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Issue 10

POETS

ANTEBI, DEBBI
BEECH, AJA
BROWN, REBECCA
CORJESCU, DAN
DA VINCI, GIA
DAVIDSON, TRACY
DRURY, IVO
EDWARDS, DAVID
FARIES, JOANNE
FERDON, JOEL
GRANT, TODD
HARTWELL, RICHARD
HAYES, THOMAS
HIGGINS, ED
JONES, RASTER
JOY, BERNARD
LARKE, MAUDE
LESLIE, STEPHEN
MARSHALL, RICKEY
MEEKS, KEVIN
MURDOCK, FRANKLIN
NELSON, ERIC
OESTREICH, DAVID
RIGGIN, GARRIN
ROBBINS, DOUG
RYAN, LINDY
SAGAR, ARUN
SCOTT, NANCY
SPRAGUE, ADAM
ST. PIERRE, PAT
STEELE, CRAIG
STEINER, SHERRY
WARD, ANTHONY

Stephen Leslie



After the car bomb
Her metal shins
Balance her body




Sherry Steiner



Yes.
It is noon that the heat is the strongest...
Do you know me by name?




Raster Jones



When we pass them in heaven
we will smile
at angels suspicious of our vestigial will.




Sherry Steiner



Open mouthed
yes, upstairs, downstairs in France...
there are no roses without thorns!




Pat St. Pierre



Disease destroyed her.
Lost and sad I cry for her,
me, and for lost days.




Pat St. Pierre



Passionate spirit.
But alone and so frightened.
Strength etched on her face.




Ivo Drury



deep winter visit to summer haunt
foreshadows
the desolation of grief




Ivo Drury



emptying his gym locker after the funeral
the remains of an athletic life
in a narrow rectangle




David Oestreich



Sunlight tumbled by tree limbs
onto the forest floor—
my loss foretold.




David Oestreich



Breezes lap the moisture
from another’s cup;
the turtle’s ornate shell, empty.




Aja Beech



alone boiling water for the tea
we did not have
when we were together




Aja Beech



these last moments
will be like the eternity
we once promised each other




Richard Hartwell



in a crowded room
alone with my memories
single once again




Doug Robbins



Dad holds his baby boy for the first time.
Dad becomes a grandfather.
I wish dad was still alive.




Craig Steele



Mom’s last surgery --
a white-crowned sparrow lies silent
in her linen nest




Craig Steele



lightning flashes
beyond my darkened windows --
fireflies take their turn at courting




Doug Robbins



Mother’s womb was so warm.
Now it grows cold
like the tomb it is.




Thomas Hayes



Words meant to bite hard
Leave no mark or outer bruise
Punctured soul festers.




Thomas Hayes



The sweet dialogue
That became the monologue
Is now just crickets.




Joanne Faries



bare oak branches
expose sparse nest –
empty cradle




Garrin Riggin



We must lay wreaths upon our shame;
laurels upon the heads of the vicious;
scepters at the feet of snarling imps.




Tracy Davidson



battered teddy bear
one chewed ear hanging by a thread
on top of the tiny coffin




Anthony Ward



full of memories
left derelict and empty
rain runs down pane




Lindy Ryan



I’ll dig the cut
until it bleeds,
a wound anchored and betraying




Rebecca Brown



She had the most beautiful smile
Until the tears which made her eyes glisten
Began to moisten her lips.




Ed Higgins



We honed each other
knife & poem
until both bled.




Debbi Antebi



rows of identical tombstones
each one whispers
a different story




Ed Higgins



Icarus, ass-over backwards dripping
hot wax and scattered feathers
through gray drifting clouds




Ed Higgins



Listening to her gone one heart beat,
one sigh, at a time. Enough despair
mute stone itself sends a message.




Debbi Antebi



her pursed lips
locking sobs
in her chest




Bernard Joy



among muskmelon vines
where the stronger cords grow; it’s there
that winter was harshest




Bernard Joy



after teaching Wordsworth;
in swathes outside the school gates
the first daffodils




Nancy Scott



Some were wielding grappling hooks, others
clinging to the rail peering down
as the last horse disappeared into the sea.




Nancy Scott



Sevastopol, jewel of the Black Sea,
doomed city, where tens of thousands
died in a futile attempt to save her.




Todd Grant



tea leaves soak
in November’s despair
a chair for one




Todd Grant



fingerprints on the vase
the only keepsake
I have of her




Gia Da Vinci



i wonder if the sky knows
that it is missing
two small circles from its ceiling




Adam Sprague



Moon in the water
Ripples fade—
Parallel worlds




Franklin Murdock



There has always been the promise
of life after life, but
to know is to never come back.




Eric Nelson



After she died he continued
buying bananas for her, leaving them
in the bowl until they rotted.




Eric Nelson



When he looked into her eyes
he saw the sky.
That blue. That far away.




Kevin Meeks



A single leaf slips down.
Spiraling in winter death.
Will it be reborn?




Maude Larke



Sunset colors
creep around the steeple
to bathe the empty crib.




Dan Corjescu



A Buddhist monk bows
before a determined train of ants
A Vega rocket takes off




Dan Corjescu



I let words drop like two warm slippers
I’ll pick them up again
but only when my feet turn cold




Dan Corjescu



Your pear shaped breasts
are the walls of my gigantic prison
A pomegranate cut in two




Rickey Marshall



Irony in our
Wish to live forever more
Happily after . . .




Joel Ferdon



Young lovers kiss on a bench,
Make love on soft pillows--
They die not knowing their names.




Arun Sagar



While Ella sings of moonlight and of blue,
her voice is amber: a streetlamp at night,
the kindling of my glass against the light.




David Edwards



Poets feel-- and fill
-- awkward
silences with sound







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