#80 IRVING PARK
James Tracy

a city bus teems with people,
floating and bobbing with heavy jolts
like some kind of a bus-shaped fish bowl
held by shaking hands. this city bus
sways with leaning faces, many tired faces,
some concerned with cell phones, others far away,
or even blank, like the dim visage of a tunnel.
this city bus, lined with fake lasers, shines inward
against a dark, whirling fog at the last slap of winter,
as a tiny, globular woman hobbles up to the door
while wheels and gears screech toward irving and clark.
with shrieking beeps, her compact magic
brings this heaving metal dragon to its knees
before she ambles off to wet streets with
her bag, her billowy coat, and round hat; unbent.

OUT OF DARKNESS
Darren High

Staying awake ten days at a time
Wearing the same clothes, not eating
     My appetite was only satisfied by a bag of dope.
My life revolved around drugs
They were my only friends
My family was non-existent
     Or was it me who ceased to exist?
My life was an empty void
Nothing mattered
      Because I was null and void.

Having woken up out of my drug-induced stupor
My spirit started to stir
Life began to have meaning
      I realized that my addiction had a hold on me.
Like a skunk’s grip on its prey
After losing the desire to get high
I blew that candle out and started
To enjoy the light of day
      Drug free.

BETTER ME THAN YOU
Javahna Borden

Although I’m only 28 years old, a single parent with six children aged 7, 5, 4, and triplets who are 3, I still feel as if I’m the luckiest woman in the world. To some it seems as if I’m struggling or that I have it hard. But to me it only seems that my time will soon come. Some say, “Better you than me.” I simply say, “You’re right. It is better me than you because if you could handle the pressure and responsibility that come with this blessing, God would have blessed you like he has blessed me.”

Many may ask, “Where are the fathers?” I simply say, “I’m not only their mother, but I’m their father, and I’m their best friend.” I’m everything they need me to be. I’m mommy when they need a loving touch, I’m daddy when they need a firm yet affectionate voice, and I’m Superwoman whenever they need rescuing. I’m their everything.

I had my first child at 20. One may say, “Oh, that’s not so young.” Oh, but how you’re wrong. It’s young if before this you had no  responsibilities but yourself. It means you have to go from being a baby to raising a baby.

I’ve grown so much because of my children. That’s why I know all six of them are my blessings.

BUT PEACE SAYS (an excerpt)
Earlene Strickland

Peace says, come, give a child clean water to drink.
And peace waits around the world, for recognition in Iraq and Afghanistan,
for justice in the camps in Darfur,
and for the cessation of human rights violations in China and
all the places where Mars’ hands rule.

Peace says,
keep calm and carry on.
I am always there, when the dogs of war are let out of hell.
I am the flower that grows out of the ruined, bombed building.
I am the hand of the neighbor that helps to dig out the living.
I offer consolation and say the prayer for the dead,
I whisper in the wind that your life was not for naught.
It will be remembered, and it was a part of the greater struggle.