Issue 38

Sara Wenger

new loss snags like brambles– thorns and tears

Nicholas D'Angelo

Colors drown Fields are fallow Heaven falls

Kelly McNeal

Passion illuminates your charm The lure so irresistible It masks the inherited pain

Susan Gentry

lightening flashes pain thunder booming anger no relief in sight

Bill Melton

death stands at the door a quiet gentle whisper "come, it’s time to go"

Jennifer McGreevey

My daughter’s body should not be forced to replace sons you sent to war.

Mary R. P. Schutter

Black velvet box Inside, a diamond ring waits, Pregnant with promises

Rachel Zempel

dignified black ink her name printed beneath prose lasting remembrance

Zach Agnew

Wolves howl in mourning Their cries search the empty sky Longing for a familiar face

Joseph J. Kozma

A river of fears Heading for the ocean` Like any other silent stream

Belinda Lozada

Suffer in silence Soul slain by sin Shadow of my sorrow

Susan Schmidlin

Fog hugging the hillside Kissing the treetops goodbye With the rising sun of this new day

Patricia Rossi

huddled masses under black umbrella torrential sobs american flag draped on coffin

Cat Russell

the cloth blinding my eyes banishes the light, though my dreams sneak between the stitches

Lianne Kamp

Laughter crowds the hot May air umbrella rainbows decorate the beach winter washes away with the tide

Tyson West

plucking a white rose she rides a pale horse to my death bed

Margaret Coombs

Pleasure: an austere diet interrupted by chocolate.

David Anthony Sam

The carillon has voices the bells wring from the silence of the wind.

Emily Ramirez

legs slick with honey capture the moon’s reflection safe nights spent alone

Jennifer Smith

Mountains afire with clouds Rain weeps, smothers flames Sun eclipsed by haze

Jackie Maugh Robinson

dashing down still warm thoughts of a fading dream

Jackie Maugh Robinson

lavender primroses with sun-yellow hearts how callow we were

Tiffany Babb

Break me into the pieces I need to build something magnificent.

PJ Wren

Moon on the bloom of the dogwood. Abundant cross, nail, crown

PJ Wren

look on the still pond the heart twists, a hooked fish red petals drop

Michael Flanagan

bright spring day shepherd with her little ones dreaming of clover

Joe Wells

Leaves slowly unfurl like neonate eyelids, waking up to spring.

Cody Schweickert

naked feet plunge winepress oak-tub grape guts burst & bleed

Carla Jones

A dog in long grass rolls over, over, over thankful for the touch

Rebecca Pyne

Buds burst, sap rises. New leaves greet the spring sunshine. The trees are laughing.

Rebecca Pyne

Whispering through trees that have not yet shed their leaves. Busy autumn wind

Elizabeth O. Smith

hope beads like sweat, on the palms of a sinner, facing freedom’s broken fence

Lewis Kahler

Breath of early spring she rises window cracked and cold

Ethan Heusser

You return to your old Home They welcome you with two smiles They give you the guest towels

DL Mullan

grand, green grasshopper sing me your ballad of love harmonize my soul

Mickey Kulp

The deer sniffs, seeking Me, perplexed. Invisible, I am like a ghost.

Hilde Kiernan

floating on the breeze- dragonflies dream of being dragons

Natalie A. Drozda

A road seeker with undisguised passion forges a godlike naked story

Tammie Rice

perfect statues, you float, crinolines mid-flounce, between notes of music I cannot hear

Linda Crate

silver dreams and spinning leaves announce autumn.

Linda Crate

white whispers of feathers fall gently into the pond lotuses of a different design.

M J P Ryan

Piles of russet leaves Belly full, heartbeat slowing time to hibernate

Devon Balwit

lashed to fear’s juggernaut a crush of bodies oppressed on all sides

Nicholas D'Angelo

Numberless worries Every step painful Agony in timelessness

Richard Thompson

A silver ribbon dances, disappears. The river changes, so do we.

Safiyyah Motaib

there are people who work who water the street lamp flowers with hooked hoses

Mary R. P. Schutter

I float through a hazy, unknown world until a gentle voice pulls me home "You should get your affairs in order."

Patricia Rossi

unexpected caller gently knocks church bells toll heaven’s gate creaks open

James W. Spain

I want to be loved and remembered. Though I now sleep for eternity I too once lived ...

Michael Zone

mind in flight crashes great are the myths rainbow phoenix ascendance