Poets in this issue — click a name to read
- Beveridge, Robert
- Bjotvedt, Connor
- Bocks, Susi
- Cipriano, Lorraine
- Cobb, Cherese
- Cottrell, Suzanne
- Crasto, Cecilia
- Decker, Laurie
- Depaul, Maria
- Dodson, Steve
- Eriksen, Elisabeth
- Esposito, Lynette
- Falater, Thomas
- Fields, Joan
- Flanagan, Michael
- German, Mimi
- Gretzer, Stephen
- Grosel, Charles
- Hatter, Shasta
- Knoot, Annelise
- Kruger-azer, Laurie
- Laussmann, Melissa
- Levine, Bruce
- Lind, Laurinda
- Lowther, Tricia
- Melton, Bill
- Miller, Dean K
- Murphy, Katie
- Nielsen, Ayaz Daryl
- O'leary, Karen
- Paoli, Allison
- Pella, Patricia
- Pitman, Cynthia
- Raley, Christopher
- Ratcliffe, Zach
- Rimann, J.d.
- Robbins, Dean
- Rogers, Jennifer
- Sacco, Linda
- Schweickert, Cody
- Scott, Claire
- Sood, Megha
- Standish , Robert
- Thavalingam, Annoj
- Thompson, Jesse
- Thompson, Shannon
- Ventresca, Ave Jeanne
- Vork, Jr
- Younger, Richard
- Zempel, Rachel
Bill Melton
slow meandering
river is in no hurry
to be lost at sea
Christopher Raley
Lightning flickered over foothills,
suggesting rain, then denying it.
Dark plume hoisted morning’s flag.
Karen O'Leary
a vessel never full
his brother's shadow
consumes him
Katie Murphy
Love grows after you’ve gone.
Memories unfold new insights.
You were always there for me.
Laurinda Lind
thirty years later
the woman who died in this house
gets around to drifting off
Michael Flanagan
the morning light
brings the flowers to life
on Grandma’s afghan
Ayaz Daryl Nielsen
quiet, shallow creek
the secrets of
small pebbles
Bruce Levine
Unforgotten sorrows
Bring longing to move forward
Through a pine forest of time
Ave Jeanne Ventresca
at the shelter
someone in borrowed clothes
whispers gratitude
Mimi German
hummingbirds feed at the salvia
day after day how long
the flowers continue to give
JR Vork
shattered glass
glitters
Four way stop
Elisabeth Eriksen
Waves receding, leaving tracks
of dips and peaks on sand,
like a thumbs-up EKG
Stephen Gretzer
Less moon, less music, at last
no silvery authority denies me the right
to imagine you forgotten.
Linda Sacco
Left to nature’s will, she grew.
In nurture’s absence, she fragmented.
Reconciled to never forget, she stirred.
Melissa Laussmann
A foggy view outside,
Sipping my tea by the fire
Oblivious of time.
Rachel Zempel
eating her feelings
a pound for every lie
swallowing her pride
Suzanne Cottrell
Dried stems of gray-green sweetgrass
rattle like coiled snakes.
Nimble fingers weave fragrant baskets.
Lynette Esposito
The sign said Dead End.
I turned around
That has made all the difference.
Richard Younger
last storm of winter
caught in a hail of snowflakes
children hurry home
Lorraine Cipriano
Starfish colony
blue water tides turn quickly
thousands are swirling
Megha Sood
Those muted scars
reads like braille
in your forgiving hands
Steve Dodson
I saw a wall and wondered
what magic lay behind those gates
those gates of barb wire and stone
Patricia Pella
seashell at her tiny ear
she giggles in tune
with the roar of the universe
Dean K Miller
Our last pieces of humanity
Scattered by the wind
Hope only found in passing clouds
Charles Grosel
Prayer ribbons ripple
in the sun, tattered endings
tickling the sky.
Cecilia Crasto
Hot summer winds ignite sparks
Puffs of smoke dance over treetops
Billowing clouds cast eerie shadows
Cynthia Pitman
Ice melts. The warped green glass
drips a cold-water circle on the stone
coaster below. I watch it overflow.
Zach Ratcliffe
Vibrant Sakura
Fragile beauty briefly springs
Life’s fortune and fate
Maria DePaul
Blue dims to charcoal
Gusts spin funnels across plains
Scraping barren trails
Cody Schweickert
tongues whip & beat
incarcerated eardrums
marching through blatherskite
Susi Bocks
My bills are due
The baby's crying
Formula or rent
J.D. Rimann
Hurricane of time
Life's overwhelming gale
To find shelter: breathe
Allison Paoli
Cleanse my mind with
Acrylic paints doused in bourbon
I am dappled with Blues
Annelise Knoot
Old Coyote whelps
More voices howl
Through my headphones
Joan Fields
fields of buttercups
spring's validation
i held one under your chin
Jennifer Rogers
Your whisper, my love, as winter light;
how delicate is our dream. We want
from heaven a soul – in birth or truth.
Claire Scott
You want your ashes sprinkled in the sea
I will dive in after
You know I can't swim
Robert Beveridge
Kama Sutra sits
binding worn, cracked, beside
the aged couple
Thomas Falater
the first cold days come
winter does not mourn summer
nor worry for spring
Shasta Hatter
steadying herself on her cane
she lifts an earthworm into grass
a skateboarder chatters by
Laurie Kruger-Azer
Pink fragrant blossoms
Drooping in front of my home
Exuberance fades
Connor Bjotvedt
mother’s dark clay pot:
spilling its earthen guts, I
forced its confession.
Laurie Decker
Tears fall from unblinking eyes
Sand slips from tiny grasp
Her castle, taken by wave
Tricia Lowther
Rock breasted woman
They always call her Venus
ancient roots in stone
Annoj Thavalingam
Luxurious rooms
Rose-scented to be tainted
Momentarily
Shannon Thompson
Ensnared in your desire
I come undone
in your web of lust.
Dean Robbins
The box trap, submerged,
frozen winter long, thaws, and
the squirrel within.
Cherese Cobb
mom’s deathbed
more and more raindrops
beat against the windowpane
Jesse Thompson
Ink runs thick like blood
But is harder to wash away—
Immortality approaches.
Robert Standish
I crave, I’m told
rejection, isolation, judgment
we are all broken