Afternoon of August 24, 2024

Ozone

~Kelly Moyer

Photography available here

I Am Old

Yet though the miracle

of imposter syndrome

eternally young.

~Noah Berlatsky

Ignorance Together

I am glad to have been married

twenty-four years

to someone

who can’t remember

our anniversary either.

~Noah Berlatsky

leftover bay leaf

on my meal plate...

I eat only its scent

~Tejendra Sherchan

Irene

to the untrained eye

she may appear average

but Irene

hides a box of 8-tracks

in the attic

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

housed in thrift store basement secondhand allegations

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Critique of Pure Raisin

bran

baby

bran

~dan smith

condemned house

its lead-based paint warning

written in pencil

~John J. Dunphy

shuttered nuclear power plant

its grounds aglow

with fireflies

~John J. Dunphy

gaps in

papyrus

rolls

endless space

for genius

~Bob Carlton

clearing sky

the crunch of snails

underfoot

~Bob Carlton

Morning of August 21, 2024

OG

~Kelly Moyer

Photography available here

the idol's lips move

the mob pummeled

with pink noise

~Richard Magahiz

fifty fathoms down

signatures in

triplicate

~Richard Magahiz

creeping dust children

their eyelashes

needle-sharp

~Richard Magahiz

To tea

Or not to tea

That is the question

~Susan L. Pope

loggerhead

so many versions

of king lear

~Jerome Berglund

analysis: the architect has an edifice complex

~dan smith

while waiting

for the brake job my headache

gets run over

~Robert Epstein

Sunday laundry

round & round

the argument goes

~Robert Epstein

summer dying I become shale

~Joshua St. Claire

now I have it

now I don't

my death poem

~Robert Epstein

Jane ear

Jane hare

Jane heir

~Jerome Berglund

as I make coffee

you swirl amongst my thoughts

the scent of hazelnut

~Jennifer Gurney

we

are

not

going

back

~Jennifer Gurney

After the heinous crime

'Dead population is shouting for justice...'

'Let them do so.'

'They are demanding investigation'

'Let them do so. One day all crime will be hushed up.

One day the dead population will be much more dead.

Then I will allow them to slogan "Long Live revolution '

~Partha Sarkar

rain arrow hang the jury

~Jerome Berglund

The riot

Trapped my soul

In riot.

Is my neighbour

Enemy?

~Partha Sarkar

Labor Day parade

unionized strippers march

in their work clothes

~John J. Dunphy

root vegetable

if a pill could alleviate

poverty

~Jerome Berglund

to your third eye

touch the Pole Star

act quite human

~Richard Magahiz

western civilization

a mass-produced 1000-piece puzzle

of Starry Night

~Joshua St. Claire

black eye

of the two-stripe grasshopper

telescope to a moon

~Elliot Diamond

 

grunge cosmos —

stardust

on my lips

~Aly Droyd

 

 

Afternoon of August 20, 2024

 

opposing views

on opposite sides

of a perfect circle

~Mark Gilbert

he said something about his Ch'i and wandered off to sit over there

~Patrick Sweeney

butterflies and broken glass in the eye of the beholder

~Patrick Sweeney

even if you don't ask; someone will tell you what the gray squirrel is saying

~Patrick Sweeney

shimmering shades

of Jezebel

a clock ticks in b&w

~Kavita Ratna

Ars Poetica

Poems that I can hunt down

in the wilds of their predation.

Ones that turn and double back

like Cape Buffalo.

Poems with spoor and scent

of hot scat that draw a bead

on meaning hidden in rhythm

and running for its life.

~dan smith

midnight

waking up to find

the dog has moved

~Biswajit Mishra

endorphin

one acceptance

before

the balloon lands

on a road of nails

~Biswajit Mishra

habits

training parrots

training me

~Biswajit Mishra

CHICKEN TALK

“Look, Dad! A chicken!”

Boy exclaims in delight.

Dad joins the joke,

knowing conversation

jumps several tracks

in a single breath.

Both know and enjoy

their brains' journeys

knowing their own normal.

~ Duane L Herrmann

listen to him go on about the pumpkin flower by the broken cinderblock wall

~Patrick Sweeney

he's got an eyelash that's either pointing to heaven or Hoboken

~Patrick Sweeney

deepening night...

thorns of the lemon plant

penetrate my eyes

~Tejendra Sherchan

registry office

I never signed

up to this

~Mark Gilbert

 

 

Afternoon of August 16, 2024

Marriage Material

~Kelly Moyer

Photography available here

there's always a cat

looking back

at earth

~Melissa Dennison

midnight

blowing of the goat horn

dogs barking lingers on

~Tejendra Sherchan

clear skies

a cloud dog

chases a bone

~Melissa Dennison

children kept in storage

practice their smiles

~Martha Ellen

dissociative disorder

a fancy term for playing dead

~Martha Ellen

Too much caffeine

On the surface, but what’s

Past the surface

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

closer

to my second childhood

than  my    first

~Melissa Dennison

sultry night —

the salt rim melts

into a dirty martini

~Rupa Anand

weeper movie

the only dry eyes

in the theater

on an android

lacking tear ducts

~John J. Dunphy

escape speed a soul leaves the fontanelle

~John Hawkhead

snow on bamboo whispers from a different understanding

~John Hawkhead

climate crisis

we kick the melting can

down the road

~Melissa Dennison

Poet in Empty Bottle

~Michael Lee Johnson

Afternoon of August 12, 2024

Life Skills

~Kelly Moyer

Photography available here

 

"we came from there"

I tell

our neighbors' children

while gesturing toward

the night sky

~John J. Dunphy

a falling star —

our daughter shouts

'boom!'

~John J. Dunphy

looking up

Orion's belt

I am home

~Jennifer Gurney

school science fair

all the other exhibits

swallowed up by

our son's entry

a black hole

~John J. Dunphy

derelict starship

ran out of food first

set phasers on broil

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

clear night sky

the planets we pretend

not to see

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Not Miss Fluffy

 

“No, Dearest. Sometimes,”

O'Keeffe insisted to Stieglitz

peering over her shoulder

at the canvas, “a pink tulip

is no more than a pink tulip.

“Focus.”

~James Penha

 

the illusion

of happily ever

after

opening the

final decree

~Jennifer Gurney

in the old trunk

his ex was somewhat

the worse for wear

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

pushing

new educational concepts

through an olive press

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Martian flu

this stomach bug runs its course

then chews its way out

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

dispirited

the tumbledown saloon

gave up its ghost

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

evolution reenactment

my wife and I crawl

from ocean to beach

~John J. Dunphy

 

Afternoon of August 11, 2024

 

 

the comfort

of this island of one

sultry summer

~Mona Bedi

rocking the empty cradle a refugee’s blank eyes

~Mona Bedi

unfinished poem the night turns into a raven

~Mona Bedi

all the sad poets

scratching their way

toward the realization

that they've already arrived

home

in their notebooks

~Scott F. Parker

early morning at my desk

with enough coffee for now

returning myself

to myself

the only way i know how

~Scott F. Parker

final exam

if consciousness

is the cage

to which the only key

is consciousness

solve for

consciousness

solve

for yourself

~Scott F. Parker

ancestral home

granny’s hairpin

opens the door

~R. Suresh Babu

evolution can be seen as a ladder

unfortunately

some choose to climb down

flock of grey people

waiting room at the Hospital Heart Center

~Steve Van Allen

no shooting stars...

my wishes

go back immediately

~Nicoletta Ignatti

Dolls

inflatable hot air balloons

They long to fly very high

but bitten by mosquitoes

they sag

~Nicoletta Ignatti

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair”

'Fair is foul, and foul is fair

Hover through the fog and filthy air'

Come nearer the wanderings of the Weird Sisters.

The curtain-An eclipse in the air.

protests here. Protests yonder.

(guided or diverted?)

The eagle: It does not matter

whether the womb gropes to a perfect abode of peace.

~Partha Sarka

sleeping in . . .

one career stumble closer

to packing up

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

under

lap cat

laptop

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Five years, cat,

and I have never hurt you.

Could you sit on my lap now?

~Noah Berlatsky

 

 

 

 

 

 

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