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"Transcendance"

Fever dreams
Hastily scrawled
A vacancy in ivory
Crimson stain

Transformation...dead eyes
Beneath a linen of pallor
Reaching for the key
Deep rumination

A reflection
Extending a hand

Collaboration - Kim Bo Yung and Josef Desade

Shed The Old For Better Morrows
Icarus

I’ve wasted more chances than a sailor lost in see,
Tossing them away like meaningless coin into
the ocean,
And with those heedles gamble came with a demand that
I pay my toll,
But I coward away,
Wandered of far from the truth,
Only to feed myself lies I spun to others,
Wearing the cloak of victimhood,
Only to justify my own shortcomings.

I’ve wounded many, more than the tears I’ve wept,
Yet, some have forgiven me,
While others have become the permanent scar on my chest,
Becoming a constant reminder of the wrong I've done to them.
For I’ve became the dark blade that wounded their radiant light with a single cut,
Tainting them and leaving them haunted by my transgression.
Yet Life, merciful yet demanding,
With open arms offer me another chance to change.

O’ how the greed blinds the eyes of man,
And hunger quenches not,
A never ending deception that steals my sight to true fulfilment.

O’ how the kind-hearted see,
But deafened to the silent sobs of these invisible victims,
Clinging to their absolute, rigid truths.

So believe me,
I’ve fiddle with both side of the coins countless time,
Yet, Life strangely still accepted my flaws that came with my humanity,
Even when I saw myself as a monster.

Let go for once, of those rigid fear of yours,
Become a child,
Shed the skin of adulthood that chains your soul ascent,
For only can your spirit, your heart, and your mind find true growth.

Find more Icarus here!

Hung Up On Myself
Michael Dority

Dialed my old landline
the other day.
My younger self answered.

Hello?

Huh?...Who is it?

Who’d you call?

Uhm…me?

A pause:
Sorry, you have a wrong number.

Oh?

Yeah.

Nope…
It’s the right one.
…Don’t do it.

Do what?—Who is this?

Look…
Just don’t do it, okay?

What, and why not?

All of it.
It didn’t…
won’t end well.

What the fuck?
Is this a prank?
Who put you
up to it?

I got scared.
Terror gripped me
and I hung up.

Who’s kidding who?
I’ve always known.

No real choices.
An aching need
under the sovereign rule
of an insensible god.

Blind faith.
Cause and effect
a scripted danse macabre.

Crushing blood, sinew and bone,
trampling it down,
grinding it all to dust.

I reached for the phone,
hit redial.

It rang once, then twice;
no answer.
Sweat rolled
down my temples.

Three rings, four, five…
Trembling hands
dropped the phone,
the world dissolved in
a stream of tears.

I could go back
but there was nothing I could do.
Not now or then
or ever.

Between Us Snowmen 2
Christopher T. Dabrowski

Winter, frost, snow and icy wind. They stood outside the house, as they do every year,
complaining about their lives.
- My wife turned cold lately - said the first.
- Same - sighed the second.
The third one, not wanting to be left out, added:
- Mine says I have cold fingers.
- I envy you guys - interjected the fourth. - Mine is hot as hell, so I avoid her because I want to
live.
- But you're a snowman - the first one was offended. - I would prefer mine to melt me a little.
Especially since the warming is coming.
The snowmen fell silent, overwhelmed with trepidation.