Afternoon of December 28, 2025

 

Christmas morning

my cat gifts me

a hairball

~John J. Dunphy

Christmas swim -

the indifferent sea

swallows two men

~Penny Lowery

I watch the fruitcake

gifted to us

by our neighbor

being devoured by

a squirrel

~John J. Dunphy

We ordered Christmas dinner

and then forgot the restaurant closed at 12.

There will be no Christmas dinner.

We may have to eat the elves.

~Noah Berlatsky

Christmas Eve

no room at

the homeless shelter

~John J. Dunphy

burning log -


deep winter

outside

~Maria Cristina Pulvirenti

Get sick

Get well

It’s hard to tell

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

The edge


Of disarrayed change


Screeching window crows

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

re dact

un re dact

re re dact

dact

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

in the beehive democracy

~Tejendra Sherchan

snowflakes changing my point of view


~Cezar Ciobîcă

war dove

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

you too can be a conjunction

~Tiffany Rindler

the dusk you dream of becoming

~Tiffany Rindler

i was

the river

and so

were you

~Tiffany Rindler

just now

watching the sun

become a black hole

~Sharon Ferrante

when I mix red and green

      and yellow and blue

I get only brown


~Mark Gilbert

forgetting/

her/

number/

forgetting/

mine/

~Mark Gilbert

pushing this cage on wheels

from room to room,

never complaining,

and yet she’s a Capricorn,

like me

~Mark Gilbert

Roswell, New Mexico

its first tourist from

another planet

~John J. Dunphy

writer's block


the chatbot encourages me


to change my muse

~Cezar Ciobîcă

winter evening


the stone angel asks


for a hug


~Cezar Ciobîcă

happy new year

don’t disillusion me…

sounding like rain

I’m just wind

through old trees

~Sharon Ferrante

unwrapping

the New Year

batteries not included

~Alvin B. Cruz

Afternoon of December 24, 2025

 

wonder

how I've been missed

throughout all my years

a thunderbolt

strikes two people

~Tejendra Sherchan

stairs to heaven

I often think of raising

the great wall

~Tejendra Sherchan

Everything

Everyone,

Everything,

Even Death

has a title.

~Partha Sarkar

old photo album

the smiles that got lost

over time


~Mona Bedi

what if this is the end starless night


~Mona Bedi

road ends holding no promise

~Aishwarya Vedula

grass grows past human reasons


~Aishwarya Vedula

Vocabulary

I don’t know the names of trees.

I don’t know the names of flowers.

 

I am an indoor poet!

 

I count my books,

every page without a name.

~Noah Berlatsky

What Is Special?

You wanted to be special

Win all the awards

Have people praise you

To kowtow, grovel, defer

What is special anyway

Whose definition counts

What makes someone

better or more important

When everyone is dust

what is special about that

~Susan Pollet

Run Off

The paint would not soak in

as if by running off it remained

impermanent unfixed unmoored

as it washed away, seeking freedom

from constraints and others’ rules

Judgments held no sway because

it was more about them than what

they were looking at, always is,

and no amount of paint can cover

that up or fix what is unspoken

~Susan Pollet

against all odds

I remain myself

~Alper Ghuchlu

winter solstice -

still a bit of light

driving west


~Maria Cristina Pulvirenti

burning log -

deep winter

outside


~Maria Cristina Pulvirenti

through the closed window

the world walks by

all fa la la la la …

~Jennifer Gurney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afternoon of December 21, 2025

 

k1nd32 m0053

~Nicholas De Marino

a dollar for

Pavlov's

Salivation Army

~Richard Magahiz

Nietzsche's mustache

advising me

off the record

~Richard Magahiz

night shift ...

beavers sharpening

pencils

~Elliot Diamond

a square pillow pegged to round dream

~Elliot Diamond

naked light

in bed all day

with no remorse

~Ash Evan Lippert

shameless sleep

the days pile up

like unwashed laundry

~Ash Evan Lippert

evening prayer

a mosquito checks

my resolve

~Neena Singh

Das Kaputal

byte the bullet

and take the coin

out of the bit

~dan smith

calories—

the gift that keeps giving

that elastic stretch

~Patricia Carragon

out of order

but plenty of broke

to go around           n


~Nicholas De Marino

Was I flung here

or did I leap?


~Nicholas De Marino

spade and bucket swing

Kafka paces the beach

no building permit


~Nicholas De Marino

“Maybe you should try

getting better at this.”

— my daughter, 11

~Nicholas De Marino

the stink bugs are all moved in

~Patrick Sweeney

it's either I rearrange the furniture

or slit my throat

~Patrick Sweeney

she was trying to tell me

I couldn't count what happens to fictional characters

as part of my destiny

~Patrick Sweeney

lake effect

behind my brother's

lonely eyes

~Patrick Sweeney

practicing a form without ascendant progress,

a thousand-legger's turn for new shoes

~Patrick Sweeney

fleeing in their corporate lab coats

with one

hypothesis

~Patrick Sweeney