ISSUE 85

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ZIN E

POETRY

Send your poetry to: POETRY, METRA MAGAZINE, Ferndale Center Building, 22750 Woodward, Suite 310, Ferndale, MI 48220. Send all poetry typewritten or neatly printed. Submissions cannot be returned. Thank-you!

How do you describe how you feel?

A single word can't tell all that's in your heart

The thrill of being picked out of a crowd of many

By the best looking one in the crowd

The excitement of spending a long holiday with someone new Getting to know each other

Coming home to find flowers waiting for you

Pride in letting the world see who you're with

The arm around your waist in the middle of the night Pulling you closer

A gentle chin brushed against the back of your neck

Going places together that you've never been

Even little things like trying new foods

All the different new people you meet

A long embrace ended with a soft, "I love you"

After all this is gone still being together

What word or words describe these feeling

I'm richer of all these feelings

All because of You

by D.H.

The pain becomes very real at night,

as I lay beneath cold colorless sheets clutching my pillow as though it were

a lover.

My mind aches for sleep,

but it does not come easily.

My head reels with thoughts of what could be, but isn't.

Too many thoughts, I can't cope.

Just too many thoughts and impossible dreams.

When I was young,

I thought I could have it all.

I planned and schemed that one day I would

be at the top.

I would have it all.

But I'm still here in my bottomless pit.

I call it "my" bottomless pit

because no one shares it with me.

I spin in circles,

clawing at the hard earth and stone that.

surrounds me, trying to get a foothold.

I look up.

All that I see is darkness.

There seems to be no light at the top.

The thoughts become so real that I begin to toss under my sheets.

Then I realize that I am getting nowhere.

Suddenly my movements cease.

I will fight it no longer.

I will accept my place...

And maybe someday

someone will drop a red rose from the top

and I will smell it's sweet fragrance

and plant it at my feet,

in my world,

where the pain becomes very real at night.. by JLS

I have a Friend

He smiles... I smile,

We're happy because at that moment Without a word we see each other a little more clearly.

I look at him and see myself reflected Something that was once in me is now his, too.

I gave... but from the place that my gift came something bigger takes its place.

And my heart, my love swells from the hugeness of his all..

I have a friend... I talk (a lot),

he listens (always).

I can see what I say goes beyond his ears

into his heart and comes back to me, Understood.

Nothing can stay inside of me when I am with him.

He makes me feel beautiful inside.

I look at him and find his eyes searching mine.

They pick out all that is good in me

and lets it show.

To him my imperfections are proof that I am human. He doesn't overlook them for we both know they are there,

And he has them, too.

But do they matter when you have a love that

can outshine any star in the universe? NO, because you see, he is my friend,.. And I am his... Always... us.

by Thom Miller

Like the leaves on a tree in autumn

I watch your colors change

From green to orange to brown

And back again

Unlike the tree your colors know no seasons

There is no calendar to follow you by

Your colors must be played by ear

Your color is brown far longer than any autumn I have known With the winter wind drawing near

And a chill

But the snow never comes

Early spring is in you most of the time

With just the right mixture of orange, yellow and green

There is a hint of that warm summer air that could soon be here

Summer shows your colors best

Deep rich billiant colors

Colors so strong they overpower the rest of the seasons

Filling my mind with the real beauty within you