Evening of January 30, 2024


that good stretch

outside your comfort zone

but not too far

~Jennifer Gurney




sifting through cast offs

I find treasures

from your discards

~Jennifer Gurney




Sardonic quips;

Laughter is Sirius

At the full eclipse.

~David Mitchell




Wounds



when commanded to stop the tirade

told he is a monster

he lies down to nap

curled up like a small child

~MarthaEllenJohnson




Non-viable


Non-viable. She bled out in the parking lot.

Women always get the short end of the stick.”

~MarthaEllenJohnson




Poseur


Poseur. He lectures.

Points to a painting.

The claustrophobia of life.”

He glances at me.

Knows I know.

Hates me more.

~MarthaEllenJohnson




Nobody will come

Nobody's coming back

Nobody will rise again

There's not enough air for anyone

No one has enough love

~Mykyta Ryzhyk

(Originally published in Ice Floe Press)




this poem

will not be written

by anyone because the author

will go to the supermarket for vodka

 

and never come back

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

(Originally published in Tipton Poetry Journal)




mom sews a vagina for her daughter like a red rag for tears

mom wants soldiers to give flowers to her daughters


the cemetery is silent about flowers


daughter collects khaki and throws it into the toilet

daughter screams that she does not need such flowers


graves are silent about the dead

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

(Originally published in Rat's Ass Review)




An old woman views

a woodblock printing and sighs

to think of the past.

~Keech Ballard




childhood memory


filling in the blanks

left by snowflakes

~Ana Drobot




fingers in machine / lack of care will lead to bad / damaged rings

~Charles A. Perrone




Guard Dog with a Mind of Winter


The boy rolls snow

into the shape of the puppy

he lost.

~Cheryl Snell




Arty Party


The butler took our coats.

Then he took our clothes.

I kept my stilettos on.

~Cheryl Snell




You Asked for It



Elvis replicates himself

while performing Hound Dog,

outnumbering the audience

baying at the moon’s hologram.

~Cheryl Snell

Afternoon of January 30, 2024

pillow talk

smoothing the hem

of the truffle pig's nightie

~Kelly Moyer



box graters shredding my shot at motherhood

~Kelly Moyer



sleep deprivation

a game

of chicken and walrus

~Kelly Moyer



Deep Blue Now With AI Ponders



Garry

Garry

Garry

~dan smith



Groundhog Day

without a shadow

my sundial

~John J. Dunphy



plus an arrow to their zero

~John Hawkhead



shedding tears of salt on the ice road

~John Hawkhead



nursery ward baby's first barcode

~Keith Evetts



dog plays piano disjunctive haiku

~Keith Evetts

 

 

nightingale hole in the heart

~Keith Evetts



we enjoy

the best catastrophes

on the latest 4K screen

~Keith Evetts

Afternoon of January 29, 2024

finding the edge

of a flat earth

falling falling

~Kathy Watts



in his smile

the glint of a fang—

another wolf

~Kimberly Kucar



her red hood . . .

you can hardly see

the blood

~Kimberly Kucar



gene the green we’re swimming

~J. D. Nelson



ouchminster brady a pair of socks

~J. D. Nelson



the odor of dollar bills you were in my dream

~J. D. Nelson



I’m not in the dream the day I seem to be

~J. D. Nelson



punctuation

 

I use parentheses

to prevent my words from spilling over

~Marie Derley



can't play it

can't sell it--

the old silver flute

~Ruth Holzer



carry on

with your temper tantrum

I'll lie here

in my room in the dark

and think of my dead lovers

~Ruth Holzer



Sand

 

The prophet went walking.

The walking broke in half.

The halves become a chrysalis.

The chrysalis eats the dead.

The dead run down like red clocks.

The red clocks open the rain.

Rain bleeds a prophet.

It is walking on meaning like sand.

~Noah Berlatsky



trimming trees

she lops off

his fingers

~Nancy Brady



graveyard extension —

now you can die as many

times as you like

~Maurizio Brancaleoni

Evening of January 24, 2024


collecting snowflakes

with almost no effort

tuba

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



bleak midwinter–

longest stretch outside

mailrun

~Jennifer Gurney



watching my breath freeze

hanging in midair

I wait for the bus

~Jennifer Gurney



photo album

proof we were once

a family

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



Rapunzel’s faux pas

using harsh conditioners

she lets her hair down

~John H. Dromey



About Dinosaurs

What joy! What happiness!

While my grandchildren play

And dream about dinosaurs

I, at their innocent age

Played with El Jabato comics.

~Daniel de Culla



nowhere feels safe

if somebody can shoot

the president

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



Gรถdel, man, go


Tarski and such

play Peano

their set

merely theory.

The audience goes wild

judging it to be

sufficiently axiomatized

however incomplete.

~dan smith



a sad clerk making sense in the dollar store

~Robert Witmer



rubber soul

a long playing record

left to skip

~Robert Witmer



the conspiracist

goes fishing

a can of worms

~Robert Witmer



fortune teller

at the tiller

a small boat banking

on a wave

goodbye

~Robert Witmer

Morning of January 23, 2024


sunrise

a headless bird

takes flight

~Mike Fainzilber



painful sight

the politician

unmasked

~Mike Fainzilber




Journey


you do not want to be me

too many pained lives

have passed through this body

on their journey home

~Ann Christine Tabaka



I emerge

from my prey

looking for love

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel




fairy's curse

she knew when guys

were lying

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel



frost fingers

topography

of Faerie

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel



if they didn't

look so much like celery

interstellar war

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel



outer space sightseeing

tour guide points out

the remains of Major Tom

~John J. Dunphy



oil drops on a wet road

swirling galaxies

~Steve Van Allen



euphemisms pricking the oyster's ear

~Kelly Moyer



tumbleweeds

the blessings we count

while drinking sand

~Kelly Moyer



plot devices detonating at the edge of vermilion

~Kelly Moyer

 

Afternoon of January 22, 2024

 

introvert holding onto my exoskeleton

~Mona Bedi



Life is a spin in the dryer. I can be a dryer ball, banging my brain out in a heated drum. I

can be the lint that’s tossed in the trash. I can be my favorite sweater, ragged with

overuse, warm and ready for another day. It’s my choice.

~Nolcha Fox



the last time

I arrived early

preemie

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



shoulder to shoulder: air-dropping love notes

~Patrick Sweeney



house of cards queens at the window

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



I turn my head to see my shadow’s chin

~Glenn Ingersoll



twins

a year apart

nevermore

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



windows up, doors locked: passing through the bad neighborhood of my mind

~Patrick Sweeney



pole-vaulting polar extremes in my thrift-shop jacket

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



lapping waves

the conversations

we never have

~Mona Bedi



If I could only steal the moon

to stop the howling of the wolves.

~Fhen M.



sidewalk

as surprised as I am

a crow

~Franรงoise Maurice



he wanted the right of way in a random universe

~Patrick Sweeney