Poem by Sana Tamreen Mohammed

Love (Hope) and War

You are me.
I am you.

I wipe a tear from
The back of my hand.
The tear lingered
In the corner of my eye,
Anticipating the fall.

You wiped out the
Nation with the back
Of your sterilized hand.
You dropped wrath,
I picked up pain.
You dropped pride,
I drenched in its rain.

World is now blinded
By the afterglow,
I walk as a shadow,
Often behind you,
Seldom by your side.

When the blinkers are
Removed from the bare
Eyes of the earth,
You will find me
Lingering in front of you.

I cease to be you,
I cease to be you.

Sana Tamreen Mohammed is a bilingual poet, a teacher who resides in West Bengal, India. She has been published in an online magazine, Indiaree and her work has also been translated by the magazine into four different languages. She was also featured in a radio show.

Stacy Esch lives and works in West Chester, Pennsylvania, teaching English at West Chester University. Digital art and photography are the twin passions that compete alongside her interest in writing, reading, songwriting, and gardening. She has previously published works in Ibbetson Street, Turkshead Review and wordriver literary review. She has produced cover art for chapbooks by Kenneth Pobo (Save My Place and Placemats) and her artwork is featured at Spruce Alley Press, where she published a colorful 2014 Calendar as well as distinctive illustrations for the chapbook, When The Light Turns Green.