My Memories
Contributed by Yvonne Moss
Memories,
Yours, mine and others...
Before or after the events of life;
I make them a product of living today.
Laying on the floor, children walking around me,
My daughter, walks around me;
My life with MS begins.
We have these life problems...
I can sit, must lay.
It’s cold, legs hurting badly,
MS gets worse or better.
How tired I am...
Memories...
Remember bike rides,
Then, now and forever.
Then, now and forever.
Carcass
Contributed by Robert Lyons
Gagging moist death reek,
Boiling host, entropyes heat,
Swelling cheek and empty socket,
Get in closer, the maggots creep,
Crawling over brethren legions eat,
Nurturing bounty the gorging feast,
Bringing forth the cyclical reap,
Moving forward searching for breath,
Contemplating lives endless quest.
Winter’s Own Infertility
Contributed by Smc Lopez
“I expect a child,”
They never had conversations.
Whenever air stilled between them,
his singular want coldly repeated
this chant, “A son.”
Her hands worked the ulu
cleanly to snake a pattern
against the animal’s skin.
Aumatik – a coat to warm the life
that would ebb inside her
- should her womb ever thaw.
On The Other Hand
Contributed by Rivka Chana Zorea
On the other hand...
I lost fingernails
And toenails
...but I can still walk.
I lost my hair,
My eyelashes,
My eyebrows,
...but I can still see.
I endured diarrhea,
Constipation, cramping,
Nausea,
...but I don't have Crohn’s disease.
My face broke out,
My body had rashes,
My mouth had sores,
...but I did not have leprosy.
I had my breast, as familiar
To myself as my face,
Cut off and tossed aside,
...but I am alive.
I am here.
I am a survivor.
I am a winner.
I had cancer, but it did not have me!
MATANUSKA EXPRESS
Contributed by John Martin
IT’S A MIGHTYENGINE
BUT TERRIBLY SLOW
THAT’S BECAUSE
IT’S POWERED BY COAL
A CREW OF FOUR
WHAT MAKES IT GO,
AND ALL THEM FELLAS
IS SOURDOUGHS.
MATANUSKA EXPRESS: CHOO-CHOO
PALMER TO CHICKALOON
CAN’T GET THERE TOO SOON
EVEN WITH A STOP IN SUTTON
PLAN TO ARRIVE BY NOON
LEAVES PALMER
RIGHT ON TIME
SOMETIMES SEVEN
OTHER TIMES NINE
ONCE IT’S HEADIN’
UP THE TRACK
HANG ON TIGHT
‘CAUSE IT AIN’T TURNIN’ BACK
MATANUSKA EXPRESS: ALL ABOARD
MATANUSKA RIVER
FLOWIN’ ON THE RIVER
CARROT FIELDS
ALSO IN SIGHT
CABBAGES AND TATERS
TO SEE SOME SAY
BUT THIS HERE RUN
AIN’T GOIN’ THAT WAY
MATANUSKA EXPRESS: CLICKETY CLACK
TALKEETNA’S ON THE LEFT
CHUGACH’S ON THE RIGHT
MOUNTAINOUS BEAUTIES
GIVE AN AWESOME SIGHTS
WITH EYES PEELED SHARPLY
YOU MAY SNEAK A PEEK
AS WE CROSS THE TRESTLE
OVER RAMBLIN’ MOOSE CREEK
MATANUSKA EXPRESS: TOOT-TOOT
PULLING INTO SUTTON
IS ALWAYS A THRILL
OWES ITS EXISTENCE
TO WISHBONE HILL
SOON COULD CAUSE
SOMETHIN’ TO OCCUR
THE LONG AWAITED
JONESVILLE SPUR???
MATANUSKA EXPRESS: CLEAR THE TRACK
CHUGGIN’ OUT OF SUTTON
OLD ESKA CREEK WE CROSS
THEY TRY TO PUSH IT FASTER
TO MAKE UP TIME WE LOST
THE GRADE TO GRANITE CREEK
BASICALLY IS MILD
BUT LOOKIN’ ON TOWARD PINNACLE PEAK
THE RIDE STARTS GETTIN’ WILD
MATANUSKA EXPRESS: FOOD SERVICE – NOT!!!
KING AND CASTLE MOUNTAINS
ABOVE US THEY DO LOOM
BUT THEY DON’T BLOCK THE WAY
AS WE ROAR INTO CHICKALOON
WE ARRIVE ON TIME
BUT THINKIN’ BACK
WE REALLY WANT TO THANK
THOSE FEARLESS FOLK WHO TOILED AWAY
TO LAY THIS DOGGONE TRACK
MATANUSKA EXPRESS: END OF THE LINE
Who Was He That Did Appear?
Contributed by Nicholas Begich
Who was that man that did appear?
His mind refined, in him no fear.
Who is that man that did appear in a dream?
A spirit rise, to meet the skies.
A phoenix from the mist arise.
Who was that man that did appear?
Upon the page, she read the words.
She saw and understood, she heard
The message conveyed therein set her mind within,
To see a light, a path not his, but hers.
For a time they run in parallel
Within the light her inner life compels.
Who is she that would walk with thee?
In a life of overflowing energy,
In worlds apart and diverse you see
Because of his shifting reality, living within me.
A living soul expressed
In the love of the universal breath.
Created in the image, in the image are we.
The image of Creator in that image we see.
We actualize a new reality the dreamer awakens within me.
Now we live as it unfolds,
To move the dream where we’re not told.
The new observer sees the shape of all realities, their possibilities.
There is no path that is the same.
The path upon our walk of life and pain.
We live the full of each life grain, as sand across a beach of time.
We live to love and express in kind, intimacy.
The soft touch, a gentle kiss and then the chemistry
Of two souls entangled in utter ecstasy in a lovely exchange of energy.
Who was that man that did appear?
His mind refined, in him no fear,
Who is that man that did appear in a dream?
A spirit rise, to meet the skies.
A phoenix from the mist arise.
Who was that man that did appear?
