Evening of December 15, 2025


Five Fleas Swag

https://www.zazzle.com/store/five_fleas




conspiracy theories . . .

spi (c) es

in the corner cabinet


~Barrie Levine




aurora … your ephemeral moods

~Wanda Amos




now was before

~Mykyta Ryzhykh




I am weary

all this

alone time


~Jennifer Gurney




prison poet

his best work composed

in solitary

~John J. Dunphy




little white lies

the pigeon in my story

changed to a dove

~Jackie Chou




lost tooth

rebelieving in fairies

in middle age

~Jackie Chou




flapping away

with my daydream

from above

the shadow of a raven

as black as its croak

~Jackie Chou




onions

the way he slices

my heart


~Mohua Maulik




I'm glad you have stories not to tell,

someone something to protect,

a relationship you can build.

Away from the shadows

full of hope

to find

pure

joy.

~Keith Snow




Horror Story


I am

just sitting here

when the clutter

comes back

~Noah Berlatsky




& if lakes formed when angels cried,

      the world is sure to drown —


for her eyes were pointed towards the sky,

      & yet she still looked down.

~naomi olivia




Now I Get It


When I ask

what does it mean...

this poem in The New Yorker,

he says, It's postmodern


and when I ask what does

postmodern mean, he says that

a poem doesn't have to mean,

it just has to be.

~Gloria Parker




Stirring the rice pot

Calming routine

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




university class

final exam interrupted

by gunshots

~John J. Dunphy



 

keening sirens

and a ten-year stretch

of insomnia

~Patrick Sweeney




no thought for the superficial cephalic

in the placement of his magpie tattoo

~Patrick Sweeney




she wants him to say it in his head

and leave it there

~Patrick Sweeney




sixty-three years later,

silverfish under the white wicker hamper

~Patrick Sweeney




gathering dust

in the corner

her self esteem

~Wanda Amos




night table

a haiku written

in its dust

~John J. Dunphy




a December day

I experience

its abrupt end

 

~Tejendra Sherchan

 

 

Afternoon of December 11, 2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bump in the road

That’s all it is

Winter’s sparseness

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




downpours of rain

windscreen wipers draw

two parentheses

two of us, alone in the night

between darkness and rain

 

trombes de pluie

les essuie-glace dessinent

deux parenthèses

à deux, seuls dans la nuit

entre ténèbres et pluie


~Marie Derley



 

if only

my thoughts were a mime

~Sharon Ferrante



 

no wind spinning the weather vane just for fun

~Sharon Ferrante




seasonal political allergies

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




the way farmers talk mustard blooms

~Tejendra Sherchan




Mexican jumping beans

first lunar leaps

seeding the exosphere

~Douglas J. Lanzo





feline magic:

nothing is created, nothing is destroyed,

everything is transformed—

the Christmas tree becomes

a Christmas gift

~Oscar Luparia




ash plume

teaching thunder

to meditate

~Sheikha A.




seeking refuge

in dank crevices

cluster flies 

 

~Sheikha A.




Hearing Aids



They're annoying

but they serve a purpose


You can take them out

when you've heard enough.


~Sheila Parker




chance meeting

in the crosswalk

doppelgängers

~Stephanie Zepherelli




happy meals

forever chemicals

for children

~Stephanie Zepherelli



 

cutting cords

a double helix

left behind

~Stephanie Zepherelli

 

 

Morning of December 9, 2025

 


~Roberta Beach Jacobson




rising to the top

the yeast

of my worries

 

~Robert Witmer




the street lamp flickers

raindrops

alone with a saxophone


~Robert Witmer




rainy season

watching reruns

on the weather channel

~Robert Witmer




Santa’s address with no forwarding way home

~Joanna Ashwell




bonfire ash

the way everything

has to end


~Mona Bedi




old fort the deafening silence of past lives


~Mona Bedi




We’re all

Differently abled stars

Coffee drunk

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




mosh pits

after the concert

night crickets

~Anthony Lusardi




a doomsday fish

washes ashore

third time this year

~Kimberly Kuchar




Kiwi Fruit


It's actually pretty tasty

if you can stop seeing it

as furry little critters

without legs.

~Gloria Parker




wild grass

blooming on the roadside

without a name


~Tejendra Sherchan




A.I. doesn't know what I'm missing


~Patrick Sweeney




family photo...

involuntarily counting

our smiling dead

~Patrick Sweeney



Five Fleas’ Nominations for the 2025 Red Moon Anthology



Congratulations to these 12 talented poets!



nature

without politics

backyard garden


~Jerome Berglund




Vox Populi

once a whisper

now a scream

~dan smith




drizzle, rain, drizzle…

chill in my bones –

uncertain diagnosis

~Maya Daneva




ten milligrams away from melancholy this new life

~Ruth Holzer




Rock Creek

swimming with grandkids

and ecoli


~Kimberly Kuchar




telling the cactus you’ll have water in about two weeks

~Sharon Ferrante




tail raised on mudstone

a dragonfly's

prehistoric longing

~Patrick Sweeney




coral caves

the weave of a tail

mermaiding

~Joanna Ashwell




what’s the trick

for staying grounded here?

well, gravity

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




moving day—

the rice cooker

leaves for college

~Julie Bloss Kelsey




fallen branches scars of a previous lifetime

~Patricia Hawkhead



 

doubt

maybe a hesitation

in the knees

~M. R. Pelletier


 

 

More of Our 2025 Award Nominations


Pushcart Prize Nominations

Touchstone Award Nominations

Morning of December 5, 2025

 

Easy to vote

 

Voting ends December 7!

https://www.chillsubs.com/best-lit-mag-awards



Hoodie Portrait


The old homeless man

pulls his hoodie up,

his head framed

in an oval portrait.

Diane Webster



zen practice

i watch

paint dry

John J. Dunphy




my one trick yoyo

up and down

up and down

Randy Brooks




college stage

Chekov never was

so funny

Randy Brooks




midday sun

trickling downstream

snowmelt

Gareth Nurden



family home visit

mildew on the attic wall

fading a lullaby


Hifsa Ashraf

 

 


child custody talk

in the backyard

budding mushrooms

Hifsa Ashraf




Our uncivilized hurriedness

 
'Excuse me... would you..'

'Just shut up'.

Partha Sarkar




Whispers


A long postcard from an ancient postman

And no door is open...


Are there whispers in the chilled stillness?

Partha Sarkar




on the sidewalk

an abir-smeared rock

worshiped as God

Tejendra Sherchan




morning devotees

line up at the temple gate

amid drifting smoke

a flower girl hesitates

basket resting by her side

Jagajit Salam




everything

depends on how

the footsteps echo

Sarah Mahina Calvello



shift of perspective

twilight’s camera

loses focus

Sarah Mahina Calvello




Picnic Table Snow



Snow cover tracked up

by wandering humans

around the picnic table

swept clean once.

Now abandoned

and exposed.

Diane Webster




Leaves Reach



October leaves cover

boardwalk boards

as if to reach back

into history when each

was a part of the tree.

 

A widow lies

on the gravestone

of her dead husband —

separate as October leaves.

Diane Webster




decomposing

in the compost pile

last week's politics


Joseph P. Wechselberger




dog scientists

worked hard to recreate Man

all night they howled

David C. Kopaska-Merkel




I find

the rest of you

in our usual spot

David C. Kopaska-Merkel




family gathering

several versions

of potato salad


Joseph P. Wechselberger



 

eating hors d'oeuvres

with toothpicks

Christmas party


Joseph P. Wechselberger




strip club

its Christmas tree

bare

John J. Dunphy



 
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