Poetry

ARTISANby Anthony Lawrence    Leonard CohenAt a Jewish food stall, considering knaidlach, shakshuka and falafel, Leonard Cohen took my order. His apron was dusted with fingerprints. His name badge flashed in the sun as he moved...

MISSING MESSAGESby David Ryan Palmer The White Letters Dearest son,I hope this letter finds you well. I have not seen your address since the accident, but my friends here have interesting ways of knowing things.  I was not sure I...

SUNRISEby George Korolog  Smelling as a Position Now there is just the hard cement under your feet,a foot path where birds might surprise youwith a suggestion to inhale deeply and spindle downward, featherlike, off the road, rolling into the...

A STUDIO DISTURBANCEby John Grey UNCLE RAY’S MEMORIES OF VIETNAM In one battlehe saw a soldierripped to piecesby barbed wire and shell,and the guy pleaded with Uncle Rayto put him out of his misery. And he was...

STRANGERS ON A TRAINBy James K. Zimmerman Midflight that old manbecause he can'tget his bag downfrom the overhead bin because he can'tunzip it with bulgingknuckles and neuropathicfingers because he can'tfind the whateverhe was looking forin it with eyesthat...

AND THE WINDBy Kevin Gillam and the wind the wind blew through us. we were small thatday, there and not. sea was scuffed, frothed, whipped, smear of land far out where blue skirts blue.wind blew through us....

MY PANTRYBy Rikki Santer My Pantry Crowded with shelves it knows how to shelvecanisters of worry that pretend to be hermetic and brave. Good at orderly conductbut bad at assortment and prayer. When you gingerly open its louver...

LUSTBy Stephanie Daich Where’s Daddy “Where’s daddy,” his daughter cries through the night.“Where’s daddy,” his precious cries at first light.He had been there so often to tuck her inAnd always there with his morning grin. Her face...

OPEN UPBy Roger Singer OPEN UP  There was an unwillingnessof movement.A stretch like tree topsin a tempest.A few indistinguishable wordsslipped clumsily into the air.The visions were intangible;the onesyou think you touch butfail to feel.It was a...

NAVELBy Edward Lee MOURNING The trees outside my windoware weeping leaves,not in sympathyto the pain in my heartat your sharp sudden absence,but simply becauseautumn has fallen. NAVEL Every time,without fail,before they make love,she picks fluff from his navel;there...