Afternoon of July 6, 2026
The
Wonderful Sentence came from the never-happen house, the almost
glance, the experimenting smile that won’t let go, even if it hurts
and
wounds the poem, hardly written a moment ago.
~John Vlachos
mushrooms
moonlit incantations
within
the rain
~Joanna Ashwell
sunrise
crickets continue singing
in
the cornfield
~Tejendra Sherchan
class reunion
everyone
sends
their clone
~David C. Kopaska-Merkel
dust under the bed
transition from state |Present
to state |Absent
I lie down on the bed
with
the cat I don't have
~Marie Derley
Retribution
When God
hears her
ask why
horn of
plenty is
so
loud.
~Chad Parenteau
You know you are a real poet
when you would rather pay bills
than
write a poem.
~Noah Berlatsky
Cousin Papamanolis
Has seventy dogs (it is said)
And cats too numerous to count
He's a beekeeper and lives alone
Save for all the animals
Cousin Papamanolis used to be a priest
His gentle smile and weather beaten face
Bare witness to no fall from grace
He's a friend and distant relative
In
all ways he is superlative
~Olinda Ninolakis
Street strawberries
Wrong moment, wrong road
Writing
your path
~Sarah Mahina Calvello
Chairs
Chairs stacked.
Sitting people, a makeshift person of illusions;
a beside you friend dressed in a remarkable imagination;
so
much passion in so little living doesn’t of what matters should in
the beside, should in the you to be supposing chairs have shadows.
~John Vlachos
complaint box
my government receives
41,000
~Tejendra Sherchan
in
the shower me and the spider
~Bernadette O'Reilly
salad greens
accidentally eating
my
pet ant
~Ruth Holzer
a long stretch
with nothing happening
my
plane at the gate
~Ruth Holzer
anger management--
circling the bully
a
whisper of butterflies
~Wendy Cobourne
Second
Amendment vs. FIFA
A well regulated Cup, being necessary
to the security of a sports tyrant,
the right of the people to keep
and bear Baloguns, shall not be infringed.
~ Nicholas De Marino
back in my skin every grain of sand an earthquake
~Richard Magahiz
the age of the toothless sightless mouth
~Richard Magahiz
Afternoon of July 3, 2026
https://sonicboomjournal.wixsite.com/sonicboom/submission-guidelines
A THIRD OPTION
We're scared of life,
we're scared of death,
and despite all of god's
creations he forgot to
offer
us a third option.
~Stephen Philip Druce
evening news
the way
things
aren't
~M. R. Pelletier
clear-cut
the price of things
not
worth the cost
~M. R. Pelletier
an ant
in my shadow
scurries
to find its shadow
~Noah Berlatsky
no diet will help
I'm weighted down by
a
heavy heart
~John J. Dunphy
this
urgent need
for more mass-produced plastic
war
escalation
~Joshua St. Claire
shattered
skylight all my broken dreams
~Mona Bedi
birthright
to call this land your home
~Kimberly Kuchar
A
has been moment deprived of itself.
~John Vlachos
a white butterfly
on the pool manager's
big
wet toe
~Patrick Sweeney
below the radar
in the Reflecting Pool . . .
creature
from the black lagoon
~Barrie Levine
waiting room . . .
where People magazines gather
for
years
~Barrie Levine
he could see how someone would end up
living in
a garage apartment with 60 cats
~Patrick Sweeney
it turns out I can't use those super helical cloud wisps anywhere near the Potomac
and
nobody sitting near me on the city bus wants to know why
~Patrick Sweeney
assassination
the dow hits record highs of inequality
~Bruce H. Feingold
end
of the road waving to the invisible man Waymo
~Bruce H. Feingold
I
fold the sky into a small apology.
~Manasa Reddy Chichili
A
letter arrives without any words.
~Manasa Reddy Chichili
If truth be told,
my appetite is simply
not as robust
as it was
before they began
installing sticky zippers
into
the spicy salmon roll.
~Kelly Sauvage Moyer
My husband
contends
that my yarn stash
is a rat’s nest,
but I’ve only
been bit
while tenderly
stroking
his hair.
~Kelly Sauvage Moyer
I'm
the goat-faced poet ringing his honorable mention bell
~Patrick Sweeney
https://www.audubon.org/florida/news/center-birds-of-prey-launches-haiku-contest-person-storywalk?bclid=IwY2xjawS025hleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFJTW0xTVh6WW1DVmdTdjd2c3J0Yw
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