Evening of March 22, 2024

blues on the bayou

a guitar weeps in the night,

earning nickels and dimes

~Arvilla Fee

paramedic

       sirens

       paramedic 

               sirens         

               sounding

      all

day long

~Tuyet Van Do

flip flops

longing to make their entrance—

winter laughs

~Jennifer Gurney

The Recipe of My Tribe

 

½ cup of OCD

2 heaping cups of sass

1 full stick of hug-it-out

a pinch of real kick-ass

¾ cup of therapy

1 cup of half-past-youth

5 tablespoons of loyalty

3 cups of brutal truth.

~Arvilla Fee

bamboo collapse

blocks our car on a road

not to be taken

~James Penha

earning

degrees in whatever

party animals

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Get a Cat They Said

 

it will be fun they said,

except I’m only allowed to pet him

every other Thursday,

and now I need a new couch.

~Arvilla Fee

an old man sports a toothless grin,

grateful to be topside of the grass

~Arvilla Fee

World Water Day

With the wastage of nectar

By the unscrupulous poor...

Don't you protest against it?

Protest? Against the dead?

~Partha Sarkar

daredevil’s jump a waterfall of words

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

sinking feeling

after hitting send

*typo

~Jennifer Gurney

laughing

at your funeral today—

cognitive dissonance

~Jennifer Gurney

Morning of March 20, 2024

 

vital signs

a flea jumps

into my verse

~Cezar Ciobica

horror story

termites feasting

on the attic floor

~Jahnavi Gogoi

potter's field

on an unmarked grave

a praying mantis

~John J. Dunphy

sliver moon

a Cheshire cat

licks my halo

~Cezar Ciobica

golf course

emerging from the water hazard

a gator

~John J. Dunphy

So Sorry

The turtle is confused by Spring.

He’s in such a sorry state.

He can’t determine if

he should put out patio furniture

or insulate his shell.

~Nolcha Fox

power failure

a doll crying

for help

~Cezar Ciobica

whatever

worked for us yesterday

not working today

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

dandelion clocks —

my father's

last wish

~Cezar Ciobica

identity crisis

a dandelion wonders

flower or weed?

~Jahnavi Gogoi

Life 2.0

Faster, brighter and greater

The meek can inherit the world now,

…and pay later.

~David Mitchell

defunct wifi a wave of light caressing the blankness

~Arvinder Kaur

too small to recognize bras in dryer

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

cat cute cut out ou oh o zero

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

what I need now is

to be stabbed through the eye

filled with granite and stupid

autumn

~Noah Berlatsky

drought relief

a frog wedding in

the village

~Jahnavi Gogoi

group photo

a face in the last row

fades in the frame

~Arvinder Kaur

Still chirp birds

Amidst man made debris—

The eternal conscience

Flouting human's development—

A pride without cognition.

~Partha Sarkar

surf and turf

master of all

he can order

~Helen Buckingham

a leaf of my soul is torn off

I haven't seen sakura for a long time

I've never seen sakura

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

rock

paper

guano

~Helen Buckingham

old railroad tracks scattered in a woods

at night a train whistle

still blows

~Steve Van Allen

day moon

or spy balloon

blue sky winking

~Helen Buckingham

 

Morning of March 18, 2024

Entering

new territories

the freed market

goes door

to door

introducing itself

~Jerome Berglund

crouching on the porch

with his cellphone and cigarette

the north wind

~Joshua St. Claire

Star Face

 

E.T.’s peace gesture

say hi to my little frond

waves an olive branch

~John H. Dromey

the castle

I have been trying

to live in

has someone else

I am still trying to find out

~Biswajit Mishra

starless night

even the sky

has the blues

~Jennifer Gurney

dodo

if you need me know

where to find me

~Jerome Berglund

grief burrows

beneath my heart

hibernating inside me

until the warmth of spring

sets it free

~Jennifer Gurney

all frequencies silent

I cross another planet

off the list

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

rusted gargoyle in the dirt

~Jerome Berglund

in an empty cubicle a cake with no provenance

~Joshua St. Claire

poverty level thermal expansion

~Jerome Berglund

meaningful nonsense burled oak

~Jerome Berglund

Somebody's dearest,

I'm sure,

floating above my bed,

pressing ghostly kisses

to my lips,

but not you,

no, not you,

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

the human conditioner makes your scales shine

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

slow dance with what's left of you

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

Dead in the thermos again.

Dry truths slip right out of your head…

I need a better pitcher

and more glue.

~Noah Berlatsky

Habsburg lip

he leans back to expose

his Dior belt

~Joshua St. Claire

errant shoelace

early bird special

~Jerome Berglund

Morning of March 13, 2024

 

 

 

music festival

a squeeze of raindrops

tightens the set

~Eavonka Ettinger

 

 

 

 

live show

the condemned strums

a high voltage guitar

~Richard Magahiz

Orange Blossom Special

Garcia Lorca

at the Opry

~dan smith

the pop star's

athlete boyfriend

dipped in chili sauce

~Richard Magahiz

lecterns

on soapboxes

atop pedestals

~Richard Magahiz

ancient litter box    nine thousand Euros in truffles

~Richard Magahiz

Listen to the coat

Sultry, sultry hearts in the vapor.

No consolation for the dead

The soft glowing nectar in the cemetery that is not far

And strong the scepter when flee the ashes.

An awkward clock.

Runs as usual the ghastly cloak before it snows.

Listens to the cat the sound of a broken heart.

The day is partly cloudy, partly sunny in vain.

May it rain?

~Partha Sarkar

Ornithology of an Argument or Who You Calling a Bird Brain?

~dan smith

Only movements of

The skinny fingers,

Nothing else.

I write something but

I do not know what.

~Partha Sarkar

death sentence

finding your name

in the obituaries

~Eavonka Ettinger

late night ice cream

the changing flavors

of each season

~Eavonka Ettinger

hoarse whisperer

snoring myself into

a sore throat

~Eavonka Ettinger

pale moon eclipsing sunglasses optional

~Elliot Diamond

kick the acorn

down the street

upcycle the can

~Elliot Diamond

grinding fan just the turbulence of memories

~Mona Bedi

what life

has made of me

sea glass

~Mona Bedi

 

 

 

fortune teller’s parrot the truths we hide

~Mona Bedi

 

Afternoon of March 12, 2024

 

creekside wedding –

no mention of god

in the ceremony

~Robert Epstein

twelve disciples near grandmother's dinner table

breaking bread among her countless children

~Fhen M.

intermission–

synonym for long line

at the ladies room

~Jennifer Gurney

bioengineered

for more antioxidants

tomatoes

coloring my world

purple

~Bonnie J Scherer

Fork Fed

the ungrateful zombies.

we are out

of tea spoons

Where did they go?

~Keith Snow

in the pink of light

she turns slowly back

to moon putty

~Robert Epstein

near the end, he was even shushing spiders

~Patrick Sweeney

in this realm, I'm the laid-back neurotic and you're my Zen master

~Patrick Sweeney

passing through quantum logic gates

the water's

sound

~Patrick Sweeney

breech birth

the racket

outside

~Patrick Sweeney

Sunday cawing

I recite the noise ordinance

to no avail

~Robert Epstein

my brothers are Snickers

my sister a Heath

I’m sweet and salty

in this Candy Land

of treats

~Bonnie J Scherer

infinitely

small or large

the calculus

of our relationship

~Bonnie J Scherer

she stopped his rhetorical imperialism with a salty radish

~Patrick Sweeney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a jellyfish

showing me

the way

~Patrick Sweeney

she's trying to purify the Myshkin in me

~Patrick Sweeney

on the rocks

my martini

and marriage

~Bonnie J Scherer

rhino(plasty) ––

losing more

than just habitat

~Bonnie J Scherer

pine cones   speak to me   of reincarnation

~Robert Epstein

she wants me to pause for oxygen and meaning

~Patrick Sweeney

in Japan

they'd call this train

empty

~Jennifer Gurney