Everted

Solar eclipse from Lalibela. Taken by Nahome Tesfaye

He clenches his fist He sees the shape of his heart A shell it has become In it, he hears the ocean He feels life In the air In the sand Escaping his grasp Picture: Favim

The day I almost quit writing #1 “Daughter, read me your latest piece” My mother said “You know they say you are as good as your last work” she added Then I smiled Thinking of the last thing I wrote Nothing. “Does it hurt?” I asked She laughed, “What, death?” I nodded while looking around a cave she resided in That’s the thing about her She makes a home out of every place she goes to I can see she has made a home out of heaven Or even of dreams in this case “No, it doesn’t hurt at all” she assured me I looked around “Then why are you here all by yourself?” I asked again She shrugged “So, where is it, come on, read me your poems” She was desperate for a story Or just for anything Anything with feelings “They say you are as good as your last work” How good can nothing be? How good could a blank paper thrown across my room be? How good are my words I keep swallowing? How good is a dream neglected? I woke up I made a paper out of my palm and started to write “You are as good as your last work” they say I am still writing And I am as good as my notebook full of moments Mistakes Crossed out dreams As good as my pen which has run out of ink As good as my broken keyboard My tears My ceiling My walls And everything that says “I A poet was here”

When love arrives No, it won’t heal you It won’t hold your hands so you could walk through the tunnel all the way to the light But it sure will help you turn the grave yard in your heart into a garden It will sit with you by the other end of the tunnel, in the dark, and you two will sing your favorite song until the silence leaves the empty that has filled your soul When love arrives It won’t come barging in your room and open the curtains to allow the sun in Because sometimes you hide from the sun And love would just make you a fortress out of your bed When love arrives It will not wipe the bad memories out It will just move your eyes elsewhere so you could make new ones When love arrives There will be a conversation, Just not always with words When love arrives There will still be tears It will not fill in the gaps But the tears would roll down with purpose And you’ll be at peace with the space When love arrives No, you will not be saved You will not be free You will not be born again But You’ll move on You’ll take a step One foot after the other You’ll forgive yourself You’ll continue to live When love arrives It may not take the scar away But it would make a better use of your pain Like a content to a poem A muse to the brush A tune to a song Sleep to the eyes And a dream to the ceiling

AY - MIND Magazine coming soon @AYMIND

Our motto 'For the shunned and unheard, We mind' We stand for those whom the society have shunned because of their mental illness. We stand for those who speak out loud about their illness and mental health but had received a deaf ear in return. We strive to build a community that would accept mental health as equal as physical health. @AYMIND

Her mind is a house of wallpapers One life glued over another Image: Gina Soden

Those hands The beginning and the end of time Created me And so I am All life there was and will ever be Image: Kaleab Mihretu

Day and night The hands cry out Out of hunger Out of thirst Except the eyes The eyes beg for nothing But a moment of a lost childhood Art: Kaleab Mihretu

It's in the way she looks Not just with her eyes But with her whole body Art: Kaleab Mihretu

He lost so much in just one day And something broke inside him But no not his heart...

Breathe in.. Breathe out.... Breathe in.. Breathe out....... Does this count as self love? After all When the night comes Life goes on whether the eyes stay open Or should they close. Picture: Eyasu Setegn

He's on top of the world, Relatively. He's still at rock bottom within himself.

Sometimes I get this burning feeling in my heart to write. And it won’t go away until all is felt. I tell myself, “Not all there is within the heart, or the lump in the throat, or at the back of the mind is to be felt.” But some song plays on… “Wish that I could stay forever this young….not afraid to close my eyes….” The song plays on with or without my heart in it… “All this time I was finding myself….and I….didn’t know I was lost” Some days demand to be felt more than others. These days won’t go away whether you try to tune’em out with a good feel music, or if you chew louder, or hold your breath while racing against the water that runs down your face. These days demand to be written down, they demand to be sang, captured, and painted. And they won’t go away until felt. It won’t be easy. These days take this ticking bomb of a mind down a memory lane...until all that’s been cornered is once again felt. And the song plays on….with or without the in it “Ten more days till it’s over…till the darkness goes…and I see the light” These days would decide to come before your eyes all at once…and you’d remember…each by name. And each would demand to be felt. All at once. Does your heart have enough room for all the days your mind has locked away? Guilt would drive your heart to write these days some poems…or…songs And the world will call you a master of your craft…pain And the song would play on ….with or without your heart in it… “……broken arrows in the dark…..I see the hope in your eyes….” Some memories demand to be felt, just when you feel like those moments are long gone to be remembered. I have always said, Death is some event that keeps all kinds of life from happening at once But when these days come, All life there has been…there is…and all life there will ever be…would fall on your soul And the song would play on….this time with your soul in it…the song will play on “My soul is trying to cross an ocean…down on bended knee.” Not only will you remember every moment you’ve locked behind compartments of your subconscious But you will feel each You’d feel the birthday songs from when you were five You’d hear the lullabies You’d feel how warm those tears run down your cheek when you were seven You’d remember how you got the scars on your feet You’d remember walking for the first time You’d remember running to your mother’s open arms You’d remember when your heart first broke When it healed so it would break again You’d feel the first ache you hid You’d feel the tears you hid well with smiles and giggles You’d remember how tired you were when you made your bed after weeks You’d feel every strand of the hair you cut And every shade of dye You’d remember every moment that led to a tattoo instead of a scar You’d remember Until you forget all of it again Until the mind rushes these days back to holes It would lock them behind those walls and throw the keys in these ocean of eyes And the song would once again play on Without the heart in it “…..For a better day……” All quoted songs by : Avicii

Don't Forget! Today and Tomorrow is the biggest full moon of 2020 And pink will occur for a few hours Pink supermoon @Ethiocosmos