Afternoon of December 10, 2024

 


Jottings


i thought i was ee cummings

until i found the shift key on the keyboard.

NOW EVERYTHING I WRITE IS A CAPITAL OFFENCE.

I was sentenced to have my serifs cut off.

~Tony Dawson




come here

listen to me closely

that's not what I said

and you know it

~John Masterson




Man vs. Nature     


unhabitable surrounds

overcome by nature

strangling the evil

found in those walls

~Joanne Macias




folding

unfolding

seeking peace

~Jennifer Gurney




no (mis)givings

this holiday season

the nuts all sugar-coated

~Bonnie J. Scherer




In a bind



the snake wraps itself

tighter and tighter around

hoping you give in

yet you now realised some

of those snakes look like people

~Joanne Macias




Bangladesh 2025 and..


The stream..

Knee deep water...

The suffocation has to cross the terror...

Hurting ligament..

Goes far the lighthouse...


No way to escape.

~Partha Sarkar




war crime

teams of lawyers find

better terms for it

~John Hawkhead




burning books

a crowd slowly circles

the edge of darkness

~John Hawkhead




arriving

in retro style

trusting

the technology

of silver foil

~Mark Gilbert




I am 15% done

with this poem.

That means

I will finish this poem

 

never.

I will never finish this poem.

~Noah Berlatsky




moon viewing

please,

no poetry

~Patrick Sweeney




twelfth month: an abbreviated list of creatures that sing

~Patrick Sweeney




he later learned the origin of the dunce cap he wore

~Patrick Sweeney




he felt an invasion of privacy whenever an actor broke the fourth wall

~Patrick Sweeney




spending an inordinate amount of time correcting movie subtitles

~Patrick Sweeney




a little gristle to chew in the mystical life

~Patrick Sweeney




becoming self-aware the algorithm quantifies emotion

~Mark Gilbert

 


 

 

Afternoon of December 8, 2024


Nobody Knocks



Nobody knocks.

New neighbor—

she didn’t know.

~Carla Schwartz




I do not want

your raw and honest poetry.

 

I want your poetry

overcooked and rubbery

and filled with lies.

~Noah Berlatsky




family plot

a semblance

of group therapy

~Carla Schwartz




hot water

we are now entering

the mesopelagic zone

~dan smith




saying yes

to her imaginary friend...

summer's end

~Cezar Ciobîcă




Olympic games

a flea jumps off

my cat's fur

~Cezar Ciobîcă




the ghosts

that still haunt us

hunter's moon

~Cezar Ciobîcă




cat’s

whereabouts

a mystery

~Tejendra Sherchan




my vet tells me it’s time

~John J. Dunphy




too soon i arrive at a character

~Vijay Prasad




birdsong in my brainstem passes the Turing test

~D.W. Baker




When riding

Don’t look in

The rat king’s eyes

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




Nothingness

Of a vast night sky

Yet it’s everything

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Our Nominations for The Red Moon Anthology

(November)


yielding to the futility of helping an autumn fly escape


~Patrick Sweeney




(October)


our squares

in different circles

mockingbirds



~Joshua St. Claire




(September)


one minute from yesterday  a lonely pronoun


~Vijay Prasad




(August)


Earth again at last


herds of bison keep


radio silence


~David C. Kopaska-Merkel




(July)


IVF clinic —

this feeling


of not being enough



~Debarati Sen




(June)

contemplate the moon

but don't let the neighbors see you

taking notes



~Patrick Sweeney





(May)

unfazed

the moon has so little

left to say


~Kelly Moyer



Best of luck to these talented nominees!

Evening of December 3, 2024

 

Fractals



I am a flower.

Bent beneath the sky, I thirst!

I am also rain.

~Silvatiicus Riddle




I am impressed at your vast and calculated indifference.

~Noah Berlatsky




rice pudding because it comes with the meal

~Patrick Sweeney




wealth management

investing in sea-monkeys

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




From now on I will eat only pie.

~Noah Berlatsky




barbed wire the morning glory entwines and blooms over

~Tejendra Sherchan




the palm reader's lucky guess

~Patrick Sweeney




Are you just going to leave that there?

~Noah Berlatsky




sometimes life is

the runny part of an

undercooked fried egg

~Jennifer Gurney




reconciliation

we seek a deeper meaning

as the moon shadow

crosses

the sun

~Wanda Amos




morning brew...

thoughts sifting

through coffee grains

~Katherine E Winnick




autumn deepens

the color

of a leaf

~Madeleine Kavanagh




sunset

a noble wine

in the grape stomper's purple feet

~Robert Witmer




in spite of

closing arguments

opening night

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




passing the window

again and again

goldfish

~Robert Witmer




Haiku

a box full

of nothing

~M. R. Pelletier

 

 

Afternoon of November 29, 2024

 

Handiwork

~Kelly Moyer and Hunter Sauvage




the roar of traffic

rushing by

platelets in the bloodstream

~Melissa Dennison




                                recovery

                                e                                 

                                l

                                a

                                p

                                s

                               recovery

                                           e   

                                           l

                                           a

                                           p

                                           s

                                           e                                              

~John J. Dunphy




Problems to face

In a gilded cage

The moment hidden

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




Watching cityscapes

Fade back into stardust

Tell me why

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




Don’t be afraid

To be a stiletto

In a room of flats

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




Coffee gone cold

Where did all the hope

Run off to?

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




the frog

won’t vanish in

my mind

~Noah Berlatsky





hide and seek

        the shadows charm

an elfish moon

~Elliot Diamond




only planet tending to rise from the west the Venus

~Tejendra Sherchan




fingers don't know how not to love your hair

~Mykyta Ryzhykh




Shrieks cut the night__

Forest silent in respect

Even the trees know

~Beth Ramos




globe warming another new year in the gasp of twelve gongs

~Rashmi VeSa




what ifs and why nots ribboned road

~Rashmi VeSa




defining

her shelf life…

the matrimonial column

~Rashmi VeSa




picking one more bone of contention sidewalk crows

~Rashmi VeSa




Brushing Aside the Curtain


Let's look at this another way, he said,

It's not which side of the mirror is real,

but which you'd prefer to inhabit,

and who you have to kill to stay there.

That's when I knew:

I'd go out with him again,

I'd trust him with my dog,

I'd let him drink my blood,

but I could see by the third drink,

I'd never be good enough for him.

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel




the dead sign on

radio clears its

low-bandwidth throat

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel




Happiness—

a butterfly’s journey

crushes in seconds

~Patricia Carragon




heavy rain

seven blackbirds on a wire

melt into black puddles

~Steve Van Allen




desperate fly

lands on my burger

it is november

and i can understand

the desire to just hang on

but, fly,

you made a bad decision

so did i

now i have a crushed fly

embedded in my bun

~Tom Blessing




coffee shop drive thru

three ravens wait beside the window

for their treats

~Tom Blessing




silent meditation

the dog looks at me

and whimpers

~Tom Blessing

Afternoon of November 28, 2024

 

 

 

the sound

of November-December

whoosh

~Jennifer Gurney




endless

stratus

clouds

rolling

in

worry

about

my

root

canal

~Joshua St. Claire




fate

of the dandelion

growing out of rocks

~Tejendra Sherchan




high tea

Vivaldi plays through the cracks

in the universe

~Joshua St. Claire




tattered trainers

the secrets

you could tell

~Melissa Dennison




the egg moon

I will boil and share it

with eight billions

~Tejendra Sherchan




not yet returned all the stolen hearts

~Tejendra Sherchan




the smoker moth

~Tejendra Sherchan




Why


why did you choose me, my soul

why did you choose me to live

~Marie Derley




In The Time of Corporate Plague


water and light

now company owned

people figuratively and literally

being daily deboned

murmurs of time

ache to be heard

no calm in the mirrors

all the lines blurred

silent mental erosion

of blind civil obedience

~dan smith




Zombies Flee the Scene

 

hearses!

foiled again!

undead get away

~John H. Dromey




nothingness

the universe

bang

~Jennifer Gurney




big bang —

the hole punch

spills its contents

~Helen Buckingham




Folksong

after Else Lasker-Schüler

 

The wild wind knows

it’s the sky’s favorite child.

Its curls are sun-yellow,

its intentions are mild.

 

Each day is a day.

My parents are gone.

The wind plays on their graves.

It sings them no song.

~Noah Berlatsky




gone gone gone —

the black cat’s shadow

on the grass

~Pris Campbell




the new Oz show

is carried on the backs

of snake oil salesmen

into the While House.

on cue, the audience applauds.

~Pris Campbell




saying her piece

the booyah

across seven seas

~A.J. Anwar



haiku

the extent

of her bio

~A.J. Anwar




childhood Santa photos

I finally find one where

I'm not crying

~John J. Dunphy




luminous glyphs

scrolling down

his firm midsection

~Richard Magahiz




in his later years

Adam's

cider addiction

~Richard Magahiz




herbaceous border

a sign to

curb your dragon

~Richard Magahiz




holes chewed through old holes:    hyperspace worms    

~Richard Magahiz




in 30s gangster movies

nobody practices

personal space

~Patrick Sweeney




he was learning to play what wasn't there

~Patrick Sweeney




yielding to the futility of helping an autumn fly escape

~Patrick Sweeney




resisting the ideological cul de sac

and the personification

of hurricanes

~Patrick Sweeney




Lose the way

to home?

Ask cul-de-sac.

~Partha Sarkar




You mean to tell me this is how you intend spending your time on Earth?

~Patrick Sweeney




best not to mention the extra-dimensional deer paths that run behind the house

~Patrick Sweeney