Morning of October 12, 2024

Ick

a

bod

psalm

o

dissed

~dan smith

last night

the moon was full

the neighbor’s dogs

howled a bit

any werewolves

were silent

~Tom Blessing

student lunches

even i don’t know what

the gray brown mush

inside the wrap is

but I ate it

and still don’t know

~Tom Blessing

no guns dream

no shooters

nothing to see

~Mark Gilbert

national security

we have never had this

conversation

~Mark Gilbert

yeah not so much

a social construct

algal bloom

~Mark Gilbert

playing an imposter

maintaining

that separation

~Mark Gilbert

one-hundred-trillion

neutrinos per second

the porosity of "I"

~M. R. Pelletier

dawn again

1.6 million miles

nearer the sun

~M. R. Pelletier

rhythmic blinking

of internet router signals

the conversing planets

~Tejendra Sherchan

a girl snaps

in the crowded bus

summer’s heat

~Tejendra Sherchan

man-made idol

dripping water —

clogged toilet drainage

~Tuyet Van Do

persnickety

bane of my existence

HOA

~Jennifer Gurney

 

 

 

Halloween candy

once the bag is opened

it’s only one serving…

~Jennifer Gurney

one more month

of political ads

as if anyone is undecided…

~Jennifer Gurney

golden hour—

the last of the summer figs

oozing

~B. L. Bruce

Dining Diva

putting on airs

and a lobster bib

tuna fish sandwich

~John H. Dromey

Answer Awaited with Bated Breath

wormholes are portals

do they lead to outer space

or a fishing trip

~John H. Dromey

crumpled receipts the city’s heartbeat on pause

~C.X. Turner

her body releases its temporary gods part by part

~Vijay Prasad

Vacuum gives birth to a mother

~Partha Sarkar

a smudge in mascara time rewrites itself

~C.X. Turner

October

I wear my mask

24/7

~Jennifer Gurney

 

 

 

Evening of October 9, 2024

 

Skin off—hundreds of bones.

Skin on—millions of faces.

~Carol-Versannie

Teach a kangaroo rat to swim

As asking you to love me

Oh darling, a moth would rather die in fire

~Carol-Versannie

red hood down

she is running

with the pack

~Melissa Dennison

liberated

he lets his inner werewolf

run free

~Melissa Dennison

frozen in terror

eight legs dangling

just above her bed

~Melissa Dennison

soothed by Renoir and a mango slushy

~Patrick Sweeney

the very corner where Kafka bowed to the blind man

~Patrick Sweeney

messing with her ETA, the distances to the outer planets

~Patrick Sweeney

hornet washing her skinny feet in the dew

~Patrick Sweeney

waiting for a candidate to hold up a lotus flower

~Patrick Sweeney

on the path, it's a leaf not a visitor

~Patrick Sweeney

Singularity Delayed

confidence builder

a robot with training wheels

not our equal yet

~John H. Dromey

A STILL IS  STILL

A STILL       IF IT

REMAINS STILL

IN   THE   STILL

OF  THE NIGHT

~Charles A. Perrone

mother tongue interference

how i fit

nowhere

~Jahnavi Gogoi

moving on

her initials on

his arm

~Jahnavi Gogoi

midnight cravings

i unblock a forbidden

number

~Jahnavi Gogoi

motion and direction imposed upon a wanderer

~Vijay Prasad

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five Fleas Merch

Afternoon of October 5, 2024

 

plague doctor on call

                              of

                                  the

                                   void

~John Hawkhead

lone headlight

my shadow walks

the woods

~Mariel Herbert

 

death becoming a mere shadow of myself

~John Hawkhead

You know the meaning

Voter.

Dyslexia.

Democracy.

Sunset.

Leftism.

Hmm…

Justice.

Rotten procrastination.

Fascism.

Fetid gob.

Revolution.

Cul-de-sac.

~Partha Sarkar

 

swept away

by witch’s broom

my fairy tale

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

autumn equinox

my neighbor's earth flag

at half staff

~John J. Dunphy

darkened city street

the glow of a porch light

in an oil slick

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

 

meeting

at the moon

skinny-dippers

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

small town

a biker guns his engine

at the lone stop sign

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

 

the costume

that makes her scream

work uniform

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

full clouds

forgetting expired milk

in the fridge

~Mariel Herbert

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Darkly Beautiful is a dark, gothly, witchy print publication celebrating witches, nature, the

magical and ethereal (a special edition by Magique Publishing, so it will happen only

once)! Send in your submissions by October 10.

Link for guidelines (Note: primarily mentioning sister magazine)

 

Afternoon of October 3, 2024

 

Snake catchers are proud of their work

The jungle is the birthplace of dangers

This is what snake phantom pain looks like

Fingers trying to feel the wind

Rusty leaves tickle the belly

Laughter turns into intimidation of the enemy

Deceitful fangs threaten with poison that actually does not exist

The gaze searches for a house that no longer exists

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

(Originally published in The Creativity Webzine)

Midnight refrain

Thoughts get thinner

At the crossroads

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

outside a colors shop

grounded on its half wing

a dead butterfly

~Tejendra Sherchan

a reluctant smile towed away by a flea

~Vijay Prasad

buzzed or was bee

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

night waves

hitting the pier

songs from the other side

~Anthony Lusardi

Past, Present and Our Future

 

Through the collective known as Women! – ever ready, willing, and able

 

to withstand persistent pressures and towering temperatures 

needed to become glittering, priceless diamonds 

 

      lighting the way

out of madness to sanity; out of chaos to order; out of conflict to peace;

      world no longer on fire

~Suzanne S. Austin-Hill

volcanic pizza burning the crust

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

powerline

a crow maneuvers her tail

to balance on

~Tejendra Sherchan

Dusty mirror

Time has not been kind

Vanishing moon

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

carefully :

there won't be any more time

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

repent, tick tock fan

time wastes the fritter

even a space ex

~dan smith

 

 

Morning of September 29, 2024

 

 

wings of geese moving on with my life

~Maya Daneva

one minute from yesterday  a lonely pronoun

~Vijay Prasad

writing down another inch of grief

~Maya Daneva

wounded by her high heel echo

~Maya Daneva

the rising sparks

from a blacksmith’s furnace

shooting stars

~Tejendra Sherchan

mid-air flight

strapped in the aisle seat

a plush hamburger

~Tuyet Van Do

breath in-out

in the pauses

the green graph

~Kavita Ratna

riding out the storm

FL coast dweller puts on

his old army dog tag

~John J. Dunphy

garden threshold

planting peace lilies

a martyr's wife

~Debarati Sen

a simple guacamole

oh, the ripeness

of her karma

~Kelly Moyer

death cleaning

i keep my dirty laundry

for the obit

~Kelly Moyer

my upbringing

a highchair stowed

beneath the cuckoo clock

~Kelly Moyer

imagined futures

a cat

at the screen door

~Kelly Moyer

preemptive

i leave my hand

open flat

on the mattress

so i don’t

wake up swinging

from the moon

~Kelly Moyer

Nothing.

And then

nothing,

but

in verse.

~Noah Berlatsky

Thank you, State

You are without heart

on World Heart Day.

Thank you, State.

~Partha Sarkar

beached whale —

        in her last breath

        she just wants a selfie

~Nicoletta Ignatti

        dry leaf in the wind —

        the silent protest

        of a single woman

~Nicoletta Ignatti

 

Afternoon of September 25, 2024

the name of silence

on the tip of the tongue

we never knew how to say

goodbye properly

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

upside-down birds fall up

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

snowflakes you also sailed here

in silence and melted under my feet

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

egg-balancing

her uterine tilt debunked

at 23.5 degrees

~Kelly Moyer

shadow work

sorting the seeds

of her 8-ball zucchini

~Kelly Moyer

raindrops on glass

alien planets

and moons

~Melissa Dennison

the look of love

a spider sneaks

into the house

~Melissa Dennison

two steps

a cockroach escapes

my wrath

~Tejendra Sherchan

Kolkata before and after 2024

jading

jades

jade

jade.

~Partha Sarkar

Fuel dies- goes back again dead to pyre.

~Partha Sarkar

On Display

Barbs on the barbed wire fence

pretend they’re blackbirds

clinging to telephone lines

paralleling the road except

nothing startles barbs into flight;

they remain attached

frozen like dead blackbirds

on museum display.

~Diane Webster

Driftwood

Beached sun-bleached tree

abandoned atop the sand dune

squiggled with sand waves.

 

A millennial shore

of memory postcards

mailed along the way.

~Diane Webster

Disappearance

Car tracks in snow

drive off

into the sky’s horizon;

snowflakes lay a mantle

across the road;

trees witness nothing.

~Diane Webster

Return Answer

A road curves through

a canyon of buildings.

 

Does it go the distance?

Does it fall off the flat world?

Does it flow into the gutter

and disappear down the drain?

 

Will someone return

with an answer?

~Diane Webster

one catastrophe,

another this haunted place—

but how vivid now

~Aaron Anstett

rocks trapped in a stream

singing a song home

one grain at a time

~Sam Calhoun

morning comes cloudy

waiting for the pistol snap

the sun never rises

~Sam Calhoun

chronic illness

i don

my invisibility cloak

~Kelly Moyer

existential dread

a slug

in the ant trap

~Kelly Moyer

eyes wide

as the saucer she flew in on

the poet’s kitten

~Kelly Moyer