Morning of August 9, 2025

 

another whiskey . . .

let the truth

come out

~Oscar Luparia

so many

tin foil hats

this year

~dan smith

only the word apple ripens no orchards

~Vijay Prasad

precisely, fireflies are irradiant insects.

~Gretchen VanOstrand

exploding anger volcanic eruptions

~Tejendra Sherchan

nodding as he tonsures his lawn

~Helen Buckingham

kids in Trump masks

parents in Maga caps

extortion 101

~dan smith

bomb

bomb

bomb

satellite of blood

(after Lou Reed)

~Helen Buckingham

bombings

(very) old poems

seem so new

they were asleep during that time

I didn't know, they say

~Marie Derley

night journey

little insects die

on the windscreen

how many of our dreams

die when the day dawns

~Marie Derley

Teapot shakes

In sunlit hands

Of the morning

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Haunting eyes

Look up from black lace

Unmasking the moon

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

the air feels

like a warm bath

inside the sky

~Jennifer Gurney

I catch a whiff of BBQ

and miss you so much it hurts

right in the rib eye

~Jennifer Gurney

beautiful

as long as

he's just

in three-quarter

profile

~Nicholas De Marino

No matter how much plastic piles up

a planet will never twinkle.

~Nicholas De Marino

green brocade trifle

and lavender taffeta affidavit

~Nicholas De Marino

 

Afternoon of August 7, 2025

 

 

The last book my dad read

was a biography of Neville Chamberlain.

I wish he’d finished it.

I wish he hadn’t finished.

~Noah Berlatsky

running my finger

on old dents

strawberry moon

~Jiel Narvekar

summer vacation

spending time

with the dentist

~Patricia Carragon

water under the bridge

          being swept away

by the flood

~John J. Dunphy

summer haze

a concealed coot

finds its way

~Gareth Nurden

reflections

filling a lido

summer sun

~Gareth Nurden

in the garden

the rose bush explodes with life

your last words to me

~Jennifer Gurney

closet space

full of your absence

~Anne Fox

in other people’s windows         

a glimpse

of myself

~Anne Fox

the self-help manual

all out of ink

autumn drizzle

~Joanna Ashwell

puddle rainbows another splash back to Kansas

~Joanna Ashwell

another month the hostages still not home

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

alter ego i get sucked into a black hole

~Mona Bedi

into the afterlife a shaman’s promise

~Mona Bedi

tv news some hostages we know by name

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

saturn that parent who mixes up his kids' names

~Martina Matijević

2 hours

up the gravel road

lost

in the right direction

~Belinda Behne

as society

crashes around us

smh

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Pin the tail

On the donkey

My back patch

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

infinite regress

she takes a selfie

with the Mona Lisa

~Joshua St. Claire

corporate training

the meticulously made materials

I’ll never look at again

~Joshua St. Claire

we all have

a tragic backstory

indigo plums

~Joshua St. Claire

 

 

Afternoon of August 6, 2025

 

steps off the path

the hope a first mushroom

brings

~Randy Brooks

doublespeak . . .

getting old living through

1984 again

~Randy Brooks

stranger in a strange land

the trout rainbow

over me

~Randy Brooks

hamburger diner

each customer perched on

their own pedestal

~Randy Brooks

pluto

exiled from solar system

still orbiting the sun

~Tejendra Sherchan

meteor shower

        brushing the 

sand off 

       a mermaid’s purse

~Stephen Toft

only my cat hears them

                                        falling stars

~Stephen Toft

day moon i thought you were dead butterfly

~Stephen Toft

final insult

plastic roses

on her grave

~Wanda Amos

dusk

her fear of  shadows …

sun-downing

~Wanda Amos

My ox won’t plow this

field where buffalo leapt

through flowers and fell.

~Terry Trowbridge

A healing and

appealing ion

might let one

seal     achieve

sea-lion status

~Charles A. Perrone

Bleak truth:

the envelope

is too small.

~Noah Berlatsky

green screams    the ninety-sixth name of God

~Richard Magahiz

the edges

of the frame things with

candy corn eyes

~Richard Magahiz

cries of RTs

the sun heating up

each chassis

~Richard Magahiz

the icy salt water

the spill of spiderflesh

~Richard Magahiz

Children are afraid that someone will knock on their window at night. Old people are

afraid that no one will ever knock on their door again.

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

 

 

 

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