Afternoon of May 4, 2024

an innermost bear

draws his claws along her skin

and brings forth blood.

 

it spills, hot, red, river-running.

 

the bear, gently, draws his tongue along the wounds

and she is cleansed

~isabella mori

spidery old apple tree

you and me

            gnarled

~isabella mori

scratchy socks

thrice darned they’ll have to last

until the babe is born

~isabella mori

mailman –

the irritated nostrils

of the doberman

~isabella mori

played in my head the Gymnopédie No. 1

trudging aimlessly

on maze-like streets of the city

~Fhen M.

on a rooftop, I talked to the full moon

requesting her to return to my arms.

~Fhen M.

whispering wind telling me about the moon

it was meant to last to caress lost souls

~Oana Maria Cercel

left the hive sweet home scent disappeared

~Oana Maria Cercel

Fast train

the door opens

to perpetual life

~Oana Maria Cercel

In this place, there’s

old & new,

order & disarray,

variety & then the mundane,

evidence of winter & spring among the

hand-me-downs & discards surrounded by

brokenness & near-perfection.

Where is this place?

My closet or my life?

Like & vice versa are the former & the latter.

~Suzanne S. Austin-Hill

Over The River


The covered bridge

flashes a strobe vision

of a primordial cave

before releasing us

to grandmother’s house.

~Diane Webster

Glee Tumbles


The three-legged chair

invites pedestrians to rest

then tumbles them out

in a wobbly guffaw

like Dad did his girls

when he pushed them

in the wheelbarrow

then tumbled them out

in arms, legs, hair

screaming in glee.

~Diane Webster

Night Eyes


Into the night two lamps

stare like beasty eyes

caught in a flashlight beam

then gone in a blink

and wondering where

they are now.

~Diane Webster

Pier Bones


The spine of the pier collapses

into a jumble of bones bleaching

into the hope of fossilization

in the river’s solid silt

encasing a wooden mummy

awaiting discovery,

awaiting reassembly

of ooh and ahh!

~Diane Webster

Moment of Gone


The crevice shimmers vertigo

of false landing only a step

away; a staircase descends

one stair at a time

each step safe and secure

against granite cliffs

until the step

that never ends

while you’re still alive

in a moment of gone.

~Diane Webster

Afternoon of April 30, 2024

when you say “I don't know” you're not lying

~Keith Snow

the bird breathes with wings of hope

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

daddy longlegs steady as he goes

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

be ready your driver is three strawberries away

~Keith Snow

heaven is born for its own crucifixion

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

another day

adding to the list

why, why and why

~Biswajit Mishra

Nasal Passage

follows her nose

her deviated septum

leads her astray

~John H. Dromey

Ripple

Hear, see, write

Hear, see, change

See, think, change

Think, change

Hear, change

back

~Biswajit Mishra

crystal-clear dreams

I fall asleep wearing

my glasses

~John J. Dunphy

Bargaining with a hawker

And underlying him

I get repentant and

Search for the hawker

To overvalue my cognition.

~Partha Sarkar

the seagull doesn't know that it can't fly, so in the end it flies

the feathers were left lying on the windowsill

feathers can no longer be considered feathers due to the absence of a bird

feathers can turn into a souvenir

feathers can turn into an ornament of an ancient person

feathers can turn into an anthropologist's find

feathers can turn into anything

but where has the bird gone now?

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

Sweeping away the innocent dead birds,

The bastard wisdom:

Not my stupidity, El Nino causes

The birds' death

From / in heatwave.

~Partha Sarkar

birds die like dots

on the horizon of a sky

pierced by military missiles

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

dusty webs

and the husks of flies

cedar chest

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

Chore Embellishment

Light bulb is replaced.

Dawn returns to universe.

Christ has returned.

~Chad Parenteau

writing a haiku

in the snow

the dog pees

~Noah Berlatsky

catching

large-mouthed bass as his wife gives birth

fisherman

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Cold skin learns to warm bones

Another star falls from the sky to the ground

Another bone falls into the autumn coffin

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

 

 

"you call that a eulogy?!"

minister interrupted by

the deceased

~John J. Dunphy

tired photons fly

into the forever dark

end times

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

Morning of April 29, 2024

 

 

 

An old skald leaves his mortal coil —

aurora borealis over the fjords

~Oliver Kleyer

 

 

 

 

 

fog-breath dawn

following the downhill tracks

of liver scars

~John Hawkhead

Hamburg Main Station —

a lonely locomotive

in search of a train

~Oliver Kleyer

carnival freakshow

performers gape at

their audience

~John J. Dunphy

Unfiltered

Night after night

they place their drink orders

with me

Some ask for a special beer

others opt for martinis

I nod my understanding

but I serve everybody’s

evening meds with tap water

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

full moon

my horoscope suggests

emotional awareness

~Debarati Sen

landing gear deploys—

homing pigeon

nests

~James Penha

coordinated apples raining old triads

~J. D. Nelson

first fish friend hardness of quartz

~J. D. Nelson

hard part a cave inside of a cave

~J. D. Nelson

Spring noon

the koel and I wait

for the biopsy report

~Debarati Sen

'Keep your chloroplast,

Otherwise...' nosology to

Jaundiced blood.

~Partha Sarkar

pablum, pablum!

hyped

analyzed

synopsized

~dan smith

the trouble is soup scarf

~J. D. Nelson

time in the time of time

~J. D. Nelson