Both pieces are emblematic of the passion of living, creating, and being. What has you on fire?

Poetry of My Heart by Penny Wilson

The poetry  
of my heart  
spills  
onto the page  

in blue ink  
and fervent sighs  

The poetry  
of my heart  
is written  
on the wings  
of dreams  

and nights  
of longing  

The poetry  
of my heart 
negate shadows  
of terrors 

not voiced  

The poetry  
of my heart  
stands tall  
against  
this  
world

Dia de los muertos by Candice Louisa Daquin 

People told me to avoid you 

said you had teeth like a demon 

eyes with no good intention 

I liked how wolfish you looked 

without scruples or goodness 

it turned me on 

see, I had nothing left 

except the desire to burn out 

fast and hot like a candle without sufficient wick 

wax pouring over the table 

a great bloody mess 

reminding me of the time you 

bent me over that same table 

and carving my legs apart in your insistence 

we’d live forever if we kept dying 

a little death wrapped in roses 

those days seem distant now 

I haven’t been sexed on a table in 

a very long time, I don’t burn 

candles much, fearing fire 

when really 

I ought to be flinging windows open in redress 

in the midst of a hot flash 

tell the world to burn me 

reduce me until I’m unrecognizable 

and laughing in my ashen dance 

there on the table, driven into highways of wax 

dripping on the floor 

leaving a great bloody mess 

live in the face of death 

in the way of the young 

those who have yet to build pyres of fear 

live unencumbered 

sexing on tables, hot with longing 

with tongues that taste no ash 

no day of dying soon