Straightaway, the road that takes My deepest love to you, Henceforward now and evermore, The cobwebbed days are few; The spider in its web is lost, Its traps are blown away, The thin-edged lines I'd walked across Have sunk into the day; The years we knew in ages past Have vanished in the air, And I am free to love at last With all I have to share. The dawn is brighter than before - It leads the sun to shine Upon my love - so loving more Seems led by hands divine. The sunless gray, no longer gray, Its lines now neatly drawn; And things that held us back that day Are quartered now and gone. ~ For her ~ © Tom Kraft

BURGEON Beautiful dreams Uplifts our spirit Resilient every storm Glee our hearts with Eternal joy from heaven Onto the earth and Nations of the world. © Wilfred Ntui

B - inding love of unity and solidarity U - nderstanding one another, full of sincerity R - eaping the kindness with dignity G - iving and sharing is the key E - ndless love and care, to forgive ever ready O - ne happy family with unity and tenderness blooming N - othing to ask, it's more than God's blessings. © Nancy Gandeza

On November 17th, we offered a MONOSTICH challenge (not related to our usual Word of the Week) and chose two BEST ENTRIES out of a total of 40 entries. "Though she was not blessed with features of a beauty queen, her golden heart and charisma coupled with her great intelligence, made her a super nova in their community." © Dolores Lapinid "Positivity positively garners the fruit of grand final in life." © Ramesh Chandra Pradhani

On November 19th, ILA offered a Quatrain Challenge for our Word of the Week which was "Burgeon", and picked a poem as BEST ENTRY. Please read on. Amidst ripples on gurgling brook, meandering in dreams White lilies and lotus blooms in burgeon under sunbeams Pristine white swans an allegory of love Swimming with grace and divinity in their alcove. © Anjana Prasad 2021

BOWING TO KISS MY MOTHER'S HAIR IN THE SPRING AFTERNOON The calendar accidentally isn't just me December blows away thin days The wind whispers to the river many dreams and plans Looking back at the people who left the boat in the afternoon Wish to turn into a cauldron of adventure When you want to go home, you can fly back here In the afternoon, the sun is sad and sad Whose kitchen smoke waved Mr. Apple back to heaven Missing home at the end of the year...Mr. Tao returned to his hometown I'm in debt this year and next year... In the afternoon, the north wind crept through the door Everywhere you look, it's like home I know now that my motherland loves me The old wick moved and blew the straw around to his mother's side Mom misses me when I was a kid New Year's poor hometown loves new clothes mom sews Another thin calendar falling out of hand Take it slow the day goes slwoly Wind wave! Pay people sloppy let me go back...bow my head and kiss my mother's hair in the spring afternoon... SADNESS IS OO OLD Sunset closes in the afternoon a rainbow Where is the sun coming back but the sky is beating Green sad field Hoarsely listen to the wind and the separate song... The rain pours into the space a cool watercolor Can beat sadness Clouds don't want to trouble clothes Want to sleep naked next to the birds I suddenly realized I was old The guy last spring was also old Sometimes I want my own prayer Sunset/clouds/sunshine allies But the wharf is tight, but the heart of the sunset is too wide So the clouds of time chase samsara After sunset, I also wandered the curved bridge It's raining and it's also dusty and cool only me and afternoon. Back to the old sadness Nguyễn Thanh Hai graduated from Pedagogical University, Faculty of Primary Education. Member of the Association of Literature and Arts of Tien Giang Province (Vietnam), and currently working at the Education and Training Department of Cai Be District, Tien Giang Province. He has received many domestic awards and certificates of merit such as: First Prize of the 6th Mekong Delta Poetry Contest n 2020; Second Prize and Consolation Prize of the V Mekong Delta Poetry Competition in 2013; Second Prize in Dong Nai Poetry Contest 2020; Third Prize of the Poetry and Pens Competition in Ben Tre Province (2019-2020); Third Prize of the Lucbat Poetry Contest "Thousand Years of Vietnamese Souls" co-organized by website Lucbat, in collaboration with NUUOI CAO NEWSPAPER and VIETNAM POETRY of CLUB in 2011; Third prize in the poetry contest to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the complete Liberation of the South and the 30th Anniversary of National Renewal organized by the Literature and Arts Association of TIEN GIANG PROVINCE. And many, more awards... Published poetry collection: "Bowing to Pick up the Waves" (2013); "Season with Open Arms to Forgive the Return" (2020); "Tears do not lighten the Twilight Sky" (2020) Many works were printed in domestic and foreign newspapers and magazines such as Poetry Translated into English, Serbian, Uzebekistan, Mexico, Russia, Ukraine, Republic of Karakalpakstan, have been introduced and read by readers in various publications and foreign documents such as Association of World Writers (AWW); Pakistan's Sindh Courier Literary Review; Serbian website, Pokazivac; Anthology of English Poets Volume I, published by Coach Bahar Magazine Coach Bahar City, India; Turkish Literature Magazine; British Magazine, The Poet; Russian Demo God website; Literary Magazine, Nodirabegim of Uzbek; Poetry and Literature World Vision page of Bangladesh; Nepal's Offline Thinker Publisher and Stream from Mexican Radio (UMRO)

Call me a lunatic, I won't go. I don't want to leave like one Haven't traveled yet to my heart's content I wish I could fathom and explore Depth and intrigues of life Blatant intricacies that intertwine With life and turn mess out of it. Call me a lunatic, I won't go. Call me a lunatic, I won't go. I am not a fugitive that cherishes to tiptoe I deserve to be on the forefront And it is my duty My nature that calls me every time To be with you, sing and cherish The finer moments of being together I know you grin and cut jokes When I leave Call me a lunatic, I won't go. Call me a lunatic, I won't go. I am an itinerant being Stuck inside the concrete walls Made by some despots With brewed barren, barbaric rules In their furnace insecurities are baked And with them, brew the diffidence When words are uttered that fit their fatigues Extrinsic colours are painted over them I write 'coz I don't believe Call me a lunatic, I won't go. © Kawsar Khalil 2021

On November 23rd, 2021, we held a Challenge for our Word of the Week (Noetic) and applied to Tricube Poetry. Five Best Entries were chosen to be published here, on ILA Blog. A Tricube is a mathematical poem invented by Phillip Larrea, an American Poet and syndicated columnist. Each line contains 3 syllables, each stanza consists of 3 lines and each poem consists of 3 stanzas. We gave the option to poets to rhyme if desired. Head Over Heels Mysteries they make me noetic Poetry can make me euphoric It's your love that turns me ecstatic. © Don Luman-ag "Words that Weigh Pounds" Words like "I" seem like sighs, losing sounds. Words like "you" seem like few things around. Words like "trick, Noetic": They weigh pounds. © Walid Boureghda NOETIC Moon in sky Sail with me On my boat Trapped in love Sky lose moon Deep in thought. Noetic Quill finds sheave Caught in pain. © Anjana Prasad Time is good remembrance Noetic Love faded people bad remember I am good when I have self again. © Amb Maid Čorbić Synapses Creating Syntaxes Edginess Lies to me Sighs of grief Consumed plus Entombed by Gloom and doom © Wordsmith Alchemist Roman, a.k.a, Artist X (Justin Roman Cain)

On November 25, 2021, we offered a Free Verse (no word of the week, no challenge or prompt). ILA had a total of 37 entries and out of the 37, we chose five BEST ENTRIES to be published here, on the Blog. RESPITE IN QUESTIONS When the day is drawn in calculations You never know what numbers from Your life you play with. Choosing is always a part of a game; Acceptance is not learning blind fate. When a smile is to be added and Happiness is to be multiplied Drawing the curtains is unlike Disliking the moonlight from entering. That which surpasses is not always the Ignorance. It is better to seek widely The colors of arrival. Like the moonlight is hiding but Making the night spherical like the moon; Shapes and shadows are like The talk of the town. They claim the wordy metaphors For relief. The open heart is free When its chambers run In making new meanings to live. Something is sacred under the sky Raining with the uproar of Beholding mantras shared with Humanly values. Eyes are painted in abstraction When the learners seek respite In their questions. © Sushant Thapa RANDOM THOUGHTS I don't know if you've ever known such kind of feeling... since my birth, I have never really felt at home, as if I came from somewhere else, stranger in this world, my mind always toward the stars, I see details that most people do or don't want to see! I always withdraw from others to constantly observe and analyze what surrounds me. When the majority have fun in doing almost all the same things, in following the same road...something inside pushes me to do the opposite, to go against the flow of everything! I surf against the wind, being alone and facing myself, doing nothing, just thinking, seeing, feeling and living, makes me feel comfortable. This uncontrollable need to "alter the world" and this feeling of having a "mission" such as highly developed extra sensory capacities (clairvoyance, clairsentience, clairaudience, innate internal knowledge) and then this thirst to learn more and more, the desire to grow every second! Not to put up with injustice... Hypersensitive filled with empathy for all living beings in the world which is very hard to live in. I am sure that many of you here recognize themselves in this text, knowing that you are not alone, expressing yourself so that others too can hear your voice and in turn, seeing seeds which will germinate in the conscience. Do you still think you are alone in your corner? © Imen Melliti JOY OF BEING SOMEONE Who says she's too far away? Listen to the heartbeat Her happiness can be felt A voice that comes The songs you listen to Its lyrics bring messages The music that touches your soul Makes sense of her presence. The sky changes color A raindrop kisses your cheek A rainbow appears in your heart It's a pleasure to have someone For the one you like Words are like keys Soft as wax to enter the heart And heartbreaking arrows, too. © Farhan Anjum While wandering through these narrow nooks and streets, I see men of voyages, maybe abandoned by fate, but having hope for life and looking for purpose; As if these apartments talk, and their glamour never ends: Some call it void, I call it underground: Where everyone wants to survive. © Hanan Muzafar Let poetry be your camera Capturing each moment As lenses focus on life's risks With every random click, Emotions and thoughts are developed As the aperture welcomes light, We control life's colors coming into us As the shutter controls time duration of images, We find serenity with our ricocheted bygones As the image sensor decides the picture-quality, it is still us deciding the resolution Of our lives as zeroed in on clarity. © Sugar Zedna

On November 30th, 2021, we held a Word of the Week (Herald) Challenge for Initial End Poetry. An Initial poem rhymes at the beginning of a line and an End poem rhymes at the end of the line. In this challenge, we combined both with the rhyme scheme of the first words in each line in a pattern of ABAB and end words of each line also with a rhyme scheme of ABAB. ILA had a total of eighteen entries and we chose three, the poems below: Celebrate the sigh of winter Sealed are the voices of Bard Liberate the half-broken phrases bitter Veiled sorrows enjoy strong chord. Share what the herald whispers Forlorn spirits love to sing Wear nay the cloak of measured meters Newborn but needs a flexible wing. © Mushtaque B. Barq Only positive thought heralds happiness Love and peace and absolute joyance; Lonely thoughts lead to sheer distress Move the inner self to utter annoyance. © Safdar Bhatti HEED Heed to the herald voice that enlightens from above Embrace the revelation of the truth it brings Freed from the bondage of sins by God's redeeming love Grace that saves and changes the human heart joyfully sings. Now that Christmastime is fast approaching Remembering the Savior's birth in our hearts; let not depart Bow down our knees in humble adoration and thanksgiving Caring and loving as He loves us, the real message that we should impart. © Lyn B. Pastrana

A "Best Entry" chosen from a Monthly 'Visual Art' Prompt Challenge in November. The photographer of the Visual Art was by ILA's contributor, Carl Scharwath and the Best Entry poem by Don Luman-ag. Vibrating at high frequency like the sound of wind chimes slowly engulfing me As I meditate in restful solitude without distractions from the outside world Reverberations echoing across time and space Filling me deep within with pure calm and peace Resonating in my consciousness Harmonizing with the universe. © Don Luman-ag Photography by Contributing Editor, Carl Scharwath.

This beautifully written poem was chosen as BEST ENTRY for a November 10th Poetry Challenge with the theme, "If you could freeze time in one moment of your life, what would it be?" INDELIBLE The time when I had my heart broken, I thought it was indelible. It became a part of me that would never be forgotten - How I crumpled, How I stooped, How I desperately tried to heal... Yet time in its own pace, has its own way to repay all the tears, all the pain, all the dark nights, they crafted me like a sculpture. If time would ever be frozen, I'd choose now. How I healed, how I grew, how I bloomed like a flower, they all mean a lot now. I choose now, the happier, the better version of myself with the right person in my heart, I will keep this thing indelible. After all, love makes time stand still. © Lisa L. Penaflor