Evening of November 12, 2024

 

all the killing

we hit nine billion

anyway

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

home of origin

our long-lost cat’s short return

for goodbyes

~A.J. Anwar

late night call

talking absentmindedly

in the present tense

~John Hawkhead

mascara tears

the only way is down

that same dark track

~John Hawkhead

paying cash

the weight

of change

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

the wounded pine weeps and the wind seems to know the woodpecker's intent

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

chill wind lapping water where my footprints are

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

melting hieroglyphs pointing out all my friends at risk

~Alan Summers

mother trees the saplings sugar-warn politicians

~Alan Summers

freedom the bedroom of democracy

~Keith Snow

default settings deferring to men

~Julie Bloss Kelsey

choosing the bear Goldilocks

~Julie Bloss Kelsey

given the choice between heartburn and micro-fractures

~Patrick Sweeney

bring me back to when Curly's mind was a blank

~Patrick Sweeney

all others the aliens

~Tejendra Sherchan

thinking in future perfect tense election day

~John Pappas

surveillance state all power to the peephole

~John Pappas

spitting out the ice cube something in my eye

~Mark Gilbert

in the wheelchair / free of blemishes / free of hair

~Mark Gilbert

sweeping generalisations under the carpet

~Mark Gilbert

new moon deciding if we dare

~John Pappas

sprinting for the train

something called

melting cheese

~Mark Gilbert

morning after election

my neighbor's flagpole

~bare

~John J. Dunphy

The Past

The three-letter word God, the five-letter

word night, the night in which I remain

offshore, the glass I stand in

the herringbone vest I button

the high room from which I go down

the door into a place where day and night are one.

~Peter Mladinic