Issue #4- Carnival Submissions
First and foremost, thank you all so much to all those who submitted your work to be featured. You all are incredibly talented and we thank you for joining us on this journey.
To the audience, each one of these amazing artist took Carnival to a unique level. This month the artists gave individual examples of what they think of the topic ‘Carnival’. You will see a wide variety of pieces and each has its own lesson in its beauty and originality.
Artist: Kayla Morgan
Instagram: Kaylabug1210
Poet: Cenk Caliskan
Instagram: _cenkcaliskan_
THROW YOURSELF INTO THE STREETS
Mixing into the night: the screams
I put on a new face over my face
In front of me: an ebullient crowd
A flowing river in great joy
What I'm thinking of doing
- wish you knew
If I did it all
a thousand lifetimes not enough
Still want to do it all
Wish I could add lifetimes
to my existing life
What you call human is a bundle of joy
Only for days and nights like these
Dances should never stop
music should never stop
Should play my favorite notes
Tonight all music is my favorite
If I don't dance it's as if I did
Let wine and champagne flow like water
Let's rejoice as if it's our last day
Tomorrow night same excitement all over again
Let's rain down on the squares
Let this be known: human is a social being
If it can't find another to open up to
It will dance on the streets like this
Because many bugs accumulate inside it
If can't shake'em off what good is this life
Did anybody ask you before coming here
Then nobody can meddle in our business
Come on time to go crazy for us
Let's go mad together decently
Been here five hundred thousand years
and waited for this madness every year
Masks and costumes come out of the chest
Rehearsals are done scenarios are played out
Every time a different excitement
Come on, join us too - finally
What's there to be ashamed in this
Put on things dress up put on makeup
This happens once a year why hesitate
Throw yourself into the streets
shake your bugs off
So what if the frog doesn't turn
into a prince upon your kiss
How many things you want in life come true
Poet: Kristina Mahr
Instagram: kristina.mahr
It was Labor Day weekend,
and I'd already said goodbye.
It was hell, but I didn't know then
that hell is relative,
that maybe I should've taken that hell
because it was less of a hell
than all of the other goodbyes we'd have.
There was funnel cake,
laughter,
my nephews on a roller coaster
while I waited down below,
and I wasn't there,
I wasn't there,
I was miles away from there.
My phone was in my hand,
your name was on my screen,
and I thought, one more, maybe one more.
Maybe one more goodbye.
It's a pin in the map of us,
and I see the red thread wrapped
around and around it,
wrapped
around and around it.
We could've stopped there,
maybe should've stopped there,
didn't stop there,
because I left that carnival that day
to drive you to the airport,
to have to say goodbye again,
but it was worth it, I swore,
it was worth it.
I've always sworn that it was worth it.
I counted, you know, I counted
seven goodbyes,
seven goodbyes,
and I didn't know that
the last one
was
the last one
because it's like the boy who cried wolf,
saying goodbye to you.
But the last one was the last one,
and now instead of wolf,
I'm just crying,
thinking about that pin
in the map of us
from the day at that carnival,
when I decided I wanted another goodbye.
What if I had known.
What if I had seen all the other pins,
the way they're in the map
but also in my spine,
also in my kneecaps,
also in my heart.
Would I have stayed another hour,
rode another ride,
put my phone on mute
and in my pocket
and out of sight.
Let that goodbye be our goodbye.
(I'll never know.)
I only know that the last one was the last one.
(Unless, unless.)
I've got a few more pins in my hand,
a little more blood left in this heart.
(Unless, unless.)
Maybe you want to
ride another ride
with me.
