Poets in this issue — click a name to read
- Antebi, Debbi
- Danowsky, Mark
- Davies, William
- Dittmar, Eric
- Edwards, David
- Evans, Lee
- Franco Fatzinger, Ines
- Franco, Antonio
- Gianforcaro, Adam
- Hartwell, Richard
- Hemmings, Kyle
- Kalwar, Santosh
- Kolbet, Matt
- Laguzza, Robyn
- Lebeau, Mary Delle
- May, Nancy
- Nelson, Eric
- Nenadov, Mark
- Nesterova, Yuliya
- Owens, Scott
- Rajamanickam, Vishnu
- Samuelson, Audrey
- Scanlon, Ray
- Schmidt, Wendy
- Sprague, Adam
- Steele, Craig
- Sukhathankar, Heramb
- Taylor Horn, L.m.
- Watkins, Rhiannon
Robyn Laguzza
How did the sonnet quilled by languorous fingers
become "I w 2 FK U!"
smashed out by spatulate thumbs?
Santosh Kalwar
I used to ride on small cute little bicycle
Now I am constantly thinking about that
I am putting this blame on:
L.M. Taylor Horn
The nightmare of the assult, plagued my soul.
Today, I’m impervious to haunting memories.
Smashing glass into rigid mountains, healed me.
Audrey Samuelson
As the needle breaks the skin
A red rose blooms
And wilts as I push down the plunger
L.M. Taylor Horn
Tumor lurking, burgeoning, my woman uterus.
Surgery, morphine, body crashing menopause.
Once, my body amorous, today, sadly neutered.
L.M. Taylor Horn
I loved your drama, sensational tension climactic.
Yours, distracted me from confronting my chaos.
Today, dancing with turmoil is foreign upon dawn.
Vishnu Rajamanickam
A century old statue
scraped head - sparrows
nest atop it now.
Kyle Hemmings
After she’s gone with a part of you,
Pigeons fly in formations
That spell your name.
Ines Franco Fatzinger
A song from the past
Reminds me of you, what was.
My heart aches no more
Eric Nelson
In spring some trees leaf out top down,
Some bottom up. By summer
It’s impossible to know which is which.
Debbi Antebi
grabbing my wrist
a tattooed name
I long to forget
Debbi Antebi
free-flowing words
now get stuck
in the grudges we hold
Debbi Antebi
memories of him
losing clarity and color
in the dusty corners of my mind
William Davies
She chortles
From her sunny perch
Seeable music.
Heramb Sukhathankar
Young leaves dance, happy and content.
Old ones fall down,
never to meet again.
Heramb Sukhathankar
Work is one,
thought is two,
together they stay only in a few.
Eric Nelson
The bird-filled woods became a new house
That never sold, the grass seed eaten
By birds, the straw carried off for nests.
Antonio Franco
Naked stick stands cold
Spring covers it with green leaves
Birds’ nest makes it bold
Scott Owens
after the light has died
the artist’s shadow remains
larger than life
Scott Owens
forgotten bookmark
holds pages on window ledge
the leaves have turned
Scott Owens
after the funeral
she sits beside the bed
empty of woe
Lee Evans
For fifty six years
You answered when I called you—
An echo today.
Lee Evans
Climb atop the ruins
Get to know your history
Build your life from there
Lee Evans
Declaration signed,
But you can’t fight City Hall:
New flag, same old mind.
Mark Danowsky
ink tree outlines cast
over pink-bellied gloaming—
eyes drawn back to LOST
Mark Danowsky
the fabled City Wolf
now a thing of fiction
another failure to coexist
Mark Danowsky
Department Theory
just the Facts
Other voices heard
Adam Sprague
Screens now flood our eyes
where rivers, mountains, and stars had been –
Mother Nature cries, abandoned.
Adam Gianforcaro
Cold coffins in icy fields.
Come May, a graveyard garden
for grandfathers in slumber.
Adam Gianforcaro
Evening cicadas sang with crickets,
an orchestra in our front lawns,
now silent and damp from the passing storm.
Mark Nenadov
Was it the stroke of 100 or so marching years
two explosions and a doomed race
with the city that painted this town?
Richard Hartwell
memories’ repast
fashion dictates difference
now looks worse than then
Richard Hartwell
past has never passed
it now lies in memories
lying to present
Nancy May
A cloudless morning
Anticipates a rain free
Active afternoon
Nancy May
White clouds caused chaos
In the morning yellow sun -
The horizon grieved
Matt Kolbet
Before I swallowed the evolving lie
I anchored myself, and when I speak
snakes and concrete burnish each word.
Wendy Schmidt
Hair and waists were missing.
Cheerleaders sluggish.
Twenty year reunion.
Wendy Schmidt
My Aunt Rose is dead.
Last hot flash of remembrance,
I ignite a box of tampons.
Wendy Schmidt
Resented freckles.
Repulsed by teenage spots.
Regarding wrinkles—I’d rather not.
Matt Kolbet
He turned into a brothel,
a man,
and an ad for milestone ashes.
Ray Scanlon
Naked trees reveal
flat-top houses, warship grey;
red and blue last year.
Yuliya Nesterova
The setting sun shines laterally
filling hearts with light
Without minds casting a shadow
Rhiannon Watkins
Do not fear mistakes early on.
The wise learn from the past,
To make better decisions now.
Mary Delle LeBeau
caterpillar on passion flower
winter calls spring
chrysalis cracks into butterfly
Mary Delle LeBeau
untie the choking chords of youth
black into ash and flee
into the possibility of you
Eric Dittmar
The losing your glasses paradox
Is much worse when it’s your mind
You forget both how to look and what you’ll find
David Edwards
blossoms that would not
be apples then are now but
briefly butterflies
David Edwards
a ruined statue
is the past... and the present
an unfinished one
David Edwards
The "Past" is mostly
reminiscence of that which
truly never was
Craig Steele
daughter’s school photo --
my late mother’s smile
echoes beyond the frame