Me
By Antje Bothin
’Poor wee Isla’
People often say
Harsh and coldly
But it’s me
Something ate my voice
Left me so lost
Invisible like foul breath
Still me
I’m a sweet wee girl
Alone in this cocoon
Locked away
Why me?
I want help
But how can I speak up?
Nobody feels the demons
Like me
The thunder of revolution
Roaring in my mind
Change the world first
Not me
Surely there are others
Whose hearts are ripped apart
They will come forward
With me
The thunder of revolution
Roaring in our minds
Change the world first
Not us
Antje Bothin loves writing and her poems have been published in several international anthologies, poetry magazines and e-zines. Her poetry appeared in Hannie Rouweler’s fantastic showcase of international female poets ’The sea belongs to 1000 voices’ and her wonderful poem ’Voices’ received a special mention in a review by Jernail Singh Anand from India. She contributed to a charitable book created by Scottish author Miller Caldwell called ’Penned Poetry for Parkinson’s Research’. Her brilliant poetry is also featured in a contemporary anthology edited by Scottish poet Fin Hall called ‘Blotters’ Jotters’ and in the Taj Mahal anthology edited by Sourav Sarkar as well as in an anthology about ancient Greek gods by Rewritten Realms with the title of ’Immortal Hymns’. She has a passion for writing poetry about nature and wellbeing and published amazing poems in magazines such as ‘The Globe Review’, ’Friday Flash Fiction’ and ‘Flash Fiction North’. She has authored an inspirational novel about a treasure hunt in Iceland featuring a young adult character with Selective Mutism (SM) called ‘Annika and the Treasure of Iceland’. When not being creative, she can be found doing voluntary work in nature or drinking tea.
Artwork Source: “The one who knows the meaning of words,” Irina Tall
Artist Statement: Since 2021 I have been making small cards. This work is from a series dedicated to letters and words… With this work I wanted to show that letters are not just some graphic symbols that we see, but something that can hide a word, and this secret must be revealed like a large box with many gifts.
Materials: ink, paper
Size: 10×15 cm
Year: 2023
Irina Tall (Novikova) is an artist, graphic artist, illustrator. She graduated from the State Academy of Slavic Cultures with a degree in art, and also has a bachelor’s degree in design. The first personal exhibition “My soul is like a wild hawk” (2002) was held in the museum of Maxim Bagdanovich. In her works, she raises themes of ecology, in 2005 she devoted a series of works to the Chernobyl disaster, draws on anti-war topics. The first big series she drew was The Red Book, dedicated to rare and endangered species of animals and birds. Writes fairy tales and poems, illustrates short stories. She draws various fantastic creatures: unicorns, animals with human faces, she especially likes the image of a man – a bird – Siren. In 2020, she took part in Poznań Art Week. Her work has been published in magazines: Gupsophila, Harpy Hybrid Review, Little Literary Living Room and others. In 2022, her short story was included in the collection “The 50 Best Short Stories”, and her poem was published in the collection of poetry “The wonders of winter”.
The Turning Leaf Journal 