gloria

teaware hoarder

[inexcelsisd3o]

Train Ride to Eternity

I would get on the train every morning When darkness has not yet unveiled the day I can never pinpoint the moment That the gloom gives way to the golden rays

//

Sometimes I dream that I’m on a train, or Maybe it’s more fitting to say nightmare The memory of boarding has long faded The way ahead treacherous and unclear

//

Not sure if I’m going to school, to work To fail, to succeed, to live or to die. I just ride on and on, an endless track I’m afloat, what does it mean to arrive?

//

I can’t get off, or maybe I just won’t? Legs paralysed, as I speed past stations Can’t risk losing sight of my own mirage Being hurled off this ride is not an option

//

I would have this uneasy dream some nights But I just rinse and repeat each day. All the quickly vanishing city lights Keep this train ride to eternity at bay.

[expressions-of-nature]

by Ivana Djudic

[inexcelsisd3o]

Station

rows of dim white light

illuminate the tunnel, hazy

the icy dawn creeps into my bones.

//

i gaze across deserted platforms

monolithic white walls, towering

even my breath seems to echo.

//

on the walls are gills, air vents

that could inhale me whole but

they just hum a low, pious note.

//

the vibration awakens something

the harmonious call engulfs me

in the beast's cavernous stomach.

[levitann]

[inexcelsisd3o]

Compartmentalise

6:00 AM

the apartment buildings are divided

thousands of sleek, urban chic pieces

identical on the outside.

each shard refracts the sunlight differently;

they could be a happy family

a wealthy old businessman

a young freelance writer

a wanted criminal.

the stories never make it

out of the identical mahogany doors.

 //

7:00 AM

the bento is divided in four

each compartment filled meticulously.

red pickles in one

green seaweed in one

golden tamagoyaki in one

plain rice in the other.

nothing is allowed

to disrupt this small satisfaction.

 //

9:00 AM

The class is divided in three

Each row filled meticulously.

The bespectacled try-hards at the front

The chipper, pretty blondes in the middle

The inattentive football team at the back.

Nothing will ever

Break this unimportant pattern.

//

6:00 PM

the city is divided in two

by the highway flowing with peak hour traffic.

on one side there lives

calloused hands and threadbare coats

in broken windows and cracked roofs.

on the other side there lives

diamond manicures and designer poodles

in French windows and heated floors.

 //

8:00 PM

breathing the minty filtered oxygen

they speak of activism and aid for the poor

to the others that breathe the same air.

in the face of the old beggar on the street

blind and choking from fumes

their eyes are blank

searching for the empathy compartment.

 //

0:00 AM

do you ever tire of the dividers?

or do they set you on your path?

sometimes though, there is beauty

in the dissociation of parts

within a whole.

[inexcelsisd3o]

[inexcelsisd3o]

Garden of Memories

Hobbling past his blooming magnolias 

excited, walking stick gestured in air. 

He no longer needed it, he was young again 

reminiscing the army days with the other old man 

in this garden as the toddler gurgled happily.

 He swears it was the next winter she came, 

no longer a toddler. Sixteen, she said. 

Is Lee coming, he asked, two teacups steaming in the wind. 

She spoke. Old ears caught the word “dead”. He laughed. 

Lee always drops by. He knows he will.

 Like opening a faded yellow diary 

dainty wintersweets bloomed, snow dusted branches. 

A memory, a hazy sketch on an insignificant page 

Lee’s granddaughter. She doesn’t visit 

still, he knows she will.

Demolition is planned 

for the ivy covered, cracked apartment exterior. 

He forgot when he started growing it. 

someone will stop it 

he knows they will.

[inexcelsisd3o]

Sisters

Hollow and black 

eight legs lifeless 

out scuttles three 

each a miniature 

of the vehicle. 

Full of mother's 

flesh and blood, yet 

hungry for more. 

  Endless white plains

bleak, a tundra 

we felt ourselves 

vehicles of bone. 

Two's company 

three is a crowd. 

What use is bone 

with no flesh and blood? 

We do not share 

so I asked her 

lifeless carcass or a mirror? 

She charged, claws out 

razor fangs stung 

but I was fast. 

Finally, peace.

[beautifulklicks]

Tea with Veronica AlaPneuma

[inexcelsisd3o]

7:00

two or three mint leaves

a spoonful of optimism 

in your morning tea.

[inexcelsisd3o]

12:30

oozy cheese sandwich 

with a side of willpower 

you‘ve made it halfway.

[inexcelsisd3o]

19:00

hearty risotto 

sprinkle of calm, dash of ease 

time for unwinding. 

[inexcelsisd3o]

Ode to a Pineapple

A single formidable armour 

For an army of golden berries teamed 

To form a strong willed character. 

Spiky and unique, it is no sheep. 

  Though a necessity in salads 

As well as Mexican sweets, 

For pizza it is also a divine partner. 

Change my mind, I beseech. 

  After a few too many bits 

How my tongue does seeth, 

From its subtle acids 

That does moderation teach.

[inexcelsisd3o]

2.

I’ve never appreciated

the beauty of complimentary colours

until now.

The orange hue shades the suburbia

and my mind

as I remember 

how you looked in the dusk.

It intersects

and blends

with swirls of purple and violet

in the dusking, melancholy sky.

Glorious, muted and distant.

Soon the purple reigns.

-