Poetry

Poetry

Featured image for ““Swain’s Lane” and “Joyride””
Cassandra Moss

“Swain’s Lane” and “Joyride”

Some time ago I was like an open palm held out for a reading,
all its lines criss-crossing
and indicating one determined future or another.

I only remember my waking dreams from then,
as if sleep was too close to death
to access the underlayers of my mind

June 2021
Featured image for ““Absurdity,” “Straight Man” and “Still You””
Emily Rose Miller

“Absurdity,” “Straight Man” and “Still You”

The amount of love I hold for him is absurd.
The human body contains approximately 1.5 gallons of blood,
and at least 1.6 gallons of mine is laced with tiny crystal hearts,
each lit up with pictures of his lopsided grin, his uneven teeth,
and that little freckle dotted on his upper lip

June 2021
Featured image for ““A Cold Night Through Time,” “A Feast on the Past and Present” and “To the Living and the Dead””
Sik Siu Siu

“A Cold Night Through Time,” “A Feast on the Past and Present” and “To the Living and the Dead”

When I shiver with cold at night
I put on the socks of memories
boil a pot of yesterdays
promise my legs with
a blanket of tomorrows

June 2021
Featured image for ““A little light,” “Si-ghting 53” and “Letter—for Fernando Pessoa””
Ray Malone

“A little light,” “Si-ghting 53” and “Letter—for Fernando Pessoa”

As for the darkness of eternity
a little light by your bed
might do as the wind
flings itself against your wall
weathering all away

May 2021
Featured image for ““Stone Pillow,” “Gold Rush Girl” and “#TrashFries””
Eric Lawson

“Stone Pillow,” “Gold Rush Girl” and “#TrashFries”

I can’t quite make normal work for me.
The angle, the navigating, the placement.
I’ve lost the how to manual for contorting
my body to use makeshift MacGyver skills
and filthy underbrush to survive on.
I’m not sure how it happened.

May 2021
Featured image for ““The Comforts of Gravity,” “Daydreamer” and “Resonance””
Dennis Perry Clark

“The Comforts of Gravity,” “Daydreamer” and “Resonance”

I see the autumn leaves falling. I ponder chance as they release.
Watch as they glide, then gently come to rest. A shading life,
clung to a branch, in the final moments breaking free.

May 2021
Featured image for ““Intrepid Dreamers,” “Meanwhile” and “Variations on Nineteen Words””
Alison Jennings

“Intrepid Dreamers,” “Meanwhile” and “Variations on Nineteen Words”

Starved for art,
we were made for poetry;
we are mad for poetry.

Study this hunger;
learn how to feed it.

May 2021
Featured image for ““Fossils,” “Equinox” and “a beautiful thing””
Melissa LaDuc

“Fossils,” “Equinox” and “a beautiful thing”

250 million years ago
an ancient cephalopod
once stretched upon granite
and Time remembers
a tail dragging in thirsty sand.

Meanwhile, She is getting away from us:
a child no one sees

May 2021
Featured image for ““What is Poetry?,” “Tongue Fire” and “Faucet Father””
Olivia Klein

“What is Poetry?,” “Tongue Fire” and “Faucet Father”

Mindset, free flowing, thought exploding
Sunsets,
Seasons, and syllables wrapped into one
Tiny perfect package
But also, great plains
Limitless at face value
And deeper when it’s said

May 2021
Featured image for ““The Stranger in the Storm is My Brother””
Michael McQuillan

“The Stranger in the Storm is My Brother”

Is it failing eyes or conscience
since we seem not to see how
Rodney stands alone exposed

to torrential rain in wind
teeming masses hurry past
umbrellas clash like swords

April 2021
Featured image for ““Relativity: A Lithograph by M.C. Escher,” “Chores” and “Another Kind Man””
Virginia Watts

“Relativity: A Lithograph by M.C. Escher,” “Chores” and “Another Kind Man”

In life, I bugged my brother relentlessly
about Escher’s impossible staircases,
his floors and doors, his figures with no faces.

It looks like a prison.
It’s not.

April 2021
Featured image for ““Panhandle my marble heart,” “The Crankcase” and “lost dogs in foggy nites””
Christopher Bruneaux

“Panhandle my marble heart,” “The Crankcase” and “lost dogs in foggy nites”

Panhandle my marble heart

Put my lips,
in a lonesome tomb
spread gossip of me on the shorelines of ecstasy
as I fall down the ladders
of your purgatory.

April 2021
Featured image for ““Anatomy of a Honeycomb,” “Basket of Needles” and “Cabin on Detox Island””
Monica Viera

“Anatomy of a Honeycomb,” “Basket of Needles” and “Cabin on Detox Island”

Post-mortem,
After having lived a life
In and out of mental hospitals
For what could only have been simplified…
Of attacks acute sweetness or withdrawal thereof
An autopsy was performed on me,
And a honeycomb for a heart

April 2021
Featured image for ““Street Landscaping,” “Hoodie in the Wind” and “City Birds””
Brian Kerr

“Street Landscaping,” “Hoodie in the Wind” and “City Birds”

On concrete, brick and asphalt, filth sits atop. It doesn’t sift into the ground. It runs into the sewers but first it spends days, weeks, months lingering in puddles that don’t evaporate. Too much building shade and east coast oceanside atmospheric overcast

April 2021
Featured image for ““Someone Else’s Stars,” “Hockey Night in Emmett County” and “Graceland””
Andre F. Peltier

“Someone Else’s Stars,” “Hockey Night in Emmett County” and “Graceland”

The sun is our center
bringing light and life.
Painted on the walls
of Lascaux caves,
the sun illuminates
the bulls
and the Magdalenian
artists.

April 2021
Featured image for ““Pangea,” “Blind” and “Self Portrait: Highjacked””
A. Hayes

“Pangea,” “Blind” and “Self Portrait: Highjacked”

in the beginning
there were no delineations markers or boundaries shaping his from
hers
quotation marks he said she said
rivers mapping theirs from ours

April 2021
Featured image for ““Magicians and Fortune Tellers,” “No Home-Maker Here” and “The One That Got Away””
H. C. Phillips

“Magicians and Fortune Tellers,” “No Home-Maker Here” and “The One That Got Away”

pluck a single card from a shuffled deck
and there’s a one-in-fifty-two chance
that you now hold the two of hearts.

all our potential futures that we think exist somewhere
in maybe or one day

April 2021
Featured image for ““Conspiracies,” “Return to Kansas” and “I See Now””
Martha Kane

“Conspiracies,” “Return to Kansas” and “I See Now”

The random caws of crows
I hear as I unload the dishwasher.
I look out to see three birds gathered
round the war memorial
and the flag.

March 2021
Featured image for ““hate | thirst,” “Sahara’s siren” and “release | remain””
Erik Poitras

“hate | thirst,” “Sahara’s siren” and “release | remain”

for those that are tempted to drink from the fountain of hate
beware of that bittersweet nectar
even as it feels like honey running down your chin
you will realize its acidic burning nature
as it bores a trail into your soul

March 2021
Featured image for ““Derwent,” “Sunday” and “November””
Emily Marchment

“Derwent,” “Sunday” and “November”

The Derwent’s not in any rush. Green surf
Of trees, the rocky crests of peaks now still
Enough to watch their sister wind downhill
And salve exploited wounds of quarried earth.

March 2021
Featured image for ““There Are No Words,” “Que Será – Mother’s Stare” and “Peace””
Russell Willis

“There Are No Words,” “Que Será – Mother’s Stare” and “Peace”

“There are no words…” with tragedy
Or times absurd or ends unknown
Is tragic in its own accord
For words may be all that we own

March 2021
Featured image for ““Saturn,” “One” and “Cemetery Walled””
Justin-Paul Starlin

“Saturn,” “One” and “Cemetery Walled”

As another moonlight saunters
on inlets,
let’s agree Saturn can set:
the moons will use its rings as a table,
and as euphoric as their blurry mind
can be like
MDMA intoxication.

March 2021
Featured image for ““Promotion Review in the Afterlife,” “My Thieves Are Lonely” and “Odd Boy””
Bryn Gribben

“Promotion Review in the Afterlife,” “My Thieves Are Lonely” and “Odd Boy”

“We’ve been thinking,” the angels say
 (they work for Krishna now—God knows
he’s got too much to do, what with all
that attention the rich demand these days)
“and we’re going to send you back as a cat.”

March 2021
Featured image for ““Listening to ‘The Lark Ascending’,” “Last Hours” and “In Starlight”  ”
Christopher Johnson

“Listening to ‘The Lark Ascending’,” “Last Hours” and “In Starlight”  

I listen to
swells
and
falls of the lark
in Williams’ grand tribute to
Albion

March 2021