Morning of April 19, 2024

western medicine

padlocking

my ankle to the grave

~Kelly Moyer

rain-drenched milkweed

the prayer

that plummets into the ether

~Kelly Moyer

slow love

tilling

the worm dirt

~Kelly Moyer

diagnoses:  everything but the kitchen sink of her bones

~Kelly Moyer

country road

a swallowtail lights

on the edge of oblivion

~Kelly Moyer

transmigration

the dead poet's

fresh set of eyes

~Kelly Moyer

fasting casting

aside the black cloak

of worldly wants

~James Penha

garbed in ego’s shroud

its tombstone on his head—

spinning with atoms

~James Penha

dance love music

poetry

circle perfection

~James Penha

with your head

on my chest

I can hear

through your skull

the sound

of you chewing

the chips

I bought you

~Noah Berlatsky

quality self-help

exploring your nether spork

authentic upgrade

~Noah Berlatsky

the light

in the school chapel:

stained

~Stephen Toft

a lawn sprinkler

cooling

this sultry night

~Stephen Toft

snow bones

the old sheepdog

rounding up ghosts

~Stephen Toft

one day i hope

to see again the blue

i once saw on

the Hawaiian shirt

of a man drowned at sea

~Stephen Toft

cloudless sky

the acrobat

looks through me

~Stephen Toft

Afternoon of April 16, 2024

Earth on a

stack of turtles

then more turtles

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

life

clue

war

sorry

indoor recess

~Jennifer Gurney

for you darling

would I divide

by zero forever

~Richard Magahiz

visitation over —

he removes his wife's wedding ring

before closing the coffin

~John J. Dunphy

footsteps

out of synch with mine

we both start to run

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

Fearsome predators

A shark subsisting on abandoned dreams

The orange mold that grows on the face you no longer wear

A hookworm that sucks the joys of forgotten days

Pale mysterious bears craving unrecognized sacrifice

Scorpions drawn to any unmet potential

~Richard Magahiz

my hands

how many nanometers

to your moon?

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

jewelled knees elbows that beat kicks in

~Richard Magahiz

such a relief

when the key

fits the lock

~Jennifer Gurney

312th floor:

window walls squeegee

themselves

~Richard Magahiz

9 lives, 20 naps a day

sounds like a good plan

~Jay Passer

boomerangs

act just like some mail

return to sender

~Chris Collins

low to high

inch marks on the wall

empty nest

~Kavita Ratna

bird shadow flew

   through me and a lizard

she dove under a log

   I was only mildly disturbed

~Steve Van Allen

the bodies hang out tin signs     quetzal birds swoop past

~Richard Magahiz

pavement

returns to lime and sand

wordlessly birds call

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel