HeartLines

ISSUE 4

“Pleading Poet”

By Haven Hawkins

I left the page in a hurry. 
I grabbed my quill and ink darting for the nearest exit. 
How could I hurt if I never reflect. 
If I don’t see the ink run, there must not be a tear. 
For a writer only writes in a time of despair…

“Cycles”

By Katie Haig

After Todd Dillard and “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost

Leaves fall – the inside of an orange and red kaleidoscope.
A red wagon rolls gently down a tired road.
When did you get so tall? …

“Healing”

By Julia Prackup

A house must be demolished for a new one to be built,
A glass must be emptied to be filled again, A canvas must be painted to become art.
Those who fall, get back up,
Those who fail, try again…

“The World We Know”

By Julie Dunn

Nothing lasts forever, this we know.
Everyone in the world will find loss.
Just as time is forever in existence, so is pain.
Sooner or later, someone we love will go.
This we knew before covid, and all the fear…

“Season of Change”

By Kelly Parker

Leaves changed from grasshopper greens to
yearning yellows and opulent oranges.
I changed from a fresh sapling to a mature tree-
18 year old to 21 year old me.
Summers turned into falls…

“A Mask’s Love”

By Liliana Sosnowski

A Mask’s Love
I am a mask.
A piece of cloth that has been used for decades,
to prevent the spread of pathogens.
From the Spanish Influenza to Covid-19…

“The Tyranny of the Waters”

By Miriam Da Ponte

Lost, 
beneath a still fragile surface,  
everything became space, all passed through me 
and I drowned in the void of his words, 
pushed further and further down toward the deep dark…

“Will He Giveth Thyme”

By Paige Soden

Ten Years my Senior and A man indeed.
Please darling nevermore unfrown today,
the lust of her touch always makes me bleed.
Certes my love we shall travel to Frey…

“Tissues And Time”

By Kristen Giebler

Drowning in tissues,
Not from missing you,
But from the weight of love denied—
A hunger for the warmth I deserve,
Only to find your affection arrives,

“Until We Meet Again”

By Katie Haig

A red slash
across a poet’s first draft.

You always
told the truth, my friend,

and for that, I am grateful

until the end.

“A Mourning Run”

By Mary Margaret Nugent

To visit a place
With memories of you
Is to run in the morning
In grass covered in dew

“A Prayer For Future Me”

By Mary Margaret Nugent

Dear God
I pray for me in a year
Please grant her grace
Please help her heal
I’ve gone off of your path

“The Blooming Dilemma”

By Broderick Cole Prendergast

Spend sunny days growing as a blemish in the grass
Dancing day by day with each delicate and dynamic pass
Many people gander only to see the flower’s beauty as a weed
Commonwealth hasten its life to have wishes dispersed through seed

ISSUE 3

“Mother Nature, Father Time”

by Sam Kealey

And he hadn’t seen a light as bright
as the one he saw in her eyes that night.
So he held her close and he held her tight
and as he listened to her intermittent beating heart at night

“La Oaxaqueña”

by Frida Avila

Rugged skin pressed upon seasoned huaraches.
Tired feet that yet remain undefeated,
Hoisted up by the spirits of our ancestors.
Callused hands gently laying freshly pressed masa.

“Love and War”

by Kelly Parker

And suddenly, every heartbreak I’ve ever suffered slammed into me with the force of a thousand trucks, each one hitting the dam that held my tears back until it shattered, and they came running down my face. One after another after another after another. Emptying any last affection I had to offer onto my pillow in the form of my liquidized love. Certified lover girl no longer, I can’t handle giving my heart away again, maybe I could if I were stronger.

“Digging”

by Nathalia Collazo

I search for meaning as I search for jobs.
Constantly wondering.
What will I do?
Who will I be?

“This Could be a Love Song”

by Kristen Giebler

Sometimes I wonder what life would have been
If I had the chance to live
Instead of healing from the love
That I had chosen

“Why Don’t You Remember?”

by Kristen Giebler

Is it more important to me than you?
I find myself sitting
In locked-up files of my recollection
You have buried them

“Questioning Fate”

by Maddie Conklin

Do you believe in fate?
A simple yet complex question that I think we’ve all wrapped our heads around.
Sometimes it’s an easy answer, yes.
All things that happen are planned.

Drawing by Kate Walter

“Come and See”

by Aliza Leander

Come and see,
The ignoramus who just can’t seem to stop a’ thinkin’.
Come and see.
She used to prance around, eyes all a’ twinklin’.

“Rotisserie Chicken”

by Kristen Giebler

A long hard day after work
All you wanted was a warm meal

Something easy
I hope that you can digest

“Concealer Contacts”

by Kristen Giebler

Born with the eyes of a man
My family shuns. Like a curse.
Firstborn always looks like the father.
It was my fate at birth.

“This Life”

by Isabella Fabbo

It wasn’t always like this
Mind sharp, knife meeting diamond
Hands in kitchen
Feet to pavement

“Summer Rain”

by Destiny Walton

Standing barefoot in some forlorn meadow,
Head bowed, staring at the grass between my toes
Warmest, firmest of rain washes me away little by little
Heavy clouds blanket the sky, at war with Earth, while I’m stuck in the middle

“An Open Book”

by Kelsey Donnelly

I opened up and I beckoned you in.
You stood on the threshold with your hands over your eyes.
Waited for me to shut the doors and
Dress the windows back up and
Stand in the street with you in the cold.

“I Will…”

by Jenna Siuta

I will never be the person to say “no it’s fine” when someone is excited to show me something.
I will never be the person that talks shit about someone for no reason.
I will never be the person who doesn’t care enough.
I will never be the person who doesn’t love enough.

“Self-Sabotage”

by Hannah Schultz

Starting is the hardest part
Thoughts immediately drain
Like holes in a bucket
Used to catch rain

“Want”

by Wren Campise

I want to want to live

To feel the sun upon my face

And blades of grass piercing my bare feet

And countless grains of sand getting stuck between my fingers, clinging to
my skin like a mother clings to her child

“Sonnet I”

by Miriam DaPonte

“This tape will self-destruct in five seconds,”
“What of the zeptosecond of my day,
But time spent here or there, with or without
You?” Run the race and leave the tape behind.

“Duplex II”

by Miriam DaPonte

Beauty has the power to make us feel loved.
There’s no beauty in a dissatisfied heart.

There’s no beauty in our dissatisfied hearts,
We lived love as if it was overpriced,

“Duplex I”

by Miriam DaPonte

It takes time to see who stands in the mirror.
My ex-lover knows this heart is cold.

My next lover will know my heart is cold.
A voice mutters, “It’s not my fault.”

Painting: “Pretty in Pink”

by Sharon Zozo Brzozowski

ISSUE 2

“Open Your Eyes”

by Nate McKenna

Do you want to hear a secret?
Listen closely before I lose it
Close your eyes and hear my voice
Your dreams are not dreams, they are a choice…

“The Good Ones”

by Madison Conklin

Live for the good ones.

Whether that be a good day, a good location, a good person…

Live for the good ones.

Live for the days where it feels like it’s you against the world,
For the times where you see the beauty in everything…

“Symphony of Life”

by Kelly Parker

Who are you when the lights turn off and there is no longer an audience to watch the symphony that is your life? You are the conductor and the critic; it is up to you to choose the possibly perilous path. Do you take the harrowing high road, or do you choose the easy way and travel the low road? Are you satisfied with second best or are you always searching for that next test? …

“To Be Known and To Be Understood”

by Kelly Parker

People think they know you after they’ve seen you naked. But I don’t think that’s true. Sure, they know what you look like- bare as the day you were born- but they don’t truly know you. They don’t know that you stare into space and your eyes glaze over when the darkness inside you starts to overtake the light. They don’t know that you fidget with your necklace when your heart constricts your lungs and it beats faster than a hummingbird’s wings …

Oil on Canvas – Taylor Lyons

“Tug Of War”

by Jenna Siuta

It was love like no other
The kind that consumes you
All of you
But in the end,
It’s the one that hurts the most
It’s like a…

“Blades”

by Jenna Siuta

Why are you doing this?
I shouldn’t be used for harm
Though, I wouldn’t say good either
I wasn’t made for this
Or was I made for this
Take me away
Tell your friends …

“Pomegranate”

by Bursa Kahraman

Crimson liquid bleeds onto my skin,

As he hands me seeds of the pomegranate,

The danger does not elude my wit,

But I feed on one for it tastes like medicine.

The delightful taste descends my throat…

“Beauty”

by Ayasha Cantey

The blends of yellow, pink, and blue mixing in the sky
It’s subtle
It’s captivating
The way the light shimmers off the ocean floor
The liquid, It’s cold but free
I feel the waves mocking me…

“Internal Narrative”

by Emily Callahan

I do not,

Gaze,

Into your eyes,

To see my own reflection.

Nor do I…

“Blown By the Breeze”

by Emily Callahan

The sound of your name,

Dances across my tongue.

Wrapped in your blanket,

Along the fire,

I see your smile…

“Restless”

by Hannah Schultz

tossing 

turning 

repeat

            repeat

                        repeat

anger…

“she“

by Hannah Schultz

she is timid
she is shy
she lacks self-confidence
…on the inside

brave face
in the race…

ISSUE 1