Afternoon of September 16, 2026

 

A CERTAIN LOGIC

1. Nothing is certain.

2. Except paradox.

∴ Accept paradox.

~Scott Parker

driftwood

becoming a part

of the mystery

~Joanna Ashwell

seize the day

a flea in the bed

of each lodger

~Joanna Ashwell

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The goal of social media

is to make friends and then

slowly

over time

turn them into enemies.

 

When everyone hates you

you win

and get to die.

~Noah Berlatsky

She used words I hadn't seen or heard 

since taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test

~Patrick Sweeney

Instead of offering me another beer, 

the pain-in-ass history buff is pontificating about the short lifespan of democracies 

~Patrick Sweeney

I'm the old man who can't stop coughing on the Amtrak to Pittsburgh

~Patrick Sweeney

I'm old enough to remember being warned about quicksand

and the third rail of fascism

~Patrick Sweeney

Former deep thinkers on trains are texting,

and compulsively checking their messages....

~Patrick Sweeney

unexpected obit 

pulling the trigger 

too soon 

~Stephanie Zepherelli 

On Listening to Son House Sing Death Letter Blues

my sadness pales even knowing

that it won't seem

like even a hundred 

on the burial grounds  

and I probably won't 

even be notified 

knowing that it's 

really me I mourn for

the stark lyric beauty

hits me and I almost cry

~dan smith

hey, bully

together we’ll out-bully

you

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

this too shall pass —

a refugee's last words

before deportation 

~Debarati Sen

parents' gravestone photos

each looks away from the other

forever


~Maya Daneva

 

Saint Alan

Prayers

answered.

Universe

polices

Itself

every

century

or so.

~Chad Parenteau

fallen between the fallen makeshift crosses

~Maya Daneva

emotions spark thunderstorms zigs and zags distant but close 

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

 

bowing before binary gods our nemesis

~Stephanie Zepherelli 

 

coffee and rent reality screaming 

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

 

the fianchettoed chess player

~Ron Scully

Opalescent strange rain outside the lines

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

The precious remark of absurdity develops wings the wind stops blowing, a thought is 

torn to shreds 

~John Vlachos

 

Afternoon of September 14, 2026

 

releasing itself

the butterfly in my throat 

~Marjorie Pezzoli

The ever-changing flight plan of the clouded sulphur butterfly

~Patrick Sweeney

The reporter's asking the wrong people

if there were any warning signs 

~Patrick Sweeney

The missing sock was found only after the house was condemned and demolished,

leaving the nebby neighbor to contemplate the previous owner's 

one barefooted hop into paradise

~Patrick Sweeney

People kept telling him he matched the description of the man reported missing 

~Patrick Sweeney

Under the susurration of mimosas, this is no time to mispronounce the names of the gods

~Patrick Sweeney

Searching for the emergency exit in her eyes

~Patrick Sweeney

She made her diagnosis after watching him dance

~Patrick Sweeney

I don't have time to

not have time for

the time I don't

have

~Noah Berlatsky

main character syndrome

you weren't even

the main character

in your own life let

alone mine.

~linda m. crate

i wanted to sleep in the library

knew there i would find peace

not arguments.

~linda m. crate

oblivious

to what I am thinking

a crow

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

at the zoo

two monkeys watch

a boy picking his nose

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

russets

a worm burrows

to the core

~Melissa Dennison

head-butt

I apologise

to the wasp

~Melissa Dennison

Unfinished

like Duchamp's 

smashed glass

we bounce along

thinking about

what to do

instead of what

not to do

~dan smith

libran's sick day the horoscope confirms it

~Tejendra Sherchan

a quiet green bud

teaches patience without words

vegetation

the government agency 

sets fire

~Manasa Reddy Chichili / Uchechukwu Onyedikam

♪ ♪ ♪ And I Am Telling You . . .

you are not staying

this is my house, that is my door

find yourself outside of it

by the time I finish this song ♪ ♪ ♪

or else

~S. T. Eleu

a bee

bumped into a log

and then…

~Kamrun Nahar

living their unauthorized version bootleg tapes

~Peter Jastermsky

junk drawer

there's a life in here 

somewhere

~Peter Jastermsky

chips off the old block party

~Peter Jastermsky

fight or flight another bad bird app

~Peter Jastermsky

hoping for another dream my birth mother

~Stephen Toft

lonely becoming dusk

~Stephen Toft

red light district

out of the corner of my eye

a plastic jesus

~Stephen Toft

deep winter 

i make shadows 

on your wall

~Stephen Toft

midnight cars x-ray my body

~Stephen Toft

after the x-rays

CAT scans

MRIs

so much

for privacy

~Ed Bremson

little angels 

die 

on сhristmas trees

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

the word "God"

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

polarity holding the image antique camera


~Sarah Mahina Calvello

star fracture welcome to this mad chaos 


~Sarah Mahina Calvello

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Red and Black Pear with Butterflies, Sunglasses and Black Bird

~dan smith

Evening of September 8, 2026

 

the glow of screens we haunt ourselves 

~John Pappas

I had a thought ...

Be good to it.  We're in a strange place.

It may be our way out.


~Jeffrey L. Taylor

Been too good.

Time off for

bad behavior.


~Jeffrey L. Taylor

talking too long

to the delivery guy

autumn deepens

~John Pappas

whirligig more

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

hazy night thoughts street lamp flickering fairy dust mist

~Sarah Mahina Calvello 

inner sabotage thoughts circle thoughts 

~Sarah Mahina Calvello 

haze drifting last of the autumn sun melting mosaics

~Sarah Mahina Calvello 

A Poem Beginning With A Line By Bob Kaufman

 

In remembrance of certain lights I have seen go out

I have decided to fall in love with my own disease,

And trade my last sick days for infinite cloud storage.

 

On the cusp of morning I have posted my best cat pics

While Stalin-flavored bubblegum melts in the mawkish caecum.

Thought-leaders polish the algorithm for you, my love.

~Noah Berlatsky

autumn equinox

the street mission's soup

half water

~John J. Dunphy

FLOTUS

and POTUS

why us?

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Perseids . . .

the night sky 

an octave higher

~Veronika Zora Novak 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~Jerome Berglund