Morning of February 26, 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

two shoes minus one poltergeist

~Lafcadio




π 

15 

@

~Lafcadio




around and around

pictures on a spinning top

of extinct species

~John Hawkhead




sudden nightfall

pulling tarpaulin

over a face

~John Hawkhead




others are shackled to walls or masts

~Barbara Anna Gaiardoni



chasing people down / yelling / "you ate my brother!"

~Barbara Anna Gaiardoni




If I referenced a classical myth or a jazz musician

you would have to love me, my Pulitzer judge of the heart.

~Noah Berlatsky




lost wallet

retracing my steps

i find myself

~Stephanie Zepherelli




war orphan

finding a teddy bear

with one eye

~Stephanie Zepherelli




the actress

eyelids all aflutter

a moth in a jar

~Mike Gallagher




early hours

crackling cockroaches

underfoot

~Mike Gallagher




ruminating

a mountain goat treads

the track less taken

~Mike Gallagher




reflections in the mirror

all the voices

in my head

~Mike Fainzilber

 

 

 

power cut

the silence

of the lamps

~Mike Fainzilber

 

Afternoon of February 21, 2024

                

biting wind odontalgia

~JL Huffman




ice fog glassy limbs genuflect

~JL Huffman




career dreams

measured in pell grants

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




pendulum

back and forth – daily

to the office and back

~Marie Derley




Democracy is no more...

Then should there be

Another revolution?

I am not sure about

That cul-de-sac.

~Partha Sarkar




Birds pecked my silence

Winter covered screaming wounds with snow

Why can't I sew myself into a cocoon

Why can't I be resurrected as a butterfly?

~Mykyta Ryzhykh


(Originally published in Corporeal)




Death inside the head:

Love or pride?

I don't paint flowers on the wall of your back

I'm just coloring my gray lonely shadow

Question of silence:

Death or life without love?

~Mykyta Ryzhykh


(Originally published in
Corporeal)




I grab the tree but its branches don't care

I'm walking through the cemetery looking for life


I cry about the living because the

dead are indifferent to everything


I don't find anyone alive anywhere in this world

Only photographs on graves speak to me of love

~Mykyta Ryzhykh


(Originally published in boats against the current)




The bush is devoid of all berries

Autumn is now stripping off the leaves too

The future is uncertain

~Mykyta Ryzhykh


(Originally published in boats against the current)




light is faster than sound

I can see them but can't hear them.

~Fhen M.




light passes through the glass window

they can't see us in this darkness.

~Fhen M.

 



wood borer beetles tracks

exposed on an old log

untranslated ancient script

~Steve Van Allen




used science fiction paperbacks

the bookstore cat

suspicious

~Randy Brooks




nature preserve

the nickname for our yard

at the block party

~Randy Brooks









 

 

 

 

portraits gallery / paintings of dead monarchs rule / please take no photos

~Charles A. Perrone




Platitudes


Words

hollow enough

to hide knives.

~Chad Parenteau




Muppet Buffalo


Mah Nà Mah Nà Mah Nà Mah Nà Mah Nà Mah Nà Mah Nà Mah Nà

Mah Nà Mah Nà Mah Nà Mah Nà Mah Nà Mah Nà Mah Nà Mah Nà.

~Chad Parenteau

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