Afternoon of September 6, 2026

  

excising the tumour

a tulip bulb                              

lifted from earth

~Gavin Austin

 

 

 

intolerance flouncing in the drag of religion 

~Gavin Austin

 

 

stretching one foot into the morning headlines

~Gavin Austin

 

bridging

the divide                                

Frida’s brow

~Gavin Austin

 

the bourbon bottle trying to put yesterday back 

~Gavin Austin

Mosquitoes

 

Little drops of my blood

flit around the yard.

~Noah Berlatsky

The United States of Decline

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

After eating an apple and it turns to dust in your mouth.

~John Vlachos

cutting vegetables beauty in the beet 

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

dead snail in my kitchen 

I didn’t  ask for its delicacy

~Tejendra Sherchan

just spell

my name right 

in blood 

~Jerome Berglund

 

 

lee side 

never 

a whydunnit 

~Jerome Berglund

 

 

this benefit 

of the doubt 

if applied it elsewhere…

~Jerome Berglund

fishing in the shadow

of nuclear power

no keepers

~Randy Brooks

 

Imperial Palace lagoon

the swans passing

a traffic jam

~Randy Brooks

 

temple bell clang—

the reclining buddha

can't stand

~Sherry Reniker

 

Punctuation 

Punctuation at my feet. I go nowhere.

~Partha Sarkar

 

 

 

stretches of time long journey of winding roads 

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

 

    

 

 

 

 

Submit September 15-30

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Afternoon of September 4, 2026

 

evening birds the empty sky grows wings.

~Manasa Reddy Chichili

deciphering pieces of myself alongside moonlight 

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

hours tick by this life perfect and messy 

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

tending past scars the moon an uncut gem that needs polishing 


~Sarah Mahina Calvello

weighted weave Minoan stone combs through summer's slowness


~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Forbidden Man 

Is someone hiding between the lines? Is a shape making a faint shadow on the wall? The

concussions of touching, reverberating shocks from glances that actually look back. 

The ends of the world would not be enough, squandering enough for the ends of the 

world.

~John Vlachos

temple bells

lost in the deluge

prayers for Nepal

~Belinda Behne

          (fly)

(fly)                  (UFO)

                    (fly)

                         (land)

~Nicholas De Marino

surveillance pricing

cost of progress

googolplexia

~Nicholas De Marino

must have served

at least one term

help wanted

~M. R. Pelletier

coaxing a song

from cosmic strings 

theremin

~Joshua St. Claire

ellipses

the meandering rot 

of icebox plums

~Joshua St. Claire

a violation

of Newton’s Third Law

sunflower

~Joshua St. Claire

wandering hedgehog

steps away from

crystal moon

~Gareth Nurden

wearing the white coat

of sheep

mountain summit

~Gareth Nurden

 

selfie of my selfie myself

~Pegah Rahmati Nezhad

i hate pluto and why not

~Pegah Rahmati Nezhad

searching for the good side of the gargoyle's face

~Patrick Sweeney

world in chaos...

and I'm thinking about fitting candy corn fangs on my teeth

for the kids this Halloween

~Patrick Sweeney

it was a relief to learn that men with piles

won't be sacrificed to the river gods

~Patrick Sweeney 

 

 

 

midnight

millions of fools on social media

like me

~Yasir Farooq 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Afternoon of August 30, 2026

 

Binocular Vision  

                            

An owl’s laugh

within her smile

is an obvious omen

that her feathered heart

is strained and confined

beyond the 

270 degree vision.

 

She promises to love me

but not until

her wings are muffled.

~R. Gerry Fabian 

swimming in suburbia 

life can be so good 

without a name 

~Mike Fainzilber

late bloomer

another abstract flower

for the hospice wall

~dan smith

the long hallways of the hardhearted

~Patrick Sweeney

mazarine blue in the parking lot sky of his loss

~Patrick Sweeney

too brief moments silence becomes heavy when the noise stops 

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

 

maybe the lesson is to go down a road with no stars

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

the blank checks and imbalances

of the three branches of government

~Patrick Sweeney

the only hero

who could ever

save me was me.

~linda m. crate 

frozen ground 

the grudge

she holds

~Ingrid Bruck

ring around the rosie

they have us

sing songs 

of the plagues

which never knew

our names,

while giving us

plagues that do.

~linda m. crate 

Clark Kent always came to dinner over the holidays;

only my father knew who he really was…

~Patrick Sweeney

science fair

student disqualified when his project

eats the judge

~John J. Dunphy