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