Issue 34
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Issue 34
POETS
ARGUELLES , JOSE
BARSKI, ELLEN
BASDEN, BARRY
BATES, RODERICK
BOUTELIER, STEFANI
CAMPBELL, ROBYN
CAMPHAUSEN, ASHLEY
CASTILLO STREET, SUSAN
CHAN, ANNA
CLARK, TIFFANY
COREY, BETTY
CRUPI, BRANDON
CURTIS, ANNE
DAVIS, MIKAYLA
DONOVAN, DEVIN
ELFORD, PATRICIA ANNE
EMMERICK, JASMYNE
EVANS, MARK
FALKENBURG, CHARLEY
GUTHRIE, J-MAG
HOWARD, DIANA
KARNES-FANNIN, CARRIE
KAZAN, LORRIE
LEE, DEBORAH
LYTTON, GAVIN
MARIE, SUSAN
MCCORMAC, PHILIP
MCFADDEN, JAMES
MELTON, BILL
NEUFARTH HOWARD, SUE
NORDGREN, MARYJANE
RISVOLD, FRIEDA
RUSSELL, MARTHA
SCHAFER, SUANNE
SHATSKY, SHEREE
SHREVE, HEATHER
SUMMERLIN, CINDI
TOWELL, LAVAUGHN
VIENTO, WANDA
VITI, LYNNE
WARNER, EVERETT
WHITE, JERRY
WILDHOOD, MEGAN
|
J-Mag Guthrie
Looking Back
Emptied of sorrow,
dry eyes scoured by grieving
gaze into the past. |
Susan Castillo Street
In midwinter blue
Wood-burner glows and flickers
Flaming eye of light. |
Carrie Karnes-Fannin
Wrinkled, closed-faced scholars
scuff, scuff, scuff along the quad,
bitter joe in hand. |
Charley Falkenburg
Greasy streets, boiling and fierce
Time goes on, they pulse and crack,
From secrets, from pain that we can’t face |
Patricia Anne Elford
My huge Lip Smacker, uncapped, prods memory.
My pink gloss, blotted, kisses Kleenex.
Someone essential is missing. |
Suanne Schafer
My tongue wanders through
The cavern of your ear. Dizzy,
You spin into my arms. |
Devin Donovan
A couple discusses their options
Fifty feet from the hospital entrance
Where the staff are on a smoke break. |
Ashley Camphausen
We bathed our bare feet
In Barefoot Pinot and smashed
The bottle on dry concrete. |
Megan Wildhood
Laundry
they plan it the night before
in the hamper: how to flee
their partners in the whirling cave of heat |
Jose Arguelles
I’ve fallen through my discord
My spirit is replete
Many times before I’ve fallen so damn deep |
Deborah Lee
Foreplay is forgotten.
Why bother? Toes
recoil with haste. |
Stefani Boutelier
autumn prefaces the bitterness
hiccups in the bodies of water subside
winter, cocooned in death and life |
Jerry White
High in the weave of sun-topped leaves
the five-color bird gargles brightly,
staying slightly out of sight. |
Tiffany Clark
Love induced dreams
inebriating throughout the night
sobering with the first morning breath |
Philip McCormac
The soldiers make no bones
About their lust that hangs like dust
In the heavy air |
Jasmyne Emmerick
Night rolling thunder,
The sky bursts in flashing lights --
Raindrop tears appear. |
Jasmyne Emmerick
Autumn’s requisite --
Cascaded senescent leaves;
Bare beauty revealed |
Jasmyne Emmerick
The rising dawn crest,
Relieves the insomniac
Of ardent mirage |
Diana Howard
I watch the butterfly land,
realizing what it already knows,
that this moment is all we have. |
Jose Arguelles
A heart set upon forgiveness
As it breaks and breaks and breaks
It’s tired chains upon the rocks |
Lorrie Kazan
They lied about the least of things,
Until one night, punchdrunk,
Their tongues dissolved like rain. |
Mikayla Davis
Children are bused into the sewers
at night wrapped in scarves of frayed
nooses made from lipstick stained collars. |
Barry Basden
I try to picture what it was
she saw in those final days,
after she could no longer read. |
Ellen Barski
Empty bottles of rum hidden
under the house, secret
stashed away broken promises |
Robyn Campbell
Stallions clash in battle
the sovereign one wins
King of his pasture |
Lavaughn Towell
Slumbering dogs
Remind me that
Bliss exists. |
Gavin Lytton
as we come together I come undone
the undressing of an amateur ventriloquist
with what is gained by the removal |
Lynne Viti
Snow-crusted ground warms
Poppy seeds scattered and raked,
Promise of red blooms. |
Lynne Viti
Gull drops cracked conch shell,
empty,raggedy discard
-- My trophy today. |
Mark Evans
Gray skies laced with limbs
Winter trees gnarled old men
Spring leaps through their nets |
Betty Corey
broken heroes coming home
warfare continues
blood flows on desert sands |
Sue Neufarth Howard
truck’s porker spill
pigs on the run
recapture sty-mied |
Wanda Viento
Skyward reaching beech
With tributary arms
Dancing the winter’s waltz |
Heather Shreve
My quill gives birth to sound,
Life springs forth on blank pages,
New breath to words yet found. |
Heather Shreve
Some words sparkle, so we look up,
reach up- like a skyscraper at night
penetrating the shadows of humanity. |
Susan Marie
Bones emitting truth
stack, one atop another
collocating flies. |
Sheree Shatsky
She slips across the grass
A ruffle of a girl
Her shoes emerald like the zoysia. |
James McFadden
Swim back to sleep without disturbing
the water. Listen for the lone flute.
Hang the coat there. |
Bill Melton
Towering church spire
Slices through the drifting fog
Patter of raindrops |
Martha Russell
Love reaches out
rejection hits hard
love recoils ready to strike |
Frieda Risvold
where is my future -
seems like any place but here
yet here my heart is. |
Brandon Crupi
It’ll be worthwhile though,
all of this spinning in circles.
We need many more revolutions. |
MaryJane Nordgren
watching friends emerge
from grieving to laughter
monarch of resilience |
Cindi Summerlin
Silently the waves push through
Eternity, churning up memories
And dreams long forgotten. |
Anna Chan
I’m held spellbound by the strange magic
Come alive during the ten minutes
Of dusk in this Arizona desert. |
Anne Curtis
Meadowlark on an old fence post;
Spinning spokes spill
Shadows in the sun. |
Anne Curtis
August makes six weeks
Ginger mare with bandaged leg
Boredom in her eyes. |
Roderick Bates
Seasons changed last night.
I hear trucks grind slow uphill,
wet sounds damped by snow. |
Everett Warner
Take this fractured self
I’ll feed you
make me something whole |
Frieda Risvold
autumn breezes blow
tossing leaves on arid ground
to crunch before rain |
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