Umbra

Umbra A poetry chapbook by Lidia Almeida

Umbra A poetry chapbook Copyright © 2017 Lidia Almeida All Rights Reserved. Cover image by Ian Borukhovich Illustrations by Gledisy Trindade, Ian Borukhovich & Tomáš Božek https://medium.com/@lidiasalmeida by Lidia Almeida

Umbra Midnight moon So full of expectations And ready in a sense Never had I woken to someone Who'd also wake up to me Making tea For my strange ways For those times when We couldn't quite comprehend After all the truths How does real love really feel When it's real?

© Gledisy Trindade

Ahimsa Chess Lose your name child We run without a nation tonight No wars to fight Wombless mothers Nurse the dead land Waiting for a love Once stolen from their arms Seeds to be buried Somewhere else Somewhere dark Tonight they are rest We sow back their love To grow peace Into Earth’s chest

© Ian Borukhovich

A turtle poem for inspiration My best friend was a girl Of dark hair and banana smell I had my eyes still shut the morning she arrived And I never knew where from On the warm sand she lay by my side And I never knew why For our island asks no questions And neither do I She had a strange way of living Her halved days Unduly moving Secretly disquieted by the approximation of her last With questions to which I could not reply We were as young as we were blind Ignorant to the existence of time It went by. She went by. But the world is still to come And she will live long after I'm gone Written down. Harriet, are you happy now? What about now?

© Gledisy Trindade

27 Missed Calls Choked On the fragility of existence Silently drowning in innocence Unable to sleep since No food I can keep in Earthly tongues won’t set my thoughts free Whenever youth calls I let it ring Till the machine plays My egocentric will “Don’t waste your mistakes on me This body I grew (Only) To hold my heart still” Another one goes missing And I go missing with it.

© Gledisy Trindade & Ian Borukhovich

Watched myself Running down the street Naked, Black fur and thoughts Falling off my skin Roof for a playground And birds would tease me

© Tomáš Božek

Wide-eyed sky Counting office lights -Insomniac.