Evening of April 17, 2025


 

the old man found the words to make her a poem

~Patrick Sweeney




Old man plays his violin

in a doorway of shade;

people down the street

turn their backs

but listen still.

~Diane Webster




The boat sinks

below

the surface

of the water

now reflective

after erasure.

~Diane Webster




getting adjusted again

to the weight

of the world

~Patrick Sweeney




in the chapel

we raise up our heads

to catch a glimpse

~RJ Humbl




The pier was built

so people could

walk on water

and still stay dry.

~Diane Webster




for all his subtextual acuity

he was dumbfounded to discover

he'd been in a French restaurant for hours

~Patrick Sweeney




Inauguration Day

a woman jumps

onto the tracks

~Ruth Holzer




fleeing his city

a man with a crutch

and a water bottle

~Ruth Holzer




listen, if you don't mind, I can't spend my vacation

talking about the position a cockroach holds

in the cosmic scheme of things

~Patrick Sweeney




ten milligrams away from melancholy this new life

~Ruth Holzer




play-acting my debut on google earth

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




he feels personally rejected if you say you don't like Jerry Lewis movies

~Patrick Sweeney




seven seas of microplastics colonizing Mars

~Ruth Holzer




before installing her eyes scan me for malware

~Vijay Prasad




legal jeopardy so many questions remain

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




he did everything he could with the turnips he was given

~Patrick Sweeney

 


Morning of April 16, 2025

 


The Ideal Mitten


I would rather much be

in the middle of

a greater in

the middle of

with a prescription and

a lozenge and

a very good dog


~Noah Berlatsky




Sally the pet snail


From orange to orange leaf

Takes about a week

From leaf to orange

About a month

Snail trail

In a bowl

Choreography


~Olinda Ninolakis




no place for birds anywhere


~Mykyta Ryzhykh




already tomorrow's name of monkeypox

~petro c. k.




Making contact with aliens, trying to throw a space-themed party. No response. Yet.


~Martina Matijević




a cyst only sound of the storm


~petro c. k.




stepping in footsteps following every day of the moon

~petro c. k.




the old pond

filled in

with concrete

~Melissa Dennison




Moths circle

'round the flame

itchy pallbearer stands still


~Laila Brahmbhatt



highway

devouring rocky mountains

a giant serpent


~Tejendra Sherchan




Small coffins are too heavy to carry


'Small coffins are too heavy to carry,'

Whispers make the air heavier.


~Partha Sarkar




conversing boulders

our children build

human cities


~Tejendra Sherchan




the curve

where the accident occurred

wildflowers


~Joseph P. Wechselberger



three point

one four one five nine

etcetera


~Jennifer Gurney



hospice

the dying woman's hair

dyed


~John J. Dunphy




election night

scurrying around campaign central

cockroaches


~Joseph P. Wechselberger




this poem has an existential crisis so it has no meaning


~Martina Matijević




my grocery list a failed haiku


~Barbara Anna Gaiardoni




war as a kigo for spring 2025 in a standard haikuist's dictionary


~Martina Matijević 

 

Morning of April 11, 2025

 


skin tag you're it

~Eavonka Ettinger




cross words

filling in the blank

spaces

~Eavonka Ettinger




inner core

shape-shifting

planet Earth

~Eavonka Ettinger




a-e-i-o-u

and sometimes

why

~Barrie Levine




taking up space

in his rock collection

my brother’s baby teeth

~Barrie Levine




someone’s soul

in the meadow silence

becomes a bug

~Mile Lisica




I turn off the lights

to see the constellation

in the horse's eyes

~Mile Lisica



on a journey

the unknown memory

in warm coffee

~Mile Lisica




summer meadow

a girl and her dog

unleashed


~Wendy Cobourne




psych class

she listens closely

to her voices


~Wendy Cobourne




conch shell horn

first contact

from another universe

~Randy Brooks




outdoor theatre

leaves spiral through

intermission

~Randy Brooks




Just filthy

Enough to work

Freudian slip

~Sarah Mahina Calvello



winter wearing layers wrinkles

~Radhika De Silva




the loaded tumbrels of historical destiny

~Patrick Sweeney




don't expect an ovation if you see the blue veins in the blonde temple of the sun

~Patrick Sweeney




it's because you invited that nosey poet who kept asking everyone to point to their souls

~Patrick Sweeney

 


Afternoon of April 9, 2025

 

Live and Let DEI Anthology:

Submit one poem this month to Winning Writers

 

 

            at the door

            a quartet of gargoyles

            new neighbors

            ~Stephanie Zepherelli




            changing the world

            children turn a map

            upside down

            ~Stephanie Zepherelli




            final ascent

            the inconvenience

            of falling flat

            ~Stephanie Zepherelli




bones bones bones

the creaking bones

I still call mine

~Robert Epstein




how apropos

after cleaning the kitchen

sponge cake

~Robert Epstein




discipline

discipline

midnight

~Robert Epstein




afterlife

but I am such

a homebody

~Robert Epstein




grandpa navigates
 
market change

one meme stock at a time

~Douglas J. Lanzo




sand

in my slippers

I dream of the ocean

~Jiel Narvekar




counting my blessings …

grateful even

for the odd

~Kelly Sargent




roses on clearance

how men no longer

look me in the eye

~Kelly Sargent




after much thought

I RSVP Mars

. . . no thanks

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




The cat-surf laps

At the milk-bowl beach.

~V. Grout




spring brings new neighbors…

unpacking curiosities

~Sarah Mirabile-Blacker





at the playground

birds talk

children screech

~Sarah Mirabile-Blacker




crows at dusk

pirates

pilfering snacks

~Sarah Mirabile-Blacker

 

 

                                                  Darkly Beautiful & Joyfully Wondrous

Morning of April 6, 2025

 


diagnosis

an unanticipated

shift in the wind

~words and image Kelly Sauvage Moyer




Monday morning mood Ctrl+Alt+Del

~Maria Tosti




ember leaves

beneath the ice

still flames

~Gareth Nurden




all the ways to say

Hands Off

I’ve lost count

~Jennifer Gurney




An invitation from a morgue


An invitation from a grave

And I accept it

for my resurrection.

~Partha Sarkar




from behind

the stone wall

incoherence

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




starving plants

guzzle moonlight

empty calories

~Nick De Marino




fractals uncurl

skyward

on ancient arms

~Nick De Marino




on the sidewalk

a lizard overtakes me

and leads me ahead

~Tejendra Sherchan




Frosted sugar

On suspended ice—

Life, and afterlife.

~Laila Brahmbhatt




peace treaty

one with nothing left to give,

one with no urge to take

~M. R. Pelletier




Planting flowers

Suddenly my backyard

Is botanical

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




Surprising

Fondness for ghosts

Memory lane

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




throwing

shade on trade

guess who

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




deep

in the software

inedible bugs

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




ARE YOU THERE SPECTRUM?

 

Twosome concrete slabs

Regimen walloped by strike

Mutism deluge.

~Zoé Mahfouz




triptych


driving home

from a double shift

flat tire(d)



school bus(t)

dealer arrested while

copying homework



white trash(ed)

their klan robes now gray

from fiery cross smoke

~John J. Dunphy




fishing report

I ask the blue heron

what he’s biting on

~AJ Johnson




mattress sale

we pay our respects

to George and Abe

~AJ Johnson




piece work

the robot hands me

another missed weld

~AJ Johnson




our lives – nothing more

than yesterday’s newspapers

caught in a hedgerow

~Malcolm Highfield




my anger

nibbling time

from the edge of life

~Malcolm Highfield




pants optional

sunbathing

with the skinks

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer



 

dominion

the delusions

of bipedal mammals

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer



 

mimicking

the orbit of my pancreas

rogue stars

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer




art . . .

I crawl through the frame

to breathe

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

Morning of April 5, 2025

 

https://theheronsnest.com/awards/awards_2025.html#pwl




rocketdude

attractiveness

negative

offscale

~Rich Magahiz




aggressive

Stage III mass

the third one out from Sol

~Rich Magahiz




the dark pub

all faded suits and

rocket exhaust

~Rich Magahiz




autocompleting the magnolia may rain

~John Pappas




snowy magnolias along a quiet side street, I'm in a painting I want to take home

~Patrick Sweeney




a skywide summer the royal we

~John Pappas




in this dream of wings a firefly becomes me

~Joanna Ashwell




wisps of data in the cloud

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




with another story i wait for me afar

~Vijay Prasad




as the dead watch us falling petals

~John Pappas




go on 'til whichever way you turn there are zinnias

~Patrick Sweeney




only here and now the river’s laughter

~John Pappas




paper clipped back to back with regret

~Joanna Ashwell




campfire stories the past passed around

~John Pappas




arriving before me

and yet

                leaving so soon

~Joanna Ashwell




whiskey eyes

the cat, the bartender

the stranger

~Joanna Ashwell




allegory of the cell

talking to people

who are not here

~Patrick Sweeney




eighty-four thousand dharma doors

and through one I shook

Yevtushenko's hand

~Patrick Sweeney




I heard him say

at the end he wanted to

 'Name names'

~Patrick Sweeney




The Tariff


Soon the penguins

will regret their role

in addicting Elon Musk

to ketamine.

~Noah Berlatsky




I'm the old fogey

telling him to treasure

the difficult

~Patrick Sweeney




announcing the first dandelion

to myself and

to you

~Patrick Sweeney




eyes closed

beating the glitter

out of the sheets

~Patrick Sweeney




drought

my overwatered plants

die anyway

~Anne Fox




by any other name

he mansplains her poetry

in prose

~Anne Fox




Seussian clouds over Pittsburgh

when a man gets tired

of being a stranger

~Patrick Sweeney




Spinoza's God

and a cup

of jasmine tea

~Patrick Sweeney




intensive care —

the room’s corners

collecting shadows

~John Pappas




years now and all I've done is whistle to the catbird

~Patrick Sweeney




getting the nerve to talk to God

~Patrick Sweeney