Sonnet 42: Green Light

By Aurin Squire

My body began to tremble.
I shot up in my bed around 4.
A phenomenon scarcely resemble
Spectacle witnessed by just 1, no more.

What it was I just don't know.
A rustling in the cool of the night.
Was it electricity I felt flow?
Transfixed emergence: a green globe of light,

From my chest, then spun in front of my nose
Emerald vessel, up came this green ark.
Unsunk ship wobbled a bit when it rose
Out the barred window, sailing into dark.

The light ship left a'waking waves of peace.
Three years later, my wonderings don't cease.

Sonnet 41: Grandparents with their souls almost at rest

By Tatiana Suarez-Pico

Grandparents with their souls almost at rest
while their bodies decompose, limbs die while their minds are still alive
"Trombosis," skin cancer, and dementia all put us to the test
We give money and some time cuz we want them to survive.

He shits his pants and her hands resemble stale, curly fries
A nurse needed to clean them up
She will let us believe they're alright even through their cries
Or a Cuban doctor with island medicine that makes her feel agile again, she won't require help to stand up.

Powerless we are to the pass of time
Doesn't matter how hard we try to make 'em right, it will still leave us marred
We see the path, what happens after their prime
A baby blue sky with a sun that's been barred.

We dig deep in our coats for a fistful of dollars that in a third world country will turn into a thousand remedies
Even smiles may come out of an envelope from the bank, but la verdad is that we're stuck in life with these maladies.

Sonnet 40: Canada's Ex-Boyfriend

By Aurin Squire

Quick to flash anger and slow to give love.
Whine and keep lists of all my friend's failings
Rarely will credit anyone above
unless medaled or when family is ailing.

My one shining trait: humility
You've probably heard me mention that before
Once I saved an ant from drowning in my tea
On Sundays I help grandma through the door.

On occasion, I murder and rape.
But not to worry: it's never in rage.
Youtube it. I'm vain about keeping tape.
Geography comes to life from the page.

Let's grab a burger, I'll slaughter some beef.
Did I mention I have ultra white teeth?

Sonnet 39: Exit Player

By Aurin Squire

When I was younger I worried all eyes on me

Grimaced over steps and regressed
Feared scrutiny and what the world could see
Paranoid fevers overly obsessed.

Entering my prime, rejoiced in my place
Laughter booming and shine like a sun
I took all the oxygen and space
Center of the universe, the spring of fun.

Start the exit, slow from the bright lit room.
My face falls more into dusk and shadow.
No longer swallowing air, but subsumed,
by the eeking way things of this world flow.

When I am old, will anybody look?
At old men hiding in memory' book.

Sonnet 38: My knees are made of glass, but I still dance

By Aurin Squire

My knees are made of glass, but I still dance

Calypso bass hits the clicking 'dra

Cameroon fish'men shout with lil' prance

Mama se mama sa ma ma coo 'sa"

My arms swing wide and slow when chopping Cane,

of dark Cuban mulatto church ladies.

my American back winces in pain

as I bird leap with people from Haiti.

Senegalese sailors cast'anets gold

snare snaps a high-hatting Sambelele

Carib' Curry stewed w/ Ghanese sold

in a waltzing round'bout rhythmic sway.

Akimbo'ed legs churn air into my light

A dancing carnival spins harvest night.

Sonnet 37: Mandala

By Aurin Squire

Choosing to swim across the great salt seas
Climb Mt. Meru at universe center
Amass fortunes and give away for free
Pales to knowing the mandala to enter

Hidden worlds masked in front of my nose,
facing the 10 cardinal directions
Extraordinary and normal pose
guides offering traveler protection.

Pinpoint particles comprise the pittering day
Encircle each atom, each dance, each breath
Wading into light pool scattered away
All illusions in a molecule of death.

Send out and then withdraw the light from the heart
Mandalas makes each day a work of art.

Sonnet 36: Swoon

By Tatiana Suarez-Pico

It's really hard to gage how much it's too much
when you're putting yourself out there
if giving is enough, if this is too fast, when we touch
I'm mortified it will be terribly wrong to care-

if I give too much too soon
if this is what happens to mothers who give it all
at too cheap a price and as they swoon
pass it on to their daughters that this is how the story will fall

if i just knew the right amount
had the right formula, a blueprint
these barriers would be easier to surmount
my hand wouldn't fight hard against a bed that feels like flint

i don't know how much it's too much, it keeps me up at night
tears spring from eyes wondering why, i have to get it right.