Morning of July 22, 2023

Mona Lisa —

the smile i saved

for him

~Mona Bedi

watermelon

seed-spitting contest

I win against myself

~Jennifer Gurney

VFW Post

the soccer game on its TV

USA vs. Vietnam

~John J. Dunphy

Essential

Essence, every word to count -

though scattered seed may germinate -

is it broadcast, plants for judge,

ore vein embedded, mind if will?

A waste of shame when spirit cedes,

a rhythm method, rhyme enforced,

when concentrate distilled, required,

the alchemy, requited smith.

~Stephen Kingsnorth

morning yoga

a row of red ants

under the mat

~Bidyut Prabha Gantayat

stone wall

small painful crevice

 Hornets nest

 ~Steve Van Allen

saying it as it is a mosquito’s buzz

~Mona Bedi

the sons she never had lost love

~Mona Bedi

light drizzle letting go of all chaos

~Mona Bedi

Afternoon of July 19, 2023

on a caterpillar's branch is

an eight-year-old boy in a jar

~Robert Fleming

casting

a dark worldwide

spider web

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Night lost itself by day

and found itself at night.

No form, no face, no self

in too much light.

~Noah Berlatsky

Zip it!

Though by then

the teeth of the moment

have already exacted their bite.

~Darrell Petska

Korean drama

the devil’s apology

very very sweet

~A.J. Anwar

house inspection —

top of front window

bullet hole

~Tuyet Van Do

lemonade stand

I share my cup

with an ant

~John J. Dunphy

pouring conversations

to the brim

we let Spring

settle

on our eyelids

~Debarati Sen

detasseling colonels of war

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

newborn mosquito's first hot meal

~Patrick Sweeney

hyenas and vultures office safari

~A.J. Anwar

between woodpecker variations the stillness of trees

~Patrick Sweeney

Morning of July 16, 2023

 spam.link_that.fatal.click

~Wanda Amos

Tom Cruise will make an action movie at 90,

chasing down criminals in his wheelchair

which he’ll operate on cruise control

~Peter Witt

dominatrix's house

new client enters

through the dog door

~John J. Dunphy

cursed ...

some names already faded

in the yearbook

~Deborah Karl-Brandt

Tumbling from gravity

into sweetgrass

every child's

crocs are

generation starships

~Richard Magahiz

across the night sky

chasing Orion … starlink

~Wanda Amos

hope licking

at unkempt

rugs has no

beginning.

~Alan Zhong

twinkle twinkle

tinkle tinkle

piano lesson

~James Penha

at the thrift store

a row of used toilets sit

beside a chandelier

~Jennifer Gurney

record-setting weather

plastic flamingos

fly away

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

depth of winter …

incense smoke uncurling between

death and me

~Deborah Karl-Brandt

giant pasta shells

the internet recipe

a disaster

~Christa Pandey