
Question-mark
By: Jordan Bar Eythan
Ask me, what we could have been if?
If we had one more night at that cheap motel, drunk from a bottle of rum?
If we had one more conversation with ourselves, trying to reason it out?
Or maybe, perhaps, if one of us had the courage to touch deep inside, and confess:
We have been more than friends this whole time.

Dance
By: Jordan Bar Eythan
Hands up, legs straight.
Chin forward, count to eight.
Swirl, spin, jump. It is simple as that.
Turn, ready, catch!
Look at me, I’m flying in the dark.
The pounding clocks of hell sounding like heartbeats miles away,
smile as he caresses my hair promising: “I’ll catch you, worry not.”
But as the song reaches its end, our eyes meet, and hands burn of touch.
Here it is again, that nostalgic smell of cigarettes and sweat;
Will the curtains be forever shut?
I leap, jump, the stage feels alive, the air dense but his eyes shine.
A tear drops, the audience clap, one dance and I feel like,
I have been touched for the very first time.

Speak!
By: Gabi Duvdevani
“Why don’t you speak during sex?”
I giggle. You’re serious, stripped of clothes and shame, observing me like a slightly-too-soft apple. (How do I even begin to talk about it…?)
“How do you tell men what you like?”
I try to melt into the mattress, drown out your questions.
“I don’t.”
“WHY?”
For the same reason a 4-year-old girl doesn’t count to 600. Because she can’t.
Or doesn’t know how. Maybe she did, once, when her big brothers showed her. When she felt safe, trusting no one would mock her for mixing up 6 & 9.
“You realize you’re fucked up, right?” Your naked eyes scorch me.
“Your voice isn’t a privilege for good boys only.”
My walls grew used to muffled sounds, expertly mixing pleasure with dread.
No one could ever tell.
“I wish… for someone who just knows. I won’t have to say a word.
No words, no shame, no awkwardness…” You’re appalled.
“Even your fantasy is on mute! Your dreamy mind-reader’s just an excuse to Forget how to speak. Remember: You have a voice. Please, use it.”

Chained
By: Daniel Niv
Ever since I met you
my words are chained to your name.
I hide you behind each metaphor I write,
behind meter and rhyme,
in the space between the lines.
Your touch is felt on every page,
your eyes are the inspiration
that moves my pen.
Can't you see
I'm bleeding all this ink?
Don’t you want to be more than poetry?

Silent Curtains
By: Danielle Madmon
We don’t touch anymore
we lie in the space between you and me.
two familiar faces
strangers as can be.
The ever-changing music
of the heart -
new memories take us farther from the start.
White oceans in our bed,
silent curtains,
tears are shed.
We don’t touch anymore
we lie in the space between you and me.
I dream of cappuccino on a porch in Italy,
while you're dreaming of salty waters
where the sun kisses the sea.

Ol’ Faithful
By: Zed Katsuyi
There's a shadow I must tell you about.
Perhaps it whistles in your ear when it's dark.
It observes your every move and rehearses your worst moments
time and time again.
It reeks deep into your nostrils with its presence,
surrounding you with its vile stench aura.
Its touch is the worst,
possessing and gripping tight
with its long and cold paralysing hands.
Hovering and freezing all to submission.
Burn that shadow with your passion,
light it with your desire,
bring your own special touch,
and face the heart of darkness.

Finger t i p s
By: Daniel Niv
Your touch reached
beyond
my skin, to everything
underneath.
I felt my soul
rising in me
and reaching to
my finger t i p s,
pushing them
to slowly caress
every inch
of you as well.
We only spoke
through our hands,
and their touch
meant
all the words
we never said.

Desire
By: Jenny Averkovsky
A desire has tortured my body for too many nights,
while my soul has always been searching for new heights.
Like a ray of sunlight he came to me,
warming my cold heart with his kiss.
Don’t deny me or my heart, let our naked souls make a promise, a vow:
“Teach me how to live in the light and in return, I will give you my heart.”
But the waves of life were stronger than our touch.
Hopeless, I was searching for the sun.
Only to find a lost treasure buried deep inside my heart.
Nobody’s touch will ever make me complete,
only self- love will fill the void with some peace.