Afternoon of December 31, 2024

 

a script of my soul’s story half wakefulness

~Arvinder Kaur

a thousand words

a picture

says

a thousand words,

so does

your silence.

~linda m. crate

simplicity

complexity;

poetry

is wishy-

washy

~Noah Berlatsky

on the grill

hickory-smoked

robot bones

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

when you're drowning

high functioning

depression

means getting ignored

when you're drowning

because they say you

know how to swim.

~linda m. crate

the hit list

made us wonder who

had been a target,

and who hadn't been;

the school wouldn't say—

just expelled him

for it.

~linda m. crate

gone with the geese the initial of your name

~Arvinder Kaur

my worries break the surface ice crusted snow

~Morag Elizabeth Humble

funeral we speak in flowers

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

empty bin unfolding of my loud thoughts

~Arvinder Kaur

winter dusk a little girl’s brightest smile

~Tejendra Sherchan

beauty

the moon

is beautiful in

all of her phases,

so am i.

~linda m. crate

winter rains

the scent of wet dog

on my couch

~Morag Elizabeth Humble

hibernation —

his life has the merit

on earth

~Maria Cristina Pulvirenti

siren eyes

i mistook the sirens in

your eyes for

mermaids,

until they tried

drowning me.

~linda m. crate

night of celebration —

with a cheeky smile the elf

fades in air

~Maria Cristina Pulvirenti

 

Morning of December 30, 2024

 

getting squashed

with no second thought

cockroach's destiny

~Tejendra Sherchan

birthdays

some of us are over the hill

others under

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Today I need

The whole cup

Of coffee

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

longing for

my last

first kiss

~Jennifer Gurney

I know I told you

one life. Not eternity.

I was so young then.

~H. May

intertwining chapters

unexpected plot twist

in the end

~Jennifer Gurney

turn of events

our ship returns

to port

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Time

Is kryptonite

These days

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

waiting room mirror

unhealthy faces

stare back

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

Afternoon of December 29, 2024

 

thinking about what

I’m not thinking about

knowing I don’t know

~John Paul Caponigro

sea smoke

everything I needed to know

about 'being and nothingness'

~Patrick Sweeney

nothing’s nothing

~John Paul Caponigro

dreaming

not dreaming

not knowing

the difference

~John Paul Caponigro

Standing before

the art museum, I know

I should have checked the hours.

~Noah Berlatsky

forgetting

what I was worried about

I try not to worry

~John Paul Caponigro

basil pesto

looks like baby poop

I’m certain

pesto tastes better

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

when they began talking about speckle-patterns

and granular structures

I moved my chair closer to the fire

~Patrick Sweeney

mysterious time horizon of the last yellow leaf

~Patrick Sweeney

all day long he doesn't have an office window

~Patrick Sweeney

fire child of the sun

~Tejendra Sherchan

ramp closure on the way to a place I didn't want to go

~Patrick Sweeney

speed reading the book of my life

~John Paul Caponigro

the severe mathematics of a worrywart

~Patrick Sweeney

resilience…

a helix goes over my toe

and stops

~Maya Daneva

writing a birthday card

for myself…

psychologist’s waiting room

~Maya Daneva

snow thunder

half-hour spent on a semi-colon

I didn't need

~Patrick Sweeney

Unfolding

Continents shift

at the same speed

my fingernails grow;

Earth’s not swelling larger,

always turning outward, I

must be folding inward, too;

some things emerge others inter;

one crack’s loss is another’s gain;

the new becomes the old becomes the new.

~John Paul Caponigro

 

 (Hurry!)

Afternoon of December 27, 2024

 

Intertwined fingers stuck in tangled hair

And now she's a widow

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

Someone is watering the lilacs that grew instead of a cemetery

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

And the ant under your feet is me.

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

not in pairs

He bought a batch of identical pair of socks.

I told him I was going to put

all the left-hand socks in one pile

and all the right-hand socks in another pile.

It will be easier, I said.

He said ok.

~Marie Derley

 

 

the downpour

through my window

the scarred trees sway

by the clouds

a little rain

through my hatches

call me Admiral Nelson

and I'll build an island here

with a little rain

~Marie Derley

No one will cry. This disappearance will be eternal. Like dew on a mirror. Everything was

locked from the inside.

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

A coded message was transmitted in the form of a corpse. It all started when dad went to 

get vodka and I didn't even know then that I had a dad.

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

 

 

the final judgement

according to religion, someday it will be the end of the world

the righteous rewarded and the wicked punished.

The question is, what are they waiting for?

~Marie Derley

lost and found

shopper asks about

his missing chakra

~John J. Dunphy

departing geese my unfinished love story

~Mona Bedi

menopause the changing shape of water

~Mona Bedi

scratching round the corner of my thoughts a fly

~Katherine E Winnick

my body within these walls the skin breathes

~Katherine E Winnick

oak moon dad tells me his life story

~Mona Bedi

this wish to let go dandelion seeds

~Mona Bedi

river stones—

i too become better

with age

~Mona Bedi

end of the year —

the last supper

of expired oats

~R. Suresh babu

Every year

is like the last year

but worse.

~Noah Berlatsky