Finally
we can announce the 2023 Touchstone Award nominees from Five Fleas
Itchy Poetry
(listed in
chronological order of when the poems were published):
mistletoad
~Susan Burch
d)us(t
~Rowan Beckett
wow's as good a prayer as any
~Patrick Sweeney
the sky is falling . . .
we all just stand there
watching
~Kimberly Kuchar
I’ve read and studied
but
still I cannot fathom
how a zipper works
~James Penha
the comedy or tragedy question is getting harder to answer
~Patrick Sweeney
exasperating AI I request an agent who has seen into her original self
~Patrick Sweeney
like weird barbie
i break
into my better self
~Kelly Moyer
public library
now banned from observing
Banned Books Week
~John J. Dunphy
selfies
accidental pictures
of my feet
~Linda L Ludwig
uncaged i peck at the empty shell of my youth
~Kelly Moyer
hitchhiker
his thumb pointed at
the night sky
~John J. Dunphy
roadside attractions
much ado about nothing
~JL Huffman
after dinner
discarding
her husband
~Wilda Morris
Mona Lisa —
the smile i saved
for him
~Mona Bedi
spam.link_that.fatal.click
~Wanda Amos
pixie dust the secret life of a wallflower
~Kelly Moyer
summer night
the motel ice machine
hums to itself
~John Pappas
first light hunched over the dream dictionary
~John Pappas
the dangle
of her privilege
coffeeshop earrings
~Kelly Moyer
the itch to just
hit send and regret it
submission jitters
~A.J. Anwar
stagnant pond
the stench
of a dead haiku
~Kimberly Kuchar
pelvic exam the curtain rises on a cabaret
~Kelly Moyer
Past midnight
too late to write
a good poem.
~Noah Berlatsky
I (nuclear) solemnly (Armageddon) swear
~Lee Hudspeth
t h e s p a c e b e t w e e n c h a i n - l i n k s
~Jerome Berglund
hencluck laidegg
~J. D. Nelson
I woke up twice on the same page
~Patrick Sweeney
unlearning the patriarchy no such thing as forbidden fruit
~Kerry J Heckman
primal rain
ants break rank
and dance
~Ron Scully
Congratulations to the poets!
