Afternoon of April 2, 2024

 late capitalism

the books i don’t like

for décor

~Aline da Silveira

Togetherness

is when he loses his butt

and I gain it.

~Nolcha Fox

casting ripples

upon god's reflection

the cat's tongue

~Kelly Moyer

  true believers—

                 down 

                     the 

                     rabbit 

                       holier

                        -than

                       -thou

~David Josephsohn

witchgrass breaking off all contact

~John Hawkhead

left-spiraled snail swaged with tree rings

~Elliot Diamond

dark forest letting alexa in

~John Hawkhead

confessional the cold comfort of penance

~David Josephsohn

wringing in my ears the chicken’s neck

~John Hawkhead

Hope is a hamster wheel

without a hamster

or a wheel.

There is some hamster poop though.

~Noah Berlatsky

why do I always

underestimate the boxes

needed to move

~Jennifer Gurney

MalTease

Falcon

4 door

~dan smith

felt like years—

the time it took to separate

our record albums

~Jennifer Gurney

Relativity

4th cousin

5 times removed

Emily Dickinson

good to know

but no good

at Costco

~dan smith

spring journey

the petals on the ground say

that we must return

~Marie Derley

easter morning

an oh so fine

crack in her shell

~Kelly Moyer

rain

Easter sunrise service

minus sun

~John J. Dunphy

a whiff of cold air

someone’s late

for the eucharist

~Maya Daneva

herxheimer reaction

the spirochetes’

new cosmic address

~Kelly Moyer

you haven't seen the chase,

the tearing of feathers,

the breaking of the bones,

you're busy cleaning the backyard.

~Fhen M.

For Sale:  Derby Skates

You would have thought

they’d be satisfied.

But, no.

Tonight, I saw the listing.

The spirochetes

have put my derby skates

up for auction on eBay

for thrice what I paid.

As if . . .

they haven’t taken enough.

~Kelly Moyer

 

Morning of March 31, 2024

I am in the sink how is it a pelican

~J. D. Nelson

near-earth insurance giant wonderfully

~J. D. Nelson

window pizza purple instinct

~J. D. Nelson

toad that saturn neighbor to the north

~J. D. Nelson

invisible room grapes free of change

~J. D. Nelson

inflatable swan song

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

anonymous tax on sin he pays heavily

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

unsubstantiated seasonal sorbet

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

inverted pyramid aimed tо the heart

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

microwave burrito showing me its good side

~petro c. k.

deep field the sweater that would be forthcoming

~petro c. k.

greeter my name barely hanging around

~petro c. k.

turning into a pumpkin an RV on fire

~petro c. k.

Afternoon of March 26, 2024

 

shopping for beets under authoritarian rule

~Patrick Sweeney

from a 2D circle

Platonic Solids may be drawn

the building blocks of the cosmos.

~Fhen M.

first day of spring

his walk ends at

the prison wall

~John J. Dunphy

great eclipse expectations

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

this planet is hexahedron

according to the flatearthers.

~Fhen M.

OSTEOLOGY

You cried all through

the class where I

learned the heel-bone can

shatter, cheap Christmas

ornament lodged beneath

our skin. A car too blue

parked too close. I

walk past each step

I hear my break

~Hershel Burgh

almost unrecognizable —

thank goodness

I don't look old like

everyone else

at my class reunion

~John J. Dunphy

wink wink but still

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

ants raid a tree trunk

feasting frenziedly on

a sugar maple

~Chris Collins

so it goes

down the rabbit hole

a hungry snake

~Stephen Jarrell Williams

rearranging garden stones

shorting the Pleiades

by one

~Patrick Sweeney

HEDONIST

I live not for love but because the dead

Cannot feel a cat purr, or a poem read

~Hershel Burgh

a vein of Potosi silver on the neck of the woman in charge

~Patrick Sweeney

calming yourself down

before you fall

in love with her

~Stephen Jarrell Williams

she wants to paint a laundromat fresco of my ugly feet

~Patrick Sweeney

now more accurate

the crucified Jesus' skin darkened

by the church fire

~John J. Dunphy

stirring the pool

full of broken promises

bottom of your heart

~Stephen Jarrell Williams

climate change::the mezzo-soprano of ice

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

mountain cutaway   the blue whale's slow turn to polar waters

~Patrick Sweeney

Afternoon of March 24, 2024

buttercups

the sun has no name

for yellow

~Kelly Moyer

sun god will burst

and what remains is eternal winter.

~Fhen M.

looking up

the Eiffel Tower

blocks the sun

~Jennifer Gurney

cottontails the garden at a loss for herbs

~Debbie Strange

buttercream bunnies

some of us were meant

to learn the hard way

~Kelly Moyer

still in the fridge

the Easter egg with a shell

too pretty to peel

~John J. Dunphy

deckled edges

sailors know how to read

the shoreline

~Debbie Strange

adjusting

ovals to circles

tv test pattern

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

copyright d®ead

~Debbie Strange

eden

finding freedom in the fall

of butterflies

~Kelly Moyer

vanishing

on spring winds

S. A. D.

~Stephanie Zepherelli

spiritual psychology

i sprawl

upon the spirochete's couch

~Kelly Moyer

the seven wonders sightseers looking only at themselves

~Debbie Strange

 

 

 

Evening of March 22, 2024

blues on the bayou

a guitar weeps in the night,

earning nickels and dimes

~Arvilla Fee

paramedic

       sirens

       paramedic 

               sirens         

               sounding

      all

day long

~Tuyet Van Do

flip flops

longing to make their entrance—

winter laughs

~Jennifer Gurney

The Recipe of My Tribe

 

½ cup of OCD

2 heaping cups of sass

1 full stick of hug-it-out

a pinch of real kick-ass

¾ cup of therapy

1 cup of half-past-youth

5 tablespoons of loyalty

3 cups of brutal truth.

~Arvilla Fee

bamboo collapse

blocks our car on a road

not to be taken

~James Penha

earning

degrees in whatever

party animals

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Get a Cat They Said

 

it will be fun they said,

except I’m only allowed to pet him

every other Thursday,

and now I need a new couch.

~Arvilla Fee

an old man sports a toothless grin,

grateful to be topside of the grass

~Arvilla Fee

World Water Day

With the wastage of nectar

By the unscrupulous poor...

Don't you protest against it?

Protest? Against the dead?

~Partha Sarkar

daredevil’s jump a waterfall of words

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

sinking feeling

after hitting send

*typo

~Jennifer Gurney

laughing

at your funeral today—

cognitive dissonance

~Jennifer Gurney

Morning of March 20, 2024

 

vital signs

a flea jumps

into my verse

~Cezar Ciobica

horror story

termites feasting

on the attic floor

~Jahnavi Gogoi

potter's field

on an unmarked grave

a praying mantis

~John J. Dunphy

sliver moon

a Cheshire cat

licks my halo

~Cezar Ciobica

golf course

emerging from the water hazard

a gator

~John J. Dunphy

So Sorry

The turtle is confused by Spring.

He’s in such a sorry state.

He can’t determine if

he should put out patio furniture

or insulate his shell.

~Nolcha Fox

power failure

a doll crying

for help

~Cezar Ciobica

whatever

worked for us yesterday

not working today

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

dandelion clocks —

my father's

last wish

~Cezar Ciobica

identity crisis

a dandelion wonders

flower or weed?

~Jahnavi Gogoi

Life 2.0

Faster, brighter and greater

The meek can inherit the world now,

…and pay later.

~David Mitchell

defunct wifi a wave of light caressing the blankness

~Arvinder Kaur

too small to recognize bras in dryer

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

cat cute cut out ou oh o zero

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

what I need now is

to be stabbed through the eye

filled with granite and stupid

autumn

~Noah Berlatsky

drought relief

a frog wedding in

the village

~Jahnavi Gogoi

group photo

a face in the last row

fades in the frame

~Arvinder Kaur

Still chirp birds

Amidst man made debris—

The eternal conscience

Flouting human's development—

A pride without cognition.

~Partha Sarkar

surf and turf

master of all

he can order

~Helen Buckingham

a leaf of my soul is torn off

I haven't seen sakura for a long time

I've never seen sakura

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

rock

paper

guano

~Helen Buckingham

old railroad tracks scattered in a woods

at night a train whistle

still blows

~Steve Van Allen

day moon

or spy balloon

blue sky winking

~Helen Buckingham