Poets in this issue — click a name to read
- Atkinson, Laura
- Beaston, Judy
- Black, Grace
- Brandis, Craig
- Brown, Mandy
- Campbell, Colin
- Damacela, Lucia
- Davies, William
- Dion, Grace
- Friedenberg, Jay
- Gilmore, James
- Ginsberg, Kate
- Gusek, Chris
- Hartwell, Richard
- Heifetz, Arthur
- Heyward, C. Z.
- Hicks, Timothy
- Holden, Craig Thomas
- Houle, Betty
- Lacy, Michael
- Lowe, Dennis
- Martelli, Jennifer
- Melton, Bill
- Meyers, Mackenzie
- Milam, Chris
- Mitchell, Mark J.
- Momen, Rayna
- Mottram, Darla
- Outlar, Scott
- Padawer Solomon, Karla
- Ranaldi-adams, Valentina
- Robinson, Jackie Maugh
- Schweickert, Cody
- Sharp, Cynthia
- Simpson, Nate
- Tancyus, Patty
- Tate, Barbara
- Thepmankorn, Parisorn
- Ward, Dominic
- West, Tyson
Karla Padawer Solomon
wet brush paints over
height marks on the door frame
a blank canvas
Karla Padawer Solomon
As the months pass by, I can feel myself
Growing. I must leave the cocoon, else my bones
Will break out of my own skin.
Laura Atkinson
have you a way
with the window?
lift it please; they need air.
Barbara Tate
rattling leaves
chattering cottonwoods
tell of things to come
Chris Gusek
calm setting sun -
from another neighborhood
a whining skilsaw
Jackie Maugh Robinson
immense Buddha
listening to prayers
small and not so
Bill Melton
Tears silently stream
From eyes that stare at nothing
Metro train rolls on
Tyson West
i pull and prune words
deaf to her yardwork commands
purple weeds spiral
Tyson West
ex con on the beach
tagged with varicolored tattoos
wears his rap sheet
Darla Mottram
Pines spotted with the amber
shells of cicadas still
clinging to bark they’ve abandoned.
Timothy Hicks
love letters in these frail hands -
a time machine
I’ll never get to ride
Cody Schweickert
Intimacies stripped naked
unravel in a jar—
entangled with hysteria
Jackie Maugh Robinson
no tail to speak of
excited bulldog puppy
wags her face
Cynthia Sharp
rhythms of womb time
spilled like sunlight incarnate
when Gaia dreamed earth
Jay Friedenberg
ridgeline trail
on the downward slope
the drift of falling leaves
Patty Tancyus
brown leaves on dry husks
yellow silk of summer gone
breeding ground of hope
Laura Atkinson
Late in the evening
Orion’s belt glitters.
We can hear the stars.
Craig Brandis
I shall build up my poems
from individual nerves firing
like birds do
Kate Ginsberg
She sings softly;
capturing sunlight in her hair
she glows with life
Judy Beaston
songs waken pond life
washed bright like day by full moon
wolf meets his new mate
Judy Beaston
moon’s shedding his clothes
I blush at his exposure.
smile at his presence
Dennis Lowe
red shirt, black shirt—
companions walking at dusk
looking for snow
Dennis Lowe
geriatric wigs
clouds appearing as white scalps
floating in the sea
Mandy Brown
He sleeps in the room
While I scale to conquer prose
Snoring his support
Mackenzie Meyers
Heroism
Fighting for freedom
behind the red, white, and blue
the true heros stand
Mark J. Mitchell
Over the prison
A small moon throws white light:
Doll faces outside.
Arthur Heifetz
hunting for the elusive Mot Juste
he was assailed by swarms of Tired Cliches
and swallowed whole by the Great Mundane
Chris Milam
Crawling beneath
your traumatized skin
Suturing, tasting, begging
Chris Milam
Our chaotic ink
vibrating on the page
A flirtatious prologue
Grace Black
it’s a painted sky
and a fine art moon
naked canvas I lay bare
Grace Black
caught the universe
on my tongue
my burdens weightless there
Betty Houle
flaming red and gold
breeze hot and wild
love begins
Betty Houle
sparkling crystals
white blanket on dirt
Earth sleeps
William Davies
Starlings in a field,
dark blessings
too numerous to count.
Rayna Momen
I write to filter the darkness
that moves through me,
and sometimes, to move you.
Dominic Ward
The fire in your heart
Tend it well
Do what you must.
C. Z. Heyward
Mississippi fingers
plowing rows in Chicago
freedom’s just as heavy
Scott Outlar
That’s just the way life is –
it’s a bark, a moan, a grunt, and a whine,
then you die.
Colin Campbell
beside endless sea
tiny lives watch grains of sand
so what do we see
Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
cool, fall-like July
drifting clouds hide the full moon
crickets’ constant hum
Jennifer Martelli
I’m glad you wanted
what I wanted, bootlegger
I’ll be hard to beat
Craig Thomas Holden
Passerine chorus rendered gently,
Shadows of dawn escape heaven’s rim—
Entwined beneath soft white down
James Gilmore
it takes a needle to spoil
a sweet tasting cake
one person to ruin the world
Nate Simpson
Snowflake falls on dead
rose. I am the prisoner
of small, fragile things.
Parisorn Thepmankorn
The moon meditates as the sky
weeps in warmth, saves her
confessions for tomorrow.
Michael Lacy
how spring pods unfurl--
naked while awaiting sun
turned warm after cold.
Grace Dion
Porcupine shuffles
down the road slowly at dusk,
his confidence in his quills.
Grace Dion
Observe my blue spruce,
a colossal conifer
dwarfing my little brown self.
Lucia Damacela
The incandescent click doesn’t reach you;
you, who moved out of the picture,
photobombing with your absence.
Richard Hartwell
Water spouts west of Waimea,
silent humpbacks migrating,
twin tail flips signal aloha.