Evening of December 29, 2023

 

  Covid for New Year’s.

I’ll probably be fine.

Probably.

~Noah Berlatsky

underneath the tree –

a 1000 fallen pine needles

and my cat drinking

~Jennifer Gurney

New Year's Eve

sound of gunshots

just like every other night

~John J. Dunphy

there are no more

ordinary moments –

now that my eyes are open

~Jennifer Gurney

the same steps

with different footprints

lineage

~Mona Bedi

clever or not

we never imagined the end

like this

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Watermelon rinds of hunger sprout in my hand

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

still wondering about the pronouns winter rain

~Mona Bedi

Rain teaches you to cry

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

growing old the sisters I once had

~Mona Bedi

sailing in from past lives snowbirds on ghost ships

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

a poem written

on the wings of sleep

dances differently

~Jennifer Gurney

death the everlasting sheep

~Keith Evetts

The cry of silence in the middle of the night

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

all night worrying

whether the sleeping pills

have worked

~Keith Evetts

old hippie

now even his kidneys

stoned

~John J. Dunphy

squid-fingered slipwit

subtle as a whale

—why she loves him

~Keith Evetts

Afternoon of December 26, 2023

A woodpecker's bill 

rapping a series of notes.

Twelve drummers drumming

for money, they sing.

~Fhen M. 

sanctified ice

church's holy water

during the power outage

~John J. Dunphy

full moon grows bright

as the world fades to gray and black

dollar store baskets

full of bright, plastic, colors

~Steve Van Allen

lessening a little more holiday diet

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

post-holiday thaw

only my snowman

losing weight

~John J. Dunphy

for whom do we drink water if from heaven God brings down rain on the earth?

for whom do we live if the top angels press the wrong buttons?

it turns out that we all live on a cloud

it turns out that we are electronic rivers of rain from electronic clouds

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

(Originally published in Ripple Lit)

hiding

surprises in every corner

St Nick and cranny

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Christmas Eve

 

Midnight is mysterious

when you are old.

I fell asleep at eight.

~Noah Berlatsky

the fear of dying in a dream woke up again

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

Layover Poem

This is living, This is life;

a small chuckle,

Fey Inebriation

before an endless,

sleepless dream.

~Thomas Skahill

French film

the smell of the cheese sauce

on their nachos

~Marie Derley

Some Like It Hot

It seems more

Like it luke-warm,

Like lapped milk

or the radiance

We peel back from the stars.

~Thomas Skahill

reverting to whisky—

warding off the cold

from within

~Jennifer Gurney

If The Lights In My Head Go Out

I’d show my friends the door,

and how it feels

when the vertical green

hits their face like a jilted clover

after a night of irish whiskey.

~Thomas Skahill

hunting screenshots

in a storm door world

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

our        A

                         |

              C — first —G

                         |

                        T         word
~Shane Coppage

learning curve

8 

letters

make 

i-n-f-i-n-i-t-y

~Shane Coppage

cold

        snaps at my feet

ghost

        we named you Pocket

dad 

        left his mind skin

        on the moss-bright lintel

stay

        everything's okay until it isn't

~Shane Coppage

if I won the lottery—

front row tickets to the

Rolling Stones

~Jennifer Gurney

cemetery

on each child's grave

a candy cane

~John J. Dunphy

Afternoon of December 22, 2023

Baudelaire in the Frigidaire: The 60-Cycle Hymn

full fathom fly

soft velvet soft

sky-lift music

steals the deep blue

strobe light sun

~dan smith

Simone and Jean Paul

gnomic thick-lensed

cigarettes and wine

sacramental threesomes

a Nietzschean design

~dan smith

white knuckles

gripping the wheel

carpool tunnel syndrome

~David Josephsohn

As solid as a stone

coffee’s combined with hot water

a little stir, a little patience

all things hard have a soft spot.

~Fhen M.

The Art of Poetry, The Poetry of Art

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~Noah Berlatsky

dying to know how it feels living wage

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

statues

die too

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

polka

resistant

dots

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

One-Liner

______________________________

~Noah Berlatsky

Afternoon of December 18, 2023

Can insomnia

keep up with jet lag?

~Noah Berlatsky

My compost pile

is full of tiny staples

strings and teabag tags.

~Terry Trowbridge

Smash into powder

the coffee beans

exposed to open air

overnight hardens.

~Fhen M.

i  se n r yu  k

u k i ah

~Lorelyn De la Cruz Arevalo

The Cleveland School of Advanced Outlaw Poetics

screw 'em

if they can't

take a joke

~dan smith

our multi-faith home

the candles for

Hanukkah, Christmas and solstice

all set ablaze from

the same box of matches

~John J. Dunphy

why me–

next door neighbors

hang flashing lights

~Jennifer Gurney

veteran's nativity set

one of the wise men

missing a leg

~John J. Dunphy

transporting a team

of Alaskan reindeer

to the Philly Zoo

Rudolph with his nose so bright

upgraded to first class

~Bonnie J Scherer

Christmas Eve live nativity

the smallest angel

keeps yawning

~John J. Dunphy

modern

gifts of the Magi–

delivery from Amazon

~Jennifer Gurney

outdoor Christmas carolers

Silent Night followed by

a coyote howl

~John J. Dunphy

spring tulips

winter cacti

autumn roses

summer rains

everything around is waiting

for the end of the world

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

(Originally published in Lothlorien Poetry Journal)

ants warm their belly under

the sun like a giant

organs crawl out from

their own disgrace

eve of the last war

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

(Originally published in Lothlorien Poetry Journal)

smoke cloud

the teddy loses

its only eye

~Arvinder Kaur

war destruction

in my hometown

cicadas cry

~Arvinder Kaur