Afternoon of April 22, 2023

too gone

too soon

too gone too gone

 

the first snow

sticks to the dead

 

grass

 

we toss our flowers

 

hands, feet,

children, eyes

guns

~Patrick Cabello Hansel

 

 

Nadir

Vast horizons trapped

by clouds light and dark.

Rational meets random

standing in the wind

gathering the pieces.

The solstice promises

it will not get any darker.

~C. T. Holte

A Wave Against the Shore

A wave crashes against the shore

And draws back to the sea of before,

But leaves behind a watered mark

And takes the sand into the dark.

A heart rises to face the world

And then sees all its life unfurled,

But leaves behind the good it sought

And takes with it the dark it fought.

~Gabriel Gonzalez

Bryant Park blossoms

fly with spring’s breeze upon heads

forest shampooing

~James Penha

Listen: Yes

an original form as a novel

a book of poetry

a collective of letters

songs

to work Love

in a cousin's hotel.

~Daniel de Culla

Metamorphosis

your limbs

         become numbers

when once

         they were music

~Steve Horel

It’s not the eyes

        that lie, 

  It’s the little man

who reads 

their screens

~jkelso

Dragons

Mr. E. Gary Gygax

slew forty iMacs.

in an atavistic ritual

from the days before nerds went digital.

~Noah Berlatsky

The key turns and I

Open the mailbox sadly

Knowing full well that

There will never be

Another letter from you

~Jennifer Gurney

Siamese Fighting Fish

 

It came as no surprise that the fish committed suicide.

 

Curious about the whiteness of the wall

bumping against the glass.

 

Ephemeral existence,

the terrifying silence of a bubble.

 

Sunbeams showed the way

to jump into a new life.

 

It came as no surprise that the fish committed suicide.

 

With the world so beautiful on the other side.

~Inga Piotrowska

Plastic colored grass

Found in the sofa cushions

Long past Eastertide

~Jennifer Gurney

 

OCD

I am going to open a picture-framing shop

with special frames–each a hair off square,

giving my customers opportunities to share

my gift, one that keeps on giving:

something to straighten . . .

again and again and again.

~C. T. Holte

Five-Line Red and Black POEM Kit

(assembly required)

Red red red black red red red black red red red black red black black black red.

Red black red black red black red black red black black black red red black red red.

Red red red black red black red black red red black black red black red black red.

Red black black black red black red black red black black black red black black black red.

Red black black black red red red black red red red black red black black black red.

~C. T. Holte

Morning of April 21, 2023

All day I dream

of naps.

~Noah Berlatsky

On waking

A beautiful dream.

So short. So short.

And you wonder why

I sleep so much.

~Joseph Farley

A trendy young poet from Gotham

had verses tattooed on his scrotum

        but later was sued

        when seen in the nude

by a lady who claimed that she wrote ’em.

~Alex Barr

gothic behavior

in the distance

a millennium child floats

~CJ The Tall Poet

Helen (Mrs Menelaus)

never meant to cause chaos

and wished instead of launching a thousand ships

she’d stayed home to write 'Helen’s Handy Household Tips'.

~Alex Barr

The algorithm

has chosen me for greatness.

But

for how long?

~Noah Berlatsky

Don’t Hide

Dance you crazy fool

to the beat of your desire

Don’t hide yourself from anyone

don’t let the intimidators tell you otherwise

~L. Sydney Abel

I exist.

Ain't it a shame.

At least now you now

Have someone to blame.

~Joseph Farley

4.20

a book shop customer pays me

with three joints

~John J. Dunphy

Dress pants, bald heads in

office building parking lots.

A song of key fobs.

~Terry Trowbridge

scrabble —

ma fails to

arrange peace

~Debarati Sen

Of course

There is no such thing as love, but she still gives you the best piece of stale bread.

Of course, you had a cyst for you never emptied the bottle. Of course, you are scared that time

will be over - one minute. Of course, the sky will turn white and fall like the petals of cherry

blossoms. Of course, the child won't see any birds for night has come early.

~Sunayna Pal

Breath Has Spirit

 

The wind blew

I breathed

Breath has spirit

Not all kindly

~L. Sydney Abel

My poems have been

Swimming in the shallow end,

Afraid of the depths,

Floating on facile rhymes, as

They slowly dog paddle home.

~Janet Stotts

Afternoon of April 19, 2023

it was the nitrate of mercury that made the hatters mad

~Patrick Sweeney

a piece of meteoritic iron dug up from the turnip patch   Buddha and the stars

~Patrick Sweeney

convict

now in prison

even in his dreams

~John J. Dunphy

beating heart of deep night

ticking lizard

~Bidyutprabha Gantayat

their smiles

posed and held

zoom call

~Linda L. Ludwig

sandstone resembling the Madonna and Child

~Patrick Sweeney

The Great Blafigria:

The end of the world lies inside You.

~Daniel de Culla

Holding up

On the wall

it sticks,

hold tiles:

each one

in its place.

Grout.

Who thinks

it holds the house

together?

~Duane L. Herrmann

Dining in

Sitting here

waiting for food

is what we do.

I’ve strung my lines,

food will come.

I’m energetic,

but now wait

for flyer

to be tangled.

~Duane L. Herrmann

constellations of bleach stains on my raggedy trousers   Paris Fashion Week

~Patrick Sweeney

   The sun rises

                    the ebb tide flows

~Sarah Das Gupta

Outside our apartment

gusts of spring wind

can't blow away my diagnosis

~Steve Van Allen

With Irvng Stettner:

Why I Write

Poetry Etcetera.

Hell,

birds sing

Don't they?

~Daniel de Culla