BY MASUMA BEGUM, SYRUS STARK, AND LIZBETH XOCHIMITL

1. Love’s Echo (Masuma)

Love’s a cliff’s edge

where blueberries grow

Two pins in a haystack

A voice whispering whirrr

Love’s an ever-changing cloud

a mother’s comforting word

a cherished embraceas the clock ticks and time licks 

I’m spent

Love’s life’s notebook

And endless trends

A journey with starts

but never an end

2. Love’s Layers (Lizbeth)

Today, Mother, oranges gleamed radiant colors

Tenderly, I dug my fingers beneath the leathery skin

Peeling away, as the scent perfumed the air for him

With grace, he licked the juices from the pulp

At that moment, my voice whirred

A lifetime of peeling oranges, yet none like this

Will his love pierce as pins, sharp and deceitful?

My dear, let your fears tumble off the cliff

For blueberries don’t peel in layers of skin

While oranges go ripe, so, too, the sweetness of our bond.

3. Love’s Game (Syrus)

In pixelated realms, voices clear

Blueberry potions, vanquish fear

Cliffs of quests, my character stands tall

Whirr, whispers the joystick, heed the call

Victory licks, like a mother’s sweet embrace

Needle-threaded storylines, a virtual chase

Fierce clouds approach, like shadows they loom,

In the gaming cosmos, dreams and realities bloom.