Morning of December 3, 2023


This Poem Is a Process. Whatever Else You Read Today Is This Poem.

~Noah Berlatsky



the sacrifice

of forests

Christmas gift wrap

~Wanda Amos



giving tree –

Santa arrives

on a purple scooter

~Bonnie J Scherer



jingle bells

time to bring out

our gay apparel

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



no one to fill my stocking but myself I become Santa

~Jennifer Gurney



Salvation Army shelter home for the holidays

~Jennifer Gurney



Christmas Eve

red and green lights at

the intersection

~John J. Dunphy



My yoga mat is rolled up by arthritis and bad knees.

A fractured wrist put winter walking on my deranged list.

My head is full of migraines and a gallon of caffeine.

I'd like to change my age back to a time

when all that mattered was a peanut butter sandwich.

~Nolcha Fox



he was briefly remembered for having elegant penmanship

~Patrick Sweeney



writing –

my style changes upon hearing

a siren

~John J. Dunphy



pen to paper

the feeling of

pure release

        - poetry

~Ann Christine Tabaka



in his glad rags, he was comfortable on his own bed of nails

~Patrick Sweeney



though they were only a myth, it was a relief when the winners cashed in

~Patrick Sweeney



the obligation of pumpkin pie

~Patrick Sweeney



the day the candlenut tree introduced herself

~Patrick Sweeney



whatever will I do with this déjà vu

~Patrick Sweeney

Morning of November 29, 2023

 

  

Icarus


You little punk ass

Walking off a cliff in full formal wear

Acting like nothing would change

When you splattered against the rocks

I got news for you pal

                                             my world ended

that day

You pulled an Icarus

and flew 

Away from me

~Anthy Strom

 

Hawaiian Summer


I can't help it if

I'm too sexy for my shirt.

Some people are too

polite to comment on it.

Others laugh. See if I care.

~Dominic Rivron



helium


fill me with helium

tie me down

take me for a ride

round dublin town



there, i'll tell you

in a squeaky voice

interesting things

about james joyce

~Dominic Rivron



video bubble; aliens

come for 50s sitcoms

stay for rock and roll

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel



Old Brew Poetry


Bubbling hops

Simmering in the stew

Pipes and plastic hoses pippippiping


Frankenstein's little boy

Concocted by humanity's impulse

To get rip-roaring plastered on a Saturday night

~Anthy Strom



nothing to do—

I let Leonard Cohen

tie me up

~Sharon Ferrante



descending

to bargain basement . . .

building code

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



The Qwerty Keyboard Warrior


Quite Why Effete Readers

Test Your Unusually

Inopportune Observations

Poses A Serious Doubt.

Furthermore, Giants

Have Just Killed Lovely Zoe.

Xenophon Could Verbally Berate New Mexico.

~Tony Dawson



persistence

inside the watch

a Dali sentience

~dan smith



conquering over

ocean earth and sky

we are living dinosaurs

~Joan McNerney



getting a few bugs

out of our poetry

ants

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



served

on clumps of rotting seaweed

century egg

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



when will we see

there is no light

without darkness?

we all lose in the end

~Joan McNerney



Telephone-pole beetles speed dating between oak trees

~Elliot Diamond



chemo port wine

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



whispers and shadows know whether I'm awake

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel



the nowhere train has no engine and no caboose


choo

choo

voila!

~dan smith

Afternoon of November 28, 2023

 

I tell myself

it was just an earring–

but I lost you again

~Jennifer Gurney



Black Friday

woman pushes

her shopping cart into

a homeless encampment

~John J. Dunphy



the grays in my eyebrow silverfish

~Susan Burch



kingfishers arc-welding shards of sky

~John Hawkhead



Taylor Swift fans too chimney swifties

~Susan Burch



This is not a swipe.

~Noah Berlatsky



breaking silence fallen leaves

~Marc Brimble



paper or plastic Barbie’s watching

~Susan Burch



30% chance

just as I sit on a bench

100% rain

~Christa Pandey



Frost flowers blooming

Ghosts growing in the cold air

The sunlight takes them

~Sam Calhoun



blood-letting

selling A positive

to pay the rent

~John Hawkhead



Nembutal nights

slipping into deep currents

of wish fulfilment

~John Hawkhead



Roach Lines


Open the kitchen drawer

there you are

slipping across silver cutlery

like a pitch pebble

skimming a lake

or

beneath the dishwasher

among

crap dirt bogies debris

~Marc Brimble



exchanged words

a gradual vowel-shift

in endearments

~John Hawkhead



rolling news

the world spins on its axis

repeating itself

~John Hawkhead



Big Brown Eyes


Don’t believe that sweet expression.

Notice that his claws are splayed.

He just buried the cat.

~Nolcha Fox


 

Morning of November 28, 2023


Very Little

 

I believe in very little.

I believe in love

but only a little

and love is one of the

littlest things of them all.

~John Tustin


 

Invoice

Quadruple checking lines & limbs

Triple sanding *all affected areas*

Staining + double top coat passim

Complete the entire restoration

during a < single > work session.

Declare soulful recovery.

Parts and Labor: $ 1, 234.00
~Charles A. Perrone



Watching the Clouds

 

I want to die

in a way

that I never could have lived –

 

lying on my back,

watching the clouds

~John Tustin



inner peace

 

by teasing out

and shunning reason

be cartesian

discartesian

ever pleasing

never easing

off this pledge

beyond the ledge

and natural edge

no fine line to draw

~Charles A. Perrone



the morning after

vultures hang

their wings out to dry

~Sarah Paris

 

 

In This Moment

 

In this moment

there is just enough room here

for a purring cat,

some music,

a bird that cries distantly,

the wind shaking local trees,

a cup of coffee,

the waning sun,

me,

nothing else.

~John Tustin

Morning of November 24, 2023


 when she's around you half expect a yellow canary to fly into the room

~Patrick Sweeney



mermaid 


they called me mermaid 

because i answered

the call of the sea,

but they never heard her;

i guess that's why 

they don't understand

my depths.

~linda m. crate 



ultrasound

my inner world

on the display screen

~Arvinder Kaur



coping with cancer —

the nail polish brighter

than last time

~Rupa Anand



too much


i was always told i

was too much by 

people who i thought

could be more,

if you should ask me

the only thing there's too much

of is: bombs, genocides, wars,

cruelty, malice, indifference, and greed.

~linda m. crate 



until they crawl in next to you   the sorrows of the world

~Patrick Sweeney



ravages of war

the straight face

of AI anchor

~Arvinder Kaur



autumn sky —

this desire to return

to the womb

~Debarati Sen



no money in poetry

no poetry in money

this is not a poem

nor money neither

~Noah Berlatsky



dark river

an oar scoops dead fish

in its spoon

~Rupa Anand



goddess 


you thought yourself

a god who could

mold me into your image,

you were surprised

to find i was a goddess

who could sculpt myself

into whatever image that suited me.

~linda m. crate  



dowry demands —

dad curses the day

I was born

~Debarati Sen



Smile

Body language continues our argument.

Uber guy says, “You ladies should smile more,

pretty girls like you.”

“What about the uglies─ should they smile, too?”

My sister sits up perpendicular, bares her teeth and growls.

The driver crashes into a STOP sign, slurring the word “Stop”

as if it too is skidding.

~Cheryl Snell



she doesn't want me to throw away the small pieces of soap

~Patrick Sweeney



moon shadow cognitive dissonance
~Jennifer Gurney



the inner jewelry of old telephone wires

~Patrick Sweeney



on the other side of sadness anger

~Jennifer Gurney



kissing the piggy that had roast beef

~Patrick Sweeney



I remind the moon

and all to wear a mask—

covid is waxing

~James Penha



solar noon

the donkey claims the win

for himself

~Françoise Maurice



stillness

in the room

even silence has a sound

~B. L. Bruce

Afternoon of November 20, 2023

 knot know now know now not

~J. D. Nelson



snowy rehearsal dinner eve we all get cold feet

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



5 am

our snow angel struck by

a thrown newspaper

~John J. Dunphy



Sky High


After first light

before sun rise

I tell Timothy,

my Uber driver.

There's only one planet

visible, probably Venus.


He tells me his electric

bill is super expensive

from the brand new provider,

Constellation.

~Keith Snow



kings in the corner

shuffling, dealing, playing

red on black on red

~Jennifer Gurney



The solidity and concretude

of this frigid block of material

prompts me to ponder

the liquidity and lightness

of this aerial being of flakes

each intricate and distinct

from the next and all others

designed to make me think

of an ethereal alternative

to the prescribed dosage.

~Charles A. Perrone



I Wish…

I had a poem braising

in the slow cooker,

with yellow potatoes

and the last carrots.

A savory one,

that would warm me

internally and leave me

sated.

~Keith Snow


silver moth hands we are in the stomach

~J. D. Nelson



The Fate of a Gate

 

They left the gate open for us so we

could reach the space of the dialed device

to weigh the bag of options the farm offered

They surely must have known of our ignorance

of scales and hooks and all their close relatives

and most likely anticipated the cool mark of zero

the hanging machine would inevitably register to

provoke our blue feelings of lack and emptiness

and disappointment for the loss of opportunity

to live green and reside there in bucolic bliss

~Charles A. Perrone



PERI WINKLES


Purple people eaters wear blue suede shoes.

Blue skies turn from purple haze.

Purple rain soaks the blue jays and a blue bird.

A purple patch cured his blues.

The true blue have received purple hearts!

~Keith Snow



fluoride crayon mirrored zine library

~J. D. Nelson

 

 

Announcement soon: Touchstone Poetry Award nominees from Five Fleas Itchy Poetry!