Issue 16

Craig Steele

childhood playhouse -- flowers pierce gaps between boards, chasing the sun

Mickey Murphy

Freewheeling secret Inhabits my lifeblood Release, transfuse, breathe.

Dan Corjescu

A circle of young friends sleeping in the shade fear and jealousy turning

Ian Everett

Indifferent to your plight Night will come As if you never were

Nancy May

A sky without clouds Is an ocean without fish - The storm rushes down

David Edwards

These streets are filled with carrion and rusted nails city in decline

Ivo Drury

influence persists years of light from a now-ghost star

Ivo Drury

the children blossoming and the kitchen’s wooden floor shoe-scraped to grey

Ross Plovnick

now the barber’s pole turns out to be a memory but you can book a haircut online

Sarah E. Alderman

Like the sugary costumed candy, you suck Only when you reach the center Do you realize, he was sour

Stephen Beattie

Discarded black dress forms a full stop on bedroom floor: tears run freely.

J Divina Erickson

Rejection: when metal moves away from skin-- leaving scars or holes where it has been.

J Divina Erickson

The room which was once robin’s egg blue is now Vicodin white.

William Davies

Sheets on the line, Bill Withers on the radio Lightening bugs on the dusk.

David Frazier

Thunder claps, Lighting flashes, Hail stings and crashes.

Mariya Koleva

Alive comes nature All despite the human race Not ours to ruin

Mariya Koleva

Exasperation – Insanity’s middle name A bird in a bush

Erin Leavitt

I lose myself as I text you at the wheel

Maude Larke

OK, no more imposing 15th-century battlements and ramparts. But a post office???

Emily Ramser

she drops the marbles, they clink, rolling boulders of color more treasure for hoarding

Emily Ramser

red smudges, cracks from the identity of her lips

Adam Crunkilton

the mid-summer breathes a still moment a view

Clay Robbins

Bodies may wither, Minds may wane, But spirit is everlasting.

Douglas Bishop

Clarity of mountain morning blue Etched between pale sky and valley fog -- One thought let loose unaimed.

Colin Campbell

though now long withered flower power lives on to sow the seeds of change

Colin Campbell

tablets of stone lie quiet in the dust - now the truth might be somewhere online

Jay Friedenberg

those three words she makes me say them again

Lea Booth

sweltering night lit by that bright cotton ball moon velcroed to the sky

Lea Booth

Bare gray branches etched into the blue winter sky - wind carries crows’ calls.

Ie Mcgavock

towers of grey-black cloud waves wind-larruped to froth ecstatic boy on the shore

Ie Mcgavock

flowers bow to the approaching bees and ask that their burden be lightened

Risa Denenberg

Daybreak slants these hills, carves sharp-angled pyramids of umber and ice.

Lennart Lundh

Sun coming up: Now to the pages yet unread.

Lennart Lundh

The vibrations of your body hold me, touch me: Still, amaze me.

Thomas Rycroft

a black cloud looming just outside my window the black dog has reared his head

Thomas Rycroft

a foggy sense of this old delirium with nothing left in the pill box I play a tune on a comb

Joel Ferdon

Shaved head, black, thick tattoos, and gay; A young, vibrant woman competes with man: Black leather biker boots, soft lips, dark eyes.

Rose Mary Boehm

old eyes - veil of failed vision blurs wrinkles

Rickey Marshall

Birth Busy Burial

Colin Campbell

remember with thanks when the beatles were young and we trusted the banks

Audrey Samuelson

While she was distracted He approached on velvet footsteps Flashing a silver blade in the pale lamplight

A.J. Huffman

Dandelions blow. Wind inside themselves. Dispelling all rumors of false wilt.

A.J. Huffman

Leaning back, the sky breaks. Twirls, swirls inward. Dancing is the wind’s true fantasy.

A.J. Huffman

Amazing moments of clarity fill my mind. Too bad my hand is mute.

Debbi Antebi

his untold story begins to leak through cracks of silence

Debbi Antebi

my childhood bedroom— a kaleidoscope of memories unfold on the cracked wallpaper

Debbi Antebi

forever chasing apologies from the locked lips of unrepentant men

Thomas Rycroft

freshly blown soap bubbles- a rare sight full moons at midday

Laurie Kolp

Atop the wintry tree two songbirds sway in the wind- wayward minstrels on stilts.

Mark Nenadov

Three lazily lingering lines unfinished drafts dragged behind swift shifting galloping years.