Poets in this issue — click a name to read
- Arguelles , Jose
- Barski, Ellen
- Basden, Barry
- Bates, Roderick
- Boutelier, Stefani
- Campbell, Robyn
- Camphausen, Ashley
- Castillo Street, Susan
- Chan, Anna
- Clark, Tiffany
- Corey, Betty
- Crupi, Brandon
- Curtis, Anne
- Davis, Mikayla
- Donovan, Devin
- Elford, Patricia Anne
- Emmerick, Jasmyne
- Evans, Mark
- Falkenburg, Charley
- Guthrie, J-mag
- Howard, Diana
- Karnes-fannin, Carrie
- Kazan, Lorrie
- Lee, Deborah
- Lytton, Gavin
- Marie, Susan
- Mccormac, Philip
- Mcfadden, James
- Melton, Bill
- Neufarth Howard, Sue
- Nordgren, Maryjane
- Risvold, Frieda
- Russell, Martha
- Schafer, Suanne
- Shatsky, Sheree
- Shreve, Heather
- Summerlin, Cindi
- Towell, Lavaughn
- Viento, Wanda
- Viti, Lynne
- Warner, Everett
- White, Jerry
- Wildhood, Megan
J-Mag Guthrie
Looking Back
Emptied of sorrow,
dry eyes scoured by grieving
gaze into the past.
Susan Castillo Street
In midwinter blue
Wood-burner glows and flickers
Flaming eye of light.
Carrie Karnes-Fannin
Wrinkled, closed-faced scholars
scuff, scuff, scuff along the quad,
bitter joe in hand.
Charley Falkenburg
Greasy streets, boiling and fierce
Time goes on, they pulse and crack,
From secrets, from pain that we can�t face
Patricia Anne Elford
My huge Lip Smacker, uncapped, prods memory.
My pink gloss, blotted, kisses Kleenex.
Someone essential is missing.
Suanne Schafer
My tongue wanders through
The cavern of your ear. Dizzy,
You spin into my arms.
Devin Donovan
A couple discusses their options
Fifty feet from the hospital entrance
Where the staff are on a smoke break.
Ashley Camphausen
We bathed our bare feet
In Barefoot Pinot and smashed
The bottle on dry concrete.
Megan Wildhood
Laundry
they plan it the night before
in the hamper: how to flee
their partners in the whirling cave of heat
Jose Arguelles
I�ve fallen through my discord
My spirit is replete
Many times before I�ve fallen so damn deep
Deborah Lee
Foreplay is forgotten.
Why bother? Toes
recoil with haste.
Stefani Boutelier
autumn prefaces the bitterness
hiccups in the bodies of water subside
winter, cocooned in death and life
Jerry White
High in the weave of sun-topped leaves
the five-color bird gargles brightly,
staying slightly out of sight.
Tiffany Clark
Love induced dreams
inebriating throughout the night
sobering with the first morning breath
Philip McCormac
The soldiers make no bones
About their lust that hangs like dust
In the heavy air
Jasmyne Emmerick
Night rolling thunder,
The sky bursts in flashing lights --
Raindrop tears appear.
Jasmyne Emmerick
Autumn�s requisite --
Cascaded senescent leaves;
Bare beauty revealed
Jasmyne Emmerick
The rising dawn crest,
Relieves the insomniac
Of ardent mirage
Diana Howard
I watch the butterfly land,
realizing what it already knows,
that this moment is all we have.
Jose Arguelles
A heart set upon forgiveness
As it breaks and breaks and breaks
It�s tired chains upon the rocks
Lorrie Kazan
They lied about the least of things,
Until one night, punchdrunk,
Their tongues dissolved like rain.
Mikayla Davis
Children are bused into the sewers
at night wrapped in scarves of frayed
nooses made from lipstick stained collars.
Barry Basden
I try to picture what it was
she saw in those final days,
after she could no longer read.
Ellen Barski
Empty bottles of rum hidden
under the house, secret
stashed away broken promises
Robyn Campbell
Stallions clash in battle
the sovereign one wins
King of his pasture
Lavaughn Towell
Slumbering dogs
Remind me that
Bliss exists.
Gavin Lytton
as we come together I come undone
the undressing of an amateur ventriloquist
with what is gained by the removal
Lynne Viti
Snow-crusted ground warms
Poppy seeds scattered and raked,
Promise of red blooms.
Lynne Viti
Gull drops cracked conch shell,
empty,raggedy discard
-- My trophy today.
Mark Evans
Gray skies laced with limbs
Winter trees gnarled old men
Spring leaps through their nets
Betty Corey
broken heroes coming home
warfare continues
blood flows on desert sands
Sue Neufarth Howard
truck�s porker spill
pigs on the run
recapture sty-mied
Wanda Viento
Skyward reaching beech
With tributary arms
Dancing the winter�s waltz
Heather Shreve
My quill gives birth to sound,
Life springs forth on blank pages,
New breath to words yet found.
Heather Shreve
Some words sparkle, so we look up,
reach up- like a skyscraper at night
penetrating the shadows of humanity.
Susan Marie
Bones emitting truth
stack, one atop another
collocating flies.
Sheree Shatsky
She slips across the grass
A ruffle of a girl
Her shoes emerald like the zoysia.
James McFadden
Swim back to sleep without disturbing
the water. Listen for the lone flute.
Hang the coat there.
Bill Melton
Towering church spire
Slices through the drifting fog
Patter of raindrops
Martha Russell
Love reaches out
rejection hits hard
love recoils ready to strike
Frieda Risvold
where is my future -
seems like any place but here
yet here my heart is.
Brandon Crupi
It�ll be worthwhile though,
all of this spinning in circles.
We need many more revolutions.
MaryJane Nordgren
watching friends emerge
from grieving to laughter
monarch of resilience
Cindi Summerlin
Silently the waves push through
Eternity, churning up memories
And dreams long forgotten.
Anna Chan
I�m held spellbound by the strange magic
Come alive during the ten minutes
Of dusk in this Arizona desert.
Anne Curtis
Meadowlark on an old fence post;
Spinning spokes spill
Shadows in the sun.
Anne Curtis
August makes six weeks
Ginger mare with bandaged leg
Boredom in her eyes.
Roderick Bates
Seasons changed last night.
I hear trucks grind slow uphill,
wet sounds damped by snow.
Everett Warner
Take this fractured self
I�ll feed you
make me something whole
Frieda Risvold
autumn breezes blow
tossing leaves on arid ground
to crunch before rain