Afternoon of August 21, 2025

 

our table of elements

expanded by three after

alien contact

~John J. Dunphy

jailbroke liberty // bite of the golden apple

~Nicholas De Marino

the last breath inflates  cathedral of my ribs

~Vijay Prasad

even though war clouds day lilies

~Arvinder Kaur

a version of me in sepia class of seventy

~Arvinder Kaur

wet face sweeping dead ants before breakfast

~Bernadette O' Reilly

we lean into each other Pisa photo

~Arvinder Kaur

there are no easy answers

if you keep asking questions like that

~Nicholas De Marino

Don't

     look,

          but

     a

poem

     just

          slithered

     across

your

     mind.

~Nicholas De Marino

hop scotch

tripping on shadows

between the lines

~Elliot Diamond

rogue orbit

unable to find

my North Star

~Stephanie Zepherelli

slowing down

i enter the flow

of cursive

~Stephanie Zepherelli

soaked battlefield

the only witness

a blood moon

~Stephanie Zepherelli

heavy footsteps

dragging yesterday

into tomorrow

~Stephanie Zepherelli

flamingoes

the way I shift

thoughts in shoes

~Richard L. Matta

sharing the ride

with the cabbie's lunch

heavy rain

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

 

 

 

failure to thrive ...

the movement and glow of lights

ten floors below

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

 

 

catching sun

around the pool

descendants of reptiles

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

 

 

my shadow

interacts with another's

fitting rooms

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

 

 

market's law

when supply is scarce

kidney in demand

~Tejendra Sherchan

Give Me A Break!

at 71

am I really expected

to call a Catholic priest

who is young enough

to be my grandson

"father"?

~John J. Dunphy

racing against the clock —

dumpster diver hears

the garbage truck

~John J. Dunphy

 

Afternoon of August 17, 2025

 

rooster crows

at noon...

the globe spins

~Kavita Ratna

clay models

of herbivores and carnivores

living in harmony

~Tejendra Sherchan

hot road

the dancing beard of a

goat

~Kavita Ratna

alas, words were exchanged - 

some heard, some unheard, 

some understood, others not so much

but, each damned

       each piercing 

       each more condemned than the other... 

 

        wedding vows were exchanged 

~Allen David Simon

cemetery visit . . .

the cell reception

lives on

~Barrie Levine

broken Barbie

both of us in need of

knee replacements

~Barrie Levine

Hoover

Can be a noun

and a verb.

Wound & vac are

two words that

should never be

side by side.

Troubleshooting

that machine

is trouble.

Dam!

~Keith Snow

World of dewdrops

Wrap around geraniums

Surviving cold

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Put me down

In history

People are stranger

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

This room

Full of empty space

I need to be loud

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Down we go

Alice

Seasons change

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Overdue Notice

Your final embrace was due January first. You

have missed several terms already. The cost

goes up each year, and standard interest

rates apply. The sooner you comply

with outstretched arms, the more

forgiveness you will merit.

Do not tarry, for death

will not settle.

~Carol Barret

Discovery

I approach through a tunnel of Lodgepole Pine, needles

underfoot. As I climb the last dune before sea grass

disappears, the ocean turns up the volume. I see

miles north and south. A dog trots alongside a red truck.

Another leads his master’s yellow van, almost pulling it

through sand and broken shells, eager to elongate the sun.

Few walkers about. One bent man in a dark hood

carries a blue bag, pokes his stick with each stride.

He does not scan the waves, but stops to assess

a rib of driftwood, as if yearning for a lost child.

~Carol Barret

my gel pen

stays silent

drought

~Shasta Hatter

new spice mix

at the supermarket

a small adventure

~Shasta Hatter

We can't fix a car

with a hammer or obtain

Peace by making war

~Sasha Clark

I love to express

myself in the dancing words

of poetry song

~Sasha Clark

physicists say

ninety six percent

of universe is made up of

something we don't know

maybe it's love

~Tejendra Sherchan

a cosmogony wherein

the hit-and-run driver always returns

to Vogdes Street

~Patrick Sweeney

so far off topic

that neither one of us knew what

we were originally discussing

~Patrick Sweeney

sorry I'm late,

missed an eyelet

had to relace

~Patrick Sweeney

her passing clouds stop

~John Hawkhead

every hand raised but mine

~Patrick Sweeney

(g)hostess with the mostess

~Barrie Levine

the rayed arc of Friday night

--71 movies in progress and eleven unread tomes in the Western canon

~Patrick Sweeney

body popping a blister pack of blows

~John Hawkhead

at the Nimitz Library

it just got easier for cadets to avoid reading

about the Holocaust

~Patrick Sweeney

 

 

Morning of August 16, 2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

separating slices of cheese from the paper… will they miss each other

~Maya Daneva

slippery politicians the art of the eel

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

 

 

our dilemma his horns

~dan smith

cosmography already I feel lost

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

writing

without seeing what I’m writing

dark night

~Maya Daneva

yards of net

a satin bodice

those fishnet tights -

the scratchiness

of my first tutu

~Penny Lowery

safe underground now -

your ashes

and those of your dog

~Penny Lowery

a sudden wetness

the puppy rolls her tongue

around my toes

~Jackie Chou

in the wildfire haze

trees look like they are

trying to leave

~tom blessing

Dinner Plans

 

a cuttlefish

disguised as a hermit crab

meets

a cuttlefish

disguised as a hermit crab

~Kimberly Kuchar

intergalactic fugitive

light escapes from

a black hole

~John J. Dunphy

Too Many Choices

should I pray to

God?

Jesus?

the Blessed Virgin Mary?

one of the saints?

I decide on

"To Whom It May Concern"

~John J. Dunphy

the stray looks back

tail tucked, eyes hopeful

freezing rain

~Sherri J Moye-Dombrosky

Trapped by cats on lap my thoughts must natter—

which of these two cats must be the cat-ter?

~Noah Berlatsky

pouring kibble

into the metal bowl

"I want some"

the stray cat says

with her peridot eyes

~Jackie Chou

somewhere it's vernal

where there's no orange blight

and our days aren't numbered

~dan smith

day and night

he says

he's the one

and you're not

~dan smith

 

 

Afternoon of August 11, 2025

 

exposition boulevard

pick a fight

and you'll hear some truth

~Jerome Berglund

proxy server

stars and stripes on

the fire hydrant

~Jerome Berglund

smoke detector

warm to the touch

friendly fire

~Jerome Berglund

approachable

the paradox or irony

to a basket muzzle

~Jerome Berglund

summer vacation —

traveling around

hospitals

~Maurizio Brancaleoni

Door unlocked

But the key

Is rusty

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Hemlock is not poisonous

Hemlock is not poisonous.

Yet if you drink it and die,

you are responsible.

Does it tell you to drink?

~Partha Sarkar

I suffocate

I cannot see the trees, the birds and other winged angels.

After sunset I suffocate.

~Partha Sarkar

Don’t think of it as

talking to a friend.

Think of it as

building your brand.

~Noah Berlatsky

World economic relationship

Billabong.

Billboard.

Billets-doux.

Yet no billhead.

Then billingsgate,

billhook and

Billy goat is retrenched.

~Partha Sarkar

feeding time

a little black bug

for the Venus Flytrap

~Ruth Holzer

my father's only suit

looking sharp on

a thrift store mannequin

~John J, Dunphy

seashore

the heavy bucket

of adult sand…

~Sharon Ferrante

burning my finger

doing a spell

with dragon’s blood

~Sharon Ferrante

retirement living off the fruits of war

~Ruth Holzer

quid GoPro

~Jerome Berglund

down by the river migrants fishing for supper

~Ruth Holzer

the business of this world not my circus

~Ruth Holzer

so a man walks into a b AR-5. . .

~Ruth Holzer

 

 

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