Afternoon of July 3, 2023

 

hide-and-seek

my imaginary friend

always wins

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

nest of wasps —

I go back to the house

where they threatened to kill me

~Maurizio Brancaleoni

raspberry parade a sea of lisps

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

masked at the ball fleas

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

I

I caught

I caught this

I caught this morning

I caught this 

I caught

~Noah Berlatsky

shadows—

what the sun remembers

~Sharon Ferrante

no man’s land

the sway of abandoned sunflowers

~Mona Bedi

sickest part

of the ocean in this can

. . . tuna

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Red, white and blue

With an emphasis on blue —

Supreme Court decisions

~Jennifer Gurney

too late

we saw the villages

moss forest

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

 

Deadheading roses

Just a wee bit like

Midsomer Murders

~Jennifer Gurney

tickling my fancy mold spores

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

anger always seems to get a one-liner

~Sharon Ferrante

Morning of June 30, 2023

Fireworks

Did the founders

truly want

to frighten my dog?

~Noah Berlatsky

the immensities of a boy's lonely summer

~Patrick Sweeney

my best Fred Astaire for the long-life of a carpenter ant

~Patrick Sweeney

the scholars are arguing about Woodrow Wilson   I stayed out of it

~Patrick Sweeney

kindness of neighbors sharing our wildfires

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

all in favor

of plutocracy

the I’s have it

~Jerome Berglund

red ants

throwing bodies

at the menace 

~Jerome Berglund

false spring 

how they portray

Pugachev

~Jerome Berglund

magma—

the silent spew

of all

         hurts

~A.J. Anwar

Afterlife

I am dead

but not buried.

 

Going through

the motions

 

somewhere.

~Dan Provost

thickest makeup to show more clowns

~A.J. Anwar

a gulp of cold barley tea    there goes another cool customer

~Patrick Sweeney

enduring alone the Circus Maximus of the Nightly News

~Patrick Sweeney

Afternoon of June 28, 2023

waiting at the platform a fateful jump

~Eavonka Ettinger

balcony argument who’s the pushover now

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

wicked witch

melts into a green puddle

what a world

~Eavonka Ettinger

When the day is done

And the house has quieted

I miss you the most

~Jennifer Gurney

skid row

being fed a soup of

empty promises

~Eavonka Ettinger

From Beyond

 

It came from

over there

in the mirror.

 

Which is just the worst

when you’re over fifty.

~Noah Berlatsky

Fleabag

This dump is a fleapit, the dogs don’t stay here.

Dogs know to avoid getting flea-bitten.

This dive is down in the dumps, and so am I.

Diving into a pile of trash is more fun and has fewer fleas.

~Nolcha Fox / Julie A Dickson

even in a tutu a flea still a flea

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

all roads lead to roaming

~Eavonka Ettinger