Focusing on the Here and Now

2020 has been a year in turmoil. The global pandemic coupled with social actions to confront racism and its lasting societal consequences continue to challenge expected levels of normalcy. Future and already revised plans, social and work commitments and recreational activities have been abandoned or delayed until further notice. The changing dynamics that impact living life have put people in a whirlwind of uncertainty and anxiety.

Creatives continue to try to provide a temporary relief as everyone exists in a state of ‘here and now.’ Importantly, society has not lost its ability to recognize and embrace creativity and its value in getting us through difficult times.

With aaduna’s 2020 double issue waiting in the shadows, here are a few more snippets from some of the issue’s contributors.

 

Bharti Bansal (photo provided)

Poet Bharti Bansal resides in Shimla, India

  

TIMELESS

 

Timeless
When did we move so apart
That all I see now are my feathers ripping through the air
Screaming for help
Yet you stand there smiling
Bidding me goodbye
Because you never wanted to try
Time has  bent the rules
And projects our memories on the parchment of my skin
As I chew until it bleeds
I have ripped apart the sky
Don't you see?
The stars are falling down on my roof today
Scattering
Like the unburnt crackers
Don't you see
I have burns all over my body
Body, once a temple, now a mere graveyard of memories…

 

***

 

Jennifer Erickson (photo provided)

Jennifer Erickson resides in Littleton, Colorado, USA. Here is an excerpt from her story, “Shopping Center.”

 

            On the drive home you thought about the copper-colored mall roof with its decorative turrets. It would have the same view, but higher: three-hundred-sixty degrees of mountains and city lights, sunset and sunrise and stars in between. A place to be alone, to wrestle with thoughts of eternity. Maybe read the paper and drink coffee from a thermos, a box of donuts at your side. Astroturf, deck chair. Paradise.

            You have never done anything about it before, but now is the time. You are through with idle fantasies. So here you are, on a night with barely a sliver of moon.

            You park your car out of sight around the corner, manhandle the extension ladder into place, puffing and cursing under your breath.

***

 

J. Connell Warrick (photo provided)

J. Connell Warrick is a poet residing in Laurel, Maryland, USA. Here is a snippet from his poem “sheba de sol” from his “Songs For A New World.”

 

sheba de sol

my fondest dream

when I’m a note

is to conceive

sweet melody

‘gainst your sable

dark-skinned tone.

 

a half of note

replete your whole,

a soft blue note

adjoin the pitch,

my soul enrich

your succulent 

mahogany

dark-skinned tone.

***

aaduna - an online adventure with words and images - a globally read, multi-cultural, and diverse online literary and visual arts journal established in 2010.  Visit us at www.aaduna.org where we put measurable actions to our words.

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