Evening of October 10, 2025

 

Cathedral of the In-Between

~dan smith

Oak trees know all about asphyxia but nothing about death

Flowers know all about withering but nothing about resurrection

The sun knows all about warmth but nothing about love

The moon knows all about night but nothing about passion

And I leave again knowing nothing as alone as at birth

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

During the plague

Еveryone writes poetry

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

No MFA

 

I have never taught a poetry class.

I tried to be a poetry teacher but I failed.

I am still failing.

There is nothing to learn here.

~Noah Berlatsky

cypress tree knees

a riderless kayak

knocks

~Randy Brooks

doing things together

fitted sheets

don’t

~Randy Brooks

an inheritance of flowers

the neighbor’s wife

revives him

~Randy Brooks

human bean

the bent reflection of ICE

on Michigan Avenue

~Randy Brooks

 

training grounds

make my heart sink

as they become killing fields

~Sherri J Moye-Dombrosky

farm field

ICE agents joke about

harvesting illegals

~John J. Dunphy

Captain Vibrato

You sailed on ships of light

out beyond our wisps of stars.

Sent us postcards

filled with trembling trees

and all your mad fragility

that pled: wish you were here.

They were postmarked Immortality.

~dan smith

You

fall out

and crawl over

and climb up

into you.

~Noah Berlatsky

deli fresh    pâté de foie humain

~Richard Magahiz

 

it is all rotten

but some of it

wears perfume

~Richard Magahiz

as flesh and metal try to occupy a single point

~Richard Magahiz

nobody wants a lecture on

the distance between oxygen molecules

at high altitude

~Patrick Sweeney

the Yang side of the man

who doesn't want to talk about it

~Patrick Sweeney

the singer talked about the missing verse

in the song he was about to sing

~Patrick Sweeney

he used to say 'it will all go on the next day without me' and it did

~Patrick Sweeney

militarization...

tell me again,

how does a maple leaf ignite

~Patrick Sweeney

 

 

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

Afternoon of October 7, 2025

 

naps are good but then

you wake up and you’re just

back where you started

~Noah Berlatsky

drone

not knowing where to land

sunflowers

~Gareth Nurden

last goodbye

the cold cutting

of the moon

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Gradual End of Days

Fimbulwinter

on right.

Ragnarök

to left.

Both seek

the center.

~Chad Parenteau

caught

within my kundabuffer

bluebirds

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

guru worship

i wash down my meds

with a mantra

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

the tattered thread count of inner-linens

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

slow corruption the body of state

~John Hawkhead

 

downtrodden an unexploded word

~John Hawkhead

At night, trees ask each other

How to escape to freedom.

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

straying from the herd

my legs leap from the bed

as I fall asleep

~M. R. Pelletier

life lessons

I get better & better

at being no good

~M. R. Pelletier

election month

prisoners released

in large numbers

~Bipasha Majumder (De)

potatoes

sold at a high rate

politicians

~Bipasha Majumder (De)

illumination

what I don’t get

from watching T.V.

~Douglas J. Lanzo

budget debates

what used to precede

shutdowns

~Douglas J. Lanzo

 

politicians

explaining away votes

babbling brooks

~Douglas J. Lanzo

peace agreements –

the devil's plan

in the details

~Nicoletta Ignatti

virtual keyboard . . .

collecting my fingerprints

on the screen


~Oscar Luparia

feline paw the new vase ready for kintsugi


~Oscar Luparia