Not
Made in Heaven
Every single town in the world
has
at least one woman
I would have married.
But we lived in
our town
and I married you.
My Love.
~Vern Fein
this
morning
walking in the
park
through
a spiderweb
my face
entangled in threads
~Rupa Anand
skipping school
for lack of sanitary napkin
an african girl-child
left in the dark
period of taboo
~Christina Chin / Uchechukwu Onyedikam
The Better Part
Lazy when cooking, housekeeping,
I’m diligent about writing poems.
Ignoring everything but old age,
I people watch patrons in local restaurants,
eavesdrop hushed conversations,
write poem fragments on scraps of paper.
On a walk from the library I look
for my name on discarded envelopes,
postcards, spray painted graffiti, unpaid bills.
~Frank C. Modica
moønsoon rains
weather i like it
or nut
~Lorelyn De la Cruz Arevalo
signing his death warrant
the clown uses
invisible ink
~Thomas Tilton
cemetery
lying under the wall
the magpie's shadow
~Françoise Maurice
My Wife an Owl
Once a sprite blue bird,
always
flying through my thoughts
and desires, in and out,
flapping
her wings, singing.
But now feathers graying
at our
dinner table,
when my lowering voice speaks,
she is an owl,
tilting her head
and cupping her ear in my direction.
Not
whooo, but why?
~Vern Fein
mathematical perfection
a universe
spun from chewing gum
~Kelly Moyer
at night
they emerge
moonlit clowns
~Thomas Tilton
October moon —
my broomstick comes
out of the closet
~Bonnie J Scherer
Bull
in a China Shop
and I am the china.
I know you
ground-pawing beef,
always thinking you can win
by throwing
your weight around,
snuffling your ugly head back and
forth
drooling until you charge,
break innocence into a
zillion pieces.
can’t save the precious,
too much ever to
sweep up.
I better never let you in.
~Vern Fein
Branded
Lift
your legs
the Hoover’s buzzing, carpet drone -
recall the
ease, Linoleum -
brushing cushions, clouding dust,
like the
Kleenezy man’s about.
Because bare ankles bear the
marks,
those jumping critters, flailing bout;
why do they
choose her blood, not mine?
Branded now, generic fleas.
~Stephen Kingsnorth
(b)each
(b)itch
~Roberta Beach Jacobson
autumn evening
cat on my lap
fleas in fur
and we all
under quilt
~Mirela Brăilean
moth
emperor
ate his clothes
~petro c.k.
