Morning of May 10, 2025

 

a word

o

p

e

n

s

shuts

~Vijay Prasad

one of those words

I have to slow down to spell

rhythm

~Jennifer Gurney

power outage

my mammalian

response

~Patrick Sweeney

dawn

continuing where I and Thou

left off

~Patrick Sweeney

in all

the crevices of my heart

sand

~Jennifer Gurney

blood moon

regretting

that argument

~Patricia Carragon

treating myself to the value of failure

~Sharon Ferrante

briefly wondering about the sunset shenanigans in the Shenango Valley

 
~Patrick Sweeney

another thing I can’t find this itch

 

~Sharon Ferrante

Stray cats gather on the playground for their weekly flea market.

~Martina Matijević

the leech sups with its gut

~Patrick Sweeney

t a r i f f    i c k 

~Sharon Ferrante

pudgy fingers in Chinese handcuffs

Newton's Third Law

~Patrick Sweeney

no poem today

—just an armadillo

digging a hole

~Sharon Ferrante

America’s decline

featuring

we the people

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

 

Open now: Failed Haiku

 

https://failedhaiku.com/submissions-guidelines/

 

 

Open now: Akitsu Quarterly

 

http://www.wildgraces.com/Akitsu-Quarterly.html

Afternoon of May 9, 2025

 

 

 

The Wayfarer

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

 

 

 

your voice fades—

the border draws quietly

Hands over ears

 ~Shinsaku Ashida

Aging—

watching a palace crumble

all alone

~Shinsaku Ashida

human lives are

like a dandelion’s seed,

drifting in the wind


~Shinsaku Ashida

sacrificing the stone

to the splash …

hitting rock bottom

~Kelly Sargent

adding political f(l)avor

the beady eyes

in muskrat stew

~Kelly Sargent

Get Out


You can

spend days

on a

campsite

and touch

no grass.


~Chad Parenteau

80 degrees

90% humidity

soggy cracker day


~Belinda Behne

everything he said --

the Mummy

takes it all back

~Rich Magahiz

bones

on the insides...

learning the way these joints bend

~Rich Magahiz

Hear now!

Ye rapscallions,

ye scallywags,

all ye fearsome taterdemalions:

hear well my beef

~Rich Magahiz

is

ittttttttttttttttttttt

time

toooooooooooooooo

st

oppppppppppppp

breath

ing

~Noah Berlatsky

Winding swirling

Wildflower brambles

So many reasons

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Not a good space

To eat a croissant or

Meet anybody

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

optometrist's office

I squint to read

my receipt

~John J. Dunphy

parallelogram

a sea of colour

at the city cafe

~Melissa Dennison

digital age

cresting a wave

a smile of 0s and 1s

~Melissa Dennison

white butterfly

plays footsie

with the flowers

~Melissa Dennison

deal deal deal

d
eal deal deal deal deal

deal deal deal

~Tejendra Sherchan

the ravens

well. they caw in joy or danger

all year long

~Tom Blessing

on our street

the joyful voices of birds

mingle with boys swearing

~Tom Blessing

‘Useless! Useless!’

Jack wrote

watching the rain

falling on the ocean

but he was

wrong

~Tom Blessing

Afternoon of May 4, 2025

 

 

 

        Ninja Skillz

        ~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

Truth #1

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

 

 

 

 

recycling them unread

the papers copies

you should have sent electronically

~Joshua St. Claire

Ultraviolet

 

The robin sees and hears

what I cannot,

yet returns each morning

to its perch,

never wishing to leave

the stratosphere.

~Angela Acosta, PhD

Lone heart

Gets different directions a lone heart on the avenues

But cannot decide which one is to take.

~Partha Sarkar

truck stop bathroom

my hands cleaner

than the sink handle

~Joshua St. Claire

countdown

everyone already knows

the end has begun

~M. R. Pelletier

After every carnage

Carnage!

After every carnage

There has been no ringtone in the embryo

As every carnage is state sponsored

(If not by both, at least by one)

~Partha Sarkar

summer rental house

within my closet

someone’s fishing poles


~Anthony Lusardi

spaghetti westerns

gun sounds

before hands draw


~Anthony Lusardi

a toddler

striking a pose

she saw on tv

~Anthony Lusardi

in his eternally cool fortress of sand, the Egyptian accountant's closing entry

~Patrick Sweeney

a few stains on her perfection

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

it seems wrong now to mention the uncertainty of butterflies

~Patrick Sweeney

stench of old dog

his owner

holds him close

~Sherri J Moye-Dombrosky

not the first to want to exchange places with the shaggy dog in the commercial

~Patrick Sweeney

birdwatching

with no desire

to know

~Joanna Ashwell

beaver moon

the odds already

stacked against us

~Joanna Ashwell

troll emojis

oh her dating profile

total red flag

~Nicholas De Marino

that wasn't the last

crusade

just the most recent

~Nicholas De Marino

showing his hands before being ordered to

~Patrick Sweeney

   

Morning of May 3, 2025

 

 

Submit to HIA by May 4!

Deadline extended due to website

woes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

nothing more to say

still blocked

on Facebook

~Julie Bloss Kelsey

 

fractal days —

my words with ordinary

meaning

~Vijay Prasad

somewhere between

wistful and confident

the wallet condom


~Julie Bloss Kelsey

hiding

chocolate eggs from myself

sugar moon

~Madeleine Kavanagh

 

 

tsuri-doro: Open through May 10


https://tsuridoro.org/contact

Cold Moon Journal: Open for submissions May 1-31!

https://coldmoonjournal.blogspot.com/2022/08/guidelines-for-contributors.html

Submit to #Femku . . . May 1-31

https://femkumag.wixsite.com/home/guidelines

 swirling
 
into my

  mojito
       .
       .
       .
mosquito
 

~Julie Bloss Kelsey

a short life

bleating calves — bound

for the meat works

~Wanda Amos

Please take me

I’m woke

Adult dodgeball

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Blossom

Is the blush

Before the fruit.

~Tracey Foster

troubling coccydynia

even the short distance

feels longest

~Tejendra Sherchan

 

 

 

Deadline May 15: Enchanted Garden Haiku

https://enchanted-garden-haiku.blogspot.com/p/submissions-calendar.html

 

 

my hate for you

stills like an unstable liquid

poured gently

into a jar

stored on a shelf,

atomically ready,

waiting

for the first

shake.


~don farrell

Sober

my skin is thinner than any time

i’ve spent here, feeling completely

shaven, naked...waiting, hoping

to get back my clothes,

to hide myself, praying I don’t

die like this,

that someone I wish wouldn’t,

doesn’t see me

say please.

~don farrell

Why Not Neither?

I am in the middle of writing two poems.

They are wrestling in my head.

One bitter; one cheerful; they sing and they slither—

It’s exhausting. I’ll write this instead.

~Noah Berlatsky