Evening of January 30, 2024

that good stretch —

outside your comfort zone

but not too far

~Jennifer Gurney

sifting through cast offs—

I find treasures

from your discards

~Jennifer Gurney

Sardonic quips;

Laughter is Sirius

At the full eclipse.

~David Mitchell

Wounds

when commanded to stop the tirade

told he is a monster

he lies down to nap

curled up like a small child

~MarthaEllenJohnson

Non-viable

Non-viable. She bled out in the parking lot.

“Women always get the short end of the stick.”

~MarthaEllenJohnson

Poseur

Poseur. He lectures.

Points to a painting.

“The claustrophobia of life.”

He glances at me.

Knows I know.

Hates me more.

~MarthaEllenJohnson

Nobody will come

Nobody's coming back

Nobody will rise again

There's not enough air for anyone

No one has enough love

~Mykyta Ryzhyk

(Originally published in Ice Floe Press)

this poem

will not be written

by anyone because the author

will go to the supermarket for vodka

 

and never come back

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

(Originally published in Tipton Poetry Journal)

mom sews a vagina for her daughter like a red rag for tears

mom wants soldiers to give flowers to her daughters

the cemetery is silent about flowers

daughter collects khaki and throws it into the toilet

daughter screams that she does not need such flowers

graves are silent about the dead

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

(Originally published in Rat's Ass Review)

An old woman views

a woodblock printing and sighs

to think of the past.

~Keech Ballard

childhood memory —

filling in the blanks

left by snowflakes

~Ana Drobot

fingers in machine / lack of care will lead to bad / damaged rings

~Charles A. Perrone

Guard Dog with a Mind of Winter


The boy rolls snow

into the shape of the puppy

he lost.

~Cheryl Snell

Arty Party


The butler took our coats.

Then he took our clothes.

I kept my stilettos on.

~Cheryl Snell

You Asked for It

Elvis replicates himself

while performing Hound Dog,

outnumbering the audience

baying at the moon’s hologram.

~Cheryl Snell

Afternoon of January 30, 2024

pillow talk

smoothing the hem

of the truffle pig's nightie

~Kelly Moyer

box graters shredding my shot at motherhood

~Kelly Moyer

sleep deprivation

a game

of chicken and walrus

~Kelly Moyer

Deep Blue Now With AI Ponders

Garry

Garry

Garry

~dan smith

Groundhog Day

without a shadow

my sundial

~John J. Dunphy

plus an arrow to their zero

~John Hawkhead

shedding tears of salt on the ice road

~John Hawkhead

nursery ward baby's first barcode

~Keith Evetts

dog plays piano disjunctive haiku

~Keith Evetts

 

 

nightingale hole in the heart

~Keith Evetts

we enjoy

the best catastrophes

on the latest 4K screen

~Keith Evetts

Afternoon of January 29, 2024

finding the edge

of a flat earth

falling falling

~Kathy Watts

in his smile

the glint of a fang—

another wolf

~Kimberly Kucar

her red hood . . .

you can hardly see

the blood

~Kimberly Kucar

gene the green we’re swimming

~J. D. Nelson

ouchminster brady a pair of socks

~J. D. Nelson

the odor of dollar bills you were in my dream

~J. D. Nelson

I’m not in the dream the day I seem to be

~J. D. Nelson

punctuation

 

I use parentheses

to prevent my words from spilling over

~Marie Derley

can't play it

can't sell it--

the old silver flute

~Ruth Holzer

carry on

with your temper tantrum

I'll lie here

in my room in the dark

and think of my dead lovers

~Ruth Holzer

Sand

 

The prophet went walking.

The walking broke in half.

The halves become a chrysalis.

The chrysalis eats the dead.

The dead run down like red clocks.

The red clocks open the rain.

Rain bleeds a prophet.

It is walking on meaning like sand.

~Noah Berlatsky

trimming trees

she lops off

his fingers

~Nancy Brady

graveyard extension —

now you can die as many

times as you like

~Maurizio Brancaleoni