Afternoon of June 21, 2023

we were here

couch survivors

couched in delusive terms

~Leonard Zinovyev

dark nights seasoning the primordial soup

~Kelly Moyer

fibers of history generational itches

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

morning caress

i set out the sun tea

naked

~Kelly Moyer

Too Old

I think I’m too old

to get someone to teach me.

Not because I’m too old

for someone to teach me

but because when you’re old

you don’t want someone to teach you.

You know everything: that you’re old.

~Noah Berlatsky

B Positive



The problem, fleas, site titular,

is where there’s five; may well be more.

It’s boring when obsession grips,

the more so for their sawing tricks.

If only they were cochineal,

excuse to pulverise for blood,

though mine transfused if found and squeezed,

icing on cake, ‘B positive’.

~Stephen Kingsnorth

we never meant

for it to be a forever thing

carolina bamboo

~Kelly Moyer

Outsiders

She cleaned her windows twice a day,

scrubbed the step and polished brass,

blacked the grate, dared spiders’ web -

her itch, a tick, Ma’s box of tricks,

its vinegar, rags, elbow grease.

Her sin, took pity on the cat,

no pause, but welcomed to the cott,

more carrier than pigeon loft,

new squatters, hangers-on, the fleas.

That tick, her itch, outside control.

~Stephen Kingsnorth

Summer Is Dying

Outside, summer is dying into fall,

and blue daddy petunias sprout ears—

hear the beginning of night chills.

In their yellow window box,

they cuddle up and fear death together.

The balcony sliding door

is poorly insulated, and a cold draft

creeps into all the spare rooms.

~Michael Lee Johnson

Nearly full moon

Lovely in it’s almost wholeness

Reminds me of me

~Jennifer Gurney

science is questioning

mocking

challenging

threatening

[can anyone think of a better word please?]

our existential condition.

~Leonard Zinovyev

fairy bread

the glistening fingerprints

of a rainy-day child

~Kelly Moyer