Category: Uncategorized

I didn’t choose to say

yes or no

when a falling lamp knocked me

to my knees

not a soul beside me on that floor

no one to hear my whispered pleas

Placed like a sausage inside a tube

incessant knocking

relentless pain

Good news!

no stroke or bleeding brain

CONCUSSION

Rest your brain

I’m trying

Rest your brain sweet child

tears are a waste

now stop that crying

Can you not see me

can you not hear me

I’m screaming inside

Someone tell me

I’m not really dying

Rest your brain

rest your brain

can’t you see how hard

I’m trying?

This poem was published in Social Justice Inks Anthology by Lisa Tomey’s Prolific Pulse Press, available for purchase onAmazon.

An old woman took her granddaughter to the mall.

She wanted to buy her little girl a lollipop.

The shopkeeper asked her to pay at the facial recognition machine.

She was too poor to own a digital device,

too helpless to be tech savvy,

and she only scraped by using the money in a biscuit tin.

The shopkeeper told her that business could not accept cash payment anymore,

for the public health order said it all.

She pleaded with the shopkeeper saying they were clean and healthy.

All she wanted was a good old days’ reward for her granddaughter.

The little girl looked up to her tear-filled eyes,

“Nana, you are the sweetest thing in the whole wide world,

more than all the lollies in the shop.

Our papa…

A serpent turning

into a great bird

with wings of blue

and words I heard

killing and blood

death and sorrow

innocence crying

forgetting tomorrow

great his sword

wings shine white

serpent sailing high

God’s hand did smite

dazzling light rising

many souls ascend

heaven greets all

souls reside within

-JONI CAGGIANO

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-MASTICADORESINDIA

My Failure

My complete and utter failure
as a dancer, singer, actress
has not taken away my desire to perform.
Never the top dog or celebrity,
I have no history of gutter scraping
debauchery either. I’m firmly rooted
in the middle of the pack,
dying of obscurity and boredom.

I am not beautiful

but every now and then
I step out in my pearls and lace
and show off my plain face
as though
I am
beautiful.

Life Hurts

Learning to walk, or ride a bike
comes with boo-boos and bruises.
Prayer or wealth cannot save you
from stubbed toes and runny noses.

As we grow so do the blows
from failures, broken hearts, and funerals.

Embrace the pain like a caterpillar
that must dissolve into goo
before it gets wings.

To reach the other side
is to receive Grace.

My scars are old friends.
Pain…