Evening of July 29, 2023

childhood diary

even now

what she wonders

~Richard L. Matta

mudflats

all that’s left

between us

~Richard L. Matta

as we turn

to glance at our past …

we see our future

~Jennifer Gurney

static electricity

our charged words switch

to emojis

~Richard L. Matta

a justification of crooked toes this rocky path

~Arvinder Kaur

a narrative of broken bangles lost rainbow

~Arvinder Kaur

poet mocks himself

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

engineering humor airline seats

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

right under his nose

lips

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

So I Go Walking



Mother’s day dinner stuffs me so full of warm alcohol and lobster ravioli and love…

Quarantine sticks me up in a house full of hidden arguments threatening to boil over at a

moment’s notice…

I’m a little tired today and it's too cold to walk to the gym anyway…

Last night forced one too many handfuls of chex mix down my throat…

Depression swirls in my stomach with the changing of the seasons and I just don’t want to

have to think about anything at all.

~Izzy Astuto

in the flea’s diary

one more

bloody workday

survived slippery slopes…

note to self—avoid the matting

bug out

~Richard L. Matta

midsummer relief —

using the bark of the cherry

as a backscratcher

~Colette Kern

Home Invasion

Yesterday holds a gun to my head,

demands wasted time in nickels and quarters.

Today holds the bullets, collects empty cartridges.

You’re so disappointing, he says.

Tomorrow tip-toes to the door.

He wants to leave before the bleeding starts.

~Nolcha Fox

where the sea grapes grow

and the sand sparkling white

i sit in my

~Gillena Cox

Thou art more lovely

Thou art more

Thou art

Thou

~Noah Berlatsky