Issue 43

Arthur Russell

When people say they’re sorry, I feel inadequate because I’m not, and it was my mother.

Vyomi Malik

Blue ripples kiss Sun admist sand Oh bliss profound

Ingrid Bruck

willow gold hair whips hellebore bells unfurl under spring snow

Kristyl Gravina

Our love has blighted Like a shadow overcast a shining light ray

Lianne Kamp

your discarded dreams woke me from my sleep last night what a price we pay for love

Brandon Crupi

Unknown hour-- A smile behind a pacifier replaces needed sleep.

Rhonda Johnson-Saunders

a barefoot step back to summer the acrid smell of cigarette smoke stales lemon drop memories

Maria DePaul

Sheet rain pounds petals Streets become rivers of pink Cherry blossoms fall

Ryn Holmes

A gathering of incandescent silver meanders beneath the stars numinous and illuminant.

Laurie Decker

Your words fill me up as ink caresses my skin I become your paper

BanWynn Oakshadow

In elegant silence Inked brush revealing Round stones in raked sand.

Joseph J. Kozma

much is going on unplanned, undesired, unforgiven

Meghan Joyce Tozer

An angry neighbor’s voice scolding a dog, over and over can ruin a sunset.

Diane Cockburn

This egg, rolled from the thighs of a Phoenix, burns blue fire.

Michael Flanagan

in the wee hours Dogwood dons her bonnet of green and white

Catherine Edmunds

Today I saw a weasel hurtling through the undergrowth, needle-sharp teeth and carnage—I thought of you.

Jennifer Smith

Tsunami struck us into silence words, broken debris strewn between us, recovery efforts begin

Anna Cates

Arctic grass seeds a snow bunting samples melting tundra

Deborah Davitt

Underwater love; tentacles twining sweetly— alien caress.

Chanacee Ruth-Killgore

Water bounds over rocks, laughing. Wind rustles, turning the seasons. Nature exhales and breathes new life.

Laurie Beringer

When I don’t kiss you at night I fall to sleep bereft Tomorrow looms too unknown

Michael Estabrook

Out back watching the sky with all its blue tumbling down through the branches and leaves to the ground.

Connor Bjotvedt

I collect foreign currency. I don’t know why. I never leave home.

Rebecca Kane

wind across water unraveling thread of ducks corduroy ripples

Rachel Zempel

hummingbirds flutter sweet nectar discovery iridescent blur

Banks Miller

westward fires fade to hyacinth and violet dusk’s perfect moment

Jon Simmons

Primal eyes can see but not understand They close up tight against the world Dreams like a kaleidoscope

Zach Agnew

Lines of grey Streak across the scalp, Marking a transition.

Rusty Russell

You lose your passport in a dream, and crabapples blossom in the yard.

Bobby Aldridge

crouched and growling the low fire lulled asleep

Bill Melton

water mirrors life sometimes with a glassy calm sometimes turbulent

Suzanne Cottrell

Water droplets streaking cracked windows Squiggling, creating erratic paths Like pinball, adolescent moments

Terri Simon

Rain on the windshield, constellations refracting what is to come.

Angela Sargent

Roaring hum of engines We coast smoothly through the clouds Buzzing conversations as we touch down

Adrian Slonaker

Sunday morning fog Permeates skin and feelings, Shielding me from view.

Marius Olaru

Nature, the oldest master writer alive, keeps sending its works to us, its spoilt readers.

Natalli Amato

Between sunset and sunrise we picked off our innocence- a blistering, itching scab.

Patricia Davis

forest sounds... the trail through his cedar flute

Larry Jones

heads pop up from behind the fence invisible trampoline

Philip Kolin

Three nuns praying on cushioned kneelers God's palace

Ayame Whitfield

your trembling hands are robins in flight, returning to their nest.

Steven Duncan

pop me open like a Russian doll if you want more

Janine Lehane

peach blossoms falling like delicate balladeers exhausted by song

Morgan Amonett

Why listen to mortal clamor and the ringing of the bell when you can hear the Trees whisper

Patricia Rossi

hopscotch etched sidewalk childhood memories of summer chalked in shades of simplicity

Bruce Levine

When unto touch Impenetrable towers Open your heart before your eyes

Michael Zone

alluring maiden of waves, siren's song washing upon the rocks of human folly

Raina K. Puels

confident drifters independent twirls intertwined as one

Claire Scott

absence is not empty at all not a void or a vacuum but filled with voices of those we loved