Morning of April 19, 2024

western medicine

padlocking

my ankle to the grave

~Kelly Moyer

rain-drenched milkweed

the prayer

that plummets into the ether

~Kelly Moyer

slow love

tilling

the worm dirt

~Kelly Moyer

diagnoses:  everything but the kitchen sink of her bones

~Kelly Moyer

country road

a swallowtail lights

on the edge of oblivion

~Kelly Moyer

transmigration

the dead poet's

fresh set of eyes

~Kelly Moyer

fasting casting

aside the black cloak

of worldly wants

~James Penha

garbed in ego’s shroud

its tombstone on his head—

spinning with atoms

~James Penha

dance love music

poetry

circle perfection

~James Penha

with your head

on my chest

I can hear

through your skull

the sound

of you chewing

the chips

I bought you

~Noah Berlatsky

quality self-help

exploring your nether spork

authentic upgrade

~Noah Berlatsky

the light

in the school chapel:

stained

~Stephen Toft

a lawn sprinkler

cooling

this sultry night

~Stephen Toft

snow bones

the old sheepdog

rounding up ghosts

~Stephen Toft

one day i hope

to see again the blue

i once saw on

the Hawaiian shirt

of a man drowned at sea

~Stephen Toft

cloudless sky

the acrobat

looks through me

~Stephen Toft

Afternoon of April 16, 2024

Earth on a

stack of turtles

then more turtles

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

life

clue

war

sorry

indoor recess

~Jennifer Gurney

for you darling

would I divide

by zero forever

~Richard Magahiz

visitation over —

he removes his wife's wedding ring

before closing the coffin

~John J. Dunphy

footsteps

out of synch with mine

we both start to run

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

Fearsome predators

A shark subsisting on abandoned dreams

The orange mold that grows on the face you no longer wear

A hookworm that sucks the joys of forgotten days

Pale mysterious bears craving unrecognized sacrifice

Scorpions drawn to any unmet potential

~Richard Magahiz

my hands

how many nanometers

to your moon?

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

jewelled knees elbows that beat kicks in

~Richard Magahiz

such a relief

when the key

fits the lock

~Jennifer Gurney

312th floor:

window walls squeegee

themselves

~Richard Magahiz

9 lives, 20 naps a day

sounds like a good plan

~Jay Passer

boomerangs

act just like some mail

return to sender

~Chris Collins

low to high

inch marks on the wall

empty nest

~Kavita Ratna

bird shadow flew

   through me and a lizard

she dove under a log

   I was only mildly disturbed

~Steve Van Allen

the bodies hang out tin signs     quetzal birds swoop past

~Richard Magahiz

pavement

returns to lime and sand

wordlessly birds call

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

 

 

Evening of April 15, 2024

 

fried egg and sausage

seeing my future

death stare

~Melissa Dennison

NUCLEAR

A little bit

of havoc and

a little bit of hell

is my idea of heaven

which is really

just as well in

a cockroach world.

~Lindsay McLeod

I did hear them say

the words "amplifying you"

Is it size or sound?

~Charles A. Perrone

UNBUTTERED

Now the thing we had in

the toaster has popped and

the smoke alarm is being...

melodramatic.

So I set to scraping the

burn from the bread

only to find that,

all I have left is the knife.

~Lindsay McLeod

one haiku moment

deserves another

double espresso latte

~Robert Epstein

Firm Commitment

vampires prefer their victims al dente

~John H. Dromey

is that a devil entendre

~Robert Epstein

Lack of Closure

three body problem

hitman’s compact car

teeny weeny trunk

~John H. Dromey

resonance

magnet orchestral tune

probes to the core

~J.L. Huffman

Luna's desk covers Sol

the king as the sunlike

trembles in fear.

~Fhen M.

solar eclipse—

what you hide from me

has its days numbered

~Nicoletta Ignatti

There's this cat who's sort of bold

He demands to be treated like gold

Forgetting the days he was a stray

In the backyard where he'd stay

Now he's used to all his meals bowled

~Jackie Chou

murder of crows

arrested motion

hangman’s rope drops

~J.L. Huffman

GENU FLECKS

She said she inherited

her cool from me and

her lies from her mother

so now I don't really

know whether to

believe her or not.

~Lindsay McLeod

family reunion—

the popcorn explodes

in the pan

~Nicoletta Ignatti

SOFT ALARM

Woken again by the scarlet fever

a visceral word through

the heartless receiver

I wondered how long since

I'd dared that voice when I

heard my catastrophe call.

~Lindsay McLeod

fly me to the moon

and house me with the other

introverts

~Robert Epstein