Poetry

Girl and a Lock

By Karri Kuusela

She came to the old barn

with the sense of sun
still on her hands

The field of hay

dancing in the arms of the wild

slowly to the tender

warm bed

The planking

welcomes her with a grin
as the breeze sweeps the dust

from the roof

with the vanishing hum

Please,

Keep away

It’s not that every rusty lock is intriguing
It’s the ones that hold on
Someone, long ago, thought something
is worth a gatekeeper

Rust makes a second lock

Time seals its favorite secrets

Her fingers are slick

her movement is smooth
for it’s not force that
holds a key

Please

The door has forgotten its duty to open

It’s grown into the wall
She shakes it awake
She urges the hinges to move

Creak,

anguished

held inside

so long

Curious

Once was a day like this,

once 

Poised

Once bloomed the blue cloves,

once

Ever-smiling

Once sang the cuckoo,

once
 

Gravedigger

*

Drops

By Senni Jokiniemi

Drip drop drip drip drop. 

Sunlight melting 

the last icicle. 

The drops landing 

on the ground 

feeding the waking hays and flower. 

Drip drop drip drip drop. 

Altering forms 

the tears of winter 

falling from trees 

everywhere around 

erasing the past and history, memory. 

Drip drop drip drip drop. 

Breaking mirror 

streams of emotion. 

Scattering the surface 

rain from the eyes. 

The eyes had searched and searched for their sun. 

Never saw one. 

Never found one. 

Might there be in the bottom of pond? 

Drip drop drip drip drop. 

The rope and rock are waiting, waiting. 

*

Untitled

By Emily Hallfast

He lies in the ground and
through his teeth he smiles

unease

as he looks in me

unease

moss in his hair he lies
uneasily
I watch as moss gathers
like clouds
on his forehead

shallow water
like clouds in my eyes

the moss gathers
him in its arms
it shall devour
moss never lies
it breathes
it gathers
me in its arms

I shall fear
not as
uneasy bones
shrug and stare

and he leads me to a dance
my hand in his
fingers
pointing
he steps
I shuffle
and we dance
from dusk to dusk
in shallow water
like clouds
drifting
he smiles through his teeth
gritting
grinning
through his teeth
earth grows
like brown grass

to devour
is to live

He looks at me.
I stare.

No more.

I whisper
thoughts into his head
no more.

*

Plea

By Piita Kiviaho



I am brown hare
mammalian instincts
fully awake
incapable
incompliant to change color
for winter or shorter periods

I am brown hair
soft pads
nose both sensible and sensitive
synthetic oppositions sprawl
I am nothing but perfect
then Chardin made me die

there must be something noble
to end up in a still life

I run and fly
follow the same routes as my famous white sister
tick tock
pretend to hurry
and show them your business is the most awesome
don’t tell them

you are in a search for desolation

*

Untitled

By Tuomas Taskinen

A stroll in town
facades, boundaries of privacy
hiding people lost in the net of limbs
and people to be stretchered
into yellow cars with a blinker on top

Library, high-ceilinged
a soothing maze
some girl with three books in her hand
books of poetry, I suppose
from the thinness of them

And outside
all that traffic noise
like a monster’s snore
awoken
by the shriek of an emergency vehicle

I retire to bed at nine
earplugs pushed into my ears
and in the window
thousands of specks of light
watch

*

Oh, the men of my yearning

By Susanne Harala



It started off as something beautiful
Bright, strong colors, warm and comforting sunsets
He was all that I had ever wanted, and oh, how I had dreamed of him

But nights grew colder, colors faded away
Green to yellow, yellow to orange, orange to brown
Brown to nothing
Like leaves, our life shattered

Black darkness surrounded us
Black darkness that came from within him
I submitted to his torturing will
I surrendered myself to his beating
He pushed me to the edge and over
to insignificance

And I wet the autumn with my tears

Bruised and driven over, I sought comfort
Winter came and relieved my pain with white, fluffy light
that seduced me into its embrace

He was my guardian
My friend, my brother
My secret lover

He is ruined though I saw no flaw in him
I was passionate to give myself to him
But while Winter offered softening snow
it could only hide the sorrows the Autumn had brought

Snow-covered world is beautiful and breathtaking

But snow-covered world is a betrayal
A friendship obliged me to give up Winter
My submission to Autumn forced my affections to die

Surrendering to torture is not forever
As snow melts the world awakens
The autumn must be beaten

From the sun I regained my strength
My times as a martyr were over
Without him realizing it, Spring came to my rescue
A man of only one night

I never told him how much I needed him

He got me to my breaking point
He opened my shackles
He rocked my subconscious
Left me wanting more

From the lack of regret I fought Autumn

Now, I wait for Summer
A man who knew everything there is to know about me
A man who fell in love in less than ten days
A man who remains a blissful memory of happiness

It was summer, a cliché
Warm air, longing beach, laughter and sundown
The happiest night of my existence
So sincere, so innocent
Like a myth

He was real but he seemed like a dream
The blissful memory of Summer