Morning of January 23, 2024

sunrise

a headless bird

takes flight

~Mike Fainzilber

painful sight

the politician

unmasked

~Mike Fainzilber

Journey

you do not want to be me

too many pained lives

have passed through this body

on their journey home

~Ann Christine Tabaka

I emerge

from my prey

looking for love

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

fairy's curse

she knew when guys

were lying

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

frost fingers

topography

of Faerie

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

if they didn't

look so much like celery

interstellar war

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

outer space sightseeing

tour guide points out

the remains of Major Tom

~John J. Dunphy

oil drops on a wet road

swirling galaxies

~Steve Van Allen

euphemisms pricking the oyster's ear

~Kelly Moyer

tumbleweeds

the blessings we count

while drinking sand

~Kelly Moyer

plot devices detonating at the edge of vermilion

~Kelly Moyer

 

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

~Françoise 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