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Marie Boucher
Marie Boucher is Program Head in English at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She co-leads the annual International Poetry Week and monthly International Poetry Gatherings in Monterey. She has read at multiple venues in Monterey Bay, San Francisco, Fresno, and Santa Cruz. Marie has published in the Porter Gulch Review, Monterey Poetry Review, Solo Novo, Poet’s Choice and other anthologies. Marie is the Editor-in-Chief for Doves Born of Flames: Poems of Peace from Many Lands, a multilingual anthology (2025) and her upcoming collection Becoming River (2025) and chapbook, Peace for Palestine.
The Nature of Words
Words can be arrows---pointed straight
at the heart,
poisonous darts,
poking nerves,
salting wounds,
or they can be
Luminous butterflies
passing by,
inspiring love
miraculous things,
dreams and prayers
cocooning at night, waiting for flight.
Words are potent things
carried on tongues
stitched into tapestries
They can liberate, enslave,
or drive us to an early grave.
The most dangerous words are lies
We’ve been forced to swallow,
ones that burrow in our marrow,
fester and belie
our decency,
our humanity.
How dare we speak words
igniting change
unseating power
of those who’d rather blame
victims, banish voices,
so afraid are they of our rejoicing,
So, they stitch our mouths shut,
forbid us to speak,
lest they forgot
seeds they forced us
to swallow become vines
intertwined on walls
of our spines, gathering
longings and sorrows,
germinating in the dark
on wintry nights, ruminating on
every unspoken word,
til they burst through,
untangling vines of desire and survival,
unsilencing
words of belly, bowels, and lungs,
singing heartfelt songs unsung for the first time.
You can not suppress longings of lovers
humble prayers destined for
children and others
facing their oppressors.
You can not accuse butterflies of
unlawful liberation.
César Love
César Love is a social worker by day and a poet by night. A Latinx poet influenced by the Asian masters and a Bay Area native, César is also a co-editor of the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal and the author of two poetry collections, While Bees Sleep and Birthright. He is also the author of Baseball: An Astrological Sightline.
Trespasser Shoes
Shoes perfect for the fastest dance
Shoes so cool
Even jaywalkers swoon.
Shoes that scale barbed wire
Two taps and you’re invisible
To every cop and guard.
Shoes that violate the dress code
Shoes that never came in a box.
The shoes that skip over stairs
That short-circuit escalators
Three taps and you leap above
Foul lines, flag poles, border checkpoints.
Trespasser shoes
Polished with a darker shade of saint.
Hiding in your closet
Waiting to walk on water.
Trespasser Shoes
Versión al español: Fer de la Cruz
Idóneos zapatos para el baile más veloz,
tan chéveres
que incluso los peatones que cruzan carreteras acaban extasiados;
zapatos que trascienden las púas de los alambres:
dos golpes de tacón y te vuelves invisible
a los ojos de la migra y patrullas fronterizas;
zapatos desafiantes de códigos de ropa;
zapatos que no vienen en cajas de zapatos
y vuelan por encima de escaleras,
y que incluso provocan algún corto circuito
por la escalera eléctrica que esté sobrevolando:
tres golpes de tacón y ya trasciendes
interminables colas, astas de las banderas y retenes;
zapatos para entradas ilegales
boleados con oscura piel de santo
ocultos en tu clóset, en espera del momento
de caminar también sobre las aguas.
Rana Issa
Originally from Lebanon, Rana Issa moved to Monterey over two decades ago and has since dedicated her career to teaching Arabic, politics, history, and public policy at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, where she also served as Head of Arabic Language Studies. Her lifelong love of poetry—sparked by a poet uncle and deepened through years of teaching—led her to found the Arabic Poetry Group in 2018 and co-create the International Poetry Gathering in 2019. Since 2020, she has co-led the monthly International Poetry Gatherings in Monterey and co-founded the Global Villagers Community to foster cross-cultural connection and community engagement. Passionate about bringing people together, she continues to enliven the Monterey Peninsula with events celebrating art, language, and shared humanity.
Silver Black
On a one long route
A bird with no branch
A tree with no roots
A hill with no foot
A sea with no salt
A beach with no sand
A murder with no crows
A flower with no nectar
A hummingbird with no wings
She stands broken
land stolen
Dreams woken hbb
Families torn
Into the mist, not black, not white, her shimmers withered
