Evening of December 27, 2022


Minus ten degrees outside, inside I ice a fractured wrist.


~Nolcha Fox



the full moon casts a blue color on a broken heart

~Nani Mariani



Creepy baby, crawl


up the window, hang from the ceiling,

with sinister smile and demon eyes.

They locked you up this Halloween.

But you will escape by late spring 

to eat flies.


And tourists.

~Nolcha Fox



         new year starts

   with the same stupidity 

           and continues 

   with the same stupidity

~Rupa Anand



Thoughts are disheveled

and so is my hair.

Ends split for cover

hiding under blankets,

cowering from light.

~Nolcha Fox



Why am I


not what the world sees?

How long before

the monster in the mirror

becomes this failed me?

~Nolcha Fox



clashing

with my Hawaiian shirt

his vacation plans

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



Where I’m going I

bring only what I need

a portion of me

suitcase full

of nothing, empty

of embrace, I simply

chase down a corridor

waiting to return

to the me I left behind

~Julie A. Dickson



staycation every room comes with a cat

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



                new year meows

            not the same old kibble again? 

         aren’t we getting something new?

              ~Rupa Anand


Evening of December 24, 2022


Nervous Days


Nervous days

lead to a breakdown,

such are the results,

a day or days I do not

long for. This is a

path filled with dread.

I count to ten forward

and backward. I say to her,

my muse, why do roses die?

~Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozabal



in tropical realms

where scorpions love sneakers

shake well before use

~James Penha



Walking Along in Silence

Walking alone in silence.

It was the perfect day.

My foot arches felt no pain.

The sun shone brightly in the sky.

Birds provided the music.

I had no need to use my voice.

~Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozabal



In the scent of ordure birthing,

refugees in pregnant pause,

am I ready for the holy,

recognised, unlikely shift,

or is faith, unstable, moving,

powerless baby, needing love?

Hosts, it seems, are all around us,

but we wait for glory’s shine;

realise the kingdom waiting

for those sitting in the dark.


~Stephen Kingsnorth



fashion parade

all my childhood

insecurities

~Mona Bedi



for years

playing hide and seek

me with myself

~Ram Chandran



the Lord exists

as disembodied

whatever to my

whateverness

~Wayne Burke



candle

                  d

                      r

                          i

                             p  

                                s

 a  lavender

scented pool

~Linda Ludwig


Afternoon of December 23, 2022


grandmother chair I overwinter

~Hemapriya Chellappan



with all my degrees failing the robot test

~Mona Bedi



dementia the comfort of not knowing

~Mona Bedi



Christmas carols —

this year's service

mostly delayed

~Amoolya Kamalnath



gift-wrapped box —

father doesn't bring

what i want

~Amoolya Kamalnath



having trouble sleeping on a full moon

~Nani Mariani



travel moon from here to where

~Hemapriya Chellappan


Afternoon of December 22, 2022

 

 

fur all hugged off

eyes in the button box, yet

i'll always love you


~Pat Geyer



thinking of ku even in the loo

~Sreenath



the people I don't get cards from anymore

~Patrick Sweeney



yuletide gathering winter fuel the flames of war

~Keith Evetts



digging too deep missing the point critics

~A.J. Anwar



    zig zagging kite

    /

slicing sky

~Rob McKinnon

 

 

morality police//cutting hair

~Rob McKinnon



slim wrists of

the matterhorn triplets

bathed with dew

~Richard Magahiz



midnight

suddenly awake from a dream where I am dead

~Ram Chandran


Afternoon of December 21, 2022


bananas so green

even the Grinch

won’t take ‘em

~Bonnie J Scherer



Christmas market

the pigeons' frenzy

on the pavement


~Françoise Maurice



churchyard

the irreverence

of pigeons


~Keith Evetts



Triolet Found in John Donne’s “The Flea”

mark but this flea

this flea is you and I

is more than we

mark but this flea


apt to kill me


since thou
purpled thy

mark but this flea

this flea is you and I

~Joshua St. Claire



Flee or Flea Bitten

Love my house usually,

until uninvited pests descend

nest in wait to bite ankles and cats,

awake at dawn, turn vacuum on,

spray once more, last time

I hope, but likely not, once fleas

have found their spot, my rug

infested as they say, might be easier

to move away, flea bitten

or flee

~Julie A. Dickson



recounting

his 17 lives

polydactyl cat

~Joshua St. Claire