Afternoon of June 23, 2023

summer night

the motel ice machine

hums to itself

~John Pappas

first light hunched over the dream dictionary

~John Pappas

one dead leaf

completely crushed

into the sidewalk

~Kathy Watts

cobbler

his entire day spent repairing

a clown's shoe

~John J. Dunphy

My childhood

is now

an empty room.

~Theo Itchon

I'm sorry I left you behind.

And I'm sorry I'd do it again.

~Theo Itchon

it wasn't staring,

they took barely a peek,

half-hippos and half-hyenas

side-eyed us

~Rich Magahiz

piercing family tree mushrooms

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

counting my nevers in a tin box

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

The screen flickers.

I keep forgetting

that I'm a superspy.

~Noah Berlatsky

If Hemingway wrote

a manual for my slow cooker,

it would read,

order in tonight.

~Nolcha Fox

new moon

sweeping generalizations

out the door

~petro c.k.