Afternoon of July 10, 2024

 

Nature’s Artistry – Earth

~Sean Kyung

narcissists

don't do

thoughtful

~Jennifer Gurney

window wash froth

stirring dark clouds

into the murk

~Mark Gilbert

the dance

of Red Capped Manakin—

Moonwalk

~Tejendra Sherchan

I saw Mother Ignacia in the Eight Sphere

among constellations of the Middle Ages

in the liquid-bearing Aquarius

saints & princes drank a cupful of ambrosia

~Fhen M.

sitting in the sun

the shadow of the church

falls on my left

~marc brimble

Chasing Angels

I have been

beyond

the forbidden hours.

Very few go there;

fewer return.

I have been there

more than once.

I do not regret it.

I WILL go back,

again.

~R. Gerry Fabian

each day just kinda swam off

like fish

shiny and funny

and weird looking

one after another

slipping thru my fingers

and escaping

~marc brimble

The Weed

A weed

As tall as me;

Cut it down, it grows back

As tall as before. Unless it

Doesn’t.

~Noah Berlatsky

sliding

into closing arguments

door squeak

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

school photos

back when we knew

so little

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

"today's my birthday"

the panhandler tells me

three days straight

~John J. Dunphy

still

making jam

for you

even after

you're gone

~Jennifer Gurney

Love Language

~Gavin Kim

Afternoon of July 5, 2024

 

Happy Hour

~Kelly Moyer 

Photography available here

I had a chat

with life today

—sorry darling

I’m not always

flowers

~Sharon Ferrante

in the sea

waves of maternal

lineage

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

From the Passing Breeze

from the passing breeze

an epiphany

There is vibrancy in the grass

and a halo, wavering iridescence

summer’s searing heat

The following futures

When sprinting, I look to the kind blue

The passing breeze

a moment of sanctuary

The fading childish spark, I smile wistfully

~Austin Chung

fewer clouds today

something in the air has changed

single blade of grass

~Charles A. Perrone

that's where her cat scratched a death poem in the carpet

~Patrick Sweeney

his thoughts drown out the heartbeat in my pillow

~Sharon Ferrante

A Disk Around the Sun

Whichever you choose, the route is equally rewarding

everyone was smiling or laughing

Are we on the cusp of a genuine breakthrough?

Is it a battle for recognition?

This dorm was once a madhouse

But that life was too short

Raided and now cornered

I’m still a believer but I don’t know why

Even when you want to die

~Vincent Bae

I finished eating my daily bread

~Patrick Sweeney

give us each day our daily dread

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

small slights on a speck of dust

~Patrick Sweeney

kites so high clouds give way

~James Penha

on the verge of saying hi

the graceful way she shooed a bee

~Patrick Sweeney

alive and then some

emerging from

the opened box

Schrödinger’s cat

with kittens

~John J. Dunphy

waking to a quiet house

the white noise

of grief

~Jennifer Gurney

wildfires about happiness

It is no accident that humans can see light

Grief is universal

Swaths of smoke darkened skies

Wildfires that burn near communities

can become dangerous

and even deadly

if they grow out of control

Innocence is so very fragile and fleeting

We tell ourselves a lot of stories about happiness

As children, we used to laugh hundreds of times a day

~Regina Kim

kitchen sink

our dirty dishes washed

in moonlight

~John J. Dunphy

occasionally I defer to what actually happened

~Patrick Sweeney

she's heard enough about my neurons stretching to the moon and back

~Patrick Sweeney

 

 

Lost and Found

~Yoon Park

 

Caged In

~Yoon Park

Morning of July 4, 2024

 The Reign of AI

~Yukyung Katie Kim

special olympics;

the weight he lifts

and yet

hearing his name cheered

the moments he smiles

~Anthony Lusardi

her body

is a vast temple

bells

within her stomach

announce mealtimes

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Your dreams

I’m so gifted at finding

Finding your dreams come true

Any time I count sheep

That’s the only time I wake

I put my hand on the stove

Blunt pain was everything I felt

It was all a dream

~Jin-Woo Ahn

new rules

to the restraining order—

the clouds

always changing

into something new

~Anthony Lusardi

A Celestial Journey

running with a useless white suit

adding weight

lasers were passing right by

I’ve seen the hope

empire falls, and the new world forms

rest with my fellow friends

run and run until I am out of energy

what was the rumble

Thought the world was in peace

~Dongeon KIm

Going Question

 

I heard and I repeat:

if "it goes without saying,"

why are you saying it to me?

~Charles A. Perrone

Seeking Paradise

standing in line

the stress of going somewhere

to relax

taking flight

five hundred sardines

in one can

the terror of turbulence

ordering brandy

with breakfast

~Wanda Amos

red, white but no blue --

still blooming on July 4th

my poinsettias

~John J. Dunphy

heat-parched wood

fence rails buckle and bleach

~JL Huffman

a private school meant a Christian school

beseeched god with Rosary beads

and asked for the sun to dance

~Fhen M.

the sun performs a Kuratsa dance

around the Milky Galaxy

~Fhen M.

T i z n i t

Oasis town draped in date palms

The traveller wanders its souk

Back in time through alleyways

A glimpse of sun scarcely penetrates

Precious jewels, nomadic treasure

A citadel amongst red rocks of the Atlas

The muezzin calls, the iftar is ready

~Olinda Ninolakis

snow-fed stream

seeping into bones

an ancient chill

~Suraj Nanu

distant thunder . . .

I know now from where

the mushrooms bloom

~Suraj Nanu

frozen tundra

my footsteps divide

days and nights

~Suraj Nanu

incognito mode —

we ask the child bride

to hide her tears

~Debarati Sen

Goes to the infinity elder sister

Goes to the infinity

Elder sister

Promising that one day she will return...

But where will her abode of peace be?

I began to think and think by the pond that evening.

Suddenly I saw the fireflies coming with her new address.

I see my elder sister talking to the fireflies every evening.

~Partha Sarkar

School

I wish that it ended. She keeps talking and talking. I’m not listening, who is? Nobody

listening there, all sleeping. School is such a waste.

I wish that time stopped. I never thought it was fun. Schools should host more

parties. We stayed there until 9. It ended in a flash.

I wish that he didn’t. Throwing that beautiful ramen away. I’m inside the school

starving. While he wastes that ramen. My poor beautiful delicious ramen.

~Andrew Ban

birds blow by fast in July wind

followed by hats

then ghosts of seasons past

~Steve Van Allen

an old crate

once filled

with clementines

now holding

old computer wires

~Anthony Lusardi