Five Fleas Itchy Poetry

Afternoon of July 6, 2026

The Wonderful Sentence came from the never-happen house, the almost

glance, the experimenting smile that won’t let go, even if it hurts and

wounds the poem, hardly written a moment ago.

~John Vlachos

mushrooms

moonlit incantations

within the rain

~Joanna Ashwell

sunrise

crickets continue singing

in the cornfield

~Tejendra Sherchan

class reunion

everyone

sends their clone

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

dust under the bed

transition from state |Present

to state |Absent

I lie down on the bed

with the cat I don't have

~Marie Derley

Retribution

When God

hears her

ask why

horn of

plenty is

so loud.

~Chad Parenteau

You know you are a real poet

when you would rather pay bills

than write a poem.

~Noah Berlatsky

Cousin Papamanolis

Has seventy dogs (it is said)

And cats too numerous to count

He's a beekeeper and lives alone

Save for all the animals

Cousin Papamanolis used to be a priest

His gentle smile and weather beaten face

Bare witness to no fall from grace

He's a friend and distant relative

In all ways he is superlative

~Olinda Ninolakis

Street strawberries

Wrong moment, wrong road

Writing your path

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Chairs

Chairs stacked.

Sitting people, a makeshift person of illusions;

a beside you friend dressed in a remarkable imagination;

so much passion in so little living doesn’t of what matters should in

the beside, should in the you to be supposing chairs have shadows.

~John Vlachos

complaint box

my government receives

41,000

~Tejendra Sherchan

in the shower me and the spider

~Bernadette O'Reilly

salad greens

accidentally eating

my pet ant

~Ruth Holzer

a long stretch

with nothing happening

my plane at the gate

~Ruth Holzer

anger management--

circling the bully

a whisper of butterflies

~Wendy Cobourne

Second Amendment vs. FIFA

A well regulated Cup, being necessary to the security of a sports tyrant,

the right of the people to keep and bear Baloguns, shall not be infringed.

~ Nicholas De Marino

back in my skin every grain of sand an earthquake

~Richard Magahiz

the age of the toothless sightless mouth

~Richard Magahiz

Afternoon of July 3, 2026

https://sonicboomjournal.wixsite.com/sonicboom/submission-guidelines

A THIRD OPTION

We're scared of life,

we're scared of death,

and despite all of god's

creations he forgot to

offer us a third option.

~Stephen Philip Druce

evening news

the way

things aren't

~M. R. Pelletier

clear-cut

the price of things

not worth the cost

~M. R. Pelletier

an ant

in my shadow

scurries to find its shadow

~Noah Berlatsky

no diet will help

I'm weighted down by

a heavy heart

~John J. Dunphy

this urgent need

for more mass-produced plastic

war escalation

~Joshua St. Claire

shattered skylight all my broken dreams

~Mona Bedi

birthright to call this land your home

~Kimberly Kuchar

A has been moment deprived of itself.

~John Vlachos

a white butterfly

on the pool manager's

big wet toe

~Patrick Sweeney

below the radar

in the Reflecting Pool . . .

creature from the black lagoon

~Barrie Levine

waiting room . . .

where People magazines gather

for years

~Barrie Levine

he could see how someone would end up

living in a garage apartment with 60 cats

~Patrick Sweeney

it turns out I can't use those super helical cloud wisps anywhere near the Potomac

and nobody sitting near me on the city bus wants to know why

~Patrick Sweeney

assassination the dow hits record highs of inequality

~Bruce H. Feingold

end of the road waving to the invisible man Waymo

~Bruce H. Feingold

I fold the sky into a small apology.

~Manasa Reddy Chichili

A letter arrives without any words.

~Manasa Reddy Chichili

If truth be told,

my appetite is simply

not as robust

as it was

before they began

installing sticky zippers

into the spicy salmon roll.

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

My husband

contends

that my yarn stash

is a rat’s nest,

but I’ve only

been bit

while tenderly

stroking his hair.

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

I'm the goat-faced poet ringing his honorable mention bell

~Patrick Sweeney

https://www.audubon.org/florida/news/center-birds-of-prey-launches-haiku-contest-person-storywalk?bclid=IwY2xjawS025hleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFJTW0xTVh6WW1DVmdTdjd2c3J0Yw
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