In vain the skies unroll

their nights over strange beds

to cloak my weightless flights

to unknown and starlit realms.

For my eyes remain sentinels,

searching, but finding only

the leaden gaze of wood

and freighted shadows.

Only my own bed, with its familiar

hill-and-gully terrain, curator

of all my noctural flights

and their fluid limits

slips me through

Emily's riddle

when I'm not looking.

- Hyacinth Hall


----------------

Sandbox

I'm not on the jungle gym,

beating the others to the top.

I'm not on the swing, swinging

without actually getting

anywhere.

I'm not on the crazy seesaw,

going crazy - ha ha!

I'm not on the slide - no,

I'm not going down

yet.

I'm in the sandbox, watching

you all, emptying my bucket, then

filling it up

again.

- Joel Ashbourne
---------------------

Success

Is this what success entails?

Must I destroy my brother's heart,

steal my sister's soul,

cut the Gordian knot of my family,

shame my forefathers' name,

lose myself to its calling,

hate, lie, steal, sell out my friends,

sleep with mine enemies,

become a fugitive to conscience,

become, like a leaf in the wind,

a successful zombie,

emotionless, empty?

And, after that,

is there still the

dream, the ultimate desire

to succeed?

- André Atkinson