Issue 7

May 2011

Cover Art: © 2011 “Primrose” by Daniel Milbo

As our world shed the remnants of its cold, long sleep of winter, we were surrounded by reminders that life springs anew, and we, like the world, began to shed our own winter shadows.  But even as our world awoke, shadowed remnants lingered in our periphery.

This is a reminder to us all, that, at times, we have a tendency to focus on what was rather than what is.  When we allow the past to fade, we awaken to the presence of our surroundings, and we remember there's still a lot of life yet to be lived.

We all share the personal struggles of life, and though the specifics of an individual's struggles may be unique, the feelings they evoke are universal.  This is what binds us all together, this sharing of the Touch of humanity.

We yearn

for unity, stand in shadows,

but walk toward threads of light.

Jan Duncan-O'Neal

A spectre visible in my grief,

he was more present to me

than when he was alive.

Stephen Maurer

Barely space for one.

We made us fit and softly sang

a love song in the dim.

Paul David Adkins

What will you do, now you no longer

teeter at the brink of a world without breath?

K.B. Kincer

You scream against me and I cannot

make you calm

and I cannot hold you still and close,

and pace your breath to mine.

Laura Levesque

So they release me, unharmed,

and fly off, limbs and scarves

fluttering in their wake.

Jodi L. Hottel

Movement equals change ...

Non-movement equals pain.

Janet Buttenwieser

It’s always waitin’ for you to be still

so you can hear it, so you can feel it.

Sharon Erby

Let’s trade my yellow carnations

for your smile and keep

talking through the night.

Clarissa Jakobsons