the smaller things.

Grinning at the everythings,

She shuffled to her side and smiled

Invitingly

At me;

Patting the grass at the base of the tree,

She softly spoke her welcome.

Into the ride I climbed with her -

Who could decline a friendship blossom?

We strapped ourselves in for the night of two children,

Carefree and innocent,

Guileless and happy.

Comfort dwelt in the sympathetic exchange

Of hearts so light they were floating away,

Riding the winds and passing waves,

Completely unphased by the absent pace.

Never had lost been so perfect and free,

Gaily adrift on a temporary sea

Of nothing less true than company

And nothing more lasting than memory.

For a time, I was real and so was she.

I felt our hearts’ warmth and ecstatic rhythms

As I held us to worlds under billowing sails.

We knew that all things must come to an end but,

For a short moment, we’d let go of truth;

We each were on holiday

And still had our youth.

The hours passed by with barely a murmur

As safety engulfed us and placated we lay

Gazing at stars while our boat would sway,

Coasting a path of least resistance

When, for the second time, this angel-voice sounded,

“My darling, it appears we have become quite grounded”,

With which

We alighted.

We’d reached our ultimate destination and,

Without so much as a kiss goodbye,

We became parted

For she was real and so was I

And all that is real must someday die.

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Zzz

- anon

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Yyy

- anon

end of issue 30. go back to issues page.

an international poetry & art publication