Afternoon of October 17, 2024

 


chronologically displaced the now of her body

~Vijay Prasad




A Bare Leaf


All the ants have our backs.

The giants without speech wouldn’t

Dare squash us now.

~Dominik Slusarczyk




Harsh words follow tears

Objects fly smashing down hard

A fly on the wall

~Jiel Narvekar




our yule log

flames consume

the 1990s

~John J. Dunphy




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




late-night thoughts

scratching at the walls

of my skull

~Nalini Shetty




news cycle—

we chew the same fears

again and again

~Nalini Shetty




chasing a buzz

through tangled wires—

still no spark

~Nalini Shetty




country cemetery

a tombstone epitaph

crumbling into brevity

~John J. Dunphy




for years she paints pictures

writes prose and poems

invisible

~Susan Pope




the kettle whistles

mouth dry

she whispers his name

~Susan Pope




Magician

 

Make magic with me.

If we wish hard

Enough we can

Summon rabbits

Wearing tuxedos.

The rabbits will

Know what we

Should conjure next.

~Dominik Slusarczyk




The Light

 

There is a light

Right at the

Bottom.

Sometimes I

See it when

I’m sleeping.

It talks to me:

It says we feel

The same pain.

~Dominik Slusarczyk




spilled ink

pooling between pages—

the moon half-full

~Nalini Shetty




eyelash on my thumb

I make a wish—

the wind takes it first

~Nalini Shetty




stale cereal

a spoonful of routine

to start the day

~Nalini Shetty




country-by-country

one dream jumps

around the forest

~Ernesto P. Santiago




writer’s block . . .

I shake the jar really hard

to free the fireflies

~Ernesto P. Santiago




We Were Led Past Prickly Bushes

 

I never pretended to know.

I only pretended the

Lights shone when they did not.

 

I needed to see another

Stream sauntering across stones.

 

Those who know don’t

Know they know.

~Dominik Slusarczyk

 

Evening of October 16, 2024


 

atop the altar

a kitten

who knew better

~Kelly Moyer



Don’t go away

Under sunlit leaves

Coffee IV

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




Open doors

A chance to redo this

Ghost of what was

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




signs of spoilage

she longs

for a dignified death

~Kelly Moyer




autumn leaves

we shuffle through piles

of regret

~Kelly Moyer




tucked in for the night

the body

that betrayed her

~Kelly Moyer




chronic illness

if only this life, too,

were fleeting

~Kelly Moyer




RIP Tide


The moon is clutching

the oyster’s pearls,

for she has no family

of her own, while

the rest of us, orphans

all, remain unfazed,

traversing the pitch

by our sorcery alone.

~Kelly Moyer




Come back, Woolly Mammoth


Woolly Mammoth,

If you feel my pulse,

I will remain warm.


Come back Woolly Mammoth,

No warmth in the ambulance

Only transport for the innocent.


Come back, if you can,

Along with Dinosaurs,

Following the sad last tune of extinct glaciers.

Some precocious are trying to bring you back

To bring chaos in the chaotic miasma.

~Partha Sarkar




midnight mass –

smell of mothballs

from the coats

~Daniela Misso




seated in a bed of hydrangeas my sanity

~Katherine E Winnick




crescent moon

a sickle carving the night

for a day

~Tejendra Sherchan




on the road of maybe dawn light

~Arvinder Kaur




the how of letting go waterfall

~Arvinder Kaur




on geometrical patterns your absence wrinkles

~Arvinder Kaur

 

 




live online

the randomness

of egos

~words & image Wanda Amos


Morning of October 12, 2024


Ick

a

bod

psalm

o

dissed

~dan smith




last night

the moon was full

the neighbor’s dogs

howled a bit

any werewolves

were silent

~Tom Blessing




student lunches

even i don’t know what

the gray brown mush

inside the wrap is

but I ate it

and still don’t know

~Tom Blessing




no guns dream

no shooters

nothing to see

~Mark Gilbert




national security

we have never had this

conversation

~Mark Gilbert




yeah not so much

a social construct

algal bloom

~Mark Gilbert




playing an imposter

maintaining

that separation

~Mark Gilbert




one-hundred-trillion

neutrinos per second

the porosity of "I"

~M. R. Pelletier




dawn again

1.6 million miles

nearer the sun

~M. R. Pelletier




rhythmic blinking

of internet router signals

the conversing planets

~Tejendra Sherchan




a girl snaps

in the crowded bus

summer’s heat

~Tejendra Sherchan




man-made idol

dripping water —

clogged toilet drainage

~Tuyet Van Do




persnickety

bane of my existence

HOA

~Jennifer Gurney

 

 

 

Halloween candy

once the bag is opened

it’s only one serving…

~Jennifer Gurney




one more month

of political ads

as if anyone is undecided…

~Jennifer Gurney




golden hour—

the last of the summer figs

oozing

~B. L. Bruce




Dining Diva


putting on airs

and a lobster bib

tuna fish sandwich

~John H. Dromey




Answer Awaited with Bated Breath


wormholes are portals

do they lead to outer space

or a fishing trip

~John H. Dromey




crumpled receipts the city’s heartbeat on pause

~C.X. Turner




her body releases its temporary gods part by part

~Vijay Prasad




Vacuum gives birth to a mother

~Partha Sarkar




a smudge in mascara time rewrites itself

~C.X. Turner




October

I wear my mask

24/7

~Jennifer Gurney

 

 


 

Evening of October 9, 2024

 


Skin off—hundreds of bones.

Skin on—millions of faces.

~Carol-Versannie




Teach a kangaroo rat to swim

As asking you to love me

Oh darling, a moth would rather die in fire

~Carol-Versannie




red hood down

she is running

with the pack

~Melissa Dennison




liberated

he lets his inner werewolf

run free

~Melissa Dennison




frozen in terror

eight legs dangling

just above her bed

~Melissa Dennison




soothed by Renoir and a mango slushy

~Patrick Sweeney




the very corner where Kafka bowed to the blind man

~Patrick Sweeney




messing with her ETA, the distances to the outer planets

~Patrick Sweeney




hornet washing her skinny feet in the dew

~Patrick Sweeney




waiting for a candidate to hold up a lotus flower

~Patrick Sweeney




on the path, it's a leaf not a visitor

~Patrick Sweeney




Singularity Delayed


confidence builder

a robot with training wheels

not our equal yet

~John H. Dromey




A STILL IS  STILL

A STILL       IF IT

REMAINS STILL

IN   THE   STILL

OF  THE NIGHT

~Charles A. Perrone




mother tongue interference

how i fit

nowhere

~Jahnavi Gogoi




moving on

her initials on

his arm

~Jahnavi Gogoi




midnight cravings

i unblock a forbidden

number

~Jahnavi Gogoi




motion and direction imposed upon a wanderer

~Vijay Prasad

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five Fleas Merch

Afternoon of October 5, 2024

 

plague doctor on call

                              of

                                  the

                                   void

~John Hawkhead



lone headlight

my shadow walks

the woods

~Mariel Herbert



 

death becoming a mere shadow of myself

~John Hawkhead




You know the meaning


Voter.

Dyslexia.


Democracy.

Sunset.


Leftism.

Hmm…


Justice.

Rotten procrastination.


Fascism.

Fetid gob.


Revolution.

Cul-de-sac.

~Partha Sarkar



 

swept away

by witch’s broom

my fairy tale

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




autumn equinox

my neighbor's earth flag

at half staff

~John J. Dunphy



darkened city street

the glow of a porch light

in an oil slick

~Joseph P. Wechselberger



 

meeting

at the moon

skinny-dippers

~Joseph P. Wechselberger



small town

a biker guns his engine

at the lone stop sign

~Joseph P. Wechselberger



 

the costume

that makes her scream

work uniform

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




full clouds

forgetting expired milk

in the fridge

~Mariel Herbert

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Darkly Beautiful is a dark, gothly, witchy print publication celebrating witches, nature, the

magical and ethereal (a special edition by Magique Publishing, so it will happen only

once)! Send in your submissions by October 10.


Link for guidelines (Note: primarily mentioning sister magazine)

 

Afternoon of October 3, 2024


 

Snake catchers are proud of their work

The jungle is the birthplace of dangers


This is what snake phantom pain looks like

Fingers trying to feel the wind


Rusty leaves tickle the belly

Laughter turns into intimidation of the enemy


Deceitful fangs threaten with poison that actually does not exist

The gaze searches for a house that no longer exists

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

(Originally published in The Creativity Webzine)




Midnight refrain

Thoughts get thinner

At the crossroads

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




outside a colors shop

grounded on its half wing

a dead butterfly

~Tejendra Sherchan




a reluctant smile towed away by a flea

~Vijay Prasad




buzzed or was bee

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




night waves

hitting the pier

songs from the other side

~Anthony Lusardi




Past, Present and Our Future


 

Through the collective known as Women! – ever ready, willing, and able

 

to withstand persistent pressures and towering temperatures 

needed to become glittering, priceless diamonds 

 

      lighting the way

out of madness to sanity; out of chaos to order; out of conflict to peace;

      world no longer on fire

~Suzanne S. Austin-Hill




volcanic pizza burning the crust

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




powerline

a crow maneuvers her tail

to balance on

~Tejendra Sherchan




Dusty mirror

Time has not been kind

Vanishing moon

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




carefully :

there won't be any more time

~Mykyta Ryzhykh




repent, tick tock fan

time wastes the fritter

even a space ex

~dan smith