Morning of February 21, 2024

 

THE WRITER IN HIS GARRET

thank God

for pen and paper

without them

I might have to go

talk with somebody

~John Grey

Bluefused

You creep out of the icebox,

blue-rimmed cube,

reminiscing drop kerplunks,

the aerial dance of sea and sky.

Now you’re squarely

out of circulation.

~Nolcha Fox

inevitable split infinitive inevitable

~John Hawkhead

stone hard ground yet still we pass through

~John Hawkhead

hairs on my neck

static electricity

before the first strike

~Jennifer Gurney

I can hear you breathe

in the pin-drop quiet of

the test-taking classroom

~Jennifer Gurney

I miss

newspaper ink on my fingers

every morning

~Jennifer Gurney

hitchhiker

should be more careful

bloody thumbprint

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

shouting

over the BUZZZZ

cicada year

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

skipping stones litter the cracked lake bed

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

Then He Made A Noise

marsh

slog

mud suck

hips submerged

waders filling up

something noses behind my knee

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

Morning of February 19, 2024

 Discovery

evidence galore

exhibits A to Zillion

hoarder in the court

~John H. Dromey

like this her gestures / yes a shadow's width apart / safe from whatever

~Charles A. Perrone

Vomiting

really sucks.

Everyone knows that, I guess.

But sometimes

we need to reaffirm

the simple truths.

~Noah Berlatsky

Help! does scream the kelp

I've washed ashore and cannot

get back to the sea!

~Charles A. Perrone

party animals

tearing the place all to shreds

making life worthwhile

~Charles A. Perrone

fangs

chasing dogs

chasing cars

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Ay, There’s the Rub

thinks boarding pass is

scratch-off lottery ticket

stranded at spaceport

~John H. Dromey

alley

coatless man and a dog

                frozen

                together

~John J. Dunphy

blood tracks

in the snow

yet it’s certain

his knife is plastic

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

AI flash mobs some assembly required

~dan smith

then when she wasn’t

she was

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

free jazz sandwich—

swiss cheese melody

hold the chords

~dan smith

Evening of February 17, 2024

 

unlike butterflies     deathwatch beetles tell no lies

~Richard Magahiz

raw throats it's not   not the alcohol

~Richard Magahiz

on each raindrop     I write your number

~Richard Magahiz

adorning

the ventricles

concertina wire

~Richard Magahiz

Has seen none

But the blind pioneer

How shrewd philosophy

Bets on collapsed economy

With tampered coins.

~Partha Sarkar

Haunts human eyes

The suppressed helpless

Fire and it flees.

But where should it flee?

All roads go to hell.

~Partha Sarkar

flea market

i buy someone’s

childhood

~Mona Bedi

intermittent rain our on and off relationship

~Mona Bedi

metastasis the length of a life

~Mona Bedi

autumn equinox

he promises me

the moon

~Mona Bedi

parts of her

unknown to me

Alzheimer’s

~Mona Bedi

wind fractures the moon on the lake water too cold for a dip

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

October leaves rustle an octave below the distant sound of blues

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

scraping away layers of paint the size of old scars

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

morning sun

the web’s builder resting

on the windowsill

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

Morning of February 16, 2024

Nostalgic POV

the multiverse

of a Train

Avenue

the trackless

waste of desires

yellow streetcars

ice-blue silence

of a lake

no longer freezing

~dan smith

deep winter all night long visiting ghosts

~John Pappas

tragedy to trivia the alchemy of history

~John Pappas

now it is for it isn’t an eep

~J. D. Nelson

mysterious plaidness a letter in box 1

~J. D. Nelson

daylight crown aperture extra now

~J. D. Nelson

late middle-age unable to enjoy the rule of thirds

~John Pappas

end of mission

a pattern of smoke

on repeat

~John Pappas

wildflowers the art and artifact of language

~John Pappas

writers' workshop

first-timer asks us to critique

his suicide note

~John J. Dunphy

bad dreams and nightmares

un-pleasantries as I sleep

unable to wake!

~Charles A. Perrone

a circle makes a polygon.

~Fhen M.

Saturn and hourglass

the end is the beginning.

~Fhen M.

Swan Lake

The Dance of the Cygnets

aka Tchaikovsky’s

Cygneture Tune.

~Tony Dawson

Eye 4 an Eye

i4ni + Human + ruthlessness = Humans+blindness+toothless

~David Mitchell

hooded crows

another dark tale

about priests

~John Hawkhead

rolling over

shoreline pebbles

an exclusion zone

~John Hawkhead

Prayer for peace

Sound of ‘arm men.’

Sound of ‘aim men’

~David Mitchell

 

Afternoon of February 12, 2024

We’re passengers

on the Orient Express

killing time.

~Nolcha Fox

night owl

at his regular perch

picking at a slice of pie

~Christopher Peys

mom's gratitude

for doing the dishes

and holding my tongue.

family politics

~Christopher Peys

I aired my thoughts

on the clothesline. Someone

stole them, how thoughtless.

~Nolcha Fox

Even your successes are failures.

Even your memory forgets.

It is down a long way to have nothing in your hands.

It is down a long way to be nowhere.

~Noah Berlatsky

Hey diddle diddle

Trump said he jumped over the moon

To his disgust

A black hole swallowed him whole

The end

~Philip Hornblow

Floh + Floh = zwei

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

bite

of brown recluse

scurry of legs

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

 

field trip

urban kids learn

where milk comes from

~John J. Dunphy

high school activist

her yearbook photo

her first mug shot

~John J. Dunphy

the felon's fingerprints

lifted from

a baby bottle

~John J. Dunphy

eddy poe, jr.

"dada, caw, caw…"

                                             he said

                     "Me a raven."

To which his father replied —

          "Nevermore, my little man,

                    go back to bed ... 

                                                                 forevermore."

~Christopher Peys

MoMA ...

an abstraction

of an abstraction

after the image

the afterimage …

still just dots

on a white wall

~Christopher Peys

feedback&distortiontheslowerosion

~Mark Gilbert

ellipsing around that which is not visible

~Mark Gilbert

the poet is a lamb drinking water

the wolf is a poem that eats us

poems drown with us in sugar water

the river of time moves towards uncertainty
 

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

(Originally published in Setu)