Afternoon of January 30, 2026

  

 

worried about what he might've said under anesthesia

~Patrick Sweeney

soon they'll be wanting the names of poets who are making notes

on the complexity of the red dahlia

~Patrick Sweeney

this downward spiral all uphill


~Anne Fox

sleazemore

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

running into the other autocorrect

~Vishal Prabhu

bracing himself for catastrophic replacement

~Patrick Sweeney

high treason in the streets

then back to walking

his dog

~Patrick Sweeney

Too much chaos

Thoughts put

On ice

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Aging star

Illusion

On illusion

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

there to greet me

first thing in the morning...

the heebie-jeebies

~Mark Meyer

what didn't I do?

she says I always never

or never always

~Mark Meyer

no map required...

on the road

to Wit's End

~Mark Meyer

no payment due

for 18 months

shady windows

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

full moon

mixing acrylic colors

in the cauldron


~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Curiosity

Curiosity of childhood-only simplicity that one loses forever.

~Partha Sarkar

winter night

crescent moon holding up

a drunkard

~Tejendra Sherchan

she knew I needed a big slice of cheesecake

~Patrick Sweeney

fading away a graveyard of deadnames

~John Hawkhead

full disclosure, I used pick fleas off the pink belly of our Siamese cat

~Patrick Sweeney

 

Evening of January 27, 2026

 

Green Leader

 

 

ten below

child asks her mother

if she can

put a coat on

her snowman

~John J. Dunphy

The empty chairs

know enough

to get in

out of the rain

as they sit

under the breezeway.

~Diane Webster

Rusted hinges

clamp shut

the shutters

even as green vines

traverse the cracks

searching for an in.

~Diane Webster

On the forest floor

a mushroom blooms white.

If no one sees,

does it exist?

~Diane Webster

one long mispronunciation

~Patrick Sweeney

in the dark

tugging on the frayed sleeve

of a saint

~Patrick Sweeney

students of history

shopping for passports

~Patrick Sweeney

the difference

justice                                               justify

~Nicholas De Marino

Renée Good

Alex Pretti

I say their names

~Jennifer Gurney

same shit

two dung beetles

fight over a pile

~Lisa Sparaco

silencing

our smartphones

another emergency alert

~Lisa Sparaco

If My Poems Of Sorrow

burst into flame

I will smother them

in discarded blankets

living on smoke damage

till another poem arises

gift from the arsonist

~dan smith

Originally published in Crooked River

tormenta sin fin -

un pescado mordiendo

su propia cola

endless storm -

a fish consumes

its own tail

~David Cox

Echo of clocks

Whirligig days

Coffee IV

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

wind chill factor

the real feel

of ICE

~Cynthia Anderson

Minneapolis street

its snow

bloodied

~John J. Dunphy

 

Afternoon of January 24, 2026

 

Crabby

I've glued a sea anemone

to my hard back shell

no predatory fish see me

nor my prey

until it's much too late

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

mag 10.3

he rides the wave into

the hundredth floor

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

yard sale

a pre-loved book

on breaking up

~Alvin B. Cruz

reading

the depth of insomnia

I lie

surrounded by rows

of unread books

~Biswajit Mishra

running out

of seasons

writer’s block


~Biswajit Mishra

everything
      
saved              

for                   

future             

present          

everything

saved

for

future


~Biswajit Mishra

Yes, breakfast for three and a third today please.

Corner table, thanks.

~Scott C. Holstad

microbes bad-mouthing our oral hygiene

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

nesting season as far as the crow flies with a twig


~Sarah Paris

anti-ICE protests shaking the snow globe

~Alvin B. Cruz

as if we had

that much free time

clickbait

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

cancer

the beginning of something

new

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Scattered sunlight

Nostalgic or

Something else


~Sarah Mahina Calvello

 

portal

to all that lies ahead

a single open door

~Jennifer Gurney

a world found the courage

to stand up to a man who has lost his ever loving mind

if he ever had it in the first place

~Jennifer Gurney

gold price hits record

thousands of light-years away

from the Neutron Stars

~Tejendra Sherchan