Morning of July 27, 2024

 

The Burlesque Dancer

~Kelly Moyer
 
Photography available here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hold for Poet

Thank you

For your patience.

Our poets are helping

Other readers. Please do not turn

The page.

~Noah Berlatsky

it was in the Roman-controlled Antioch

in the late first century AD

that the plagiarist copied his unnamed sources

~Fhen M.

vows

after so many husbands

I know what to say

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

open window

a gentle breeze

caresses my hair

how warm your hands were

on our last meeting

~Fatma Zohra Habis

 

 

 

starred restaurant—

coming and going of flies

at lunch time

~Nicoletta Ignatti

Mud Holes

Just because you see little holes in the mud

is no reason to suspect earthworms were here.

Birthday candles are the same diameter

and mud is a kind of icing on layer years.

~Terry Trowbridge

asteroid

horizon so close you can

see your back

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

you must be this tall ↆ

to exit the quicksand

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

 

 

Morning of July 25, 2024

Llama getting ready for her book tour

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

 

 

rising

from the dead

banana bread

~Biswajit Mishra

Where does an assassin go?

Where does an assassin go?

Time is too timid to answer.

~Partha Sarkar

Captain Vibrato


You sailed on ships of light

beyond our wisps of stars.

Sent us postcards

filled with trembling trees

and all your mad fragility

that pled wish you were here.

They were postmarked immortality.

~dan smith

my open mouth

in a dentist’s chair

a nearby fly

rubs its antennae

~Arvinder Kaur

the flashing antennae—

a hiding cockroach behind

toilet flush

~Tejendra Sherchan

thefireflylessnessofdarknesswithin

~Arvinder Kaur

chewing Mona Lisa artsy cannibal ants

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

the moon had no craters,

the sun had no sunspots,

Neptune & Uranus were not planets

a time when telescopes were not invented

~Fhen M.

The sun says

The grey matter of a human's brain.

(We are proud of it!)

And "it is bright but dead"

Very often the sun says.

~Partha Sarkar

IVF clinic —

this feeling

of not being enough

~Debarati Sen

paradise 1

let's imagine that paradise does exist

let's imagine that, after having served my time in purgatory,

I could get into paradise

will I come across the old troublemakers again?

~Marie Derley

paradise 4

are we laughing in heaven?

(if not, I'm not going)

(same goes for the Wi-Fi)

~Marie Derley

the aging magician's mind

now playing tricks — on him

~John J. Dunphy

 

 

 

 

Five Fleas swag:

https://www.zazzle.com/store/five_fleas

 

Afternoon of July 22, 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tapped

~Kelly Moyer 

Photography available here

lunch ladies purging communists at the kindergarten table

~Patrick Sweeney

dead drop nurse’s clumsy response

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Angelus bells vibrating the amalgams in my molars

~Patrick Sweeney

shuffle of neurons larval memories

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

summer breeze

ruffles its feathers—

lifeless pigeon

~Neena Singh

pausing

our argument…a flea

in the dog’s ear

~Neena Singh

all night rain

the driveway flooded

with earthworms

~Neena Singh

spring noon

a grasshopper and I

talk of yesteryear

~Debarati Sen

he's talking to himself...

he either has too much money in the bank

or none at all

~Patrick Sweeney

morning glory

creeps even over the road…

worm-eaten petals

~Tejendra Sherchan

silent spell

clear night’s moon

seeing the light

life becomes you

ash and dust

~Oana Maria Cercel

night sky...

so many

bedbugs

roaming freely

in my poems

~Ana Drobot

windy day...

all over around me

change

~Ana Drobot

Amusement Park

From the darkroom

Red roller

             coaster

middle of the dark tunnel,

Black, rusted seat belts locked,

Side rocks dented

The leg and roller iron down

My strong deep black belt

I hollow

Rusty tickets

~JK Kim

toppled chairs

around a dinner table

war ruins

~Stephanie Zepherelli

Instability



The brain itself is not a muscle

If you never bothered

Its ok to not be ok

It’s a selfie obsession

~Pei-Chen Ng

kindred spirits

resting against each other

tombstones

~Stephanie Zepherelli