Poetry

Becoming a Butterfly 
by Trina Paulus

'How does one become a butterfly.'

'You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.'

'You mean die?'

'Yes and no! Life is changed, not taken away. Once you are a butterfly, you can really love the kind of love that makes new life. It's better than all the hugging that caterpillars can do.'

---

Untitled
by Hugh Prather
​
stopping
and counting every sound
stopping
and seeing every stone
stopping
and letting in the wind
stopping  
     and not having to be somebody

You are the Eagle 
by Mia Briggs

You are the eagle
flight high and soaring
with pierce bright eyes
and the lonely cry

You are the eagle
watching for the moment
but broken winged
you cannot fly

You are the eagle
huddled, pain scored
with desperate eyes
you stare me down

You are the eagle
give your life time
for only time
can heal your pain

You are the eagle
flight high and soaring
grounded for a season
but the eagle still.

I want a god
by Francisco Alarcon

I want a god
as my accomplice
who spends nights
in houses
of ill repute
and gets up late
on Saturdays

a god
who whistles
through the streets
and trembles
before the lips 
of his lover

a god
who waits in line
at the entrance 
of movie houses
and likes to drink
café au lait

a god
who spits 
blood from 
tuberculosis and
doesn’t even have
enough for bus fare

a god 
knocked
unconscious
by the billy club
of a policeman
at a demonstration

a god 
who pisses 
out of fear
before the flaring
electrodes
of torture

a god 
who hurts
to the last
bone and
bites the air
in pain

a jobless god
a striking god
a hungry god
a fugitive god
an exiled god
an enraged god

a god
who longs
from jail
for a change
in the order
of things

I want a 
more godlike 
god