Evening of December 31, 2022

seasonal affective disorder

the fresh cut flowers

are dead to me

~Kerry J Heckman

they burnt the candle

at both ends

and melt in the middle

~Linda L Ludwig

food stalls

award-winning chefs

get drunk

~Barbara Anna Gaiardoni

drowning

in their element

aquarium trolls

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

when golden arms

thaw frozen bones

stones set sail

~C.F. Tash

twinkle

tiny stars

eyeing us

with their state of the art

semaJ telescope

gathering data

snapping photos

of man's undoing

archived as

fallen stars

~Lorelyn De la Cruz Arevalo

keep

your second line longer

if you can

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

i am the diamond

the coal you threw away once

this city of mines

~Aftab Yusuf Shaikh

Evening of December 28, 2022

words leave poetree

~Robert Witmer

night flight—

the exhaust

of a jet engine

~Andrew Markowski

a roll of the dice

one by one

the bones come to rest

~Robert Witmer

cheap motel—

the vending machine

eats my money

~Andrew Markowski

awaiting biopsy results—

a spider

enters the waiting room

~Ram Chandran

shades of dusk

a murder of crows

deepen my solitude

~Neena Singh

Zazen…

on my knees

I cross myself

~Linda L Ludwig

a poet

milks his words

the muse mooed

~Robert Witmer

mu

the peace of just being

a heifer on a hill

~Robert Witmer

The Hall


In the hall was the last time I saw him.

He was a sorry sight.

And I didn’t want him giving anyone a fright.



In the house he had given joy for years.

But the sight of him now would only produce floods of tears.

There he lay with no tail or ears.



Farewell my stuffed friend.

Our time has finally come to an end.

The grandchildren have finally done you in.

And the only place for you now is in the bin.

~Lorna Smart Wordcrafter

Orion nebula

the space between

the stars and me

~Françoise Maurice

after the supernova

making sandcastles

out of stardust

~Eavonka Ettinger

discarded gift bags, once full, lay empty now.

~Julie A. Dickson

decorations

stolen from the front yard

Christmas spirits

~Eavonka Ettinger