Evening of October 21, 2023

warplanes roar —

between the gap

the buzz of escape

~Chittaluri Satyanarayana

The Social Contract Theory of Haunting

Haunt my other mood, Goodness.

Haunt the dark side of the pool, Moon.

Tonight ghosts desire silence played in loops,

fireflies patch a pale pigment together

midst the sink of moonlight.

Haunt my melancholy, Coffee beans, albeit

I possess no power to roast, grind or brew.

~Kushal Poddar

tapped for lines

 

i do not belong

to a recognizable

 

religious group

 

yet strongly believe

confession is important

 

when recommending a good beer.

~Geoffrey Aitken

drowning sorrow

hazelnut

in empty glass

~Richard Bailly

September 23, 2022

Campaign season:

the candidates seemed smart enough for office,

though not intelligent enough to have a real job

~Michael Ceraolo

(from a series titled September Scenes)

September 15, 2022

Out of Order:

the bureaucrat responded to the update

before he responded to the original email

~Michael Ceraolo

(from a series titled September Scenes)

compost pile

for mental health

the library

~Richard Bailly

Afternoon of October 21, 2023

 

cave painting

a woolly mammoth

in a red beam

emanating from

an overhead object

~John J. Dunphy

the comedy or tragedy question is getting harder to answer

~Patrick Sweeney

bingo cards filling up fast our unprecedented world

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

the improbable happening every day

~Patrick Sweeney

dead name the acceptance on hold

~Arvinder Kaur

the dead like you to remember their names

~Patrick Sweeney

flying in from the north witches in tornado’s path

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

she wants me to stop asking her if she's asleep

~Patrick Sweeney

sampling air quality wheelbarrow in spin cycle

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

I have failed at forms.

I have failed at tooth.

I have failed at these other forms.

I have succeeded at consequences.

~Noah Berlatsky

The Misunderstanding

So you think you found

a chink in my chastity belt,

do you? A way to weasel

your weasel in? I’m afraid

that’s simply a portal

to the underworld, Sir,

where I’ve stashed

the bones I’ve rattled

and the hearts I’ve crushed

like rusty ol’ cans of tin.
~Kelly Moyer

the tossed-away bouquet

sent by her ex

much appreciated by

pollinators

~John J. Dunphy

Afternoon of October 18, 2023

his anger the stranger I married

~Mona Bedi

zombie Queen still has the wave

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

 

Alexa the parents they no longer need

~Mona Bedi

old boulder this shiftless existence

~John Hawkhead

becoming the night a blackbird’s song

~Mona Bedi

hello

          hello

                     hello

the empty echo

across our universe

~Eavonka Ettinger

motion sensor

blinking lights awaken

the android

~Eavonka Ettinger

Insomnia.

I get so much done.

Until I don’t.

~Noah Berlatsky

bedtime

I point the spider

toward the basement

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Space Problem

Every century or so

he occupies a new body;

under the floorboards,

the old ones are piling up.

He hates to throw them out,

the recycling center won't take them,

burning's illegal inside city limits,

and they're already 5 deep

in the family plot out back.

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

microplastics

invading the bloodstream

how it started

~Eavonka Ettinger

distant bombing —

the tangerine sunset

goes up in smoke

~Mona Bedi

All Souls' Day

I place flowers on

a forgotten grave

~John J. Dunphy

utamakura

struggling for words

in the graveyard

~John Hawkhead

a cacophony of caws

flock of starlings

squawk their daily prayers

~Steve Van Allen

Parameters

She curtsied him away,

when he danced

too near her.

~Keith Snow