Afternoon of June 14, 2025

 


Tesla’s shadowgraph

A jar kept on the roof

Plum wine to soothe nerves

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




without you

my jelly jars will stand empty

this summer

on the shelf

unfilled

~Jennifer Gurney




intense heat

the open beaks

of crows

~Mona Bedi




read the room more

than the book –

there is more to learn there

~Allen David Simon




hellebores light -

a little hobbit leaves

his home

~Maria Cristina Pulvirenti




taking a break

our solar panels

during the eclipse

~John J. Dunphy




river

washing our clothes

as our souls drown

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




misguided missiles when philanthropy backfires

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




desiring nothing voids a distant star

~Vijay Prasad




blowing in the wind everything

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




feeling good in someone else’s skin new moon

~Mona Bedi




an EMT added an apostrophe to his death poem

~Patrick Sweeney




birthday reaching the age nevermore

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




stink bug, you haven't aged a bit

~Patrick Sweeney




Morn

when he woke up he was not

who he thought

he was awake but

that wasn’t anyway and what

are you dreaming under

the head he said

I am not going there now

~Noah Berlatsky




intersection

of terror and peace

closing my eyes breathing slowly

a black butterfly appears

flapping slowly toward me

~Sherri J Moye-Dombrosky




THE CYCLE


There are three things that exist:

1. Avoidance

2. Relief

3. Guilt

Anyone who says otherwise is trying to sell something.

~Jay Nahm




The world won’t stop turning

not even for love

And how I wish it would.

I can feel it move under my feet

and I am left behind.

Persephone, will you be there?

These summers melt me down.

~Jay Nahm




weeping willows -

my guitar skips

his favorite songs

~Laila Brahmbhatt




turn any page of his journal

and it's raining frogs

in Upper Darby

~Patrick Sweeney




fire hydrant -

pigeons hold

their city meeting

~Laila Brahmbhatt




scent of star jasmine by the garage door...

it wasn't his destiny

to shake the five mountains

~Patrick Sweeney




nobody likes to get caught

with the house standing

on its head

~Patrick Sweeney

 

 

Morning of June 11, 2025

  

 

 

 

https://sonicboomjournal.wixsite.com

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persona au gratin

~Nicholas De Marino




wishing for the existence of uno reverse card in real life

~Martina Matijević




///passing me by///she ⱨ₳₵₭₴ ///my hello///

~Vijay Prasad




two a.m. bathroom sink

now I know why they named it

Spider B & B

~Jennifer Gurney




Are you not a toddler?


Are you not a toddler?

Then don't try to play with

the Time.

~Partha Sarkar




a slinky

clinking stairs

to bedtime stories

~Elliot Diamond




dull day

I don’t even want                   

to take a selfie

~Oscar Luparia




frustration

!!!!!!!H!!!!!!

the picket fences we build

~Wanda Amos




haunted chess set

sees through

my en passant

~Nicholas De Marino




The Farce


'What are you fighting for?'

'For revolution.' 

'Do you know what revolution is?' 

'No'. 


innocent blood flows on to the infinite. 

~Partha Sarkar




Clinging to

Coffee and doughnuts

Life support

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




burning tip

of an oil-lamp wick

golden dragonfly

~Tejendra Sherchan




The dog won’t come in.

She’s in the backyard

waiting for you to come home.

~Noah Berlatsky




going up the escalator

pigeons eating bread crumbs

watching me altogether

~Alper Ghuchlu




set the jib

haul the boom

seaward

~Olinda Ninolakis




The Bruised Heart



Who knew

a metaphor

could make me feel

so nauseous?

~Bob Carlton




and if we should turn

away from the rain

it would dry to nothing

by our absence

while dust heavy

and choking

is sodden with

our attention

~Bob Carlton




loft scene 1964

pieces of her

fly skyward

~dan smith




delta blues

in the river’s mouth

a song of the sea

~Anne Fox




backtalk

I lose another argument

with myself

~Anne Fox



fairy moon

the petal skirt

I dance in

~Anne Fox




sister stories

each raindrop reflects

a different view

~Anne Fox




hidden moon

the quiet light

of secret wings

~Anne Fox




monday through friday

the sandwiches we make

from leftovers

~Anne Fox



so many moods

this moon

inside me

~Anne Fox




demanding world

all I've to offer or give

my haiku

~Tejendra Sherchan

 

 


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

Morning of June 9, 2025


 

 

surface spray

my summer excitement

washing away

~Melissa Dennison




discord nothing rhymes with orange

~dan smith




oligarchy as if capitalism wasn't hard enough

~dan smith




the old reprobate-

orders a double

gets two middle fingers

~dan smith




twilight time-

the gods reveal themselves

on silver platters

~dan smith




space X our little portion off limits to the rest of the galaxy

~dan smith




howl of the last dog the zookeeper pauses

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel




zombie chess

errant finger makes

an illegal move

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel




rabid fox

the woods no longer

inviting

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel




end of summer

a black vulture circling in the clouds

of Saturn

~Joshua St. Claire




beach day the schlepping

~Joshua St. Claire




corporate headquarters

the just so

of each and every blind

~Joshua St. Claire




late sunset…

watering the garden again

close to midnight

~Maya Daneva




once in a while an open tin in the ocean

~Maya Daneva




Time


Travel could

right wrongs

alter realities,

and exponentially

Increase my opportunities

to say space time continuum.

~Keith Snow

 

 


 

Evening of June 5, 2025

 


anxiously processing the weather conditions

on the I-80 corridor

and I don't even drive

~Patrick Sweeney




so those villagers

gathered sharp tools?

yeah? turn back...

~Richard Magahiz




still chewing

upthrust ridgelines with

diamond tooth scoops

~Richard Magahiz




Equanimity Ltd.


In time, easy elasticity

becomes brittle stress

and that is just Nature.

Creatures should be

content to feel sun,

be caught in rain;

however, if SpaceX

space junk falls

on your head, feel

free to complain.

~Allan Lake




the intern speaks

breaks the hush

in the boardroom

~Jiel Narvekar




hindsight

twenty twenty

regrets

~Jennifer Gurney




shell shocked

by the ignorance

among us

~Jennifer Gurney




I still have

your ratty old sneakers

in the garage

~Jennifer Gurney




While Staying In My Grandson’s Room, I’ve Learned to Settle for…


less risky chaos;

pile of clothes thrown on a chair,

rather than on floor.

~Suzanne S. Austin-Hill




pothos

how I yearn

to propagate

~B. L. Bruce




beep beep beep a truck I cannot see backs up

~M. R. Pelletier




all this time i watched the news waiting for the taco bell to ring

~Tom Blessing




I'm a buffalo nickel in a cashless society

~Patrick Sweeney




I think the sign said: Please don't ask the calligrapher what anything means

~Patrick Sweeney




love a fifteen-month hard drug

~Alvaro Carrasquel Gomez




infatuation playing Russian roulette again

~Alvaro Carrasquel Gomez




my slow recovery from the waiter's description of the meat falling off the bone

~Patrick Sweeney




sundown a verb undoes itself

~Vijay Prasad




boron high altar solid smoke bricks

~Richard Magahiz




pearls the ocean depths already plundered

~Joanna Ashwell




forever (almost) never ever is

~Joseph P. Wechselberger




Brahma circumnavigating the trash can as a raccoon

~Patrick Sweeney




new car

forest essence

swaying

~Gareth Nurden




puddles

where horses roamed

sinking suns

~Gareth Nurden




lucid streetlights

blood in the veins

of a small town vista

~Gareth Nurden




blowing sahara sand

from a picnic table

margarita breath

~Gareth Nurden




donating my life

I give my alma mater

all my contributor's copies

~John J. Dunphy




The past catches up”

the migrant says,

sobbing

~Alvaro Carrasquel Gomez




minimum wage

every task

longer than the last

~Joanna Ashwell




fairy garden

the corner patch

out of time

~Joanna Ashwell




a variety of smells

surrounds me

full bus

~Joseph P. Wechselberger




button box

searching

for the right one

~Joseph P. Wechselberger




second-hand store

a step above

diminished expectations

~M. R. Pelletier




entrepreneurship

doing new things

with old means

~M. R. Pelletier