The Beautiful Space- A Journal of Mind, Art and Poetry
  • Home
  • About us
  • Poetry
  • Artwork & Photography
  • Submissions
  • Volunteer

Two poem- by Ahmad Al-Khatat

29/11/2018

0 Comments

 
What Will Remain

What will remain of me
today or the next coming year,
will it be worth a bird’s feather
The only grief in my bloodroot
is the sad song of nightingales
like a wedding with a mother in a picture frame
In this life I could live
foolishly and lost in problems
with a place in darkness to weep till I die
The tattooist of previous wars
asked me about my homeland
I told him that I was sold to the land of happiness
With a friend who broke my trust,
a woman who died before loving me,
And parents who denied my existence
What will remain of me, not
an expensive pen, but an
unreadable diary of the depths of my soul

​
Tears of The Sad Stars

The other day;
I wore my
Victorian suit
and I poured
myself a
cup of
English tea.
As I take
my first sip,
I saw a giant
Viking ship,
sinking quickly.
In seconds
everything
was calm
as if nothing
happened
but a flying
dragon was
eating the
cold moon.
Meanwhile
the cookie
monster was
eating the
cookies of
the kids
who died in the
Viking ship
my cup was
not filled with
tea instead
it was filled
with tears
of the
sad stars


(Ahmad Al-Khatat. He was born in Baghdad on May 8th. From Iraq, he came to Canada at the age of 10, the same age when he wrote my very first poem back in the year 2000. He also has been published in several press publications and anthologies all over the world. And he currently studies Political Sciences, at the Concordia University in Montreal. He recently have published his two chapbooks “The Bleeding Heart Poet” and “Love On The War’s Frontline”. With Alien Buddha Press. It is available for sale on Amazon. Most of his new and old poems are also available on his official page Bleeding Heart Poet Copyright on Facebook.)


0 Comments

Two poems- by Ryan Quinn Flanagan

22/11/2018

2 Comments

 
​PTSD # 7
 
Those are cluster
bombs in the street
I can’t forget the sound
and the screams
and racing down the stairs
and out onto the lawn
I find my childhood
friend Morgan
sitting there in shock
reaching for his legs
that aren’t there
anymore
and his dying
body grabs me
by the throat
begs me not to
leave him,
but I can hear
all the other screams
through the fog
and leave him to die
there alone,
the ultimate betrayal,
but I have to find
all the others.


2nd Stint
 
During my second stint
in the madhouse
I was in a semi-private room
at the hospital
on the sixth floor of 
Health Sciences North
with the cardiac ward just
above us
                       
and every evening
the incoming helicopters would shake
the windows as they landed on
the roof above
 
and a code blue
would go over the hospital
loudspeaker
so that I knew someone was dying
right there on the slab
each night
 
less than thirty feet
above me
 
while the nurses snowed my roommate
with Trazodone
and waited for me
to get better or
kill myself
 
charting bowel movements
and fixations as they do
when the sane are still looking
to separate themselves
from the pack.
 

( Ryan Quinn Flanagan is a Canadian-born author residing in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada with his wife and many bears that rifle through his garbage.  His work can be found both in print and online in such places as: Evergreen Review, The New York Quarterly, Word Riot, Anti-Heroin Chic, In Between Hangovers, Red Fez, Horror Sleaze Trash, and Your One Phone Call.)

 

2 Comments

Two poems- by TAK Erzinger

15/11/2018

0 Comments

 
Boundary Survey
 
The psychologists have been told to survey my psyche.
They’re trying to see if my mind is a mountain range
 
full of jagged precipices or a desert, bare boned and dry.
They begin topographically, looking at the contours of my landscape,
 
the existing features, the surface of my earth.
They need to scale its territory to see if it’s flat like the
 
soles of my shoe or round like a helium balloon straining to escape
behind the clouds. They’ve been ordered to map out the places unknown.
 
They want to know if the visible network of roads leads to the eye of
the storm, is there still a buildable base there?
 
There is a place they will never be able to access.
At night, the sweat hangs around my forehead, a crown of pearls,
 
my eyes are wide shut and filled with sand and I become your princess again.
I meet you there at the surf’s edge. We chase crabs on the beach and you
 
teach me about the stars. The only bottles in sight are the ones filled
with messages we launch into the ocean.
 
In the morning, I taste the salt on my cheeks and they’ll think it’s from tears.
They’ll never be able to reach the outer banks of that place.
 
I don’t want it to go into their draft.
Certain terrains are required to be left alone.
 
 
Wanderweg
 
A call to the trail, away from the trajectory of a therapist’s chair.
An awakening. Slivers of sunlight peek into an unfinished dream.
 
A call to the living, “Step outside!”
 
A crash to the bottom now requires a slow crawl back to the top,
a task set at hand, to get moving, start walking.
 
A call to the wild.
 
To wander within it with hopes of wandering away from
an invisible illness that’s screaming to escape.
 
Standing alone above the horizon, patchwork hills roll
into mismatched greens opening my heart to change.
 
An invitation from the wind, a call to post-illness instead
of post-traumatic, a welcome to post-despair from a friendly sky.
 
It embraces me like a plush pullover its sunbeams fall
upon my cheeks like golden fingers and dry away my tears.
 
A march towards a path reaching out to me through generations,
worn down by those seeking penance.
 
Contrition. Walking into the woods, up through the hills
around the mountains, above the lakes, through the sleepy villages
 
in hopes of shedding this second skin of singular sadness.
 
Not      a         choice,             but       a          scar.
 
As I pass the lake’s edge I imagine I’m the water
supporting the sailboats, the burden placed upon my back and
 
the buoyancy of those troubles forced up again and again, like the force
keeping the boats afloat, normalcy slipping between my fingertips.
 
Yet, here I am amid the trees, marching upon the path to recovery,
learning to let go, to just be in that moment in time,
 
embracing forgiveness between the rustle of the leaves and the march of my feet.


( TAK Erzinger is an American/Swiss poet and artist. She is also an English teacher who earned a BA in English from Boston University and her English teaching certification from the University of Cambridge. Her poems have been published in various anthologies. Her first poetry collection entitled Water Songs was published by The Origami Poetry Project (USA). Her poems and other writings have been featured by Harness Magazine, Mojave He[art] Review, Hello Switzerland and Wombyin to name a few. At the end of 2016 she suffered a nervous break-down and was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), ever since then nature, writing and art have been accompanying her through the recovery process. Last summer, as part of this process she began walking through Switzerland on the St. Jacob’s Way. She lives in a valley between the Swiss Alps with her husband and two cats.) 

 

0 Comments

Three poems-by Ann Christine Tabaka

8/11/2018

0 Comments

 
Missing in Action
 
Another moment passes
as if it did not exist.
Vanished from time eternal,
the past is but a dream.
 
Did I walk those fields of green,
or touch that ancient ruin,
one wonders, questioning sanity.
Looking back at images,
was I really there?
 
Remains of glorious vacations,
now filed in boxes on a shelf.
Glimpses of a distant yesterday,
fragment then coalesce.
 
Trees no longer climbed,
except in one’s own mind.
Memories of past events,
now just wandering illusions.
 
Fleeting emotions grasp at
obscure bits of recognition,
while trying to capture shadows,
evaporating in front of me.
 
The past so quickly fades
as reality takes over,
for all we really ever have
is this present moment.
 
 
Lost Pleasantries 
 
It very well may be …
If you allow me …
The politeness of words continue.
 
A riddle, a game.
They are all the same.
We have not come so far.
 
Is the answer the question,
or the question a ruse?
 
We all abide our time.
There is no reason or rhyme.
 
In the beginning,
the end is near,
yet that is what we all fear
 
The page, dog-eared and marked,
turned so gingerly.
 
The journey on which we embark,
Is not for all to see.
 
And, words once so polite,
now crumpled on the floor,
 
while correctness and etiquette
go flying out the door.  
 

​Rapture
 
Delicate fragrance of life,
plucked before it is ripe.
 
I cannot live beyond this
realm, where moonlight
dances, and swallows
speak in hushed whispers.
 
Stars sing to lost loves
and sheltered fears.
Caressed by wind
and washed by rain.
 
I once loved in the real world,
before falling from the sky
into your arms.
 
No longer with the living,
I find myself in a place of
dreams and expectations,
where reality does not exist.

( Ann Christine Tabaka has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry, has been internationally published, and won poetry awards from numerous publications.)

0 Comments

Home as a story- a poem by Cristina Leone

1/11/2018

0 Comments

 
Home as a story
 
I close my eyes and we are standing enveloped
by forest in the late afternoon.
 
The trees are singing
of a melancholy more crisp
and a warmth more wistful
than anything resembling
truth,
 
but this is a salve for something unfixable
 
so I meet your eyes and let sleeping dogs lie.
(You whisper sweet nothings
to lull them to sleep.)
And the leaves do not know
they should be hanging at half-mast
but the long grass raises its hackles,
warns us never to tell them,
so they dance on.
The sun gleams gold and the branches
sweep skyward - a flying buttress
for the cathedral you've built
in the palm of your hand.
 
Perhaps this haven
is where you found refuge from that wild edge
that would creep into your clear, steady voice even then
until you learnt to quell it with the gentle dexterity
of an ancient craftsman
wise in the ways of forgetting.
 
And at some point I realize what I've always known
 
that there is nothing whimsical
about this magic. This is intentional, now, to stir
the most painful complexities with the lightest
of possible touches, this
is beauty last, and first
it is survival.
 
Still murmuring lies to the sun-dappled soil,
you close your eyes. And I wonder what you see.
 

(Cristina Leone is a cognitive science nerd who also sometimes likes to write)
 

0 Comments
    Picture

    The Beautiful Space-
    ​A  Journal of Mind, Art and Poetry.


    1. This is your literary journal to publish your unpublished poems and artwork related to themes of the mind, the body, the soul, mental health, health, healing, illness and the brain.   
    ​
    2. We may occasionally accept work not related to above themes as long as it is of good quality and relevant to our project.

    ​3. We aim to publish work of one author every week depending upon the rate of submissions and quality of work.
    ​
    ​4. We publish work of both established and new writers.

    5. All submissions will be subject to peer review before accepting for publication. We will contact you ( within 8-12 weeks) only if we decide to publish your work.
    ​

    Submit Poems, Artwork, and Blogs
    1. You can submit your poems ( max 50 lines, up to three poems at a time, all in one document), & Artwork.

    2. We are happy to publish anonymous work as well as stories if you choose to as long as we hold your details in our records.

    3. All submissions should be your own unpublished original work.

    4. All submissions will be reviewed before accepting for the publication. Decision of our reviewing team will be final.

    5. Please send all your work as one Microsoft word document file, align to left of the page and font 12 Times New Roman with your details to the following email​.

    ​6. Please also include one sentence personal bio you would like to be published with your work

    ​thebeautifulspace@gmail.com

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016

    Categories

    All
    2020- A Poem By Javed Alam
    7 Days After My Sister’s Death- A Poem By Richard Vargas
    7 Days After My Sister’s Death- A Poem By Richard Vargas
    9/11- A Poem By Peter Mladinic
    ACTIVE OPTIONS- A Poem By Maureen Sangster
    A Dry Mournful Tune- A Poem By Sy Roth
    A Labyrinth Of Strangers-a Poem By Howard Brown
    All I Ever- A Poem By Tia Reiser
    Alone Again As Before- A Poem By Yash Seyedbagheri
    A Minor Distraction- A Poem By Bruce McRae
    Anxiety-a Poem By Hazel Ryder
    Apathetic Ennui- A Poem By Emily Mulligan
    A Poem By Vincent Zepp
    Artwork By Sherri Porrit
    Artwork By Zahra Aghayan
    A Time To Seek- A Poem By Scott Thomas Outlar
    A Train To Somewhere- A Poem By Linda Imbler
    Bare Bones Reality- A Poem By C. B. Buckner
    Behind The Wheel-a Poem By John Patrick Robbin
    Between Us- A Poem By Johann
    Bird In The Wire
    Breaking Free
    Bumper Sticker- A Poem By Matt Borczon
    Catching Myself- A Poem By Kitty Donnelly
    Clinic- A Poem By Henry Bladon
    Couldn't Be Written Or Worn- A Poem By Uzomah Ugwu
    Cry For Help
    Curved Waters- A Poem By Dr Maureen Shyamala Rajamoney
    Dancing On Waves- A Poem By Karim Harvey
    Deliverance- A Poem By Paula Matthews
    Dissociated- A Poem By Matthew Borczon
    Edge Of The Cliff- A Poem By Andrew Scott
    Emergency Room- A Poem By Dr Mudasir Firdosi
    Escape- A Poem By Amit Parmessur
    Fear Cycle- A Poem By Katie Lewington
    Field- A Poem By Rosie Woods
    First Real Spring Day Without You- A Poem By Denise Thompson-Slaughter
    Gentle As Water- A Poem By Marcus Severns
    Heal The World In Love-an Essay By Linda M Crate
    Heartache
    HERMAN MELVILLE DECIDES ON THE COLOR OF HIS WHALE- A Poem By Richard Holinger
    Home As A Story- A Poem By Cristina Leone
    How To NOT Manage Mental Illness-a Poem By Javed Alam
    Interrupted- A Poem By Sarah Henry
    It Had That Swing- A Poem By Ed Ahern
    It’s A Beautiful Drive On Highway 14- A Poem By Danny P. Barbare
    Julie- A Poem By Paul Warren
    Kaleidoscope Brain- A Poem By Rebecca Carley
    Leaving Me With A Years’ Worth Of Writing- A Poem By David Elvis Gale
    Letting Go (so You Can Just Fall Asleep)- A Poem By Melanie Browne
    Life
    Life And Death And In-between Moments- A Poem By Sunil Sharma
    Life Was A Phoenix- A Poem By David Grigorian
    Loss- A Poem By Louis Kasatkin
    Lost And Found- A Poem By Siri Espy
    Luisa Maria- A Poem By Caroline Am Bergris
    Maintenance- A Poem By James Penha
    Major Depressive Disorder- A Poem By Ryan Quinn Flanagan
    Moon Paper- A Poem By James Diaz
    Mournful Tune- A Poem By Sy Roth
    My Bell Jar- A Poem By Marc Darnell
    My Heart Leaps Up- A Poem By Rajnish Mishra
    Neocortex- A Poem By Dr. Jennifer Wolkin
    Night
    Once Upon A Time
    On The Way-a Poem By Chani Zwibel
    Opinions Are Like- A Poem By John Patrick Robbins
    Our Family Closet- A Poem By Joan McNerney
    Painting Of A Farm
    Panic Attack Protocol- A Poem By David Icenogle
    Parkinson's- A Poem By Louis Kasatkin
    Patience
    Phantom Hand- A Poem By Bruce McRae
    Praised Be The God Of Cats:-a Poem By Rosie Woods
    Psych Ward- A Poem By Regina Elliott
    PTSD-a Poem By Ryan Quinn Flanagan
    Releasing-a Poem By Allison Grayhurst
    Road Trip-a Poem By A.Clifton
    Rugby- A Poem By A. Clifton
    Sam's Mystique-a Poem By Linda Imbler
    Second Round Of Chemo- A Poem By Bruce Spang
    She Walked Out On Me Two Weeks Ago
    Shoegazers's Dreams Of Snow:Clad Sanity-a Poem By Sudeep Adhikari
    Silent Chaos- A Poem By Megha Sood
    Social Isolation – What’s The Alternative?- An Essay By Sultana Raza
    Social Isolation – What’s The Alternative?- An Essay By Sultana Raza
    Social Media Girl- A Poem By Lauren Martyn
    Something Like A Wheel- A Poem By Alice Smith
    Soul Mate
    Stagnant Puddles- A Poem By Tohm Bakelas
    Survivor- A Poem By Lynn White
    Sustained- A Poem By Ford Dagenham
    The Bouncy Ball Man’s Bi-polar Journey- A Poem By Linda Imbler
    The Bread Shop- A Poem By Vivien Yap
    The Celestial Stardust- A Poem By Thomas Patrick Hywel Williams
    The Craft- A Poem By Keith Landrum
    The Fire Of Reunion-a Poem By Abu Zayd
    The Forgotten Life Of Velma Evans- A Poem By Linda Imbler
    ​The Fragrant Face Of The Rainbow- A Poem By Hongri Yuan
    ​The Fragrant Face Of The Rainbow- A Poem By Hongri Yuan
    The Inlay Work On The Left Side Of The Brain- A Poem By Winston Plowes
    The Masquerade- A Prose Poem By Abu Zayd
    The New Room- A Poem By Gwil James Thomas
    There Is Bliss- A Poem By Jeremy Gadd
    There’s No Place Like Home- A Poem By Mike L. Nichols
    There’s No Place Like Home- A Poem By Mike L. Nichols
    The Small Dance- A Poem By Paul Brucker
    The Struggle Beyond Life
    The Wall-a Poem By Levi Mericle
    The Wild Blueberries- A Poem By Caroline James
    They Have Flown- A Poem By Thasia Anne
    Thinking Outside [BOXES]- A Poem By Allan Lake
    Third Generation- A Poem By Robin DeFrance
    Three Poems By Ahmad Al-Khatat
    Three Poems By Alice Smith
    Three Poems-by Ann Christine Tabaka
    Three Poems By Austin Vertesch
    Three Poems By Barbara D’Emilio
    Three Poems By Barbara D’Emilio
    Three Poems By Brian Rihlmann
    Three Poems By Carol Alena Aronoff
    Three Poems By Ceinwen E Cariad Haydon
    Three Poems By Charlie Brice
    Three Poems By Damion Hamilton
    Three Poems By Eduard Schmidt-Zorner
    Three Poems By Edward Lee
    Three Poems By Gary Glauber
    Three Poems By Glen Armstrong
    Three Poems - By John D Robinson
    Three Poems By KD Williams
    Three Poems-by Kitty Donnelly
    Three Poems By Linda Stevenson
    Three Poems By Mark A. Murphy
    Three Poems By Maryam El-Shall
    Three Poems By M. J. Arcangelini
    Three Poems By Rajnish Mishra
    Three Poems By RM Yager
    Three Poems By Ruth Asch
    Three Poems - By Ryan Quinn Flanagan
    Three Poems By Samuel W. James
    Three Poems By Saoirse Love
    Three Poems By Sharon Thompson
    Three Poems By Sophia Falco
    Three Poems By Yuan Hongri (Translated By Manu Mangattu)
    Tile Art Work
    Treating Depression- A Poem By Javed Latoo
    Two Poem- By Ahmad Al-Khatat
    Two Poems-by Adam Levon Brown
    Two Poems By Ahmad Al-Khatat
    Two Poems- By Ahmad Al-Khatat
    Two Poems By Anthony Crutcher
    Two Poems By Asper Blurry
    Two Poems By Cemile Kabadayi
    Two Poems By Claire Unis
    Two Poems By Craig Snelgrove
    Two Poems -by Darren C. Demaree
    Two Poems By David Dephy
    Two Poems By E. Martin Pedersen
    Two Poems - By Gale Acuff
    Two Poems By Gerard Sarnat
    Two Poems By Hongri Yuan -Translated By Yuanbing Zhang
    Two Poems By Howard Brown
    Two Poems- By Howard Brown
    Two Poems By Jacqueline Jules
    Two Poems- By Jeevan Bhagwat
    Two Poems By Jeri Thompson
    Two Poems- By Joe Lynch
    Two Poems By Keziah Spaine
    Two Poems By Kirsty A. Niven
    Two Poems-by Kristy Keller
    Two Poems By Laura Slack
    Two Poems By Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad
    Two Poems- By Rajnish Mishra
    Two Poems By Ryan Quinn Flanagan
    Two Poems- By Ryan Quinn Flanagan
    Two Poems By Sarah Losner
    Two Poems- By Scott Thomas Outlar
    Two Poems By Serafina Valenzuela
    Two Poems- By Sheikha A.
    Two Poems By Steve Carter
    Two Poems By Subhaga Crystal Bacon
    Two Poems -by Sunil Sharma
    Two Poems By TAK Erzinger
    Two Poems- By TAK Erzinger
    Two Poems By Tapeshwar Prasad
    Two Poems By Thomas Zimmerman
    Two Poems By Timothy Resau
    Two Poems By Tom JF Wood
    Two Poems By Vivian Wagner
    Two Poems By Wendy Gabriel
    Two Poems By Wolfie
    Urban Oasis- A Poem By Geri Owens
    Visiting Time
    Waking To Darkness-a Poem By Michael H. Brownstein
    What's In A Name? By Kiranjeet Chaturvedi
    When Lightning Touches The Ground- A Poem By Michelle Chacon
    Where I'm From- A Poem By Carolyn Licht
    Yet Another Encore- A Poem By Ronald Finn
    Your Eyes A Beauty To Behold! - A Poem By Samuel Abonyo

    RSS Feed

Copyright@ The Beautiful Space- A Journal of Mind, Art & Poetry  2018
  • Home
  • About us
  • Poetry
  • Artwork & Photography
  • Submissions
  • Volunteer