Evening of July 26, 2023

grand canyon intentionally left blank

~J. D. Nelson

floating

down the canyon

I am a bird

~Jennifer Gurney

Ice Cream, Anyone?

Summer love is a cicada 

stuck halfway out of its shell, 

baking in the afternoon sun 

as an army of ants 

devours every ounce of hope 

held for a better life, 

thus making a mockery 

of the belief in 

a just yet merciful god.

~Kelly Moyer

ten-point pain scale

second nature to say

only a four

~Shasta Hatter

cronehood

my life

as an erasure poem

~Kelly Moyer

county fair

no longer pretending

to be feminist

~Kelly Moyer

the last bee imperishable plastic cube

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

sashimi whispers while the tuna dream

~Jean-Paul Moyer

pandemic passé

not in my life where pink

parallel lines rule

~James Penha

just you’n’me

and the three

elephants in the room

~Mark Gilbert

Telling my life story

to the other characters

unprompted

~Mark Gilbert

The fake ID says I am older

but not wiser.

~Noah Berlatsky

wooden elbow march or april

~J. D. Nelson

trash day we pick through our attributes

~Kelly Moyer

starry noodle tree soup

~J. D. Nelson

shooting stars I always miss

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel 

 

 

stars crossing against the light

~Kelly Moyer

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