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4 voices

Whatever happens, happens

‘whatever happens, happens’ she used to say ‘on sunday mornings i go downstairs sit in the sun and drink milk last weekend a giant bullfrog had overtaken Shanghai

tj ho

I move a brick from point A to point B

I move a brick from point A to Point B After work, I feed on a meal and stop feeling pain I sleep more than 8 hours every night So that when I awake I do not feel pain

tj ho

I don't wanna feel.

we grow up our feelings grow down in our tender years, everything felt so large, significant fate of the world depended on them

tj ho

The sea

Life gave me some time with her. I tasted her sweetness, came to know her fears and insecurities. I felt things I had never felt before—or perhaps I simply didn’t know how to name them when I did.

orlando purim junior

In the Heart of the Ocean

In the heart of the ocean on the raft floated just the two of us We were once strangers, yes

tj ho

I'm taking you out

"I’m taking you out," she points a gun to my head I raised my arms for protection. The bullet shot through my arms.

tj ho

Waves

hold me tight the night will be long and we will get along for this moment before we are both abducted

tj ho

Cast Beyond Myself

Wretch that I am, weighed down by these ailing thoughts that undo me

rachel saarony

Japanese Garden

on the desk, the girl sleeps She is dreaming of a japanese garden

tj ho

We Who Stopped Asking

Ironic how, as children, we were told to ask, to question all, to never wear the mask of blind acceptance, “seek and wonder still!” yet were silenced by those very voices, against our will.

rachel saarony

Nostalgia

When we were young, we leaned into the wind, faces tipped toward a future bright with dread and longing— that exquisite trembling at the threshold of becoming. Now the wind is at our backs,

rachel saarony

Voyager

The ship hums a tired melody something between loneliness and jazz I sink into the chair, eyes half shut listening for ghosts in the engine

tj ho

Killing time

Whoever dares to hurt you, I’ll kill him I told ma When I was a baby

tj ho

Hafez

I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.

poems of the world

A Bright Summer Day

she waited for him in the pool on a bright summer day waiting for him to show up with a slushy in his hand and a joke on his lips

tj ho

You

your romance is a weapon, miss do not wield it, without knowing its strength some can put on a wall of makeup to no avail some simply exist and the world falls beneath her

tj ho

Hafez

Though reason’s lamp may guide the cautious way love’s fire alone consumes the heart entire What use is mind when once the soul is seized

poems of the world

Laozi

Those who know do not speak those who speak do not know Close the mouth shut the doors

poems of the world

Will you remember me when we are gone?

at the end of the song, she looked back and ask me: will you remember me when we are gone? when we are gone?

tj ho

Rumi

Silence is the language of God all else is poor translation When the soul lies down in that grass

poems of the world

I'll be yours when the fish flies

I’ll be yours when the fish flies then and only then for a brief moment briefer than this breath the entirety of me belongs to the entirety of you

tj ho

On Stillness Mistaken for Agency

The stone that refuses weather becomes its own cliff; everything else erodes around it until it looks like the one that moved.

rachel saarony

Rumi

With passion pray With passion make love With passion eat and drink and dance and play Why look like a dead fish in this ocean of God?

poems of the world

Laozi

He who knows others is wise he who knows himself is enlightened He who conquers others has force he who conquers himself is strong.

poems of the world

Water on Stone

the light comes thin through curtains I forget who I was For as long as a breath I was no one

tj ho

Laozi

A tree as great as a man’s embrace begins with a tiny shoot A tower nine stories high begins with a heap of earth

poems of the world

Days of Young and Free

On Tuesday the river leaves itself and decides to become a road In my car I paddle down the alleys The sound of the raindrops

tj ho

Neruda

I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees

poems of the world

Hafez

O cupbearer, bring forth the cup, and pass it round for love appeared at first, and brought much pain At dawn, the breeze shall loose the musk of night arise, and scent the world with joy again.

poems of the world

Who do you see when you look at me?

'who do you see when you look at me?' she asked me before we parted, her big, oval eyes staring into mine: 'will you ever forget about her or will her shadow live on my back forever'

tj ho

The Cost of Becoming

Even blossoms split their seams to reach the sun. Becoming hurts before it heals, yet still, we ought to rise.

rachel saarony

In the nick of time

in the nick of time you appeared before me before i can grow out my mustache and you can grow out your wings

tj ho

Rumi

The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you not knowing how blind that was

poems of the world

Airport Bar

at the airport bar waiting for something to happen somewhere to go someone to appear behind that door

tj ho

Leave Him Alone

He gave them everything: his body became instrument, his voice remade what sound could grieve, his boyhood spent under lights that do not warm,

rachel saarony

The Misdirected Will

Turn the mountain into pebbles, yet measure not your strength by the climb. Many heave with tireless hands, only to push what leads nowhere.

rachel saarony

This is what the ocean sounds like.

'this is what the ocean sounds like' the boy knelt before me and picked up a seashell he put the seashell by his ears and gasped in excitement jumping up and down around me on the beach

tj ho