Afternoon of January 13, 2024

peeling off price tags new year

~Jerome Berglund

a devil’s claw¿

the little boy chortles

as Captain Hook

~Randy Brooks

piecing things together a cradle burning

~Jerome Berglund

space rendezvous the love language of machines

~Randy Brooks

statecraft fifty two pickup

~Jerome Berglund

robot parts

at the garage sale

a solar flare chime

~Randy Brooks

is there anything

worse than an empty

fortune cookie

~Jennifer Gurney

farm helmet

a widower in all

but actuality

~Jerome Berglund

orbiting on the cusp

of spring and winter

spider eyes

~Randy Brooks

freezing the vote new lows in democracy

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

pumpkin filling all saints

~Jerome Berglund

intermission

the lull between

my marriages

~Jennifer Gurney

someone in my head

leave a last mushroom

for wee folk

~Randy Brooks

Afternoon of January 12, 2024

 

I wonder –

do unread library books

debate story outcomes

~Jennifer Schneider

Drafting

on an open highway –

equal parts right and revenge.

a blend of a thousand plot lines,

square corners in circular spaces,

and a thousand alternative story ends.

~Jennifer Schneider

day after snow

a few slacker geese

step up flight

~Biswajit Mishra

sand leaves

with every ebbing tide

pilings shift

beach front property

makes a splash

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

Uproar

There is nothing stable in this world—uproar’s your only music. – John Keats

Roar up. Roar down. It’s all chaos.

The only stable is for the horses,

and that might have blown away.

~Nolcha Fox

Takes More Than Looks

My late wife and her dead sister

show up together at my door

I slip out the back.

Tackled by an ex gf

bony fingers at my throat

is a deathbed conversion

still an option?

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

Lotus flower

I plucked

from a muddy pond.

~Fhen M.

first cockcrow

witches stop dancing

in my dream

~Bidyut Prabha Gantayat

What the Toaster Hates

Grubby fingers

Jam, jelly, and butter

Crumbs in its bottom

Being banged headfirst on the counter

Roaches, crawling inside, laying eggs!

The new toaster

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

clam clowder —

cat watches cat

watching cat

~Rupa Anand

I have written

thousands of poems about cats—

but not one today

~Jennifer Gurney

Conception

Phones beep at subway stops.

Dating apps creep into bedroom breakups.

Tomato juice is too acidic.

Juice bars promise sweet match ups

(no additives needed).

Alerts report newly filed lawsuits.

Meta is accused of promoting addiction

(addictive qualities conspired).

Together, we conceive.

~Jennifer Schneider

She shh ssh hhh sss —

a leaf whispers to the grass

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

I can hear pictures

SEGA

~Fhen M.

Ring, cake, ring, bell, bell, cake.

~Fhen M.

I am letters without alphabet

~Mykyta Ryzhykh