Afternoon of October 2, 2026

 

 

in this world of Darwin’s theory an ice flower 

~Arvinder Kaur

She didn't know she was writing a masterpiece—

only sharing something she couldn't keep to herself

~Patrick Sweeney

lazy river, the velvety touch of a name brand paper towel

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

 

 

This city runs on iced coffee and raw ambition 

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

His incessant note taking was making the guests nervous

~Patrick Sweeney

The windings to and fro I no longer touch the Earth with my feet 

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Entering the forest of good listeners

~Patrick Sweeney

 

no pee section in a pool if politics cared about this

~Pegah Rahmati Nezhad

The town's under water

and the yellow-billed loon has zero followers

~Patrick Sweeney

 

 

new smells and colors coffee in a storm breaking through silence 

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Occluded front—meeting the local meteorologist at the post office

~Patrick Sweeney

The silence in the house of no sugar bowl 

~Patrick Sweeney

 

status wars a relationship in remission 

~Arvinder Kaur

He's stuck on the third wish

~Patrick Sweeney

ataraxia

until a fly
finds my nose

~Arvinder Kaur

everyone says
I'll never forget

so & so or such & such

but they do

till the only thing

they can't forget

is how much 

they keep forgetting 

~dan smith

long-married couple

now separated at

the homeless shelter

~John J. Dunphy

cliff's edge
we cinch our hoods
against the yodel of rain

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

 

land snails
accelerating into the curve
of her long bones

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

 

mother tongue
the apple
of her oyster fork

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

 

 

bubbling up
from the tine marks
dissent

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

No!

Sitting in the studio,

I am a model

for a surrealist painter;

apple branches grow from my eyes,

a snake lies beneath my feet,

mushrooms sprout from the snow.

I am fleeing--

enough of war.

~Anica Marcelic

 

 

 

Where to Submit Your Creative Works This Month

 

Prune Juice Journal (theme of language)

Trash Panda (Anthropocene)

Only Human Senryu 

Pulse (medical)

Post-Ku

Best of the Net Nominations from Five Fleas Itchy Poetry

              

 

         What Lines?

         ~Kelly Sauvage Moyer 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                            

                                                                                     

                                                                                                                      And?

                                                                  ~dan smith

  

Congratulations to our talented itchy poets and artists: 

 

Biswajit Mishra (p)

Cynthia Anderson (p)

dan smith (a)

Jackie Chou (p) 

John J. Dunphy (p)

Kelly Sauvage Moyer (a)

Noah Berlatsky (p)

Patrick Sweeney (p)

 

Here are their poems: 

reading

the depth of insomnia

I lie

surrounded by rows

of unread books

~Biswajit Mishra

 

wind chill factor

the real feel

of ICE

~Cynthia Anderson

 

where the sky

meets the mountains

and the sea

the thin line between

friend and enemy

~Jackie Chou

 

Minneapolis street

its snow

bloodied

~John J. Dunphy

 

 

M.

 

You sleep around my sleep

because you dream of me

while I dream of you or

because the other way around or

because you went to sleep first

and woke up later.

~Noah Berlatsky

secretly, he believed that every dandelion wish would come true

~Patrick Sweeney

 

 

A Day in the Life

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

Evening of September 25, 2026

 

helium-rich breath 

into the eyes of 

the fire beast

~Richard Magahiz

 

 

 

 

old freaking pond   

at the bottom  

there were quasars   

~Richard Magahiz

to relearn the breath,    imbibe null space     

 

~Richard Magahiz

 

 

sliding scale wearing motley 

~Jerome Berglund 

 

 

blood stained 

bingo card

~Jerome Berglund

 

 

smart people 

are going to figure it out 

and then what

~Jerome Berglund

 

Netflix now

bullies back

on the news

~Biswajit Mishra

 

 

 

pedestrian crossing

all eyes

on cellphones

~Biswajit Mishra

winding road —

gauging the blind spots

of our second marriage

~Debarati Sen

cinnamon cat, orange eyed

meowing autumn

~Pegah Rahmati Nezhad

 

 

Zeitgeist

 

 

Tick.

Tick.

Tock.

Now.

No.

Next.

~Leonard Zinovyev 

 

 

 

Post-Dream

 

 

hope dies

at seven a. m.

 

~Leonard Zinovyev

 

 

 

 

The Geologist's Diary

granite

remembers 

the weight 

of the sky

~Leonard Zinovyev

 

 

 

on the way back home the lightness of my backpack

~Bipasha Majumder (De)

 

 

 

 

becoming a wildflower eternity

~Tejendra Sherchan

 

 

 

climate change
a short in the wiring
of landlocked birds

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

stockpiles 

we stack our prayers

by expiration date

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

 

escalation
one last chance to bow 

to birdsong

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer  

 

 

endless war  

here and now

hear and know 

~Hifsa Ashraf