Afternoon of October 20, 2024

 

Poet Empty Bottle

~Michael Lee Johnson

ugh

go away

mirror

go away

ugh

~Noah Berlatsky

In Praise of Wooden Shoes or Where's a Luddite When You Need One

~dan smith

self-employed no one to complain to

~Stacy Taylor

we are the movies at God's multiplex

~dan smith

my eye-hops on her textual surface around the target words

~Vijay Prasad

68 years old

and don’t feel a day

over 67

~Stacy Taylor

Origami

If my paper hen could lay eggs,

how would the eggs be folded?

~Marie Derley

Hands

Guts in one,

the weight of the world

in the other.

So much to bear.

So much to feel.

Fingers twitching,

nails clawing.

Flesh against flesh.

Is this what a grip is for?

~R James Sennett Jr

shorter nights

little space for shooting stars

at our age

~John Hawkhead

we built gigantic engines

we travelled to the moon

we misunderstood Waste Not

~dan smith

if it's true

what Christians say

I'm going to hell

~Barbara Anna Gaiardoni

mending an old quilt

each night’s sleep cycle

a little deeper

~John Hawkhead

shine on

forty-foot cowboy

exit now

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

foggy shore . . . 

memory’s silence

eroding my belief

in goodbyes

~Timothy Daly

Photon

Because the soul is light, scurrying from point to shadow,

because light can fracture if interrupted—

because the fracturing of light is accomplished by hanging 

a simple glass charm from the curtain rail above my kitchen sink—

I think of you, driving down the mountain, the long, straight

road from map-point to city, your dashboard charm swinging,

your headlight fractured, your mirror cracked.

~Kathryn Reese

subglacial lake

the gelatinous maw

everts

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

unedited

I want to say love me

love my text,

consider converting

all the selfies

on my dating profile

to screenshots of poems.

~Kathryn Reese

blind date

she looks for

a way

to let him

down gently

~Randy Brooks

any old pot

of coffee

I drink it

on ice

the day after

~Randy Brooks

don’t think

of a monkey

too late

~Randy Brooks

 

Afternoon of October 17, 2024

 

chronologically displaced the now of her body

~Vijay Prasad

A Bare Leaf

All the ants have our backs.

The giants without speech wouldn’t

Dare squash us now.

~Dominik Slusarczyk

Harsh words follow tears

Objects fly smashing down hard

A fly on the wall

~Jiel Narvekar

our yule log

flames consume

the 1990s

~John J. Dunphy

A Man Called Toothbrush

bristles

at the thought

of death

ignorant

of the fact

Sylvia Plath

would never

write a poem

about him

~dan smith

late-night thoughts

scratching at the walls

of my skull

~Nalini Shetty

news cycle—

we chew the same fears

again and again

~Nalini Shetty

chasing a buzz

through tangled wires—

still no spark

~Nalini Shetty

country cemetery

a tombstone epitaph

crumbling into brevity

~John J. Dunphy

for years she paints pictures

writes prose and poems

invisible

~Susan Pope

the kettle whistles

mouth dry

she whispers his name

~Susan Pope

Magician

 

Make magic with me.

If we wish hard

Enough we can

Summon rabbits

Wearing tuxedos.

The rabbits will

Know what we

Should conjure next.

~Dominik Slusarczyk

The Light

 

There is a light

Right at the

Bottom.

Sometimes I

See it when

I’m sleeping.

It talks to me:

It says we feel

The same pain.

~Dominik Slusarczyk

spilled ink

pooling between pages—

the moon half-full

~Nalini Shetty

eyelash on my thumb

I make a wish—

the wind takes it first

~Nalini Shetty

stale cereal

a spoonful of routine

to start the day

~Nalini Shetty

country-by-country—

one dream jumps

around the forest

~Ernesto P. Santiago

writer’s block . . .

I shake the jar really hard

to free the fireflies

~Ernesto P. Santiago

We Were Led Past Prickly Bushes

 

I never pretended to know.

I only pretended the

Lights shone when they did not.

 

I needed to see another

Stream sauntering across stones.

 

Those who know don’t

Know they know.

~Dominik Slusarczyk

 

Evening of October 16, 2024

 

atop the altar

a kitten

who knew better

~Kelly Moyer

Don’t go away

Under sunlit leaves

Coffee IV

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Open doors

A chance to redo this

Ghost of what was

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

signs of spoilage

she longs

for a dignified death

~Kelly Moyer

autumn leaves

we shuffle through piles

of regret

~Kelly Moyer

tucked in for the night

the body

that betrayed her

~Kelly Moyer

chronic illness

if only this life, too,

were fleeting

~Kelly Moyer

RIP Tide

The moon is clutching

the oyster’s pearls,

for she has no family

of her own, while

the rest of us, orphans

all, remain unfazed,

traversing the pitch

by our sorcery alone.

~Kelly Moyer

Come back, Woolly Mammoth

Woolly Mammoth,

If you feel my pulse,

I will remain warm.

Come back Woolly Mammoth,

No warmth in the ambulance–

Only transport for the innocent.

Come back, if you can,

Along with Dinosaurs,

Following the sad last tune of extinct glaciers.

Some precocious are trying to bring you back

To bring chaos in the chaotic miasma.

~Partha Sarkar

midnight mass –

smell of mothballs

from the coats

~Daniela Misso

seated in a bed of hydrangeas my sanity

~Katherine E Winnick

crescent moon

a sickle carving the night

for a day

~Tejendra Sherchan

on the road of maybe dawn light

~Arvinder Kaur

the how of letting go waterfall

~Arvinder Kaur

on geometrical patterns your absence wrinkles

~Arvinder Kaur

 

 

live online

the randomness

of egos

~words & image Wanda Amos

Morning of October 12, 2024

Ick

a

bod

psalm

o

dissed

~dan smith

last night

the moon was full

the neighbor’s dogs

howled a bit

any werewolves

were silent

~Tom Blessing

student lunches

even i don’t know what

the gray brown mush

inside the wrap is

but I ate it

and still don’t know

~Tom Blessing

no guns dream

no shooters

nothing to see

~Mark Gilbert

national security

we have never had this

conversation

~Mark Gilbert

yeah not so much

a social construct

algal bloom

~Mark Gilbert

playing an imposter

maintaining

that separation

~Mark Gilbert

one-hundred-trillion

neutrinos per second

the porosity of "I"

~M. R. Pelletier

dawn again

1.6 million miles

nearer the sun

~M. R. Pelletier

rhythmic blinking

of internet router signals

the conversing planets

~Tejendra Sherchan

a girl snaps

in the crowded bus

summer’s heat

~Tejendra Sherchan

man-made idol

dripping water —

clogged toilet drainage

~Tuyet Van Do

persnickety

bane of my existence

HOA

~Jennifer Gurney

 

 

 

Halloween candy

once the bag is opened

it’s only one serving…

~Jennifer Gurney

one more month

of political ads

as if anyone is undecided…

~Jennifer Gurney

golden hour—

the last of the summer figs

oozing

~B. L. Bruce

Dining Diva

putting on airs

and a lobster bib

tuna fish sandwich

~John H. Dromey

Answer Awaited with Bated Breath

wormholes are portals

do they lead to outer space

or a fishing trip

~John H. Dromey

crumpled receipts the city’s heartbeat on pause

~C.X. Turner

her body releases its temporary gods part by part

~Vijay Prasad

Vacuum gives birth to a mother

~Partha Sarkar

a smudge in mascara time rewrites itself

~C.X. Turner

October

I wear my mask

24/7

~Jennifer Gurney

 

 

 

Evening of October 9, 2024

 

Skin off—hundreds of bones.

Skin on—millions of faces.

~Carol-Versannie

Teach a kangaroo rat to swim

As asking you to love me

Oh darling, a moth would rather die in fire

~Carol-Versannie

red hood down

she is running

with the pack

~Melissa Dennison

liberated

he lets his inner werewolf

run free

~Melissa Dennison

frozen in terror

eight legs dangling

just above her bed

~Melissa Dennison

soothed by Renoir and a mango slushy

~Patrick Sweeney

the very corner where Kafka bowed to the blind man

~Patrick Sweeney

messing with her ETA, the distances to the outer planets

~Patrick Sweeney

hornet washing her skinny feet in the dew

~Patrick Sweeney

waiting for a candidate to hold up a lotus flower

~Patrick Sweeney

on the path, it's a leaf not a visitor

~Patrick Sweeney

Singularity Delayed

confidence builder

a robot with training wheels

not our equal yet

~John H. Dromey

A STILL IS  STILL

A STILL       IF IT

REMAINS STILL

IN   THE   STILL

OF  THE NIGHT

~Charles A. Perrone

mother tongue interference

how i fit

nowhere

~Jahnavi Gogoi

moving on

her initials on

his arm

~Jahnavi Gogoi

midnight cravings

i unblock a forbidden

number

~Jahnavi Gogoi

motion and direction imposed upon a wanderer

~Vijay Prasad

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five Fleas Merch