Afternoon of January 22, 2024

 

introvert holding onto my exoskeleton

~Mona Bedi



Life is a spin in the dryer. I can be a dryer ball, banging my brain out in a heated drum. I

can be the lint that’s tossed in the trash. I can be my favorite sweater, ragged with

overuse, warm and ready for another day. It’s my choice.

~Nolcha Fox



the last time

I arrived early

preemie

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



shoulder to shoulder: air-dropping love notes

~Patrick Sweeney



house of cards queens at the window

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



I turn my head to see my shadow’s chin

~Glenn Ingersoll



twins

a year apart

nevermore

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



windows up, doors locked: passing through the bad neighborhood of my mind

~Patrick Sweeney



pole-vaulting polar extremes in my thrift-shop jacket

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



lapping waves

the conversations

we never have

~Mona Bedi



If I could only steal the moon

to stop the howling of the wolves.

~Fhen M.



sidewalk

as surprised as I am

a crow

~Franรงoise Maurice



he wanted the right of way in a random universe

~Patrick Sweeney

Afternoon of January 19, 2024

 


snowflakes on my tongue

the beginning

of a new language

~Michele Rule



wool blanket

I curl up without feeling

the itch

~Michele Rule



seeing the world as it really is mantis shrimp

~dan smith



the snake in my stomach is hunting a toy mouse

~Mykyta Ryzhykh



garden mouse

now I’m on the side

of the small things

~Timothy Daly



New Year’s Eve I drop before Times Square

~Jennifer Gurney



humility digs up the plague

~Mykyta Ryzhykh



p    r    o    c    r    a    s    t    i    n    a    t    i    o    n 

~Jennifer Gurney



I gave to the church

later the casino

certain I would win

~James Penha



you are the dream

of someone suffering

from insomnia

~Mykyta Ryzhykh



What if my life

is not wild and precious?

 

Leave my dumpy life alone.

~Noah Berlatsky



subzero night

scratching at my back door

the feral cat

~John J. Dunphy



sand fleas

how can I live with you

it bites

~Sharon Ferrante



joining the circus flea-bitten dog

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



warning to a werewolf


you bark, you bite;

not considering

i am waiting until the

right moment to 

drive a silver stake through

your heart.

~linda m. crate 



The Potato Eaters,

my family in the old house.

~Fhen M.



when I started playing tunes

with test tubes

I knew I had to leave Britain

and science

so I quit my prestigious PhD

and moved to Paris

to become a mediocre philosopher

a distracted piano player

and an even worse

poet

~Timothy Daly



curious eyes

the dragon asks

if I’m real

~Sharon Ferrante


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

Evening of January 10, 2024

  

 

the telescopefish

shapes from ninety-nine

fathoms

~Richard Magahiz



airstrike a misuse of air

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



in case of love   scan with this laser

~Richard Magahiz



vestigial organ i remain the assistant manager

~Raghav Prashant Sundar



chain smoker under the door

~Elliot Diamond



the shape-shifting carcass: silent vultures

~Arvinder Kaur



background tv news all my haiku about war

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



cicadas were their bridesmaids starlings their ushers

~Richard Magahiz



in her garden

only nightshades

moon magic

~Steve Van Allen



resplendent trogans

their under-tails

flash in code

~Richard Magahiz



A 2D square sees the surrounding in one dimension

let it fly and hover over the 3D earth.

But what is a tesseract?

~Fhen M.


gaps

in the audio

from the Neolithic

~Richard Magahiz



I’m sure that 100,000


sciences have proven

rain is, too

~J. D. Nelson



I am so dirty / I do so very much need / some old-fashioned soap

~Charles A. Perrone



I Did It

You’re supposed to put grief in every poem.

~Noah Berlatsky



cavewolf sprite


oh, you could:


hiccough downtown

o the oooooooo

~J. D. Nelson



woodland walk

I follow my dog's example

and pee

~John J. Dunphy