Cithara Patra

I ONLY WENT TO THE STORE

we ran out of eggs
and the store was a few blocks away
it was 5 AM when I stepped outside
a few cars zoomed by as i made my way
i turned the corner and they grabbed me
no words but kicks and punches
breathing in my ear
hands grabbing and shoving me to the ground
does anyone see this?
they’re not coming to my rescue

tears won’t run as they drag me
screams won’t leave my mouth as they yank me
don’t resist, don’t talk back
if i value my life, I won’t fight for it
no explanations will work as they drag me
far from my sidewalk, away from the store
...i was going there.

this is the world I live in now
a world without empathy
no one cares about these bruises
i’ll disappear and no one will know
the bruises on body may heal
maybe i’ll find a way back
and i’ll return without trust
in my fellow man
or love for my country

i lost my freedom at 5 AM
walking to the store
i know i’m not the only one
we suffer together for being
in the wrong place
we’re still in the wrong place
will we make it back?

it’s a big price to pay
and all I wanted
were eggs.


Cithara's YouTube reading of "i only went to the store"


Cithara confesses: "The general inspiration is the news of people being taken away off the streets. Many of them are taken without questions. I just wanted to get into the thoughts of someone in that situation."

CITHARA PATRA currently lives in North Carolina with their family. They've written for a few literary journals including CafeLit, Poetries in English, The Quasar Review, Instant Noodles, and 50 Word Stories. In their spare time, they travel and check out brand new places to eat.

A.C. Perri

BEDDING ENEMIES

You once led an army, bled them,
Used them till they no longer served
Your purpose.

You once led a nation, spirited,
Willing to do almost everything
Until that too came undone.

You once promised us a future,
One secured with wealth and
All things golden, we got pewter instead.

You once swore to allegiance,
Watch you cross your heart
Did you cross your fingers behind our backs?

You once walked our paths,
Said you were one of us
Were they all just lies?

You once led an army, bled them
Dry, skinned their flesh for your
Own bed, how do you sleep at night?!


Gerald So's YouTube reading of "Bedding Enemies"


A.C. confesses: "This poem was inspired by dire images flashing across screens, in particular, the so-called leaders who promise so much, yet deliver so little; leaving most of us wondering what the $#@!."

A.C. PERRI has been writing creative works for over three decades; her works have been published in local and international journals including Bootleg Magazine, Gems Zine, Brilliant Flash, and several Moonstone Press titles.

Fatimah Akanbi

WHIPS

Their backs are laden with loads
They are held at stranglehold
And dragged by hefty ropes
Away from their homes

Then the dictators
Watch from lofty windows
As their sweat sizzles in the sun
And their skins succumb
To the lash of callous whips


Fatimah's YouTube reading of "Whips"


Fatimah confesses: "The inspiration for this poem came from a course I recently took on slavery and colonial history in school."

FATIMAH AKANBI writes fiction and poetry. She has been writing since she was five, and is currently pursuing a degree in Information Technology at the University of Ilorin. Her works have appeared or are forthcoming on Sudden Flash, Star*Line, and Academy of the Heart and Mind. She is @legendary.scribe on Instagram.

Robert Cooperman

HARVARD'S UNOFFICIAL COPY OF MAGNA CARTA IS ACTUALLY AN ORIGINAL

Eighty years ago Harvard Law School
purchased it at auction for $27.50
and let what they thought was a copy

barely worth the parchment it was scrivened on
languish in a vault, the story begins.
But rather than reading how the artifact

was recently verified as one of the original
seven “Magna Cartas,” what I’m curious about
is how much it would go for today, my head

ringing like Wile E. Coyote hit by an anvil,
to think the last Original sold at auction
for twenty-one million, and how, fittingly,

all those zeroes could help Harvard battle
the current regime: trying to strip us
of Habeas Corpus: the right not to be thrown

into prison (or exile) on the whim of a man
who can snap his fingers or bark at an underling,
and have anyone he pleases, or who’s displeased him,

tossed into prison in a country that will gladly torture
or just kill the poor bastard. As for King John
signing that document, a traitor to his brother-rulers.


Gerald So's YouTube reading of "Harvard's Unofficial Copy..."


Cooperman confesses: "There's a Looney Tunes cartoon I saw as a kid: about a mountain lion and another animal (can't remember what it is, but a prey animal) chasing each other through the Grand Canyon, the former wild to eat the latter, who's wild to escape. Anyway, they manage to destroy the Canyon in about a hilarious minute. the park ranger upbraids them both with: what took Nature millions of years to create, you both destroyed in a minute, to their heads hanging in shame. Sound familiar about someone who's currently occupying the White House and what he's done to the country? Except the shame part."

ROBERT COOPERMAN's latest collection is The Death and Rebirth of Ophelia, a retelling of Hamlet, with a slightly happier ending, at least for Ophelia. Steerage is the highly fictionalized story of his grandfather's misadventures on the Lower East Side of New York in the early 20th Century. An Oar for Odysseus is the final collection in Cooperman's lifelong love affair with Odysseus and The Odyssey.