Afternoon of September 25, 2023


your ashes

safe underground now

along with the dog's

~Penny Lowery



summer night

old dog comes in

flea-ridden

~Penny Lowery



Ennui


My children tell me they are bored

and all my suggestions are boring, too.

They drape themselves on couch and chair,

in blankets swathed, both semi comatose,

in listless, languid, enfeebling enervation, torpor total.

Unlike my dog, no ball, no leash,

no squirrel will quicken them to life.

~Cecil Morris



Fire is smart.

It finds the cracks.

It knows things.

~Sarah Henry



moonless night

in the crystal rocky

stream

of consciousness

lost

in the stirring

of her wake

the water siren's

dream lives

~Lorelyn De la Cruz Arevalo



carp from the canal in the backyard sniffing lilacs moving day

~Joseph P. Wechselberger



stars

sky

earth

worm

earth

sky

stars

~Noah Berlatsky



that place between here and there where my father says goodbye

~Joseph P. Wechselberger



husband

brother uncle son grandson

this man

all he has to do is sign his name

to enlist for this new war

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



that memory of when I was small and dad my hero a moment of minnows

~Joseph P. Wechselberger



a fairy tails

an ugly duckling

in a deep dive mission

into the pond's abyss

to steal a kiss

from the frog prince

and undo the curse

of the fairy's tail

~Lorelyn De la Cruz Arevalo



sudden wind

our conversation

blows down the street

~Joseph P. Wechselberger



Dog Days


This morning

our late daughter

is dead again

but we don’t

mention it.


And after work,

when we come home,

her dog, gone too,

does not greet us

with its dance.


~Cecil Morris

Afternoon of September 23, 2023

 

public library

now banned from observing

Banned Books Week

~John J. Dunphy



the art of love

dipping a brush

in foggy water

~Sharon Ferrante



gazing in the river

I see my reflection

beside yours

~Jennifer Gurney



fork in the road

it’s been a decade

I’m still here

~Sharon Ferrante



all roads

lead somewhere

cept this

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



fiery finale

on the beach

sea inhales sun

~James Penha



I grafted myself

to the branches of a tree

was always a fruit

~Jean-Paul L. Garnier



cable guy checks the water meter loose wires

~Sharon Ferrante



robot overlords

the evolutionary

natural next step

~Jean-Paul L. Garnier



peace be with you

the driver says

my hair caught in the door

~Sharon Ferrante



school begins

backpacks four times

the size of the bearers

~Maurizio Brancaleoni



bland bedtime stories

myth congeniality

not the least bit Grimm

~John H. Dromey



hokey-pokey

forgetting to turn myself

around

~Roberta Beach Jacobson



cultural appropriation

extraterrestrial tourist wears

cowboy clothes

~John J. Dunphy

Afternoon of September 22, 2023


 Baby Dalí


I do not have a hut

at the edge of the sea

nor a family

nor their ire;

but, I have the freedom

to dream the dreams

of a madman

in shabby thrifted attire.

~Kelly Moyer



on receiving a job promotion

boss asks, “do you own 

anything other than jeans?”

I laugh, then say “no”

~Tohm Bakelas



gloomy day

I sip my wine

your empty chair

~Françoise Maurice



a dried rose

inside Great Expectations

library dusk

~Debarati Sen



Paris.

What else can I add

to you?

Paris, just

Paris . . .

fuming on,

late summer leaves sagging with

exhaust.

~Yearner


 

Our Best of the Net 2024 Nominations


Keith Snow, Kelly Moyer, Lauren Scharhag,

Nolcha Fox, Patrick Sweeney, petro c.k.


~Five Fleas Itchy Poetry 



Celtic fire, ancestors' blessing.

~Carolyn Crossley



black walnuts crafting weaponry from sparrowsong

~Kelly Moyer


Dead Horse Jesus (Haiku)


Dead Horse Jesus could

rise again, but he knows the

beatings wouldn’t stop.

~Chad Parenteau

 

 

inflation rate

the stars whisper

in the autumn sky

~Françoise Maurice



I Imagine


a star dying

a check clearing

love off somewhere

of course enduring

~Yearner



The Lament


Your eyes are open;

yet, you can’t seem to see

the treetop babies


or the way the sun

glistens on the surface

of time.


But, I’ll be the last

so bold as to remind you

that a pear costs a dollar

less than a dime.

~Kelly Moyer



The Veil


the wheel of

the year turns

forever eternal

spirits pass through

the thinning veil.

~Carolyn Crossley



One


nearly frozen

heavy raindrop slips

through a hole in the gutter

and hits me on the shoulder

sending a deep chill

through bone and organ

is it any wonder

I think of you?

~Yearner



tiger lilies —

I dared him

to love me

~Debarati Sen



the reality of the situation


big job promotion—

now I write haikus

on a higher salary

~Tohm Bakelas



Postcard from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence


baguette-shaped clouds

above the brûléed plain

dusted just now in lavender

light

~Yearner