ILA Magazine
Where Culture Meets Creativity
A Hallmark of Poetry
Featuring the poems of Tohm Bakelas
"porch rain"
beads of water pool
in the palm of my right hand -
the left holds nothing
"perspectives"
I extend my hand
a green dragonfly takes hold
we have become one
"the haunting truth"
when life is good, I think:
I will die someday
and I am afraid
"grey days"
waiting on change
like a broken pane of glass -
we splinter in the wind
"broken shadow"
lost wandering confused streets -
the sun forgot to
shine on me today
"the final line"
autumn breezes carry
dead leaves, dead names, dead love -
everything is, was
"on a scale of 1 - 10 how are you feeling?"
disconnected - my
body remains on the ground,
my head in the clouds
"I remember"
I watch a small child's balloon
float towards white clouds -
I watch a dream die
"epitaph for every poet"
death is not the end -
in life shadows plague the sun -
words ring forever
"repressed"
labyrinths shift and
awaken buried truths -
I walk dark twisted paths
BIO:
Tohm Bakelas is a social worker in a psychiatric hospital. He was born in New Jersey, resides there, and will die there. His poems have been printed widely in journals, zines, and online publications all over the world. He is the author of twenty-five chapbooks and several collections of poetry, including "Cleaning the Gutters of Hell" (Zeitgeist Press, 2023). He is the editor of Between Shadows Press.
A link for his books can be found on Zeitgeist Press More of Tohm Bakela's work can be read on his website at Tohm Bakela's Poetry
and follow him for great images and more poetry on Instagram