Morning of August 16, 2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

separating slices of cheese from the paper… will they miss each other

~Maya Daneva

slippery politicians the art of the eel

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

 

 

our dilemma his horns

~dan smith

cosmography already I feel lost

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

writing

without seeing what I’m writing

dark night

~Maya Daneva

yards of net

a satin bodice

those fishnet tights -

the scratchiness

of my first tutu

~Penny Lowery

safe underground now -

your ashes

and those of your dog

~Penny Lowery

a sudden wetness

the puppy rolls her tongue

around my toes

~Jackie Chou

in the wildfire haze

trees look like they are

trying to leave

~tom blessing

Dinner Plans

 

a cuttlefish

disguised as a hermit crab

meets

a cuttlefish

disguised as a hermit crab

~Kimberly Kuchar

intergalactic fugitive

light escapes from

a black hole

~John J. Dunphy

Too Many Choices

should I pray to

God?

Jesus?

the Blessed Virgin Mary?

one of the saints?

I decide on

"To Whom It May Concern"

~John J. Dunphy

the stray looks back

tail tucked, eyes hopeful

freezing rain

~Sherri J Moye-Dombrosky

Trapped by cats on lap my thoughts must natter—

which of these two cats must be the cat-ter?

~Noah Berlatsky

pouring kibble

into the metal bowl

"I want some"

the stray cat says

with her peridot eyes

~Jackie Chou

somewhere it's vernal

where there's no orange blight

and our days aren't numbered

~dan smith

day and night

he says

he's the one

and you're not

~dan smith

 

 

Afternoon of August 11, 2025

 

exposition boulevard

pick a fight

and you'll hear some truth

~Jerome Berglund

proxy server

stars and stripes on

the fire hydrant

~Jerome Berglund

smoke detector

warm to the touch

friendly fire

~Jerome Berglund

approachable

the paradox or irony

to a basket muzzle

~Jerome Berglund

summer vacation —

traveling around

hospitals

~Maurizio Brancaleoni

Door unlocked

But the key

Is rusty

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Hemlock is not poisonous

Hemlock is not poisonous.

Yet if you drink it and die,

you are responsible.

Does it tell you to drink?

~Partha Sarkar

I suffocate

I cannot see the trees, the birds and other winged angels.

After sunset I suffocate.

~Partha Sarkar

Don’t think of it as

talking to a friend.

Think of it as

building your brand.

~Noah Berlatsky

World economic relationship

Billabong.

Billboard.

Billets-doux.

Yet no billhead.

Then billingsgate,

billhook and

Billy goat is retrenched.

~Partha Sarkar

feeding time

a little black bug

for the Venus Flytrap

~Ruth Holzer

my father's only suit

looking sharp on

a thrift store mannequin

~John J, Dunphy

seashore

the heavy bucket

of adult sand…

~Sharon Ferrante

burning my finger

doing a spell

with dragon’s blood

~Sharon Ferrante

retirement living off the fruits of war

~Ruth Holzer

quid GoPro

~Jerome Berglund

down by the river migrants fishing for supper

~Ruth Holzer

the business of this world not my circus

~Ruth Holzer

so a man walks into a b AR-5. . .

~Ruth Holzer

 

 

 Our store is open: https://www.zazzle.com/store/five_fleas

 

Morning of August 9, 2025

 

another whiskey . . .

let the truth

come out

~Oscar Luparia

so many

tin foil hats

this year

~dan smith

only the word apple ripens no orchards

~Vijay Prasad

precisely, fireflies are irradiant insects.

~Gretchen VanOstrand

exploding anger volcanic eruptions

~Tejendra Sherchan

nodding as he tonsures his lawn

~Helen Buckingham

kids in Trump masks

parents in Maga caps

extortion 101

~dan smith

bomb

bomb

bomb

satellite of blood

(after Lou Reed)

~Helen Buckingham

bombings

(very) old poems

seem so new

they were asleep during that time

I didn't know, they say

~Marie Derley

night journey

little insects die

on the windscreen

how many of our dreams

die when the day dawns

~Marie Derley

Teapot shakes

In sunlit hands

Of the morning

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Haunting eyes

Look up from black lace

Unmasking the moon

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

the air feels

like a warm bath

inside the sky

~Jennifer Gurney

I catch a whiff of BBQ

and miss you so much it hurts

right in the rib eye

~Jennifer Gurney

beautiful

as long as

he's just

in three-quarter

profile

~Nicholas De Marino

No matter how much plastic piles up

a planet will never twinkle.

~Nicholas De Marino

green brocade trifle

and lavender taffeta affidavit

~Nicholas De Marino

 

Afternoon of August 7, 2025

 

 

The last book my dad read

was a biography of Neville Chamberlain.

I wish he’d finished it.

I wish he hadn’t finished.

~Noah Berlatsky

running my finger

on old dents

strawberry moon

~Jiel Narvekar

summer vacation

spending time

with the dentist

~Patricia Carragon

water under the bridge

          being swept away

by the flood

~John J. Dunphy

summer haze

a concealed coot

finds its way

~Gareth Nurden

reflections

filling a lido

summer sun

~Gareth Nurden

in the garden

the rose bush explodes with life

your last words to me

~Jennifer Gurney

closet space

full of your absence

~Anne Fox

in other people’s windows         

a glimpse

of myself

~Anne Fox

the self-help manual

all out of ink

autumn drizzle

~Joanna Ashwell

puddle rainbows another splash back to Kansas

~Joanna Ashwell

another month the hostages still not home

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

alter ego i get sucked into a black hole

~Mona Bedi

into the afterlife a shaman’s promise

~Mona Bedi

tv news some hostages we know by name

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

saturn that parent who mixes up his kids' names

~Martina Matijević

2 hours

up the gravel road

lost

in the right direction

~Belinda Behne

as society

crashes around us

smh

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Pin the tail

On the donkey

My back patch

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

infinite regress

she takes a selfie

with the Mona Lisa

~Joshua St. Claire

corporate training

the meticulously made materials

I’ll never look at again

~Joshua St. Claire

we all have

a tragic backstory

indigo plums

~Joshua St. Claire

 

 

Afternoon of August 6, 2025

 

steps off the path

the hope a first mushroom

brings

~Randy Brooks

doublespeak . . .

getting old living through

1984 again

~Randy Brooks

stranger in a strange land

the trout rainbow

over me

~Randy Brooks

hamburger diner

each customer perched on

their own pedestal

~Randy Brooks

pluto

exiled from solar system

still orbiting the sun

~Tejendra Sherchan

meteor shower

        brushing the 

sand off 

       a mermaid’s purse

~Stephen Toft

only my cat hears them

                                        falling stars

~Stephen Toft

day moon i thought you were dead butterfly

~Stephen Toft

final insult

plastic roses

on her grave

~Wanda Amos

dusk

her fear of  shadows …

sun-downing

~Wanda Amos

My ox won’t plow this

field where buffalo leapt

through flowers and fell.

~Terry Trowbridge

A healing and

appealing ion

might let one

seal     achieve

sea-lion status

~Charles A. Perrone

Bleak truth:

the envelope

is too small.

~Noah Berlatsky

green screams    the ninety-sixth name of God

~Richard Magahiz

the edges

of the frame things with

candy corn eyes

~Richard Magahiz

cries of RTs

the sun heating up

each chassis

~Richard Magahiz

the icy salt water

the spill of spiderflesh

~Richard Magahiz

Children are afraid that someone will knock on their window at night. Old people are

afraid that no one will ever knock on their door again.

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

 

 

 

                 Our store is open:

https://www.zazzle.com/store/five_fleas