Poetry

Image

Dragonfly Out in the Sun

Tracey Dean Widelitz

Hold On To Me,
Sunlit Beauty,
and Rose Petals and Golden Wings

Refugees DRC

Despair Paintings

Owen Brown

The world seems to carry on as if there aren’t a million reasons to be shocked. But because I don’t want to go numb, I try to paint them, at least a few. For these, I paint figuratively, as I was trained, even though now, often, my desires, and my output, is abstract. Still, how can we ignore the drought in Afghanistan, the strife in Sudan, the war in Gaza, the invasion of Ukraine? Or even what goes on in our own lives?

Finding a Pathway

Finding a Pathway

Mark Rosalbo

As an emerging artist, the art form I work with is primarily abstract painting and large-scale installations. My artistic process involves using various mediums and techniques to create physical manifestations of internal dialogues and personal judgments. In my abstract paintings, I use house paint, various tools, and textured canvases. The technique involves creating overconfident brushstrokes that mask my imposter syndrome, with multiple layers of paint partially hidden under the surface. The inner turmoil arising from self-doubt is expressed as geometric shapes woven together with texture.

In Between

Wholeness Through Fracture: Sculpting the Human Condition

Aleksandra Scepanovic

Three works in clay by Aleksandra Scepanovic.
Each of these works tells a story of the complexity and beauty found in life’s fractures, embracing the wholeness that emerges through resilience.

Image

Coastal Grey

Miki Simic

This series of photographs, titled “Coastal Grey,” depicts elements of summer themes. My goal was to capture a vibrant setting and allow the viewer to realize it remains vibrant even though color is lacking.

Image

Symphony in Green

Patrice Sullivan

I paint landscapes, interiors, exteriors, still life’s with figures interacting and posing for the camera displaying memorable moments with families, friends, and neighbors.

friends

Friends, Triplets, and Family Narrative

Tianyagenv Yan

Tianyagenv uses light clay to make miniature figures and wishes to capture the characteristics of femininity, vulnerability, and resilience in potential.

Image

Green Canyon Bridge 1993, Thrive, and Tarot Deck: The Moon

Robb Kunz

My paintings explore the abstract simplicity of ordinary life and the deductive impulse to see ourselves reflected back in art.

Image

Metamorphosis

Marianne Dalton

The photographs are from the series, Metamorphosis. Each painterly creation constructed from dozens of layered photographs is driven by my reaction to nature’s extreme seasonal change.

La Huasteca

La Huasteca, Roots in Nuevo Leon, and Frames

Tee Pace

La Huasteca, Roots in Nuevo Leon, and Frames

Image

Cherry Blossoms

Annika Connor

Cherry Blossom Forest

Les Femmes Mondiales Black and White

Les Femmes Mondiales Black and White

Janet Brugos

Les Femmes Mondiales Black and White
Hurricane
Chicago Ice

Sunset over the Pacific

Three Photographs

Lawrence Bridges

UNDER THE PIER, MALIBU CA
SUNSET OVER THE PACIFIC
and POOL, POST RANCH INN, BIG SUR

Image

Joshua Tree Project

Holly Willis

The images are part of a larger series created in the Mojave Desert around Joshua Tree in the fall of 2023 that explore the shifting state of the desert.

October Still Life

Chasing Paradise

Marianne Dalton

This series, Chasing Paradise, draws upon my work as a fine artist in painting, as I create stylized photographs of flowers and plants found in my rural environment.

Turtle Light

Ocean Sleep and Turtle Light

Maite Russell

Turtle Light and Ocean Sleep are works of multimedia and sculpture mediums, respectively, depicting the natural world with fantastical elements.

Poetry

Featured image for ““My Near-Death Experience””
Kathleen Holliday

“My Near-Death Experience”

As near-death experiences go,
it was one of the best.
What more is there to tell?

March 2024
Featured image for ““So Far””
Julie Benesh

“So Far”

We’re on our last legs, and the legs are last to go;
the best metaphors die young, reborn as cliches.

March 2024
Featured image for ““Crisp the Surface””
J. Parker Marvin

“Crisp the Surface”

Shards of invention over
crisp dirt :: secreted
mouths whisper about
asexual
union and definitions :: small

February 2024
Featured image for ““Takers””
Lumina Miller

“Takers”

Picking at the bones,
they feed from residual
ligaments left
post quiet carving

began with disinterest
proceeding to tsks tsks then
disregard

February 2024
Featured image for ““The Winters of the Sun””
Lawrence Bridges

“The Winters of the Sun”

Like a title that keys no theme
Except an atmosphere, I slip into my clothes.
A doorknob, a checklist, a podcast
On an unsolved murder.

February 2024
Featured image for ““I Need Yesterdays” and “If Only to Look””
Samuel Gilpin

“I Need Yesterdays” and “If Only to Look”

reprieve thickening
in threatening
the still winter light
encrusted as a high
gray sky in thickness
turning in another silence
as in the waiting

January 2024
Featured image for ““Where are Tolkien’s Ents?””
Deborah Filanowski

“Where are Tolkien’s Ents?”

There is an army of ghost trees ringing the coastlines of the world.
Once verdant, evidence of a healthy environment,
now leafless, bleached white in death,
phantoms of the forest that once was.

January 2024
Featured image for ““Touring the Forest” and “Leaning Over the Rails””
Jennifer Phillips

“Touring the Forest” and “Leaning Over the Rails”

This will help you to remember
what a forest was. This one, North Temperate.
Might have been where we are standing.
Here, adjust the strap
around your forehead, rest this over
the bridge of your nose. Click the button.
See.

January 2024
Featured image for ““Earth Cries and the Oceans Catch the Tears,” “Reservoir No More,” and “Summer — Memory or Prophecy?””
Russell Willis

“Earth Cries and the Oceans Catch the Tears,” “Reservoir No More,” and “Summer — Memory or Prophecy?”

Each corner of a globe
With no corners
Born of the sea as
Liquid or solid
In dances with humans
And dances between humans
Fear and hope meet in their own dance
As the earth cries

January 2024
Featured image for ““Brood X””
Marie-Louise Eyres

“Brood X”

Each insect turns a fraction on its axis, a cocooned child shifting in a half-sleep,
oblivious beyond cool mud to flames of wildfires as they streak across the hills
of Paradise.

January 2024
Featured image for ““something <sub>small</sub> has died””
Patricia Franz

“something small has died”

when they’re born…
they g r o w
they m o v e
crawl and
c a
l v
e

January 2024
Featured image for ““With Love, I Fall””
Mary Beth Keenan

“With Love, I Fall”

Looking deep into my child’s eyes,
I see both my ancestors and
my descendants, I fall
into a meditation about Mother Earth…

January 2024
Featured image for ““Home, Sick””
Robert Eugene Rubino

“Home, Sick”

Zero degrees outside while cozy warm inside
Mother opens apartment’s bedroom window
reels in creaky clothesline of dried laundry

January 2024
Featured image for ““Cycling,” “Utter,” and “Glass””
Stephanie Trenchard

“Cycling,” “Utter,” and “Glass”

On the ride to work I try to remember; did I make my bed?
—Wonder if I love myself, wonder if I care about my children’s children
Wonder where every plastic bottle went—each one I have sucked from and sent
on its journey, perhaps to landfill, and What does that pile look like

October 2023
Featured image for ““Sleeping,” “Elfie and My Mug,” and “The Land II””
Malcolm Glass

“Sleeping,” “Elfie and My Mug,” and “The Land II”

I think I’m sleeping, night long, more than I think,
And days blur like leaves in a pitch-long fall,
while clocks run on with numbers that always blink,

then flicker backwards. I close my eyes and sink
to dreams…

October 2023
Featured image for ““Good Old Dad,” “Nuns Fret Not,” and “That’s All Folks””
Jack D. Harvey

“Good Old Dad,” “Nuns Fret Not,” and “That’s All Folks”

Had enough of it,
pushing along with
his job and family
and gave up.

Game over.

Good old dad,
always liked trains
and that’s where he went.

October 2023
Featured image for ““Tree Rings,” “The White Cat,” and “Goodbyes””
Cami DuMay

“Tree Rings,” “The White Cat,” and “Goodbyes”

My skin told me first, when I saw his picture. The cold memory of touch
a frantic messenger, almost swifter
than the optic nerve. My body remembers.

So I got into the shower, ran it scalding, breathed
the vapor like medicine, the mist a place to lose myself,

October 2023
Featured image for ““Barefoot,” “Reconstructions,” and “Vulcan’s Flames””
Louis Faber

“Barefoot,” “Reconstructions,” and “Vulcan’s Flames”

He says his favorite clouds
all wear size seven shoes. He knows she believes
she once saw a paisley rainbow
and will never forget it.
She wears size seven shoes
and her tears can be torrential,
yet they can still nurture

October 2023
Featured image for ““Pull,” “The Fall,” and “Moth””
Blake Auden

“Pull,” “The Fall,” and “Moth”

Unsure how many lives I’ve taken.
Hornets, spiders, the boy hardened – unbelonging
in the furling roots.
But this isn’t about the bodies,
it’s their shadows, seeping through the openings,
weighing the bones with dark.

October 2023
Featured image for ““Black Tambourines,” “Brother Red Gold,” and “Flesh””
Patrick T. Reardon

“Black Tambourines,” “Brother Red Gold,” and “Flesh”

And I heard black tambourines, stolen
steel guitars, small-room tubas, forsaken
trumpets, green castanets, kettledrums
of gold, stained-glass window pianos
— the orchestra of the alley,
pavement joyously undefended.

October 2023
Featured image for ““Contagion,” “Melancholia Covida,” and “Intermission””
Eve Hoffman

“Contagion,” “Melancholia Covida,” and “Intermission”

Who among us has not been infected with COVID
fear? Waking, wanting to vomit but the vomit hangs
burning in our esophagus and we are not certain of the day
of the week or when our toilet paper will run out and if
there will be more in the stores. Who among us does
not fear dying alone, COVID keeping loved ones distant—

October 2023
Featured image for ““Lake Ontario,” “This Town With One Bridge,” and “A Proctor at the Final Exam””
Sally Ventura

“Lake Ontario,” “This Town With One Bridge,” and “A Proctor at the Final Exam”

You are launching us in the boat
that you made seaworthy. It scrapes against the
pebbles which shift so reassuringly when the lake
is calm. It is your boat, your day, and we are your
children. We have brought along our families,
all that we have added to your empire.

October 2023
Featured image for ““Love Letters,” “Purple Flowers,” and “Chicago Stars and Hospital Beds””
Kristen Dunn

“Love Letters,” “Purple Flowers,” and “Chicago Stars and Hospital Beds”

No comfort
in this world
No warmth
rising from the cracks
in this cement ground
Ice breaks
on the surface of the lake
implying your ability to drown

October 2023
Featured image for ““Cancer: A Paean,” “Legacy,” and “The Three Nuns: A Contrapuntal for Voice and Canvas””
Olga Dugan

“Cancer: A Paean,” “Legacy,” and “The Three Nuns: A Contrapuntal for Voice and Canvas”

Abditive—that’s you,
sneaky sniper, taking us out
more than a hundred types of ways.
A name change per each organ,
tissue, cell you invade…bronchus,
lung, prostate, colon, uterus…
From the shade you surface

September 2023