Afternoon of February 25, 2025

 

My Bad Fortune

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

search engine

I find myself

scattered

around the earth

~Kimberly Kuchar

dark web radicalizing the square

~John Pappas

skim ice

the fragility of

consolation

~John Pappas

it was a man

who explained to me

about mansplaining

~Penny Lowery

there may be a planet

where pebbles are as valuable

as a diamond

~Tejendra Sherchan

first snow

silence surrounds

an *

~John Pappas

Onomastic mysteries

What was the Aegean Sea called

before Aegeus drowned in it?

Or the Atlantic Ocean, before Atlas?

~Marie Derley

mug shots

only the politicians

change


~Douglas J. Lanzo

Heil to the Chief—

putting the cult

in culture

~dan smith

reprimand…

the boy advises the emperor

on his nakedness

~David Cox

You dream!



You dream!

Let us take a turn.


~Partha Sarkar

barefoot in wild mint the strangeness of belief

~John Pappas

changing our perspective AI-generated eyes

~Douglas J. Lanzo

the fluidity of drunkenness in chiffon

~Patrick Sweeney

boiling milk the deported migrants

~Tejendra Sherchan

Tea drinkers

sharing wallpaper

phantasmagoria

~Patrick Sweeney

streetlight on snow wondering if I’ll ever

~John Pappas

Cloud viewing

never ever

and always

~Patrick Sweeney

Checking his FICO score

on a dying

planet

~Patrick Sweeney

 

 

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Afternoon of February 21, 2025

The Golden Hour

~Jean-Paul Moyer

Editor’s note: Our featured artist, Jean-Paul Moyer, is a cat. Here’s a video of him at work.

 

 

A shriek in the night.

The cat has slaughtered

a pair of underwear.

~Noah Berlatsky

I must stand forever,

for in every seat

there is a cat.

~Noah Berlatsky

Someday cats

will fly.

All the cats here

are waiting.

~Noah Berlatsky

day breaks gently

in saunters the new year

on cat’s paws

~Jennifer Gurney

consistent

Valentine

my cat

~Jennifer Gurney

the rumble

of affection

cat’s purr

~Jennifer Gurney

my stray queen

gives me brief company

as her gratitude!

~Tejendra Sherchan

alley

a feral follows me

to the food bowls

~John J. Dunphy

reincarnated Zen gardener

now rakes patterns in

his litter box

~John J. Dunphy

my black cat

tuxedoed

by the snow

~John J. Dunphy

The Asahi Haikuist is in need of haiku (catku) about cats in love.

Details (scroll to the end): https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15632135

Afternoon of February 18, 2025

Five Fleas shirts and mugs

https://www.zazzle.com/store/five_fleas

his whole philosophy on the front lawn


~Patrick Sweeney

Mowing the lawn

the same pattern

over and over

imprinting lines into grass’s memory

thinking the same thoughts

again and again the same pattern

can’t get out of my own head

maybe this time I should

break free

mow diagonally right across the lawn

~Robert Miner

Vox Populi

once a whisper

now a scream

~dan smith

Imperialism

Throws upward

The torn pieces of a paper

The madman

Standing on a thin broken wall.

~Partha Sarkar

The Gift of the Maga

a scalped population

getting the brush off

~dan smith

non-sequitor

nothing

makes sense now

~Robert Epstein

Trapped in a traffic jam

Let me cross the road...

Then I decide whether

I will return home or wander under the stars.

~Partha Sarkar

her honking smiles in the morning rush


~Vijay Prasad

immune to my telepathy, a deer on the berm of the road

~Patrick Sweeney

waiting

for the light to change

roadside chicken

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

generation X marking the spots on my hands

~Kelly Sargent

he wants to wrestle Antaeus at zero g

~Patrick Sweeney

valentine’s day lonely full moon

~Tejendra Sherchan

there's no 'is what it is' in high-energy physics

~Patrick Sweeney

line editing the line editing my ex

~Robert Epstein

riding on the wobbly wheel of what's going to happen to me

~Patrick Sweeney

holes in the paper dolls playground wars

~Kelly Sargent

there in the monostich of time; a bluejay in the snow

~Patrick Sweeney

even zen can be overdue books

~Robert Epstein

under floorboards behind bookshelves happening again

~Patrick Sweeney

a threatening letter

from the good people who sent him

a free blood-pressure cuff

~Patrick Sweeney

the smell of bacon

forgiving

the night before

~Kelly Sargent

Dawn Senryu

smashed bottle

in grey sand --

baby's first steps

~Brian Palmu

often I dream

of globe-trotting the world

my holed pocket

~Tejendra Sherchan

first shower at his apartment

clarifying shampoo

in my eyes

~Kelly Sargent

Un-Zen Thirty

Unknown to him

Clock was reset

Instead of alarm

Woke late

In panic-rush

Showered halfway

Dressed, until

He realized

He was early

~Keith Snow

after remortgaging a second time

he kept the intricacies of his gambling theories

to himself

~Patrick Sweeney

On our radar: Poetry contests open now

Wergle Flomp (humor): Deadline April 1

https://winningwriters.com/our-contests/wergle-flomp-humor-poetry-

contest-free

The Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Contest (fee): Deadline March 13

http://modernhaiku.org/spiesscontest/spiesscontest2025.html

Morning of February 16, 2025

 False Spring

~Jean-Paul Moyer

starlight the miles between us


~Mona Bedi

just hatched chicks all over the plum tree

~Tejendra Sherchan

 

threading needles the eyes have it

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

 

 

babyboomerangst

~Barrie Levine

old dreamcatcher I let go of my aspirations


~Mona Bedi

new wars tacked onto old wars

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

tulips bloom

in no man’s land

peace talks


~Mona Bedi

mayfly

what do we take with us

to the afterlife


~Mona Bedi

 

birds are looking for beaks

 and wings

  and air

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

flavor of the day fresh air

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

leafless tree

the children

I never had


~Mona Bedi

chatting by the fence

the neighbor’s opinions

invade my yard

~Barrie Levine

trees are talking to me

my coffin sprouts roots

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

Valentine's Day

I drive to pick up

my cat's ashes

~John J. Dunphy

on till he’s thirteen

the frog nightlight

in my son’s room

~Barrie Levine

censored paint set

the rainbow colors

d  i  l  o  o  t  e  d

~Barrie Levine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Open all this month: Cattails

http://www.cattailsjournal.com/submissions.html