Sister’s daughter, so fair and lovely,
Bubbling with a crown of jetblack graceful tresses,
A striking resemblance to sister’s own childhood many years back
When she had cried waiting at the doorstep
Because of the late trishaw which meant
An uneasy morning kept outside the classroom.
Then our ego boosting competition, me at 10
and she 12 as we took terms [...]

well i hope you know that
i dont love you anymore
and i hope you know that
i’m so glad i moved out
cause you said you loved me
but i knew it wasn’t true
so now i scream aloud
that i hate you
so don’t hug me
cause i don’t feel the care
don’t watch me grow up
cause i don’t want you there
don’t [...]

ONE DAY MY DAUGHTER TOLD ME,
SHE WAS HOOKED ON CRACK COCAINE,
MY WORST FEAR CAME TRUE,
AS I WONDERED WHO WAS TO BLAME.
LOOKING AT HER SKIN AND BONES,
I KNEW SHE WAS NOT LYING.
SHE SAID, THE COCAINE HAD HER HOOKED
AND THEN SHE STARTED CRYING.
SHE TOLD ME WHAT SHE DID FOR MONEY,
TO BUY THE DRUGS SHE CRAVES.
MY WORST [...]

why should life show so many hardships
when you think you up you alway’s seem to
come down. when you be ahead something
come’s and to you knock behind…………..
i wonder will things get better or will i fail.
i have so much to live for and so much to
loose. my daughter well-being depend’s
on me. no father, single mother not [...]

Big Mama only
Wore muu-muus,
And smoked harsh
Camel cigaretts.
She never cared
For me, becuause
My mother
Was the good daughter,
The one who
Didn’t really
Need her,
Or hurt.
But my Mama
Was the one
Who cared for her
Until she died.
She was the
Good Daughter
Who needed
Her Mama.
I think
The only one
Big Mama loved
Was herself…
Or my Mama,
Who cared for her
Until the day
She died.
This poem was written/submitted by Scarlett Treat.

Forty three.
I have noticed, regardless of intent,
not much seems new
to me.
My daughter, twenty one months,
delights daily, nay hourly
in discovery.
Forty three.
Its a station nowhere. A pre-midlife mellow
wearing halcyon shields of securities illusions.
My setting foundations a little weathered,
I view youthful indiscretions
with just a peak over Conspirators Hill.
I suffer helpless desk attendants
with no power no responsibility no [...]

To many miles apart are we now
can i say i’m sorry anyhow
yesterday we talked about what happened
words were said, that should be tossed away
years ago in a far away day
when you both came over to stay
Jimmy is gone now, but your still here
so we have today, yesterday is gone
tomorrow will bring new memories
that [...]

He said sadly, I have a hole in my heart
I said, I know
He said, It feels like a piece of me is missing
I said, Me too
He said, She’ll never get to know my daughter
See her grow up like she did with yours
I said, She could be watching us still
He said, How do you [...]

Unhappiness is getting me down, reading
of this man in an Austrian town keeping his
own daughter hostage in a dark cellar for
so many years – and though common sense
says, leave them to their own choices, I still
have to ask - how could it have happened?
I cannot understand, people say just ignore, it
happens only once every [...]

It isn’t for love she is with him the ageing and bald headed Stan
But to his money she is surely attracted and money in her eyes makes the man
A blond in her late twenties and quite attractive and he has turned seventy four
But money to her is what matters and he is worth [...]