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Andy Denson Mar 16
our thoughts are cradled like an unexperienced parent.
our willingness to be in each others work.
to watch is to live. to live is to watch.
films speak more on how we see our worth to
others...
maybe it's the other way around.

the campus is giving 90s teen drama.
motion pictures is why we are
here.

i am the star.
no, is she. or is he. wait, it's
all of us...

it's the thought counts. it's the frames that
count. it's the thoughts that dictate the rate.

the obligation expands as some of the angels cry over
us. protecting the rest.

some scream like the students in 'cleaners'.

does the comedy make us think? or cry instead in the
seats of  
cine lawan --

Me, [insert your name here], a filmmaker. we all win
an award or two. some of us do.
we still keep creating.

my thoughts hold me in a loose trance. dancing with
me in the heat -- walking
with me the rain.

the white lady - i mean ghost- must have stopped recording since
we can here our voices again.


is the world even gonna end? says a fragile student
two rows in front of me. their back facing her
front.

it's giving blue and hidden in the dark. illuminated
by the works of art.
cinema. it's films. movies.

that a big reason i'm alive.
it's a reason to continue
even if there is not a quick
fix to life.
films give us life. or is it
the other way
around?

as the filmmakers desends into madness -
i mean their seats,
they soak the experimental footage,
red dirt sprinkled everywhere in
a ditch--
one weeps and the other takes a shot
for a share later.


everything happens because we filmed it.
thought it. cast it. documented. recorded.
edited.
distributed.

a feedback loop.

we think we know how the plot will unfold.

i see the colors from the projections even
as i look ahead. Still. Here.
I am still here as
my thoughts-
I’m excited to share that “I am still right here for hello poetry” has taken on a new dimension. I created a short film inspired by the poem, and it had its premiere at the 2023 Mindanao Film Festival. I invite you to experience the journey from words to visuals—watch the film here: https://youtu.be/EZK15ska71c?si=UacqFPtbneDJfYeO.

Thank you for being a part of this creative adventure.
else Sep 2024
These white lights shine too bright for my

poor dead eyes, and the man’s ramblings, he

held my eardrums hostage. Then came a sudden squall, she

engulfed me in one heck of a waterfall.


Faint moonlight peeked at the end of a musty, darkly lit stairwell we

saw each other and laughed at our equally drenched clothes, our

wet hair. As sewer rats, we scurried to rescue potted plants, we

whipped *****, thuds on white walls, with sticks and knives and all. We

rolled on the floor and nearly got concussions, sprained ankles. I

remembered how to fall again, to do it all in one fell swoop.


I know my body was mine, but now it is also yours, so we

danced, barefoot, twirled in our arms, caught each other, ate our

mother’s mooncakes while the storm rages on somewhere, outside. We

smiled, mouths full with black sesame, white lotus, egg yolks, our

laughter echoing under this gentle white light, upon this warm wood.

This conversation spins nothing, but this means everything to me.


We walk under the damp, stale, starless sky, remnants of the squall. You

suddenly proclaimed that all stars have gathered for me,

and it is my stage, my game now, so I

went home smiling despite it all. You

don’t know that this mid-autumn night was all I ever dreamed of.
Happy mooncake day :D
Kani Aug 2024
Beyond time born the King
Beyond the cycle of birth and death
As though born
As though gone
Living a beautiful life
Bred for beings
Out of love
Out of compassion
A greater sacrifice
Beyond comprehension

Waiting for the humanity
To wake up to the words
Ever living in the time
Passing moments
Reminding of the passage
Yes wake up to the words
Before the ebbing of time

The greatest way to celebrate the King
Is to follow His song
Happy Janmashtami
PRIYANKA BHAGAT Aug 2024
In the quiet thread of Rakhi's grace,  
Lies a bond no time can erase.  
A promise wrapped in silk so pure,  
Of love that forever will endure.

Beyond the playful jests and cheers,  
There’s a truth that whispers through the years.  
Life teaches, in its gentle way,  
That bonds of heart can never fray.

A sister’s strength, a brother’s shield,  
In life’s great battle, neither yield.  
For in this bond, we truly find,  
The lessons that reshape the mind.

When storms of life come raging through,  
It’s love that guides, it’s love that’s true.  
And like the Rakhi, strong yet thin,  
It’s the simple things that let us win.

So cherish every thread you weave,  
In bonds of love, choose to believe.  
For Raksha Bandhan’s silent art,  
Is life's lesson: protect the heart.
Written on occasion of Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi .. for those who don't know .. Raksha Bandhan is a traditional Indian festival where sisters tie a decorated thread called a "Rakhi" around their brothers' wrists, symbolizing protection and love. In return, brothers promise to protect and cherish their sisters. It’s a day that blends playful sibling rivalry with deep familial bonds. While it started as a brother-sister tradition, it's evolved to include anyone you care for, celebrating the idea of safeguarding each other. Essentially, it’s a day where love and obligation intersect with a dash of cultural flair.
Nyx Dec 2023
Deep within the pit
Front and centre to the stage
Music blasting around you
Your mind starts to engage

Time slows around you
Forgetting your in a crowd
You feel your heart pumping in your chest
The surroundings no longer loud

Feeling like your soul is being lifted
higher up and up into the sky
The colours flooding your atmosphere
You feel as if you can fly

Sweat beading in your hands
Temperature on your skin is rising
hands wrapped around your waist
Spirits are energizing

You tune into the music there
Surrounding you with its soul
I never realized it before
How the rhythm can make you feel so whole

The exhilarating feeling
the rush that it entails
Hooked on this version of me
That is free to go off the rails

Run Free, Be Free
Everything in my soul is Free.
The taste of being this new untamed version,
The Freedom of being truly me

Euphoric
Farah Taskin Apr 2023
I was eagerly
waiting for Eid
I felt
happy
looking at
the crescent
moon
Felicity! Felicity!
And Felicity!
Majestic Eid
is the magical
festival
Beautiful morning!
Beautiful noon!
Beautiful evening!
And Beautiful night!
The cosmos has been flooded
with festive light!
Shevek Appleyard Nov 2022
sensations under a primary sun spread through generations
wax drips like sweat on to sweat dripping like rain that clings to our canvas shield
the daybreak smiles as it dries the dewed tarps
At fuzzy minds
That refuse to yield
immersed in enchantment
And Scuzzy with field
ears catching natter spewed as clatter builds
the happy daze that sweeps reality away,
anxieties at bay
primary sun rises above another day
to be blurred into every colour created and yet to exist
sigh to witness the mornings mist
hung to frame this picture of bliss
I try to resist
I grasp to the sounds and movements of the night
Knowing sleep will separate me
Till they are pickled pages of a story I'll half tell
amongst the days of this week that seep together
We seek the fantasy of this forever
Where we are home in the lyrics that swirl through the air
And our feet know the patterns of the beat
Our emotions howl as my feelings digest
a jumble of potions and poisons
and unfinished sentences
I need to rest
but now it is the present
reality is tearing at the seams
dance myself to bed
as the day begins

Little bug whispers
sweet dreams in my ears
As we crawl towards oblivion
moonshine and make believe
Nonsense echoes around my skull  pyjama parties
Suddenly we're in our twenties
Substances and sandwiches
We slumber in our
Gigantic wigwams
Battered old vans
More human that I was before or am I even human anymore?

I sit alone, in a circle
on the soft green carpet of the world
i feel safe
my eyes so dry i shield them
sun fast fading in the sky
my nose crusted rusted shut from the inside
i cry
the wet salt fills my barren pupils
sadness an oasis for my sight to swim through
my breath raspy and raw
throat sharded with sniffs full of backdrip
lungs swollen from heavy tokes on spliff
its tugging me back to reality
i feel defeated and completed
still i want more
and endless sesh of happiness
a party of all of those i adore
my head hits the floor
tomorrow my ceiling will not be the sky
i will not have drugs to help me fly
the hardest part is always goodbye

i hope your shade of smallworld blues is a nice shade
the clouds always seems grey
when summer slips away
the world beneath mirrors it
confidence depleted
hearts defeated
it all feels synthetic
no one sympathetic
my serotonin trapped in
flashbacks of myself, energetic
surrounded by the swish of everyone dazzled up swimming through the same rhythm
primary sun holds us all as children
bodies of movement glittered with sweat
feathered with freedom
shedding regrets
we form circles shapes
and sparkled squiggles
we feel eternal
suppressed only by giggles
we colour skies
we paint our skin
we dance on highs
with solidified grins
im only 9 months away
i cannot give in

Every moment we cherished
Sweet seconds divine where
I am home in her lyrics that melt in the air
My feet bare and bruised with a good time, and the memories I don't want to fade
August runs out so I daydream of May
Throughout the winter we may grow apart
but at the first peep of spring
We know what starts
Studded with those darker sins
We reach out as the festival begins
We forget our troubles and our pain
To cuddle beneath our primary sun again
I wrote in 2019 without realising it would be more than 9 months of no festivals
I'm a foreigner
at the crossroads
what you see from a distance
wave hands
say hello to you.
I've been confused
ever since stand alone in the crowd,
no one sees me
except for a pair of eyes
that is lodged in people's heads
which I never knew before;
and the clouds turn blue but don't hurt flowing right over the head
then the birds rise expel the wind
who had tossed my long hair.
I just stare at them,
hope they don't look at me.
However, the world suddenly stopped. And my world seems to have a limit
to transcend isolation.
I'm a foreigner
at the crossroads,
which has been left behind by old memories,
and when the new comrades have become adept at reading signs,
and therefore we have bonded
like a relationship
that we are not really aware of.
I'm a foreigner
at the crossroads,
greet you as a stranger too,
but now everyone is busy making their own festival,
and don't ask,
I make a festival for whom,
except for the day
when I'm not known anymore.
Indonesia, 30th November 2021
Arif Aditya Abyan Nugroho
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