Morning of November 6, 2022

winter what happens next silly

~Keith Evetts

 

winter until it’s not


~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Tick Box

For shamed face scar from birth clear marked,

a haematoma, red wine stain

I used to scrub, the nailbrush thick,

so cross that patch became a tick;

four digit tines at back, on call,

to carve a swathe through downy hair -

with surreptitious, hangdog look,

attention claim when seek escape.

~Stephen Kingsnorth

she wants pink

and cries when he has none

balloon seller 

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

Fire-Ants 

Fire-ants are the worst 

always first to be cursed: 

 

they jitter and jive, 

champing and chopping they drive 

everyone mad as they arrive, 

 

fire-ants are the worst, 

I honestly wish they’d burst 

in borax they should be immersed… 

 

fire-ants are the worst 

always first to be cursed…

~Avalanche

hold on tight to your children guns

~Kerry J Heckman

other sweeps same sky


~Mircea Moldovan

all-day

from across the street

grating

scraping

grinding

and scratching

of metal:

house construction

~Rupa Anand

To-Do List:

1. put the toothpaste back in the tube

2. put the genie back in the bottle

3. unring the bell

4. unscramble the egg

5. close the barn door before the horses leave

6. take back all the things I said in anger

~petro c.k.

Helplessness

Don't let my last breath

         slip away from my lungs

Don't let the crimson love

        fade away from my heart,

don't let my mindless mind

        disappear from my soul.

~Ruchi Acharya

autumn breeze

whispering at half-voice

the gold of maples

~Françoise Maurice

I hear voices echoing silence

Twisting words

Into what I want to hear

 

~Anthony Ward

                               Monday

             the computer informs

me

      I'm           

 

                    disconnected

~Keith Evetts

Afternoon of November 3, 2022

grey mortality

where twilight gathers

inside a peacock

~John Hawkhead

blue grass

 bluegrass

 blue

grass

~Kerry J Heckman

when grass

ripples up the hillside

where do emperors sit?

 

~Owen Bullock

A few thoughts

from the hillside

and then I fell

in a hole.

~F. Kate Langan

around the fire once upon a time we are

~Keith Evetts

a sign of the times fruit flies

~Lithica Ann

h o p e   a n d   c h a n g e  : :  c u l t u r e d   y o g u r t ~Jerome Berglund

the pulse

of the neon sign

in sync with mine

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

maggots all in good faith
 

~Lithica Ann

transcendent prose

the skitter

of bangers and beetles

~Kelly Moyer

old writing notebook

silverfish devouring

my words


~Kerry J Heckman

tail feathers

plucking the apple

from the seed


~Kelly Moyer

                    People, like apples,

                    ripen on family trees

                    into savored fruit.

                    Those not harvested in time

                    duly serve as applesauce.

~Frank De Canio

It takes a lifetime

to recover from childhood.
 

~F. Kate Langan

Itchy thoughts

amble through

the forest of grey matter,

coming, going,

coming, going,

faster, deeper;

I hope they're not important.


~F. Kate Langan

did you love the ground when your face was in it

~Emma M Foster

places I’ve lived seabottom

~Lithica Ann

Morning of October 31, 2022

sushi bar

the chef’s signature

eye roll

~Kelly Moyer

 

Halloween party

fake blood

real blood

~Mark Gilbert

Eerily silent streets,

Devoid of enthusiasm;

And the chatters it once held.

Won the combat of slaughter,

Lost the battle of life.

~ Shreyasi Sen

dawn

costumed shadows

move on

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

      monster promises happy ending

and it shall be

      for the monster

~Jerome Berglund

a smear of fake blood

the slit

in the cougar's eye

~Mark Gilbert

Eight long legs creeping

over my sleeping body.

Late night, sudden bite.

~Michele Rule

petrichor

the unmistakable stench

of worms

~Kelly Moyer

Morning of October 30, 2022

elegant updo

the crumb

of her biscuit

~Kelly Moyer

two

three four five

sex

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

red wax lips

the better to kiss

you with my dear

~Eavonka Ettinger

autumn leaves

the poet's

low-hanging fruit


~Kelly Moyer

sudden death

how to handle her

vibrator

~John Hawkhead

dipping fingers

in hot candle wax

paraffin tips

~Eavonka Ettinger

Evening of October 28, 2022

frost on the ground

Mars looking down

an ambulance idling

the only sound


~Mark Gilbert

To Where It's Made

criss     

                                   cross 

applesauce

              look at these

                 dirty knees

milk                                     milk

               lemonade

permission slip

                               field trip

to the fudge factory
 

~petro c.k.

behind curtain 1 or 2

escape hatch

to another world 

 

~Eavonka Ettinger

never so long

give me

some mates

at the game

give me a beer

& some banter

give me yesterday

because

i can’t wait for tomorrow

~Geoffrey Aitken

inner child

travels to the future

begs to return

~Eavonka Ettinger

Caging vs Birding

                I am a cage, in search of a bird. — Kafka

Wherever my mind               flies,   it   is   still

                                                                                  Confined

Tightly to this world,   this   very   cage   of

Sensory & imaginative               c e l l s

In other words,             I   is   the   cage,   while

       The whole universe                am   a   bird

~Yuan Changming

hiding in the ballot box nuns


~Roberta Beach Jacobson

wildflowers

the prairie nymph’s

crooked toe

~Kelly Moyer

morning thaw

finally

she knows

~John Hawkhead

Afternoon of October 28, 2022

the mad hatter sings on the corner to no one

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

 

fancy kibble courting the mews

 ~Kelly Moyer

 

morning meeting my boss takes a call from his dandelion clock

~Joshua St. Claire

 

wingbeats of startled birds a child’s dream

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

 

free association fees

~Kelly Moyer

 

Freudian pink slips

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

impressions of the mime still in the air red balloons

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

 

you following the Latin nihilum nihil nil

~Joshua St. Claire

 

flying up the down escalator sparrow

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

 

the dew's going to do what it do

~Eavonka Ettinger

 

apple juice overflowing the cups of her brassiere

~Kelly Moyer

 

hitting high notes salpinx of bone

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

nimbostratus cranial suture

~Joshua St. Claire

 

open mic on the dark side of mars static

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

 

apparently

tenting our home won't

make it a circus

~Eavonka Ettinger

migraine

owning someone

else's teeth

~Mark Gilbert