Poetry

Featured image for ““oh physics,” “Messages,” and “Elfie’s Quantum Thoughts””

“oh physics,” “Messages,” and “Elfie’s Quantum Thoughts”
by Malcolm Glass

oh physics
of warped gluons in the matrix chromosomes
molding children with necks and knees

disjoint and attenuate physics of the transport
of chlorophyll far more certain
than law or reason

and the stopped blood of embryos Read more.

Featured image for ““Self Portrait as Poet,” “Work Friends,” and “Now Playing””

“Self Portrait as Poet,” “Work Friends,” and “Now Playing”
by Julie Benesh

Poet, you mama’s girl, so bad at volleyball, first dates, job interviews, your albatross of asymmetry flung floorward like an eloquent glove, ironic as that yellow pedestrian yield sign on Chestnut Street, permanently pavement-flattened. Read more.

Featured image for ““Early Envy (1956)” and “Fantasy Football””

“Early Envy (1956)” and “Fantasy Football”
by Robert Eugene Rubino

When he’s eight he envies neighbor/buddy Bobby his airline pilot father
who drives his eye-popping harlequin Ford Thunderbird
with gears-a-poppin’ engine roarin’ to and from Idlewild
before and after taking off into the wild blue yonder. Read more.

Featured image for ““Traveling with Natalie,” “Subjunctive Mood,” and “We Walked Three Miles in Snow””

“Traveling with Natalie,” “Subjunctive Mood,” and “We Walked Three Miles in Snow”
by Joan Mazza

Propped on three pillows, another
under my knees, I am following
Natalie Goldberg as she travels
to Japan and France, sits zazen
with her students, through walking
meditation, writing longhand
in a café, always in a spiral notebook
with a pen that lets me write fast… Read more.

Featured image for ““thirty days after,” “Pivot,” and “Sour””

“thirty days after,” “Pivot,” and “Sour”
by Margaret Sayers

the time for grieving ends
grief does not

so I unfurl what is no longer and smooth out the
wrinkles
my soul loosens and leans in to the unwanted hereafter
the before murmurs just beyond my hearing
my heart skips in a dissonant rhythm
comfort strikes a truce with disquiet Read more.

Featured image for ““Inverse Blankets,” “Bloat Textures,” and “Grope Commerce””

“Inverse Blankets,” “Bloat Textures,” and “Grope Commerce”
by Anon Baisch

compensation blankets
barrier the solitude
cold air :: we are aware
that skin is unsuitable ::

we are a perfection :: the mass
of an ego returns
#DIV/0! :: and we understand
we are not portioned :: Read more.

Featured image for ““Partly Because of Your Love for Yogurt,” “Half Dark,” and “You asked if we would always be friends””

“Partly Because of Your Love for Yogurt,” “Half Dark,” and “You asked if we would always be friends”
by Abigail Chorley

it was the way you stood in the dark kitchen long after
the oven had already cooled, slurping
just out of date yogurt but also because the first
time we talked, you listened, swaying me gently
in constant commas shifting slightly
(while everyone else played poker for crisps)… Read more.

Featured image for ““A humble little diddy about creation and all that came after” and “Answer the question””

“A humble little diddy about creation and all that came after” and “Answer the question”
by Casey Killingsworth

My new thing is to look up the final scores
of baseball games before I decide whether
or not to watch the highlights because
who wants to follow a game you know
your team is going to lose anyway.

This is not a statement about my age; it’s not
even about having the luxury to piss away all
the idle time I have left. It’s about recognizing… Read more.

Featured image for ““Windsong: Solo Flute,” “The Dig,” and “Sudden Gasp””

“Windsong: Solo Flute,” “The Dig,” and “Sudden Gasp”
by Russell Willis

The flutes of those
who live
with,
not just in,
nature,
mimic windsong.

Even accidental noise
blown by untrained lips
echoes the haunting, ethereal
whistle of wind
through limbs and grass, crops and structures. Read more.

Featured image for ““By Saturday,” “Aqualung,” and “Tumble and Fall””

“By Saturday,” “Aqualung,” and “Tumble and Fall”
by Melody Wilson

something settles. Next week’s
oatmeal eases into simmer,
the wide slow mouths of the first
few bubbles no longer startle
and pop as the surface smooths,
heaves with the humility

of normal mornings. It’s a chore—
the boil, filtering through
what I know, what is new. Read more.

Featured image for ““A City Dweller Dwells on Nature,” “A Spirit in the Woods,” and “Of Writing and Flying””

“A City Dweller Dwells on Nature,” “A Spirit in the Woods,” and “Of Writing and Flying”
by Olga Dugan

I read somewhere nature doesn’t matter
to city dwellers—not so, did you know
flowers appeared 140 million years ago

Tulips out-valued gold in some places
Orchids draw their nutrients from thin air
and flowers, they really do have powers— Read more.

Featured image for ““Who are you?””

“Who are you?”
by Christopher Riesco

Once, in an angular concrete hotel in Antibes,
you stood before the black curtain
with the massive sunlight on the other side
and a heartbeat in your chest.
You reached up, then dropped your hands.
You tapped your hands on your naked hips.
You reached up again and pulled the curtains wide. Read more.

Featured image for ““Peace, Peace will Come” and “Minor Losses””

“Peace, Peace will Come” and “Minor Losses”
by Steven Deutsch

It is often
easier to write
the landscape
without the pollution

of people.
This hillside
was once
wild with color Read more.

Featured image for ““Bone Dry,” “The Rose Water Incident of 2022,” and “Weary Be the Wanton””

“Bone Dry,” “The Rose Water Incident of 2022,” and “Weary Be the Wanton”
by Monica Viera

It was lonely having
An anorexic mother
Who was often more concerned
About fitness and image
Then tending to the ache of my feelings
She exercised all the time, and ate light
She strove to be light,
And perhaps thought as her daughter,
I shouldn’t have such heavy feelings Read more.

Featured image for ““Megafauna,” “The bird in my voice is a song,” and “Harvest Moon is a Command””

“Megafauna,” “The bird in my voice is a song,” and “Harvest Moon is a Command”
by Tia Cowger

I read somewhere there’s an
orchid whose flower is shaped
like the female of a long dead
species of bee.

Big, bitter fruits that no-one eats,
drop to the ground and rot Read more.

Featured image for ““The Buzzer,” “On my bike,” and “Waiting at the Women’s Health Centre””

“The Buzzer,” “On my bike,” and “Waiting at the Women’s Health Centre”
by Stephanie Trenchard

I almost fold your laundry, the numb air
of garments settling, the last breadth of the dryer,
call to me to care for your hot things

Marie Condo says to ask the clothes
how they should be folded
to listen to the fabric, go with the seams Read more.

Featured image for ““When fear rises,” “What counts,” and “A Forecast of Severe Storms Today””

“When fear rises,” “What counts,” and “A Forecast of Severe Storms Today”
by Karen Carter

I’m driving through a fog.
Home to public school, I
travel up and down hills,
the 45-mile-stretch
like an obstacle course
to test resolve.

I need this cloudy patch,
not as a puffy mattress,
but as an iron shield Read more.

Featured image for ““Memories of You,” “Uprooted Dreams,” and “Tulile, a Strange Fruit””

“Memories of You,” “Uprooted Dreams,” and “Tulile, a Strange Fruit”
by Patrick Sylvain

I thought of you this afternoon,
laughing with your entire body
slightly curling over as you let
yourself lay bare its expression
of unconfined happiness. You were
intoxicated with life despite not having
much. Read more.

Featured image for ““orchid eye,” “requiem for smoke, for ashes,” and “leaning against the fog””

“orchid eye,” “requiem for smoke, for ashes,” and “leaning against the fog”
by Jennifer Platts-Fanning

look into my orchid eye
and I’ll tell you a story about psilocybin sex,
how to melt into another
with full chimera absorption.

honeycombed echo’s of deep earth
as red sandstone soil covered
buried treasure Read more.

Featured image for ““Baby,” “Bourbon Street, New Orleans, the night before the Chicago Bears won the 1986 Super Bowl, 46-10,” and “Ghosts””

“Baby,” “Bourbon Street, New Orleans, the night before the Chicago Bears won the 1986 Super Bowl, 46-10,” and “Ghosts”
by Patrick T. Reardon

My sister held the baby as he died.
Not hers.

She held the nose-tube baby
as his mother exercised at the Y,
exorcized, for moments, grief,
setting fragile, ebbing boy in soft arms. Read more.

Featured image for ““Déjà vu,” “Among the Remains,” and “In an Instant””

“Déjà vu,” “Among the Remains,” and “In an Instant”
by Louise Moises

Threat of late Spring rain,
against the chalk scrawled blackboard,
shower of bullets.

Teachers throw bodies
splashing over stunned students
last lectures of love. Read more.

Featured image for ““Salt,” “Saturn Waning,” and “Impressions””

“Salt,” “Saturn Waning,” and “Impressions”
by Alex Stanley

The moon is a sliver tonight,
or at least it looks it
through the buildings and the trees.

Planted, four, in a row
like towers on a grid,
I wonder if trees can love.
Read more.

Featured image for ““On the Way to Conception” and “Different Folks””

“On the Way to Conception” and “Different Folks”
by Julie Benesh

My parents loved each other but it’s unlikely no one was harmed
on the long, broad path to my conception, and as for fidelity,
my mitochondrial DNA is British all the way to the damsel
du chambre of Queen Philippa, born in Tonbridge Castle,
mother unknown, fathered by Edward’s ambidextrous favorite. Read more.

Featured image for ““New River, Pandemic,” “Lines from New York, On the Massachusetts,” and “De-Winter””

“New River, Pandemic,” “Lines from New York, On the Massachusetts,” and “De-Winter”
by Ryan Harper

It will take your breath,
the endless wall,
but you will call again.
Lean out, plant the feet:
cinch of gravity at the waist,
below the wash, the rapid. Read more.