TURIYA LITERARY REVIEW
TLR Issue 1-Spring 2026
THE PAIR OF YOU
So you are welcoming me back?
Say you will
You have not feared well.
You are smiling
Welcoming me back may not be ideal for you.
I may malign your name.
Tell truths about you.
Your lines are uneven. You have gained a great deal of scars.
I feel for you
Feeling nothing for you does me well.
Adoring you was my downfall.
I was ready, but you didn’t
even see me.
I grabbed you, held you close.
She too is the belly of the beast.
The both of you failed me.
Clear your eyes, the fog is thick with misgivings.
You dare to show the beauty, the calm, the coming of a new day.
My heart is full and so is my life.
I digress
You knew
You knew you had to send me away.
I see the half smile, the shine in your windows.
Your new side chicks are gorgeous.
She across the bridge needs to know I forgive you both.
She did well, She held them off.
Her twins fell to ruin.
She lost them, but she stood her ground and yours.
She still mourns her sons and daughters.
But look how beautiful you are.
All your lights glittering about
Making away for sweet happiness and monstrous dreams of fame.
The heartbreak,
You adjourned us with a power so fierce.
You speak to us with a whisper of love.
You lead us into a world of beautiful mischief
You are wicked,
But you love in way that cannot be explained.
I won’t be back.
My youth is gone
I do think about you sometimes.
The sound of the horns blowing, the shaking of the trains,
Yelling out for a sweet corn beef sandwich,
The writing on the walls, the smell of pizza and the steam puffing out of the street vents.
Amazing
I see the first light squeezing through your tall , tight loins.
You smiling at me again?
You should
You breathe easy when your
Minions all had gone to their
slumber.
The calm has you strong and powerful.
Like you should be.
Closure is good
Please remember you were my first.
About
Geraldine Elizabeth Walker Jenkins is one of the founding members of Writers Who Write (WWW) of Colleton County of South Carolina. Her first book “Eating Pig Feet in the Dark” is a touching memoir seeped in reflections of growing up in the deep-rooted history of the Gullah Geechee culture while living in the Lowcountry. Her works have appeared in the anthology, “What’s Under Your Skin?” Geraldine started writing at a very young age. She felt it was the only way to express how life was treating her. When she is not writing Geraldine loves putting colors together and making quilts her own way. She calls herself the “The Quilt Poet.” Geraldine lives in Walterboro, South Carolina.
