Morning of November 5, 2023

 

  gentle breeze blows

cold upon my neck–

stepping through a ghost

~Jennifer Gurney

under garage door

is guy trapped half-in

or half-out

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

the song was sung long ago

the echo still remains

of voices faint and far off

I do not know the words

~Ann Christine Tabaka

searching for your heart in the hayloft

~Patricia Hawkhead

trembling time wound tight enough to show, don’t tell

~Mark Gilbert

two in the morning

I am awake

I must write

three in the afternoon

I am drained

the ink ran dry

~Ann Christine Tabaka

glistening temptation

I drink from the source

with cupped hands

my muse

played by an actress

~Mark Gilbert

the trees are barren–

reminding me

of me

~Jennifer Gurney

Boredom

 

The man,

bored with

life, drooped like

a wilting flower

unwatered and left to dry out

on a windowsill, blinds drawn in lunar eclipse.

~Steve Gerson

Autumn, will you stop?

The leaves fall; the clock turns back.

But the leaves still fall.

~Noah Berlatsky

superhero

fly in

give the presentation

take questions

have a beer

fly out

~Mark Gilbert

clouds stately & silent

my migraine

squirming & slithery

~Mark Gilbert

Our Pushcart Prize Nominations for Poetry

Pushcart Prize Poetry Nominations

from Five Fleas Itchy Poetry (Poems published during 2023)

I’m a Mural by Jay Passer

 

Baby Dalí by Kelly Moyer

 

Fairy Tales by Gabriel Bates

Sing Gone by Nolcha Fox

49 Cents Change by Keith Snow

Untitled (first line at least two years) by Patrick Sweeney

 

 

Afternoon of October 31, 2023

creeping sepia

the hint of forbidden sea

in the forest

~Alan Summers

my beloved dog

alive and young again

on a VHS tape

~John J. Dunphy

Darkness within

Darkness without

Darkness all about,

 I am afraid of the dark.

~Shirley Smothers

sundown

a

shot

glass

window

sighs

~Alan Summers

the rain in another life’s beer

~Alan Summers

pregnant trees

merciless pecking birds

half-eaten lychee

~Bhawana Upadhyay

offering

a second opinion

mood ring

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

the snow drifting Pissarro’s painting shadows mostly red

~Alan Summers

Moses recommended

taking the tablets

because they’d be good for us.

~Tony Dawson

Tony Dawson said to Descartes:

“Thinking outside the box

is the very definition of being alive.”

~Tony Dawson

almost 10 quintillion insects on Earth at all times maintain radio silence

~Alan Summers

Evening of October 30, 2023

splendor

found in lacquered tears

dynasties

~Alfred Booth

now is the allegory of the cell phone

~Patrick Sweeney

day of the 

                my phone dead

~John J. Dunphy

letting go of fear

                         I step out of

                                                    the plane

~Jennifer Gurney

rabbit hole jammed with Alices

~Patrick Sweeney

Carpet

 

When we

pull apart from

each other

there is a rip –

we are carpet.

~Ryan Quinn Flanagan

the punctuality of dread

~Patrick Sweeney

my Halloween senryu barebones

~John J. Dunphy

not one complaint from the dragonfly swarm

~Patrick Sweeney

letting go of

those voices in my head

saying I can't

~Jennifer Gurney

solving the coagulating mystery of my grandfather's styptic pencil

~Patrick Sweeney

Tolstoy's War and Peace–

thirteen hundred ninety two

pages of advice

~Jennifer Gurney