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Good Monday morning, poetry fans, Today I'm pleased to welcome medical student and emerging writer, Noor Safaa Abdulrazzaq to SHINE online series. Her poem "Messages to the Unknown" is a heartfelt tribute to her uncle. Thank you, Noor Safaa, for sharing your poetry with SHINE! Messages to the UnknownDear Uncle, The clouds visited the ground today, I remembered you as it was foggy, Imagine souls resting in peace among the clouds. As they came down, haven’t you come and visited us? It’s a wish to gather once more even in a dream – To remember how far we went and how old we might seem. We wish you were here somehow – as you once have been. Everything has changed as you left, nothing remained the same. So pale this ground, isn’t it? Days are not going as well as they used to, Everything is frozen, even from the very inside. I heard that the weather predictions said That it rained heavily where you are. Did you really get wet? Or couldn’t the raindrop fall into where you lay? When was the last time you touched the rain? Was it really on your last night? Did your eyes look at it differently? As if they felt they were leaving this land? Did you feel something strange? Telling you your life would fall apart? How did it feel when you closed your eyes? And did you know it was your last time? Did you know you wouldn’t open them again? Did you know that you were leaving this world? Had you felt that this was your last goodbye? Did you hold your kids’ hands so tight? You left this world so fast, So fast without any delay, And everything you left in this world, Is missing you without any doubt. Dear Uncle, I hope you are fine somehow, Living in a better place by now, I hope these messages have found their way, Not faded into the unknown.  Noor Safaa Abdulrazzaq began writing poetry at the age of thirteen, drawing inspiration from personal experiences and the natural world. Currently, she is a medical student balancing between an academic journey and a passion for writing poetry. The sentence that best conveys Noor Safaa's passion for poetry is, “Do not die empty," wanting her words to be felt more than only read, to leave a legacy that is worth being remembered. Noor Safaa has published an E-book titled, My First Verses, in an online library. It is a collection of 19 poems.
SHINE has one last feature for this week...fellow Upstate New York poet, John Sweet. I'm pleased to share three of his fine poems, which bring us a call to the warmth of summer, during this cold February here in the Northeast. Thank you, John, for sharing your work with SHINE! dig up those bones and give ‘em a home strange that it’s a love song this late in the game strange that it’s summer none of us dead but all of us dying, and you believe or you don’t believe you laugh or you cry and, no matter how you play it, the days keep getting shorter the man next door puts his faith in the lies of fools and of cowards. his daughter has run away, his wife has been taught better ways to bleed, has learned how to beg in a voice that no one will ever hear, but i was talking about love i was considering the possibility of the future, i was hoping i might find you there secret poem of grace & beauty #1 dig your own grave, then, here at the end of august, and cover yourself w/ birdsong w/ the faded plastic toys left in abandoned back yards remember that the disease is yours to give kiss the sick and the crippled tell them you love them let the words fall from your lips like tiny pieces of some poisoned god just like jesus christ, with the radio on in sunlight, the shadows that define us in the spaces between houses, between cities, the silence of approaching of departure no reason to be alive, when you got right down to it, but here we are a song of infinite sadness in the morning, and then the drugs that drive it away the promise of more spend all winter contemplating suicide, maybe mine, maybe yours, and then it’s spring and how many years will it take for us to realize that our fears never really go away? what is it in this world that can truly keep us safe from harm? and you will waste your whole life waiting for a better answer than the only one there really is  John Sweet sends greetings from the rural wastelands of upstate NY. He is a firm believer in writing as catharsis, and in compassionate nihilism. His poetry collections include NO ONE STARVES IN A NATION OF CORPSES (2020 Analog Submission Press) and THERE’S ONLY ONE WAY THIS IS GOING TO END (2023 Cyberwit).
SHINE is pleased to welcome writer Hidayat Adams, today. Hidayat offers a series of poems that take us on a brief journey from the depths of hopelessness to the heights of joy -- because what is poetry, if not an expression of the soul's innermost considerations, put down in words. Thank you, Hidayat, for sharing your poetry with SHINE! A Cry of LoveThis heavy sadness threatens my sanity. Unbearable sorrow at the world’s suffering undermines my faith, shakes the fragile foundations of my belief. Warm tears spill, bring no lasting relief. Anger throttles me, renders me incapable of expressing my outrage, warps the slender thread of hope I cling to. Fear and distress vie with courage and joy. Darkness overpowers the light in my heart, nearly snuffs out the life in my soul, thrusts the radiance further and further, until all I can see is an eternal night of despair. A Shout of JoyHope rises, a Phoenix born and reborn. It survives, thrives; holds despair in scorn. Darkness threatens my soul, bears down mercilessly on my faith, causes me to frown At its audacity to think I will submit. I cry tears of love, fear not to readily admit that love is meant to hurt before bliss wraps my heart in folds of careless Abandon and the joy of wild delight, illuminates my soul with blazing light! Slender though the thread might be, hope and faith will set hurt free. The chambers of my heart eternal shall never be scorched by hate infernal. Inner BattlesScale those towering mountains of despair, Stride boldly through the valleys of fear! What matters it if the path doth loop You back hence? Just never bow nor stoop! Light candles of hope in murky gloom, Let the flowers of faith brightly bloom! Slash despondency to ribbons glorious, Adorn yourself therewith, victorious! Why should tribulations intimidate? Heart and mind you can emancipate Through inner strength, belief pure. Bravely you must all trials endure! Created you’ve been with innate mettle, Banish uncertainty, force doubts to settle.  Hidayat Adams is an English teacher by profession. He is the self-published author of one fantasy novel and four short story anthologies. Hidayat writes poetry on a variety of themes. He's working on a poetry collection in homage to William Blake's "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience". He's currently writing a children's book as well as a paranormal thriller. Hidayat hopes to become a published author some day soon.
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SHINE - International Poetry Series
From the international poetry community, we have a "luxury of stars," as Sylvia Plath might say, and it is my honor to provide a home for their words through SHINE Poetry Series.
NOW IN PRINT!
Stars Over the Dordogne
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