Evening of January 13, 2026

 Five Fleas Store

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

 

 

regifting the shiny trinket elfin fingers

~Joanna Ashwell

insomnia the words turn into stars

~Mona Bedi

snow stars showing me the way home

~Joanna Ashwell

each memory overpriced pawn shop

~Mona Bedi

Star dusted moon crickets song

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

letting the wind

do all the talking

rattling shutters

~Mona Bedi

autumn sadness

the slow tempo

of the afternoon sun

~Mona Bedi

blowing kisses to the dead,

                 wicked justice for good times

~Scott C. Holstad

I thought

I would figure it out

someday

~Noah Berlatsky

infinite

the warp factor

of            l o v e

~Joanna Ashwell

rocking horse

the long gallop

into starlight

~Joanna Ashwell

Full cup attitude

But lately

It’s running dry

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

roadside

dandelions hide

a broken wall

~Tejendra Sherchan

origami swans

our window freezes over

from the inside out

~John Hawkhead

megalopolis

high-rise television lights

flicker in distress


~John Hawkhead

New Journal: Only Human

Open for submissions in Feb

https://www.onlyhumansenryu.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest

https://winningwriters.com/our-contests/wergle-

flomp-humor-poetry-contest-free

Afternoon of January 11, 2026

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

half full

or half empty

old diary

~Jackie Chou

begging the nurse

to use a small needle

thorny roses

~Jackie Chou

puppy breeding

poems produced

not written

~Jackie Chou

winter cape

his avatar of me

as superwoman

~Jackie Chou

I collect

I collect defeated flowers

and keep them in the volatile vase.

~Partha Sarkar

letting the horses out attic door


~Kimberly Kuchar

drones…

born to copulate and die
 

~Wanda Amos

History Of Rock and Roll

Part 1

Tight pants boys

haunt and flaunt.

Loose lip girls

tease and please.

The music only

changes beats

every so many decades.

~R. Gerry Fabian

a star orbits another one my love for you


~Tejendra Sherchan

every time a train whistles: fernweh

~Arvinder Kaur

Amanda Gorman

said it for us

fiercely Good

~Jennifer Gurney

a young lizard

I wonder about its long tail

basking in the winter sun

~Tejendra Sherchan

In The Distance

All the pretty painted horses -

white, red, yellow and green -

going round and round

and up and down.

The glitz and glamor

is intoxicating

like sparkling seltzer spritzer.

Within the dizzying reverberations,

joy jostles and jumps.

~R. Gerry Fabian

rain in the house

all my books

start to talk

~Emil Karla

you won't do it, will you?

the worried disbelief

that makes him do it

~Emil Karla

just toy soldiers

endless echoes

of forever wars

~Stephanie Zepherelli

Dead

Despite

different structures,

Dead remain dead.

~Partha Sarkar

Cardamon black tea

A cup savored

When the world is chilled

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Where

do we die

when we go?

~Nicholas De Marino

 

 

 

 

Five Fleas Store

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

Afternoon of January 8, 2026

Hurry! Submissions open through January 9.

          this year

    I will remember

to eat the panettone


~Tony Williams

everyone wants to know why

she's keeping her first dream

to herself

~Patrick Sweeney

there's no sitting down in my mind

~Patrick Sweeney

a twisted sycamore branch in the snow

how right they were about me

~Patrick Sweeney

never to return

she prepares her trip

to settle in Mars

flowers already begin

to bloom there

~Tejendra Sherchan

piano recital

second-chance student

taller than the rest

~Randy Brooks

the night before Christmas

a flea was silently

stirring

~Randy Brooks

food for thought

his namesake nibbles

on GMOs

~Peter Jastermsky

burnt butter

the sun leans in

a bit closer

~Peter Jastermsky

three pops democracy lies bleeding

~Melissa Dennison

ICE shoots to kill

America declares war

on America

~Patricia Carragon

family photo album gliding through my traumatic stages of adolescence

~Martina Matijević

Negotiation 101 the exam our world failed twice

~Martina Matijević

A Few Reminders

The Art of Haiku open now

https://artofhaiku.org/entry/

The Solitary Daisy wants haiku related to the New Year, deadline Jan 14


https://thesolitarydaisy.ca/2025/12/issue-65-moon-haiku/

Haikuniverse open for your submissions

https://haikuniverse.com/submit/

The English-Speaking Union of Japan accepting poems through Jan 25

https://www.esuj.gr.jp/event/5_index_detail.php