Evening of November 12, 2024

 


all the killing

we hit nine billion

anyway

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel




home of origin

our long-lost cat’s short return

for goodbyes

~A.J. Anwar




late night call

talking absentmindedly

in the present tense

~John Hawkhead




mascara tears

the only way is down

that same dark track

~John Hawkhead




paying cash

the weight

of change

~Joseph P. Wechselberger




the wounded pine weeps and the wind seems to know the woodpecker's intent

~Joseph P. Wechselberger




chill wind lapping water where my footprints are

~Joseph P. Wechselberger



melting hieroglyphs pointing out all my friends at risk

~Alan Summers




mother trees the saplings sugar-warn politicians

~Alan Summers




freedom the bedroom of democracy

~Keith Snow




default settings deferring to men

~Julie Bloss Kelsey




choosing the bear Goldilocks

~Julie Bloss Kelsey




given the choice between heartburn and micro-fractures

~Patrick Sweeney




bring me back to when Curly's mind was a blank

~Patrick Sweeney




all others the aliens

~Tejendra Sherchan




thinking in future perfect tense election day

~John Pappas




surveillance state all power to the peephole

~John Pappas




spitting out the ice cube something in my eye

~Mark Gilbert




in the wheelchair / free of blemishes / free of hair

~Mark Gilbert




sweeping generalisations under the carpet

~Mark Gilbert




new moon deciding if we dare

~John Pappas




sprinting for the train

something called

melting cheese

~Mark Gilbert




morning after election

my neighbor's flagpole

~bare

~John J. Dunphy




The Past


The three-letter word God, the five-letter

word night, the night in which I remain

offshore, the glass I stand in

the herringbone vest I button

the high room from which I go down

the door into a place where day and night are one.

~Peter Mladinic

 

Morning of November 9, 2024

 

 

ON A HOT SUMMER’S DAY IN THE CITY

 

Women look out

from upper floor

tenement windows,

elbows resting

on the sills,

eye-bags lolling

on their cheek-tops.

~John Grey



 

hero's journey

at least there's no line

for the loo

~Kelly Moyer



 

ground glass

the future as divined

by my crystal ball

~Kelly Moyer



 

wrinkly pumpkin

past its prime

election day

~Kimberly Kuchar



Recrudescence

 

...and he's back.

~Kimberly Kuchar


 

 

rustling leaves

i sow

my own seed sound

~Kelly Moyer




rolled oats awakening to the daily quaker message

~Kelly Moyer



GRIMM

 

In a fairy tale,

a giant rat devours a princess

and a prince’s eyes are blinded

by a witch’s claw.

The story frightens some kids,

enlightens others.

~John Grey




QUANDARIES

 

The first time

I ever got close to a butterfly

I didn’t know

whether to squash it between my fingers

or gasp, “How beautiful.”

 

Destroy or cherish?

Intervene or let be?

Quandaries come upon us all the time.

This is one of the more common ones.

~John Grey




lovers' embrace

the intimacy

in duck and cover

~Kelly Moyer




lodged in her gullet

a lone

kernel of truth

~Kelly Moyer




checking my carotids nature or nurture

~dan smith




solving

for y

lost love

~Kelly Moyer




the stealth

with which i inhabit this body

ninja skills

~Kelly Moyer




MOTHERHOOD FOR A MALE POET

 

Today,

I gave birth

to eight poems,

five naturally,

three by C-section.

Most were recently conceived

but one was kicking in my womb

for years.

~John Grey

 

 

 

Buy our merch:

https://www.zazzle.com/store/five_fleas

Afternoon of November 4, 2024

 

 

internet out(r)age

~petro c.k.




Dirty streets,

Looking for a savior

Shadowed nights

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




why do

you continue

to serve

overripe

undercooked

apologies?

~Keith Snow




off-strip motel

the flutter

of tattered curtains

~M. R. Pelletier




minivans

we haul more ass

than we used to

~M. R. Pelletier




Gen X'ed


all my punk friends

are dead

I sold out

by staying

alive

~petro c.k.




persona non grata


after

light

the

spots

still

visible

on

a

lantern

fly’s

wings

~Anthony Lusardi




carapace


cicada killer—

my summer youth

my fear of death

buzzing along this highway

until i reach the shoreline

~Anthony Lusardi




as election heats up the podium melts

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




election night

our bottle of champagne

unopened

~John J. Dunphy




barricades protecting voters from voters

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




morning after election

the ballroom's ceiling balloons

unreleased

~John J. Dunphy

 

Pushcart Prize (Poetry) 2025 Nominations

(Oct 27)


two quadrums


single bed.         single clap.

that buzzing        the ending

in my ear.                 of a life.


~Mark Gilbert




(Oct 24)


time travel

if only

i’d go back

a day

and keep

my mouth

shut


~Tom Blessing




(Oct 20)


unedited


I want to say love me


love my text,

consider converting


all the selfies

on my dating profile

to screenshots of poems.


~Kathryn Reese




(Oct 17)


A Man Called Toothbrush


bristles

at the thought

of death

ignorant

of the fact

Sylvia Plath

would never

write a poem

about him


~dan smith




(Sept 29)


preemptive


i leave my hand

open flat

on the mattress

so i don’t

wake up swinging


from the moon


~Kelly Moyer




(Sept 29)


Nothing.

And then

nothing,

but

in verse.


~Noah Berlatsky

 

Congratulations to these six talented itchy poets! 

 

 

Afternoon of November 2, 2024

 

14 stitches

the mysterious lure of

a nowhere tree

~A.J. Anwar




climate change—

worldwide snowflakes

seasonless

~A.J. Anwar




wooden labyrinth

3D-printed

coral reefs

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




Home


We lived in a ghetto.

In a chawl of our illusions,

in the mind’s megalopolis.

 

Our shanty was built

to be bulldozed.

~Sanjeev Sethi





refugee school

the now

of this woman's voice

~Maya Daneva




alone at the beach

there must be something

the moonlight wants

~Maya Daneva




queue for popcorn

a potbellied man keeps

pushing me ahead

~Tejendra Sherchan




Aren’t I Entitled


I’m an open book

though some pages here and there

are glued together

~John H. Dromey




frayed nerves

election day jitters

hauntingly
déjà vu

~Ruth Van Alstine




undecided

I consider unfriending

all undecideds

~Morag Elizabeth Humble




One day there will be…


One day there will be no sounds of suicides.

One day there will be a vast blue sky—

A perfect abode for the innocent.

One day they are all phoenixes with the sound of

First ever freedom.

~Partha Sarkar




paramedic sirens

I wonder

if

it would be

another sudden death

~Tuyet Van Do




chalky hand sprouting

from the ground

candlesnuff fungus

~Tuyet Van Do




Plot Development


write what you know

write what you think you know

make something up

~John H. Dromey

 

Evening of October 30, 2024

                                                       Flea swag available here

 

 

Halloween

I EARLY VOTED sticker on

a tombstone

~John J. Dunphy




I am

the merchant

of stars

~Tejendra Sherchan




as the bees dance

the moon

is pierced in two

~Melissa Dennison




Solitary Wanderer


as a ghost

what I miss the most

my shadow

~John H. Dromey




Old Hall

witches' marks

carved into the walls

~Kimberly Kuchar




birthday cake

still standing

cutting time

~Elliot Diamond




candlelight dinner

a swimming moth

in my soup bowl

~Bidyut Prabha




Sunlit river

No one can see you cry

Underwater

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




Misty leaves

Haunt the window

Days grow longer

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




just

beneath the surface

truth

~Jennifer Gurney




stepping into

the vast wilderness...

I meet myself

~Jennifer Gurney




I am depressed

so I walk the dog.

The dog feels better.

~Noah Berlatsky




he doesn't want to know the secret handshake anymore

~Patrick Sweeney




tripping over a sycamore root on the way to Cézanne's mountain

~Patrick Sweeney




once I wrote it down, the morning glory let me go

~Patrick Sweeney




he spent an inordinate amount of time on the subsidiary elements of his story

~Patrick Sweeney




when the plot is worth unraveling

~Patrick Sweeney




vanishing point the words unsaid around the conference room table

~Joshua St. Claire




our squares

in different circles

mockingbirds

~Joshua St. Claire




another acceptance

a little less afraid now

of dying

~Joshua St. Claire




unwashed

the hand that sewed

sequins on the stinkbug

~Kelly Moyer




a tuft of lint

drifts from my sock

namaste

~Kelly Moyer




needlework

i trade my yarn and canvas

for a voodoo doll

~Kelly Moyer




spitwads and airplanes

i contemplate

a career in physics

~Kelly Moyer




i write myself

as the protagonist

absurdist tales

~Kelly Moyer




chronic illness

fluffing the pillows

of my escape room

~Kelly Moyer




listen

~dan smith