Issue 11

Piorre Hart

The band of gold on my finger Has lost its luster... To the golden sunset

Bill Backstrom

She left flowers on the hidden grave Ever cautious that no one followed Officially, he’s only missing

Bill Backstrom

Birds sing, soft then loud Here I am, pick me, pick me Spring perched in March trees

William F. Koji

Her lips were heart shaped She was so beautiful She sang love songs

William F. Koji

San Gabriel Canyon Lives again with prospectors Sifting river’sold

Rachael Kuintzle

The jewels we possess are costly and pure but we paid for them more than they’re worth, my dear.

Bernard Joy

I won’t ask you where the wild geese go or what portion of the water parts from the moon as you are you may still try to answer me

Sylvia Golden

Not a speck of sun Tangerine tingles on tongue Turns fret into bliss

Sylvia Golden

Chilled air like mustard Creeps into brain ruthlessly Clearing jungled head

Rachel Kearney

The rain becomes us. We are puddles. To merge.

Neil Ellman

My sister Jane and I behind the barn we played with destiny and were its toys.

Dan Corjescu

You see, I’m a poet and I’m licensed to repeal The Luminescence of the Real

Preeti S.

I nurture old sighs Emptying an amateur mind Of diligent smiles

James Gilmore

A wolf eats his prey He dies if he does not kill This is as life is

James Gilmore

A leaf falls slowly It is transferred to the ground Its life takes new form

Jim Seymour

after the scolding- 100 pound Lab crawls up on my lap

Jim Seymour

barely a tug on the leash- we trudge home together in the cold, soaking rain

Melissa Schwenk

Oblivion by the sun would be easier than if those spotted cheetahs jumped the last foot of distance between us.

Diane Cambern

My soul will travel far tonight, settle down beside you as you sleep. Dream.

Shirley Smothers

Anger consumes me Eats my soul like a cancer Self inflicted hell

Diane Cambern

As if there were glass on every side of you As if you could smash it all and make it go away

Connor Wilson

A life by a river no water in sight some river you are

Preeti S.

breathing, standing tall witness to timeless ordeal forgive gaping cracks

Dean Bowman

Sleepwalking, spiraling Earth Awake in your world of dreams Where delusion feigns reality

Stephen Gilchrist

In our green youth we climbed high, limitless.

Bill Backstrom

Rabbit rings doorbell Bear knocks then enters swiftly Spring in the forest

Jonathan Margetts

Strawberries congeal in plastic jars outside an Essex station.

Larry Fleury

the spring horizon flashes electrons meet electrons sparking a handshake

Larry Fleury

Listen to the shyness drizzle on Ash Wednesday The day’s silent and I accept that.

Larry Fleury

The piano is melting in a living room somewhere west

Dan Corjescu

The skin dries while love fasts breath becomes slow ice a little boy wishes he had more hands

Jacob Ehrlich

Massaging my foot soles, They are rank, tender and juvenile like You, unwashed and lovely.

Jacob Ehrlich

Fall leaves lay silent on the ground, only one pine branch dances slowly before the whitewash sky.

Stephanie Gabler

ecstatic black cat stretched out doing ballet in the sun slithers on the asphalt

Andrew Stone

Plunge past the antique surface of ageless flesh into a sight unseen

Brian Barnett

dying leaves crumble paying tribute to Samhain parade the children

Brian Barnett

October skies bloom dying embers of summer witches in the wind

David Esposito

The apparition obsesses over the smell of Roses and scorns at the shadow of steel as it Cowers before marble fig leaves

James Minard

Like people, leaves show their brightest colors before they wither away.

Michael Lair

Love like nicotine, you always draw me back in. I’m unable nor willing to quit.

Jim Davis

sunning myself on the patio, the dog escaping to shade

Kristina Popiel

Single bee in a morning glory, you’re a graverobber in her purple marrow.

Kristina Popiel

Imagine the terror of evergreens in autumn. Imagine dawn after infinite dawn, the smell of decaying leaves thin in the cold.

Jean Brasseur

afraid to touch your love letters soft from wear I watch from behind the velvet rope

Maria Keller

As I try to remember The stories you told, I do not know you.

Tanya Bryan

waves stealing away sand to build their own castle

Mark Danowsky

mischief eve day the last Moon flower blooms proud night falls too early

Mark Danowsky

pet skunk’s first birthday celebrated at Petco pictures were taken

Mark Danowsky

mood shifts powerful taking lives to life taking wrong albums spell doom

Nick DAnnunzio Jones

Seattle Sundays Dream farmers seeding the clouds Produce rainberries