Poets in this issue — click a name to read
- Ambos, Emma
- Antebi, Debbi
- Barnett, Brian
- Blankenship, Wendy
- Boone, Randy
- Clarke, Lauren
- Earl, Chanel
- Ferdon, Joel
- Greenwood, Alix
- Harris, Bruce
- Hayes, Thomas
- Howard, Christina
- Jacobs, Simon
- Koji, William F.
- Krafton, Ash
- Lindsey, Samuel
- Marsom-richmond, Rachel
- Murphy, Christina
- Murphy, Mickey
- Ngo, Deborah
- Paradowski, Devrie
- Phillips, Glenn Allen
- Ragg, Edward
- Ratcliffe, Michael
- Romano, Frances
- Rose, Devon
- Showalter, Shawn
- Soto, Kantre
- Taft, Muriel
- Taylor Horn, L.m.
- Truncale, Joseph
- Von Nordheim, Chuck
Devon Rose
Trust abandoned her long ago,
only returning
to destroy her once more.
Alix Greenwood
Dusk�s delicate rain
Lightly testing a new world.
In the night, thunder.
Deborah Ngo
Pink cherry blossom,
Tossing in the changing winds...
Her destination uncharted
Joel Ferdon
Hipster girls with tattoos
Of birds make love
Under the train tracks.
Michael Ratcliffe
Mourning dove, do you notice me
as you alight upon the patio?
I wonder, who is in whose space?
Michael Ratcliffe
Ten thousand blossoms
have bloomed and fallen again.
Will we ever walk among the cherry trees?
Thomas Hayes
Dear ones come and go,
Leaving tattered souls flapping,
White flags in the wind.
Thomas Hayes
Inspiration came,
Flowed effortlessly from pen,
Echoing the past.
Thomas Hayes
Strong baritone voice,
Too soon the singing silenced,
School chum remembered.
Muriel Taft
No more judgment, no more grudges.
Her joy is new every time.
Dappled light through a fractured mind.
Debbi Antebi
she keeps telling lies,
like tossing cigarette stubs
into an overflowing ashtray
Randy Boone
tiny crimson crab
flits briskly along the shore
walks sideways, ahead
Joseph Truncale
A small river
Beginning of autumn
Quiet woods.
Brian Barnett
he looks famished
that windego in the woods
I won�t deliver
William F. Koji
The great silverbacks
Slaughtered
In African rain
William F. Koji
Catch the wind
Sea birds glide low
Hunting the wake
William F. Koji
When the bomb exploded
Life stood still
Many died years later
Wendy Blankenship
Still a mystery,
the way wings
unfurl from seeds.
Wendy Blankenship
My mother�s shoes
waiting by the door
are hardest to remove.
Wendy Blankenship
Afterwards, on every chair
he piles notebooks, coats, bills
even shoes to fill the quiet, empty room.
Frances Romano
if you could promise me
that heaven is a library
I would repent
Ash Krafton
shadow-filled whispers
a voice in the dark
illuminates path ahead
Ash Krafton
The king�s crown:
greatest of power forged with
heaviest of burdens.
Christina Murphy
spiral of rain clouds
gray on a sad horizon
of fading sunlight
Christina Murphy
sharp rocks throw shadows
from the jetties to the tides
rippling in moonlight
Christina Murphy
flower petals fall
letting go of safe branches
to descend or fly
Debbi Antebi
the same silent mirror
can be a cheap flatterer
or a blatant truth-teller
Kantre Soto
Roaming the streets of bitterness
I made an abrupt stop
at the intersection of bitterness and peace
Christina Howard
I fell off the grid.
I noted no one noticed,
And folded my wings.
Christina Howard
False happiness bites.
Love screams but pain does not hear.
Bitter, yet I taste.
Glenn Allen Phillips
I hold my breath
like this night
is the ocean.
Glenn Allen Phillips
She wore sex like lycra.
He wore it like wool.
All they had was static.
Debbi Antebi
a sun-soaked cat
sprawled out on the sidewalk
refuses to react to a scurrying rat
Simon Jacobs
Goth burger,
mutton-based;
sheep to the fashion slaughter.
Bruce Harris
by the ninth inning
his spikes obliterated
the path leading home
Emma Ambos
There is a place
where seamstress-pin stars
wink and die
Chanel Earl
Sometimes,
"beyond description"
must suffice.
Rachel Marsom-Richmond
Blood pools like parking lot puddles;
we jump into them
and ruin our shoelaces.
Edward Ragg
In the winter of �39
I walked through these halls
But could not share their views.
Edward Ragg
Only with fatigue
Arrive certain conundrums:
And of the uncertain
Muriel Taft
A penniless widow, she sleeps alone
in her room, in my house,
and dreams of waking up with him.
Chuck Von Nordheim
winter weather grips
cold blast turns snot to ice�
testicles retract
L.M. Taylor Horn
Bleeding esophageal varices
Drinking, delusions, denial
Death crashes down, coughing blood
Samuel Lindsey
The globe
is the atmosphere of change
not just a spiritual visual aid
Mickey Murphy
Whispering grasses
Singing ballads of solace
To the graves beneath.
Shawn Showalter
No matter how twisted our journey seems,
there�s always light ahead
if only we choose to see.
Shawn Showalter
Mistakes we have made
Unable to erase
Powerful lessons fill our soul.
Devrie Paradowski
A grasshopper jumps
from a leafless okra plant.
He is satisfied.
Lauren Clarke
Today he created the soundtrack to her October,
Red and gold leaves
Will forever sound like his hands on the piano keys.
Lauren Clarke
I dream of
Blood on tarmac
Your life leaking away.