Morning of July 4, 2024

 The Reign of AI

~Yukyung Katie Kim

special olympics;

the weight he lifts

and yet

hearing his name cheered

the moments he smiles

~Anthony Lusardi

her body

is a vast temple

bells

within her stomach

announce mealtimes

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Your dreams

I’m so gifted at finding

Finding your dreams come true

Any time I count sheep

That’s the only time I wake

I put my hand on the stove

Blunt pain was everything I felt

It was all a dream

~Jin-Woo Ahn

new rules

to the restraining order—

the clouds

always changing

into something new

~Anthony Lusardi

A Celestial Journey

running with a useless white suit

adding weight

lasers were passing right by

I’ve seen the hope

empire falls, and the new world forms

rest with my fellow friends

run and run until I am out of energy

what was the rumble

Thought the world was in peace

~Dongeon KIm

Going Question

 

I heard and I repeat:

if "it goes without saying,"

why are you saying it to me?

~Charles A. Perrone

Seeking Paradise

standing in line

the stress of going somewhere

to relax

taking flight

five hundred sardines

in one can

the terror of turbulence

ordering brandy

with breakfast

~Wanda Amos

red, white but no blue --

still blooming on July 4th

my poinsettias

~John J. Dunphy

heat-parched wood

fence rails buckle and bleach

~JL Huffman

a private school meant a Christian school

beseeched god with Rosary beads

and asked for the sun to dance

~Fhen M.

the sun performs a Kuratsa dance

around the Milky Galaxy

~Fhen M.

T i z n i t

Oasis town draped in date palms

The traveller wanders its souk

Back in time through alleyways

A glimpse of sun scarcely penetrates

Precious jewels, nomadic treasure

A citadel amongst red rocks of the Atlas

The muezzin calls, the iftar is ready

~Olinda Ninolakis

snow-fed stream

seeping into bones

an ancient chill

~Suraj Nanu

distant thunder . . .

I know now from where

the mushrooms bloom

~Suraj Nanu

frozen tundra

my footsteps divide

days and nights

~Suraj Nanu

incognito mode —

we ask the child bride

to hide her tears

~Debarati Sen

Goes to the infinity elder sister

Goes to the infinity

Elder sister

Promising that one day she will return...

But where will her abode of peace be?

I began to think and think by the pond that evening.

Suddenly I saw the fireflies coming with her new address.

I see my elder sister talking to the fireflies every evening.

~Partha Sarkar

School

I wish that it ended. She keeps talking and talking. I’m not listening, who is? Nobody

listening there, all sleeping. School is such a waste.

I wish that time stopped. I never thought it was fun. Schools should host more

parties. We stayed there until 9. It ended in a flash.

I wish that he didn’t. Throwing that beautiful ramen away. I’m inside the school

starving. While he wastes that ramen. My poor beautiful delicious ramen.

~Andrew Ban

birds blow by fast in July wind

followed by hats

then ghosts of seasons past

~Steve Van Allen

an old crate

once filled

with clementines

now holding

old computer wires

~Anthony Lusardi