Author: Ashley J. Gallaher-Pollard

tilted axis hanging on by a thread
while countless eyes reach for the skies,
grasping for a saviour;
can you be a saviour?

hidden in plain sight, she waits eagerly
born ready, war so heady;

burning horizons trying to stop the spread,
the weight of the galaxy heavy -
three choices await above for her
only two more steps into the light,
and one heart to fill.

gossamer silence hangs in the air
humid, hoping for the right angle
a single shot pierces the veil
and now we are known.

be desperate for your home —
how can you watch, resting on your laurels
only giving what makes others feel better
about themselves

this is a war on war;
while the ground is buried and people
are on fire,
swathes of humanity all want to act
but when will it be time
to take action instead
of giving thoughts and prayers?

a hole in the sky
in the ground
through the trees,
a catalyst of what is yet to come
and the few that want to mend it
always feel like it is still far too few.

woe unto the creature
that became greedy and gave us coin
woe unto the creature
that stood still while the world collapsed
woe unto us
for we sit and watch while
the uneducated elders deem us
lazy, unworthy, not as enlightened as the past

the past is broken,
mired in the hate of skin colour
and lineage
and who held the most coin,
when coin is the least of nature’s issues
with us all.

when the guardians that swore to protect us,
the peacekeepers and governance
fail, turn a blind eye, are too scared to act,
who will rise and set them straight?
who will say no, it is time to save all

while the some of us cry foul,
the newsfeed tells us where we are losing,
could someone share if we’re succeeding too?
or are those words too many,
and without enough voices?

an eye for an eye once worked,
for a time,
when the snow was universal and
the hostility was for the apex

so far grown has this wall been conquered
and yet we want to raise more,
watch as humanity murders itself,
one car bomb
one mass murder
one shooting
one treason
one war
at a time.

describe for me the instance in which
you knew you were human:

the day you learned what hate
does to a man, what love does
in return.

the day you learned that life
is not equal, that warriors could
turn the tides.

the day you bled, shed tears
hot and quick, the bandages that
didn’t quite work.

the day you walked out and
were lost, the stranger that pointed
you home.

describe for me the instance in which
you forget what it means to be human.

sumptuous feasts offered on tables of elm
whilst maple waves extract themselves
from window panes,
tis the season of magicks deep.

from the frosted edges hunts
the seven devils from paradise
crooning symphonies concocted
for her ears only.

inured against their trappings,
instead she plays them a song
borne upon the bloodied strings
of dawn and dusk and the last
of her resources.

she is human tonight,
the last thought before the hunted
becomes the hunter;
for the greatest demon
is not under the porchlight;
but her.