Evening of June 5, 2025

 

anxiously processing the weather conditions

on the I-80 corridor

and I don't even drive

~Patrick Sweeney

so those villagers

gathered sharp tools?

yeah? turn back...

~Richard Magahiz

still chewing

upthrust ridgelines with

diamond tooth scoops

~Richard Magahiz

Equanimity Ltd.

In time, easy elasticity

becomes brittle stress

and that is just Nature.

Creatures should be

content to feel sun,

be caught in rain;

however, if SpaceX

space junk falls

on your head, feel

free to complain.

~Allan Lake

the intern speaks

breaks the hush

in the boardroom

~Jiel Narvekar

hindsight

twenty twenty

regrets

~Jennifer Gurney

shell shocked

by the ignorance

among us

~Jennifer Gurney

I still have

your ratty old sneakers

in the garage

~Jennifer Gurney

While Staying In My Grandson’s Room, I’ve Learned to Settle for…

less risky chaos;

pile of clothes thrown on a chair,

rather than on floor.

~Suzanne S. Austin-Hill

pothos

how I yearn

to propagate

~B. L. Bruce

beep beep beep a truck I cannot see backs up

~M. R. Pelletier

all this time i watched the news waiting for the taco bell to ring

~Tom Blessing

I'm a buffalo nickel in a cashless society

~Patrick Sweeney

I think the sign said: Please don't ask the calligrapher what anything means

~Patrick Sweeney

love a fifteen-month hard drug

~Alvaro Carrasquel Gomez

infatuation playing Russian roulette again

~Alvaro Carrasquel Gomez

my slow recovery from the waiter's description of the meat falling off the bone

~Patrick Sweeney

sundown a verb undoes itself

~Vijay Prasad

boron high altar solid smoke bricks

~Richard Magahiz

pearls the ocean depths already plundered

~Joanna Ashwell

forever (almost) never ever is

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

Brahma circumnavigating the trash can as a raccoon

~Patrick Sweeney

new car

forest essence

swaying

~Gareth Nurden

puddles

where horses roamed

sinking suns

~Gareth Nurden

lucid streetlights

blood in the veins

of a small town vista

~Gareth Nurden

blowing sahara sand

from a picnic table

margarita breath

~Gareth Nurden

donating my life

I give my alma mater

all my contributor's copies

~John J. Dunphy

“The past catches up”

the migrant says,

sobbing

~Alvaro Carrasquel Gomez

minimum wage

every task

longer than the last

~Joanna Ashwell

fairy garden

the corner patch

out of time

~Joanna Ashwell

a variety of smells

surrounds me

full bus

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

button box

searching

for the right one

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

second-hand store

a step above

diminished expectations

~M. R. Pelletier

entrepreneurship

doing new things

with old means

~M. R. Pelletier

 

 

Afternoon of May 31, 2025

 

Blueprint

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

noises in the loft

something coming loose

in my peace of mind

~John Hawkhead

reading palms

each line leads

nowhere

~John Hawkhead

shaking petals

a breeze gentle enough

to share my pain


~Fatma Zohra Habis

quantum physics exam

all my answers

keep changing

~John J. Dunphy

Big Bang Theory

O'Neddy

Bouzingo

~dan smith

caw caw boogie-

it's murder out here

for Bird fanciers

~dan smith

In Sun They All Pass

~Michael Lee Johnson

government drones

the conspiracy theories

of birds

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

executive order ~

the propagation of unblinking eyes

and dorsolateral prefrontal lesions

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

To-Do List

Less and less

and eventually

maybe

nothing at all.

~Scott F. Parker

 

 

Afternoon of May 27, 2025

 

sundown a verb leaps into

the dark

~Vijay Prasad

humbling the climbers Mt. Everest

~Tejendra Sherchan

no more lies, I promise

cross fingers –

all lies, are lies no more

~Allen David Simon

Want to reach your destination?

Are you confused by thinking

of reaching your destination

With straight simple nectar?

Then why don't you follow a snake?

~Partha Sarkar

caregiver burnout

have you taken your pills

have you taken your pills

here are your pills

take them

now

~Belinda Behne

AI bracketology

one click away

from winning

~Douglas J. Lanzo

preening politicians

water-proofing goslings

with outsized necks

~Douglas J. Lanzo

elves, trolls and goblins

shearwater cries

through craggy sea cliffs

~Douglas J. Lanzo

peace talks

i fold my opinion

into origami cranes

~Mona Bedi

Alzheimer’s missing the mum she was

~Mona Bedi

Clouds drift over

an abandoned house

unaware it's lost

~Laila Brahmbhatt

Summer snowstorm

dandelion wishes

granted

~Laila Brahmbhatt

Cluster of white smoke

from the chimney,

old family album

~Laila Brahmbhatt

false shamrock

my tribute poems

get rejected

~Jackie Chou

leaning toward blue

no matter what

the shakuhachi

~Jackie Chou

museum of uranus opens this friday

don’t forget your winter coats

please

~Alper Ghuchlu

 

Afternoon of May 26, 2025

 

Warmest Regards

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

the

space

razorfish

take

up

in

the

oceans

of

the

world

~Patrick Sweeney

Rhythmic Games but Never Ever Lyrics or Ice Breakers

I spied with my lily-livered eye.

Two truffles and a goose-faced lie.

I am shouting truth, daring you to deny...

Blocked by Jill who's so thick-thighed,

rumbling downhill, she cried and cried.

~Keith Snow

missing the acoustic signatures of the teeming rain

on the metal trash can lids

of yore


~Patrick Sweeney

scattered cherry petals

driving the mathematician

to some basic vector calculus


~Patrick Sweeney

a reexamination

of the little piggy

that had roast beef


~Patrick Sweeney

POTSies Need Love, Too

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fraidy pajamas who caught the coal mine.

~Nicholas De Marino

she wants to curl up in Van Gogh's freshly painted bed

~Patrick Sweeney

This will pass someday.

Unless it doesn't.

~Noah Berlatsky

She says “fireworks” and “flowers” the same way.

~Nicholas De Marino

planet of the he-buffaloes in fury

~Tejendra Sherchan

another subplot put into the script without my approval
 

~Patrick Sweeney

he wants to be one

of the Forty-Seven Ronin

I want to be a butterfly

~Patrick Sweeney

pissing contest

lobsters

and politicians


~Kimberly Kuchar

fish feelings

watching you

flip-flop flip-flop


~Kimberly Kuchar

Rock Creek

swimming with grandkids

and ecoli


~Kimberly Kuchar

Somebody’s Gospel

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

 

 

 

 

 

office window

the naked interior

of his mind

~Robert Witmer

summit meeting

the overwhelming presence

of nothingness

~Robert Witmer

catching up

on gossip

plastic bags in the wind

~Robert Witmer

figures

in a fountain

my bankbook's naked truth

~Robert Witmer

poetry in motion

smoke through a chimney

the poet's fireplace

~Robert Witmer

 

 

Afternoon of May 22, 2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Don’t Have a God Complex, I Have a Poorly Managed Kingdom

i pray

but only in public bathrooms.

i bless people

by mistake.

say “you’re welcome”

when they haven’t thanked me.

i want worship

but settle for attention.

my altar is a group chat

named sinners club <3

~Sophia Sharkey

childhood friend

her peaceful memory

in my thoughts

an old poem collection

from when I was suffocating

amie d’enfance

son souvenir paisible

dans mes pensées

un vieux recueil de poèmes

du temps où j’étouffais

~Marie Derley

my favorite poems about work, are written there. It's like earning a secret bonus.

~Keith Snow

One day I will not write a poem

But not today.

~Noah Berlatsky

floating anchorless a disseminated            i

~Vijay Prasad

monkeys in a cage do not call their home a prison

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

the evolution of leaves underfoot

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

I’m the Kind of Girl Who Could Die Mysteriously in Act Two

i say cryptic things

at bus stops.

i journal in code

then forget the key.

i drink wine like it’s plot development

and kiss like a spoiler.

you’d miss me

and not know why—

only that your dreams

smell like petrol and wet paper.

~Sophia Sharkey

waiting for the school bus

sounds of my classmates' phones

playing music too loud

~Alper Ghuchlu

the meteorologists

predict more rainfall

this monsoon

~Tejendra Sherchan

I Only Believe in Horoscopes When They Insult Me

“you push people away.”

accurate.

“you love too hard.”

cringe but true.

“you will meet someone soon.”

liar.

“stop looking at your ex’s instagram.”

block me harder, cosmos.

drag me by the rising sign.

make it personal.

~Sophia Sharkey

rain puddle . . .

I ripple my distorted

image

~Veronika Zora Novak

white eyes . . .

in a nuclear field

apocalypse child

~Veronika Zora Novak

in some

other universe . . .

lilac moons

~Veronika Zora Novak

as I swim

inside your head . . .

marmalade clouds

~Veronika Zora Novak

Summer rain sleepwalking

In a new trench coat

Posing for flowers

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Evening shadows

Growing in blue ovals

Memory lane

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

such a small word

such a powerful impact

oval

~Jennifer Gurney

And the globe is eternal

Taw.

Taw.

Taw.

Tawdry tattoo.

Tawdry fireworks

And tatty tattoos.

Then who dreams bright?

Toddles a toddler in toddler- only hope.

~Partha Sarkar

wild mushrooms—

sorting through

evening news

~Richard L. Matta

glass globe

the expansion

of his smudges

~Richard L. Matta

I’m a "Strong Independent Woman" Until I See a Moth Indoors

i pay taxes.

i’ve seen death.

i’ve called the GP without crying.

but the second

a moth does its freaky wing twitch

by the hallway bulb—

i become

a victorian widow

screaming into a tea towel

like the room’s on fire.

~Sophia Sharkey

I Am the Reason They Lock the Self-Checkout Alcohol Drawer

i failed the captcha

because i looked too sad.

the machine said

“unexpected item in the bagging area”

and i said

“yeah, that’s me.”

the cashier asked

“plastic or paper?”

i said

“attachment or abandonment?”

~Sophia Sharkey

 

 

 

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