Anya Mayer
“Summer Daze”
Ink on paper
Repsonse

This is for
By Kamika Cooper
Inspiration piece

this is for
attentive eyes and rich brown skin
reminding me of afrika and heart home
i must have known you before cause your
soft hands feel so familiar, so peculiar is
this feeling, sista-girl and i don’t even know you

but still, this is for
trying to get past my new infatuation suddenly
humbled by the sound of your mellow voice
appreciative when that sexy smile crosses your face
after you intellectually tease me – how do you do that?
cause you don’t even know me, not even sure if you feel me
and you may be thinking

this is for
the business and hair wholeness
for the sake of pampering your soul,
but it’s so much more, sista-girl
it’s like the ancestors brought you to my door
and whispered in my ear that these thoughts
wouldn’t be fleeting anytime soon, i ask my moon
if i am to trust her instincts, as i have misunderstood
her in the past, i want what she is saying to be true

that this is for you
and the calm you bring over me
for your hair in and out of my fingers and
the beautiful music that lingers throughout my ears
for the potential of our locs intertwined on sands,
in the winds, drenched in water, on pillows and hands
the potential of passionate meetings of the minds
and the promise of ever-changing desires

this is for the unknown inside of us
and the possibility of air expansion and spontaneous combustion

this is for attentive eyes which
i fantasize about being on me, igniting a fire which cannot be extinguished

this is for you, sista-girl, and i don’t even know you

________________________________
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Anya Mayer
“Rainbow Moon Fish”
watercolor with India ink on handmade Tibetan paper
Inspiration piece

Out of Our Element
By Kamika Cooper
Response

told us to stay home
but we did not
taking rockets to space
every chance we’ve got

planting flags on the moon
and leaving trash behind
all that space junk’s floating
out beyond our skies

out of our element
and we’re running out of time
something in this water’s
got us out of our minds

digging into the oceans
still polluting our seas
we’ve got an oil addiction
and it never recedes

told us to stay home
but we said no
got those satellites swimming
to make that internet go

sharks are biting to warn us
that earth is getting too hot
we’re spinning out of our element
whether we believe it or not

________________________________
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Jone MacCulloch
Response

Notes in a Locker
By Margaret Simon
Inspiration piece

I forgot

…..who she wanted to become.

…..A note dropped into a locker

…..scribbled in cursive,

…..curly letters to sign her name.

I forgot

…..who she was.

…..When notes became soggy

…..tissue floating in the river

…..buried beneath the flood,

…..we climbed out on Easter morning.

I forgot

…..who she wanted to be.

…..Her blonde Dorothy Hamill haircut

…..flirted with the boys

…..just wanting to be loved.

I become

…..who she is,

…..daily walking from

…..cocoon of sleep

…..into full moon rising,

…..being fine

…..being she
…..being me.

________________________________
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Jonathan Ottke
“We”
Pen, ink, paper
Response

Ancestral Mantra
By Kamika Cooper
Inspiration piece

we hope you live
we hope you thrive
we hope you find the strength
to fight and speak your mind
we hope you soar
no matter clear or cloudy skies
and that the dreams you dream
awaken you with pride

may you be patient
may you be kind
may you give more than
what you take from the divine
everything given
will be returned to you in time
but hold on tight
it’s going to be a bumpy ride

we wish you laughter
we wish you grace
we wish you safety as you
travel on your way
don’t you ever
regret the path you take
and if you fall just
get back up and try again

may you always feel our love despite your pain

________________________________
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Jonathan Ottke
“Cherry Petals on Water”
Photography
Inspiration piece

Abandoned
By Kamika Cooper
Response

you heard what they said about me
and you believed every word
shook me right off your tree
like the fruit I grew was just for the birds

it rained hard for days and days
after that random evening storm
we each went our separate ways
so i had no choice but to fall and float on

i don’t know what they said about me
but i was left alone on the forest floor
a creek formed and set me free
i will never be what i was before

________________________________
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Alyscia Cunningham
Response

Lost Threads
By Gena Stutzman
Inspiration piece

lost threads from your old coat
chosen and carried through the air
by that hope-filled sparrow
contain memories of you
particles of you-

smiles, loving intentions,
tenderness, tears
epiphanies,
wild rhythms and wild dancing
each thread like stardust.

imagine a tree filled with memories of hundreds of seasons
waiting,
longing,
for the softness of feathers
the rejoicing of birdsongs.

traces of you becoming the answer to the prayers of a tree and a bird.

Brian MacDonald
Inspiration Piece

Spark
by Alyscia Cunningham
Response

At first you grasped me tenderly,
Caressed my core vivaciously,
Piece-by-piece, created me,
To light our cosmic galaxy.

Formed my inner soul perfectly,
And topped my crown so carefully,
Then flipped the switch in hope to see,
A flick of light inside of me.

My inward being wanted to be,
Your hopeful opportunity.

But your smile conflicted far from glee.
As my glow dimmed like debris.

Unfilled expected goals,
Felt as if you’ve lost control,
A space once warm has now turned cold,
Frustrations trigger lonesome holds.

You turned your back from our console,
And slipped into a sunken hole.
Forgotten pathways to uphold,
Trials and tribulations stroll.

Return to feed your dreams abstain,
Let time not be your goals refrain.
Please pick me up and try again,
And Spark the coil that joined our chain.

Jonathan Ottke

Response

The Warm Nights

alteration

Sun sets, the sexed flowers open.
Far off, teenagers screech
the songs of dead moths.
The warm nights have altered them.
They are hysterical with their sense
of freedom in the dark,
piercing it with their sharp voices.

equation

Somehow in the night
the owl got confused with the
half-filled glass.
In my mind, the hoots were an echo
of what was missing.
You continued to sleep
while a spiky dog barked
to silence the owl.

question at dusk

This is your heart.
This is a young deer I have befriended
who comes in the dusk to eat roses.
Do they see colour, I wonder?
Or is it the scent of something tender?

—Barbara Black

Note: All of the art, writing, and music on this site belongs to the person who created it. Copying or republishing anything you see here without express and written permission from the author or artist is strictly prohibited.

Bookmarks
By Kathleen Finn Jordan
Inspiration piece

Bookmark the moment
Bookmark the page
Bookmark the budget
Bookmark the rage
Bookmark the war, the hunger, the pain
Bookmark the earthquake, tsunami, flood rain
Bookmark the efforts against greed and bad will
Bookmark the homeless, the graft, and the kill
Bookmark the progress, the regress, the fight
Bookmark the prayer card, the message, what’s right
Life’s full of bookmarks, as community builds
The new house on the corner, the playground, the thrills
The tutor that gives time, the coach that’s a cop
The reverend that counsels, the old man in the shop
Community of givers creates a network of friends
Significant moments, our memory’s bookends.

——————————————

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A Painting created by Paula Lifschey

Inspiration Piece

The Appange
Written By RJ Walker

(Response Piece)

In this corner we have the mean green machine himself.
Weighing in at 100 grams,
The merciless
Apple, the Green Grapple Snapple!!!!
 
And In this corner, we have the Umm Orange
Weighing in at a staggering 200 grams,
The fearsome
Orange, the… Orange Orange… Orange!!

And that is how my father always starts the story of my conception.

An act that most in the Fruit community consider an abomination.
But despite disapproval
From the fruits of their loins came me

The Appange.

Peel of an Orange
Seeds of an Apple
Citrus of an Orange
Texture of an Apple
Smell of an Orange
Stem of an Apple

But the soul… of neither.
You don’t know what it was like to grow up
Living as the wrong kind of fruit.

We crossbreeds are a mystery
An unknown anomaly
A collection of keys in a coven of combination locks
Where do we fit in?

Kiwinut hung himself  from the fingernail of a palmtree
He pinned a note on himself reading
“Let me rot and fall, then watch me grow.”

My father phrases his relationship with my mom that way
Because every moment was a fight
If I am to be considered the next big abomination,
The newest lecture at Sunday service
Then please pardon this apocalypse of diversity
And I’ll forgive you when you get left behind.

Written and Spoken by RJ Walker

The Appange

As I am a spoken word artist, I have provided a recorded performance of the piece. Click the title above to hear the audio version of the response piece.

Note: All of the art, writing, and music on this site belongs to the person who created it. Copying or republishing anything you see here without express and written permission from the author or artist is strictly prohibited.