Afternoon of November 4, 2025

Green Head

reaching across

uncanny valley

from the wrong side

~Nicholas De Marino

Obstruct My Vision

 

Through a cracked lens

I know him, truly.

Pedestal man

So close, I see

Appalling beauty

Others mistake.

~Emily Keverne

Stall the Dawn

 

One sheep… two sheep… treesheep… feep…

Lethargic, but I cannot sleep.

I try to make a game and keep

Awake, to lure the Sandman’s creep

But, though I’m tired enough to weep

The night succeeds.

~Emily Keverne

Tiger, Tiger

Burn. As the Man churns

Timber from your forestry.

Burn, burn prettily.

~Emily Keverne

slipping on black ice masks

~John Hawkhead

roar...(p)atriarchal (m)edical (s)tudies

~Pegah Rahmati Nezhad

third time today

resisting the urge

to quote Kris Kristofferson

~Patrick Sweeney

war everywhere

and I'm writing about nobody noticing

my one blue sock

~Patrick Sweeney

Snow From Snow

 

The snow 

covers up 

all the places

where my dad was.

 

Then it grows wings

and is not there.

~Noah Berlatsky

Perspective

 

From this angle the cat

Is very large and orange.

 

From some angles she is less orange.

From all angles she is large.

~Noah Berlatsky

fly in the ointment...

guess I'm stuck with you

~Mark Meyer

backhanded compliment she calls me pluperfect

~Mark Meyer

death bed

no less

a fool

~M. R. Pelletier

"social" media

the lie

we tell ourselves

~M. R. Pelletier

first frost 

field mice

raid the root cellar

~Belinda Behne

The Dream of Art

 

I dream I am in the house of a famous artist.

I cannot leave because I cannot find my shoes.

I search for hours but I cannot find my shoes.

 

I need better dreams.

~Noah Berlatsky

Day of the Dead

no different

doomscrolling

~Helen Buckingham

Return home

Return home safely dead before cremation.

~Partha Sarkar

Milky Way hosting

four hundred billion planets

still we are alone

~Tejendra Sherchan

billboard moon

she crams civilization

into a gas station rubbish bin

~Joshua St. Claire

hypochondria

I wonder what kind of flower

I’ll be

~Joshua St. Claire

the once when orange was a color but not a scent

~Joshua St. Claire

Morning of October 31, 2025

pumpkins —

the world of slyboots

amidst darkness

~Maria Cristina Pulvirenti

blue hour moon . . .

the ghost of you dancing

in the hallway

~Veronika Zora Novak

between

jade peaks . . .

a dragon's eye

~Veronika Zora Novak

playground mayhem everything we seesaw

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

counting candy

at the kitchen table—

hallotweens


~Julie Bloss Kelsey

moving day—

the rice cooker 

leaves for college

~Julie Bloss Kelsey

Suddenly

Suddenly all strangers seem to be known to me.

~Partha Sarkar

A human face

A human face tells different fairy tales without conclusion.

~Partha Sarkar

link death

number one cause

is

~Noah Berlatsky

a flower is only friends with its own roots

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

gazing at scenic mountain views a bear

~Tejendra Sherchan

indeterminate numbers

and empty bellies

~Patrick Sweeney

freed from the constraints of reason

inviting daily

hybrid disasters
 

~Patrick Sweeney

all day, what's wrong with the country

all night, what's wrong with me

~Patrick Sweeney

he hoped there would be ravens in the tall grasses of heaven

~Patrick Sweeney

 

 

Trick or Treat

I fear

the worst

~Helen Buckingham

Afternoon of October 29, 2025

 

Work Shirt

~dan smith

daylight savings not FDIC insured may lose value

~Cynthia Anderson

dry bones a tumbleweed at the door

~Cynthia Anderson

proving I’m not a bot to a bot

~Mark Gilbert

an insistent pleading just to see what is already plain to see

~Mark Gilbert

the crackle of needle stuck in the groove

~Mark Gilbert

raid

man strikes

an ICE agent

with his

white cane

~John J. Dunphy

back to standard time

to reschedule the rooster

and even the sheep


~Oscar Luparia

electrical blackout

not a big deal

at the Halloween party


~Oscar Luparia

pumpkin yarn

the eyes aglow

with mischief

~Joanna Ashwell

this urge

to call you again . . .

thawing water pipes

~Gordon Gearhart

passing through

the shrunken head exhibit

dead snapdragons

~Gordon Gearhart

barren shelves

at the food pantry

hunger moon

~Gordon Gearhart

this reluctance to be photographed on the cell phone Luna

~Pegah Rahmati Nezhad

a suffering rooted in innocence OCD

~Pegah Rahmati Nezhad

another year without you november rain


~Mona Bedi

drops of rain on bent wires this grief


~Mona Bedi

there will be

goodbyes to you

the rest of my life

~Jennifer Gurney

more pieces of the puzzle

missing every day

mom’s dementia

~Belinda Behne

across the world

a sign of respect

frogs

~Jennifer Gurney

scratched and bleeding

~dan smith