Morning of April 19, 2023

half-asleep

you visit the shrink

in fifty minutes

you emerge

half-awake

~Ruth Holzer

volcanic uplift a clean train

~Jerome Berglund

hiding what the scale says my fat furry slippers

~Ruth Holzer

Scandinavia chain of evidence

~Jerome Berglund

the long con tortoise shell glasses

~Jerome Berglund

yes the flea

had second thoughts about

biting her

yet in the end he bit

her on her end (the end)

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

before the wildflowers

i am only

a shadow

~Tiffany Shaw-Diaz

meme template

infinitely replicatable

hooded sweatshirt

~Jerome Berglund

cultural competence

a breeze blows

the trenchcoat open

~Kelly Moyer

and then i turned to him and said

listen to the highway

it sounds like death

~Tiffany Shaw-Diaz

I never thought

I'd be taking a little

yellow pill

on every occasion

but there it is

~Ruth Holzer

carrying memories

wrapped in a white sheet

the hearse car

~Debarati Sen

insomnia

I count

dead people

~Ruth Holzer

Evening of April 18, 2023

gym argument

we fail to work out

our differences

~Andrew Markowski

I want a wall

all I receive

is a beaded curtain

~Richard Bailly

dementia —

last summer was

twenty years ago

~Debarati Sen

swallowing my words a black hole

~Kimberly Kuchar

nightfall a conversation without speech

~Joseph P. Wechselberger

I (nuclear) solemnly (Armageddon) swear

~Lee Hudspeth

denied parole

an inmate breaks out

into tears

~Andrew Markowski

 

fossils

a final impression

fuels the end of time

~Robert Witmer

gun law

the right to bear

others’ pain

~Robert Witmer

Afternoon of April 14, 2023

 silverfish 925

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

komas wind unbending tension

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

longing for a patch of grass war rubble

~Mona Bedi

pike with tench zander

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

ice rink the old wound that starts to bleed

~Mona Bedi

under the peepal residence of the gods

~Mona Bedi

At the international space station

a six-month old baby launches spaghetti

with tomato sauce

to Cape Canaveral Florida.

~Robert Fleming

Autocracy

Cursor won’t be still, tells me

to nurse my cursed verses.

That heartless heartbeat!

~Allan Lake

Exam Stress

Heavy heart, deep breaths

Papers sprawled across my desk.

~Tabish Iqbal

Birds migrate freely

over human imposed borders,

observed by ardent birders

on their route,

don’t need to show papers

~Peter A. Witt

 

 

finding myself google maps

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

bonsai —

she wields the scissors

with the finesse of a surgeon

~Ram Chandran

orange sunset

my granddaughter

asks me

why everything

has to end

~Mona Bedi

Afternoon of April 13, 2023

estate sale:

a poem

with every possum

~Kelly Moyer

signal drops

wolfman hits the keys

harder

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

8 Bayshore

There's a photo of us on somebody's phone

where we're standing together all on our own

and I absolutely love it because your eyes are closed

you’re not sleeping or blinking, you’re just eyes closed

don’t ask me why, I just adore it more

I never wonder what you’re looking at or what you’re thinking

I know you’re in there

and for today, that’s enough for me

~Christian Garduno

spring rain dancing across the pelvic floor

~John Hawkhead

gun shot down in one

~John Hawkhead

There was a time I would have said

“That’s impossible!”

But now I know

it doesn’t matter that much.

~Noah Berlatsky

I've seen coral bleached

birds die in the air

trees burst into flames

fish float bloated -

I hope this is a dream

~Steve Van Allen

lost innocence

the shortcake

free of its scent

~Kelly Moyer

Things that make me smile:

Random acts of kindness

A baby’s wave

~Jennifer Gurney

jailbreak the sparrow in your rearview mirror

~Kelly Moyer

wishbones playing chicken til our luck runs out

~Kelly Moyer

alley

three unkempt men take turns biting

a chocolate bunny

~John J. Dunphy

 

 

The movie ends

and we go back

to dark

without a plot.

~Noah Berlatsky