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Issue 18

POETS

ABRIGO, AMY
ANTEBI, DEBBI
BASFORD, DOUGLAS
BERZA, APRIL MAE
BICKLEY, SARA
CHRISTINA, MARTHA
COOK, COREY
DAVIES, WILLIAM
DRURY, IVO
EKINS, AMY
ELLMAN, NEIL
GILLSON, MARSHALL
GRODIN, LAURA
HOULIS, ALEXANDRA
HUFFMAN, A.J.
HULYK MAXWELL, SARAH
JAMIESON, PATRICK
K, PADMINI
KOJI, WILLIAM F.
MADDOX, STACY
MCGAVOCK, IE
MCNABB, FIONA
MELTON, BILL
ROBERTS, WREN
ROWLAND, JAMES
SAMUELSON, AUDREY
SCHEER, WAYNE
SHERIDAN, J.LYNN
SUMMERS, R.G.
VINAS, SARA
WARSHAW, DEVON
ZNAIDI, ALI

Martha Christina



Clouds dark as marble
columns tilt and tumble
like the ruins of Pompeii




Martha Christina



How to assign
fresh names
for fading leaves?




William F. Koji



Love this earth
Keep her sweet and happy
And she will love you




William F. Koji



Red Rock Canyon
Rugged cliffs are reddish
The land is barren




William F. Koji



River runs
To the Gulf
Indians sing




Wren Roberts



I hold on to my rage
like a blanket:
a coat against the storm.




Sara Vinas



Silent splashes against sand
Send foamy fingers reaching
For running feet




Sara Vinas



Power in glistening steel
Edge pressed to tomato flesh--slice
Perfect scarlet circles




Sara Vinas



Make me a tea kettle
And I’ll whistle every time
He walks by




Amy Ekins



You cup flames in your palm,
eyeing them with indifference, as they leap
to catch your lashes.




Amy Ekins



You tell me you’re like yeast – dormant
'til we get you wet, sweeten you up,
and give you room to breathe.




Amy Ekins



You trim your nails until there are no whites –
you tell me it stops you from having anything hidden.
I think you’re touching someone else.




James Rowland



the actor turns and the curtain comes down,
the Fool was mad and Lear was wise,
yet the world still spins, who’s surprised?




Devon Warshaw



I wonder now, Kels,
what you’d say to me if you
hadn’t killed yourself.




April Mae Berza



a petal is a rosy
cheek of a flower,
unblemished.




April Mae Berza



a stem is a lonely lighthouse
guiding the captain
to surrender to the waves.




April Mae Berza



the calendar is a sleepwalker
I heard its footsteps
on the stairs last night.




R.G. Summers



Green rubber trumpet
Nestled in the lily pads,
Chorusing coarsely.




Sara Bickley



I don’t believe in the aestheticization
of violence, or anything else
I can’t pronounce drunk.




Sara Bickley



Birdfeeder squirrel
kicks away his rival — splash! —
into the birdbath.




Sarah Hulyk Maxwell



in the tin mailbox
rattling like two dice cubes
dragonflies in love




Marshall Gillson



She says: "Never change."
In some ways, I cannot change;
in others I must.




Marshall Gillson



In the hospital,
we hold hands. I do not know
which of us will die.




Ivo Drury



buried wires and cables
hamper bird flocks writing
musical notations




Audrey Samuelson



Working with a razor
She drained her depressed life
Into the lukewarm bathwater




Ie Mcgavock



he sought the philosopher’s stone
in the bottom of every glass
but perpetually came up empty




Ie Mcgavock



a denizen of the edge
she wielded her cigarette
with insouciant panache




Bill Melton



If squirrels can play
Yet have time to store their food
What is our excuse




Neil Ellman



Dynasties inside
lotus mummified in glass—
eternity now.




Fiona McNabb



I was never kissed, except
when winter, cold and silent,
pressed my face against the ice.




Stacy Maddox



She smells of earth and woman
One that does not simply acquire
From a bottle and lack of sunshine.




Ali Znaidi



in the sandy storm
no one could spell the word wind
only the wind gusts




Ali Znaidi



autumn fragrant scents
coming through swallows feathers
no need for perfume




Laura Grodin



There is a farm between us, then
an organic grocery store, a highway.
Yellow lines dot our foreheads.




Wayne Scheer



What If and How Come
replaced by Who Cares--
She’s becoming a teenager.




Audrey Samuelson



The crow perched above
Overlooking a sprawling kingdom
Of causeways and salt marshes




A.J. Huffman



Hiding quietly
without shadows or concern.
Some things do not give shade.




A.J. Huffman



My mind burns through ink.
Ashing words like diatribes --
scars in perfect space.




A.J. Huffman



Fog-filled dreams disperse.
Freeing my mind to wander
in and out of sleep.




Patrick Jamieson



I loved her, I did,
but she would wear sunglasses
in the winter rain.




Corey Cook



School bus slogs by
slack beach ball
glazed with frost.




Alexandra Houlis



oceanesque iris
eyes that glow like they see some
underwater light




Alexandra Houlis



blackout across the
horizon, all the cherry
blossoms have wilted




Padmini K



Delicate leaves roar in unison
While ferocious tigers hide behind
The storm has arrived




William Davies



The sunset was
Like a freshly bombed
Third world country.




Debbi Antebi



silent, subtle, sinister
the cancer finds its way
to her smile




Douglas Basford



half-way house chess match,
sunken treasure on tv--
Curtis calls checkmate




J.lynn Sheridan



pausing to fuel the purple-
grey dance of ebb and flow
around our golden vows.




Amy Abrigo



Your heart brings me life
Our lips perfectly combine
Key lime pie delight




Amy Abrigo



Flames dust us away
Paraphrase unshaken tears
The embers are scored







© Copyright 2020; Glenn Lyvers; Prolific Press Inc. All Rights Reserved.