Morning of April 18, 2026

 Somewhere

$300 per night

we gather up

the toiletries

~Tom Bierovic

barking back

at the neighbor’s dog

lost in translation

~Tom Bierovic

Charlie Parker

the newborn

wiggles his toes

~Tom Bierovic

in Nashville...

the long eyelashes of my dead brother

and Johnny Cash

~Patrick Sweeney

the man with dirty fingernails giving us directions worth following

~Patrick Sweeney

the strange smells of other people's homes

~Patrick Sweeney

I'm the historian of what doesn't matter

~Patrick Sweeney

the inner clothesline is for the underwear

~Patrick Sweeney

apex predators whooping it up on the evening news

~Patrick Sweeney

Time

I'm running out of

~Noah Berlatsky

Breaktime

The world pauses.

The fingers break.

Built on precision.

Tested by time.

~T. Morrow

NASA planning

to do permanent settlement

in the moon...

since I don't own a house here

I wish to do one there

~Tejendra Sherchan

piercing the air 

a violin screams 

with grief

~Stephanie Zepherelli 

falling into 

morning coffee 

last night’s regrets

~Stephanie Zepherelli 

in prison

the invisible bars 

of expectation 

~Stephanie Zepherelli

https://forms.gle/4RLAYbLK9eR8xVFp9

Afternoon of April 15, 2026

 

Submission form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdDF3gcy35ARN51wcAUcTYf4FVOnLtC9xlAb-h67HxzJfXkUw/viewform?fbclid=IwY2xjawRNAitleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFuRmcyZ1hXRXRQTmlTZ1Zvc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHjnNzhn6d_-kG60fuOtT6K1ixGwWVte0w5FjC4gRoyGWRluQ-E173XrqJGa7_aem_nGOJDxM5qRxHL11RJSGkIg

                     

So long

So long as there are two humans, 

there will never be a ceasefire. 

~Partha Sarkar

yr gov't at work

UFOs and teleportation

waffle land of tarnished arches

~dan smith

govsplaining

answering our questions

before we ask

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

church bells

rung by 

a tornado

~John J. Dunphy

the politician's murder

upgraded to

an assassination

~John J. Dunphy

Paper mache worries

They tend to crumble

In the wind

~Sarah Mahina Calvello 

brown mountain 

logs float

and no more

~Princes Rose Manuel 

guarding Earth

from asteroid hits

greatness of Jupiter

~Tejendra Sherchan

Landlord

The landlord said

the house was being sold

so moved from a room

with green mould

to one with grey mould

and another landlord.

~Paul Bavister

Choked on smoke

from the factory over the fence

that made plastic bottles

for pure water.

~Paul Bavister

we chimps

typed this

by chance

~Paul Bavister

you can't do the Watusi when the lumbago kicks in

~Patrick Sweeney

part of my practice is waiting for a voice from a cloud

~Patrick Sweeney

casing the joint...

the attention he never paid

in school

~Patrick Sweeney

an ant with wings...

he's learning how

to lip-sync

~Patrick Sweeney

(Fee to submit)

https://mainstreetmag.submittable.com/submit

Afternoon of April 11, 2026

Theme: Revenge, vendettas, grudges, feuds, rivalries, etc

Fiction: Up to 10,000 words (all genres)  /  Poetry: Up to 10 standard manuscript pages

The older you get

the more each new moment

recalls an old

humiliation.

~Noah Berlatsky

Spilling wine

On chocolate dirt

On murmuring roots

~Sarah Mahina Calvello 

dewy morning

forgotten in the fairy ring

a plastic wand

~Gordon Gearhart

the dried old leaves fall

never fears their end knowing

their time will return

~Joanne Macias

waterbed

of pillow lava

extra firm

~Nicholas De Marino

string theory

strung between

modules

~Nicholas De Marino

аs a child 

no one knew 

the operating principles of military aviation

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

 

Kardashev Scale

have the UFOs

just been slumming

~dan smith

 

 

And  it utters vociferously

 

'I am at war..I cannot help killing innocent people...

now I have no time to think of the butterflies...

kindergarten...future's children park without fear...' 

It utters vociferously 

and throws stones at the flowers. 

~Partha Sarkar 

 

 

bioscience systemic sticker shock

 

bioscience systemic sticker shock – 

                                            why was I quarantined for years

~Scott C. Holstad

blind

 

an eye for a mouth

garbled trace of

humanity left in

traces at table

along with knife

the size of Judas.

~Scott C. Holstad

Duality

Of twilight crickets

Slow mandolins

~Sarah Mahina Calvello 

Ravens song

Time goes by

Is it enough?

~Sarah Mahina Calvello