Issue 2: Poetry

A Collection of Poetry from our Kalliope Members

I Got What I Wanted

By Nava Chetrit

I sit with the paint

For it is never black and white

I pray for redemption

But only surrender is right

I pick up a brush

But hold it like a knife

My tears fall steady

A show of my strife

The paint is on the wall

My fate similarly so

Now all I ask from my lord

Is the ability to let it go

He grants me my wish

But be careful what you wish for

My wish was to lose feelings

Now I've lost love forevermore

The Tune of the Forgotten

By Libby Gottfried

A note begins to form

A whisper from long ago

It reminds me of where we used to go

Back then, it was warm

Now it is cold

And I miss you so

This is getting old

Please don’t go

I beg, and I plead

Humming a tune

I am in need

Please come back soon

The frost paints the glass

While I sit by the door

I watch the shadows pass

On the cold wooden floor

I am alone in this town

Waiting for you

I feel like I’ll drown

Without my little honey boo

The candle starts to flicker

The fire burning low

My heart is beating quicker

Where did my baby go

The clock on the wall

Ticks with gloom

While I listen for your call

In this empty room

The silence is too loud

I’m stuck in this spot

I’m wrapped in this winter shroud

Just a love you forgot

I am waiting for the spring

To melt away the pain

And all the joy it may bring

To hold you close again

Morning tunes

By Emily Kohn

My agitating alarm buzzes, a steady hum.
The light pitter-patter of my footsteps
As I run down the hall,
His hard, aggravating stomps trailing behind me.

The clenching of teeth.
His heavy breath, a low growl.

The door slams shut.
Bam.

As the rain pours down,
I can still hear my heavy breath.
My thoughts are so loud,
as if I’m chanting, maybe even screaming for help.

Then the bus screeches,
a loud honk piercing the air.
The splash of water as I walk ahead.
The chitter and chatter make the bus seem louder.

But the tunes in my heart
make it all seem small.

My mind finally goes silent.
The only sound I hear
is the music in my ears.

Silence is avoidance to my ears

By Emily Kohn

While we no longer speak
or communicate in any form,
the harmonies of us still linger
the laughter, the joy,
the love, the attraction,
even the ache bounded into our sorrow.

Their presence still holds a place within my heart.

Yet the emptiness between our physical forms
not being able to turn toward one another,
not even being able meet each other’s eyes
becomes the quiet escape of strings
once perfectly aligned.

And each time we pass
without so much as a glance,
another string begins to fray.

Our song
our tragic, emotional melody
slowly fades,
until it becomes nothing more than memory,
our music slipping beyond sight.

Lets Meet

By Eliora Wolfe

Let’s meet in the middle

In the place where there is no right or wrong

And neither of us wins.

We’re like magnets, each so certain that we’re correct

Each repelled by the other

So let’s turn, take a break

And meet in the middle.

Even when my point of view

Seems like it’s coming from the other side of the world

And yours does too

And we might as well be on opposite sides of the world

Because of this fight

We might as well try to change

Take a breath

And meet again

In the middle

Hey Kid

By Eli Benzel

Hey kid, it’s 1 am

Lay down your head, it's time to rest

Your travel was arduous

Let your weariness wash away

Hey kid, it's 2 am

All your friends are gone

They left with shades of sorrow

Vibrant enough to color the ocean

Cherish their misery

It makes yours easier to bear

Before you finally fade to nothing

Hey kid, it’s 3 am

Put down your guitar

It's been a long journey…so long

Your fingers bleed, and your voice quakes

Only the moon herself pays heed to your notes

It is your last song,

And you have quite the audience

So sing your heart out

Before the shades of night envelope your soul

Silksong

By Eli Benzel

A name known, feared, and hated by all
Traveling the land to collect his due
In the field of battle, the comfort of a loving home
The Reaper visits all, knows every face, every name
Yet alone he is,

When the silence swallows, ravenous…cavernous

A song emerges in the heart of man

Woven from thousands of heartstrings pulled taut by blades and bullets

Spun with fibers of hope, few, but radiant

A song soft as silk, soothing the mightiest of monsters

Lyrics so extravagant that they could be donned by the moon herself

A silksong, a song of fictions and fantasies

Pulled along the path of the reaper's carriage

Following in his every step

Across lands near and far

Weaving the light of her silksong into the souls left behind

He collects, she projects…bequests.

Bound in a matrimony of life and death

Forever together yet apart they are

To empower and devour the souls of mankind

A reaper and his silksong

A silksong and her reaper

Giver Of Time

By Seth Berkowitz

Giver of days

Giver of time

Giver of youth

Giver of life

The one who sees the end of days

But never how to get there.

One who sees the golden path

But never to its end.

And one who sees the burning past

But never how to mend it.

Taker of days

Taker of time

Taker of youth

Takes away life

The one who walks the empty road

Paying no mind to the journey.

One who walks a winding trail

Who never saw his own demise.

And one who walks while watching back

Cannot escape his pursuers.

Walking for days

Walking through time

Walking from youth

To the end of his life

Until three worn paths align

Where a silent crossroad waits.

The end, the path, and where it began

The one who saw the end of days

Now learns the road to reach it.

The one who walked a golden path

Now sees its length is complete.

And the one who feared the burning past

Can leave it far behind.

Mending of days

Mending of time

Mend up your problems

And leave them behind

Sirens Song

Aaron Chachkes

“Haughty hubris men of humble birth.”

“Seeking to sow your sorrow into the sea of earth.”

Our feathers come to bear witness to bloodshed

Our sisters come to feast on your bowels and heads

Your wives at home shall know not of your scars nor your faith

You shall live to see your haunting of the seas as wraiths

Ah-ha-ah-ah-ha-ah-ah-ha-ah

Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-AAAAA