Afternoon of November 18, 2023

 I divorce you, time change.

You disturb my sleep. Go away.

And take your light with you.

~Nolcha Fox

settling the score semi-precious library dust

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

lashed together shoes tripping into an old you

~Richard L. Matta

I dream healthy wake in hospice

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

seven years

in a taxicab backseat

writing that song

~Mike Fainzilber

Poetry is an assignment.

Write every day till joy drains out

and you’re left with words

like “assignment.”

~Noah Berlatsky

tonight i stare at screens, flipping

like a cat’s tail, impatient

eyes and brain blurred, but not a fog

to be swept away by an afternoon wind

fearing sleep, the potential for unwanted

ugliness

the taunting leer of loneliness

ghost pains of parts of me not yet killed

i am four years old again

holding a night light to every corner

~Alfred Booth

The Search

so many tupperwares

jammed into this fridge

where is the best

part of you?

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

pico de gallo

extra cilantro…

hold the soap

~Stephen J. DeGuire

first cold November rain

trees bleed color,

i collect wet leaves, they stain my fingers yellow

~Steve Van Allen

taxi driver’s advice

never ever argue

with the perfect people

~Mike Fainzilber

chopping board

as if the pink slip

were onion

~Richard L. Matta

The dog was upset when I woke her up.

She locked me out of the house

and drank my coffee.

~Nolcha Fox

ancient well...

her counterfeit coin

never plinks

~Richard L. Matta

goodbyes said

without a tear

walking into the sunset

the story ends

~Ann Christine Tabaka

Afternoon of November 17, 2023

 

  discussing society’s expectations Pringle’s can

~Joshua St. Claire

thoughts of you wake so much earlier than I do

~Sharon Ferrante

in the morning not knowing who you are

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

daydream—

I tap the shoulder

of who I become

~Sharon Ferrante

this river

won’t see me

too many leaves

floating

over my reflection

~Sharon Ferrante

from one emptiness

to another—

falling star

~John Pappas

ignoring

the police tape

ladybugs

~John Pappas

waiting room

we silently watch

reruns of cheers

~John Pappas

first dream

I fill a winter page

with crows

~John Pappas

dwindling light

I swallow the lies

 told by mother

~Rowan Beckett

now with a new and improved formula

                              mock orange

~Joshua St. Claire

the careful curation

of his only bookshelf

Zoom meeting

~Joshua St. Claire

dead mall

a killdeer leads me away

from broken asphalt

~Joshua St. Claire

when the word

is silence

we dare not

repeat

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

zen

of paper moons

hole puncher

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

flea market

a vintage six-string

with only four

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

crumpled white papers yet the canary in the cage still sings

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

2 a.m. reading a neighborhood dog sleepless too

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

pandas on a plane bamboo diplomacy

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

fireflies in a jar burying my never-child

~Rowan Beckett

wish splitting a bone enters between the fates

~Rowan Beckett

d)us(t

~Rowan Beckett

treading water the deep end of august

~John Pappas

anxiety filling the sky with swallows everything

~John Pappas

Morning of November 15, 2023

 

it was then that I realized her family didn't shout obscenities at the television screen

~Patrick Sweeney

using the excuse of not wanting to waste their time to circumvent their wasting of mine

~Patrick Sweeney

embarrassment


the wind is blowing

embarrassment through

the trees. see their leaves

blush red as they realize

i am watching them

dance naked and free.

~C.W. Bryan

Sunset; what to say?

The neon flashes brighter.

Tacos now, and nothing else.

~Noah Berlatsky

wow's as good a prayer as any

~Patrick Sweeney

rusty old pick-up line

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

back then I always left the wolf out of the story

~Patrick Sweeney

in from the medieval darkness   trash day

~Patrick Sweeney

food coloring slush fund

~Jerome Berglund

people who say hello to those no one else will

~Patrick Sweeney

who is owner running the microchip

~Jerome Berglund

 

 

we consult

our medical alert bracelets

for what ails us

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

the excruciating details he puts into the stories he tells that nobody wants to hear

~Patrick Sweeney

airport layover selfies with strangers

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

fourteen dollars

flushed down the toilet–

airport chicken sandwich

~Jennifer Gurney

salting the steps

vote of

no confidence

~Jerome Berglund

bath bomb a war on dirt

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

finger puppet

on barrel of a rifle

fireside chats

~Jerome Berglund

~entering black hole

spaghettification, but

some sauce would be nice

~Jean-Paul L. Garnier

revived dinosaur

displeased with this oxygen

tries to roar but can't

~Jean-Paul L. Garnier