Three Poems by Ann Christine Tabaka

 

Between the Lines 

 

Between the lines  

is where the truth resides. 

Beware - of unspoken words 

that lurk beneath the storm. 

Ever churning masses of deceit. 

There is nothing new this side of life. 

Love & Hate wage unending war. 

Broken-hearted / peace cries out. 

Thunder & lightning clash above, 

each desiring dominance. Reality is 

fleeting / it is smoke.  

Fingers - walk across pages of time. 

Light – filters through crevices of the past. 

Songs – trickle down betwixt forgotten desires. 

The truth struggles to survive,  

and silent rooms close their doors. 

 

 

 

Empty Words 

 

We tell what we know. 

We write what we feel. 

We expose who we are. 

Bare bones / dry to the touch. 

A chronicle with no beginning /no end. 

Many write a kindred story, 

but all use different words. 

Different circumstance & structure 

pave the way. 

Every day another word. 

Every week a line. 

Stanza by stanza months fly by, 

and still there is no poem. 

The book is done / writing complete, 

but hunger ensues. 

My words are left without a home 

 

 

 

Going in the Out 

 

You’ll never get over the under, 

or around the above & below. 
There is no way out of the in, 

or through the in-between. 

Tangled visions of imaginary thought, 

creep in to our every waking moment. 

 

Eye blinks abound with  

cautionary visions of dread.  

Arms of night wrap around emotions, 

swept under a rug of regret. 

Walls of indecision block our path. 

Worry & care guard our every movement.  

 

A trail of confusion leads us into the woods 

of unfocused desires. We try to walk away. 

There is no exit path. Up and down, 

all around, life feigns to go in circles. 

We cannot go in the out, or up the down, 

as we follow behind the go before.

 

Ann Christine Tabaka was nominated 4 times Pushcart Prize in Poetry; nominated for the 2023 Dwarf Stars Award of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association; winner of Spillwords Press 2020 Publication of the Year; selected as a Judge for the Soundwaves Poetry Contest of Northern Ireland 2023. Her bio is featured in the “Who’s Who of Emerging Writers 2020” and “2021,” published by Sweetycat Press. She is the author of 19 poetry books, and 1 short story book. She lives in Delaware, USA. She loves gardening and cooking.  Chris lives with her husband and four cats. Her most recent credits are: Sand Hills Literary Magazine, The Phoenix, Eclipse Lit, Streetcake Experimental Writing Magazine, Carolina Muse, Ephemeral Literary Review, The Elevation Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Tangled Locks Journal, Wild Roof Journal, The American Writers Review, Black Moon Magazine, Pacific Review, Pomona Valley Review, West Texas Literary Review.

*(a complete list of publications is available upon request)

  

Ann Christine Tabaka, Poet & Writer - Pushcart Prize in Poetry Nominee

Website: https://annchristinetabaka.com/