Afternoon of June 26, 2023

first date a picture of a fly on the wall

~Kerry J Heckman

inside my shell he holds it up to his ear

~Kerry J Heckman

stirring up trouble earthworm

~Kerry J Heckman

another mass shooting the moon split in half

~Kerry J Heckman

no longer

the breadwinner

making bread

~Mark Gilbert

Speed and the lolling—

the silence between the words,

uh, delirious.

~Mark Gilbert

Bauhaus exhibition

bleeps from a pile

of children’s coats

~Mark Gilbert

gated community

trapped

by her obsessions

~Nancy Brady

vintage wine

—the best year 

we stepped on 

~Sharon Ferrante

wishbones shattering the overripe fruit at the edge of a dream

~Kelly Moyer

pixie dust the secret life of a wallflower

~Kelly Moyer

night rain

what's lost is not always

meant to be found

~Kelly Moyer

Afternoon of June 23, 2023

summer night

the motel ice machine

hums to itself

~John Pappas

first light hunched over the dream dictionary

~John Pappas

one dead leaf

completely crushed

into the sidewalk

~Kathy Watts

cobbler

his entire day spent repairing

a clown's shoe

~John J. Dunphy

My childhood

is now

an empty room.

~Theo Itchon

I'm sorry I left you behind.

And I'm sorry I'd do it again.

~Theo Itchon

it wasn't staring,

they took barely a peek,

half-hippos and half-hyenas

side-eyed us

~Rich Magahiz

piercing family tree mushrooms

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

counting my nevers in a tin box

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

The screen flickers.

I keep forgetting

that I'm a superspy.

~Noah Berlatsky

If Hemingway wrote

a manual for my slow cooker,

it would read,

order in tonight.

~Nolcha Fox

new moon

sweeping generalizations

out the door

~petro c.k.

Afternoon of June 21, 2023

we were here

couch survivors

couched in delusive terms

~Leonard Zinovyev

dark nights seasoning the primordial soup

~Kelly Moyer

fibers of history generational itches

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

morning caress

i set out the sun tea

naked

~Kelly Moyer

Too Old

I think I’m too old

to get someone to teach me.

Not because I’m too old

for someone to teach me

but because when you’re old

you don’t want someone to teach you.

You know everything: that you’re old.

~Noah Berlatsky

B Positive



The problem, fleas, site titular,

is where there’s five; may well be more.

It’s boring when obsession grips,

the more so for their sawing tricks.

If only they were cochineal,

excuse to pulverise for blood,

though mine transfused if found and squeezed,

icing on cake, ‘B positive’.

~Stephen Kingsnorth

we never meant

for it to be a forever thing

carolina bamboo

~Kelly Moyer

Outsiders

She cleaned her windows twice a day,

scrubbed the step and polished brass,

blacked the grate, dared spiders’ web -

her itch, a tick, Ma’s box of tricks,

its vinegar, rags, elbow grease.

Her sin, took pity on the cat,

no pause, but welcomed to the cott,

more carrier than pigeon loft,

new squatters, hangers-on, the fleas.

That tick, her itch, outside control.

~Stephen Kingsnorth

Summer Is Dying

Outside, summer is dying into fall,

and blue daddy petunias sprout ears—

hear the beginning of night chills.

In their yellow window box,

they cuddle up and fear death together.

The balcony sliding door

is poorly insulated, and a cold draft

creeps into all the spare rooms.

~Michael Lee Johnson

Nearly full moon

Lovely in it’s almost wholeness

Reminds me of me

~Jennifer Gurney

science is questioning

mocking

challenging

threatening

[can anyone think of a better word please?]

our existential condition.

~Leonard Zinovyev

fairy bread

the glistening fingerprints

of a rainy-day child

~Kelly Moyer