Afternoon of January 30, 2024

pillow talk

smoothing the hem

of the truffle pig's nightie

~Kelly Moyer

box graters shredding my shot at motherhood

~Kelly Moyer

sleep deprivation

a game

of chicken and walrus

~Kelly Moyer

Deep Blue Now With AI Ponders

Garry

Garry

Garry

~dan smith

Groundhog Day

without a shadow

my sundial

~John J. Dunphy

plus an arrow to their zero

~John Hawkhead

shedding tears of salt on the ice road

~John Hawkhead

nursery ward baby's first barcode

~Keith Evetts

dog plays piano disjunctive haiku

~Keith Evetts

 

 

nightingale hole in the heart

~Keith Evetts

we enjoy

the best catastrophes

on the latest 4K screen

~Keith Evetts

Afternoon of January 29, 2024

finding the edge

of a flat earth

falling falling

~Kathy Watts

in his smile

the glint of a fang—

another wolf

~Kimberly Kucar

her red hood . . .

you can hardly see

the blood

~Kimberly Kucar

gene the green we’re swimming

~J. D. Nelson

ouchminster brady a pair of socks

~J. D. Nelson

the odor of dollar bills you were in my dream

~J. D. Nelson

I’m not in the dream the day I seem to be

~J. D. Nelson

punctuation

 

I use parentheses

to prevent my words from spilling over

~Marie Derley

can't play it

can't sell it--

the old silver flute

~Ruth Holzer

carry on

with your temper tantrum

I'll lie here

in my room in the dark

and think of my dead lovers

~Ruth Holzer

Sand

 

The prophet went walking.

The walking broke in half.

The halves become a chrysalis.

The chrysalis eats the dead.

The dead run down like red clocks.

The red clocks open the rain.

Rain bleeds a prophet.

It is walking on meaning like sand.

~Noah Berlatsky

trimming trees

she lops off

his fingers

~Nancy Brady

graveyard extension —

now you can die as many

times as you like

~Maurizio Brancaleoni

Evening of January 24, 2024

collecting snowflakes

with almost no effort

tuba

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

bleak midwinter–

longest stretch outside

mailrun

~Jennifer Gurney

watching my breath freeze

hanging in midair

I wait for the bus

~Jennifer Gurney

photo album

proof we were once

a family

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Rapunzel’s faux pas

using harsh conditioners

she lets her hair down

~John H. Dromey

About Dinosaurs

What joy! What happiness!

While my grandchildren play

And dream about dinosaurs

I, at their innocent age

Played with El Jabato comics.

~Daniel de Culla

nowhere feels safe

if somebody can shoot

the president

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Gödel, man, go

Tarski and such

play Peano

their set

merely theory.

The audience goes wild

judging it to be

sufficiently axiomatized

however incomplete.

~dan smith

a sad clerk making sense in the dollar store

~Robert Witmer

rubber soul

a long playing record

left to skip

~Robert Witmer

the conspiracist

goes fishing

a can of worms

~Robert Witmer

fortune teller

at the tiller

a small boat banking

on a wave

goodbye

~Robert Witmer

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