Walmartians
~Susan Burch
wilted
flowers by the roadside vigil
~John Hawkhead
no.chance.of.saving-my-soul-in.this.life
~John
Hawkhead
A
Darkening Year
A bird fleeing
mottled wings
from a songless cage
~Steve Gerson
railroad track
fragments and phrases
clackety-clack
~Keith
Evetts
The
Burning
And if I were Queen of the world,
I would burn all of the cages
where feathers have fallen to rust
and every sweet song
is just a melancholy whistling of dust.
~Connie Carmichael
Host
Family
My
dog is host to
a family of five fleas
moved here
recently
from abroad you see
that is to say, hopped
over
from Bud the beagle
across the street when
their noses
touched on
our walk yesterday
~Julie A. Dickson
traffic symphony:
the shrill pitch of an ambulance
colliding with
a bawling police horn
and
a naked fire siren
. . .
who on God’s earth can survive
this
orchestra?
~Rupa Anand
so
smooth
the grab bars on
the inside of the oven
~Richard Magahiz
ouch
~Susan
Burch