“Skin Too Thick” by Fadrian Adrian Bartley

Fadrian Bartley is Jamaican creative writer, his poems appeared in various online journals and magazines including Pulsebeat and Gulmohur Quarterly, Fadrian focus in writing is based upon life, nature, and personalities; his inspiration comes from within.

A Word from the Author:

We all struggle with internal battles. and while most women find the courage to voiced their own opinions whether through poems, music, counseling, or so forth, men on the other hard overshadowed their soft spot beneath their thick skin, using behavior to express their emotion rather than using the tool of art, especially poetry, i feel the need to express through this poem that will speak to that reader on the same journey.


let us hold men in our hands to feel their rough edges between our fingers,

and massage their temper before we misunderstand.
let us submit our attention
and allow the moment to breathe,
so their inner voice will speak through puffing cigars. 
let us speak to them in silence

let them know that giants cannot crush the rain with bare hands.
or sweep away the river with their lashes.
let them feel comfortable to empty their soul
and release the clogged tunnel in their veins,
let them know that petals bleed when no one is looking.

Human Rights Art Festival

Tom Block is a playwright, author of five books, 20-year visual artist and producer of the International Human Rights Art Festival. His plays have been developed and produced at such venues as the Ensemble Studio Theater, HERE Arts Center, Dixon Place, Theater for the New City, IRT Theater, Theater at the 14th Street Y, Athena Theatre Company, Theater Row, A.R.T.-NY and many others.  He was the founding producer of the International Human Rights Art Festival (Dixon Place, NY, 2017), the Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival (2010) and a Research Fellow at DePaul University (2010). He has spoken about his ideas throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Turkey and the Middle East. For more information about his work, visit www.tomblock.com.

http://ihraf.org
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“Rippling Song Of Scars“ by Chinecherem Enujioke

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“Mr. Carter’s Women” by Ananda Kumar