SOFT, DEAD LEAF by Winslow MacDonald
I. Soft, Dead Leaf
The night that you killed yourselfI walked down to the clearing whereAs boysWe had built a settlement,As pioneers we cleared the trees,And when the land gasped outWe leaned logs against bouldersAnd...
IF A TREE FALLS by Diane Webster
IF A TREE FALLSby Diane Webster
MALFUNCTION
Summer heat surfs up southern wall,slithers into swamp cooler ventsto vaporize water meant to soothehumans inside the office thusconverting cooler into heater.
The woman perspires when no onelistens to facts...
THE PROPAGATION By Mark Young
THE PROPAGATIONBy Mark Young
The Mackerel
Fish school whenthe moon is out. Be-fore. Separate. Atvarious levels withdisparate meanings.States of grace. Wait-ing for the cast of lightacross the surface of
the water. On app-earance drawn to it.Coalesce, luminescent.In the...
IN A PORTUGUESE FIELD by George Moore
IN A PORTUGUESE FIELDby George Moore
In a Portuguese Field
A dolmen by abandoned railsthat cross this terrible, empty fieldin lower Europe, and the gravetoppled sometime in the first centuryand near the rusted tracksstill ringing with...
ENCLOSED BY LOVE by Nardine Sanderson
Land and sea when angels fall I did not fall to call your pain, or break ones heart so soft again, I felt such love within no doubtLike heavens precious rainA magical voice I heard...
SPEAKING WITHOUT LANGUAGE by Jan Little
SPEAKING WITHOUT LANGUAGEby Jan Little
Speaking Without Language
Nurses, family friends and we all grappleWith an articulate mother suddenly unableTo speak to us now.
Charades and questions become new mode of talking:Where the word “medicine” and hand’s...
REFLECTION by Jane Muschenetz
Miracles Previously Unnoticed
I longed for poetry and doom-scrolleduntil headlines separated from the screen and breathedin sighs, like teenagers,we sent each other music audio filesand slowly began to speak the language of birds—everything defied being...
PURPLE DAWN by Edward Bonner
PURPLE DAWNBy Edward Bonner
FEW WILL HEAR HIS WORDS
What thou find in a poor man's walletAn amazing talentTo surviveHolding true to God's wordA secret for this man to cuddle on a doorstepTo wake in the...
HOPE by Tanya Fillbrook
Solitude
What is this body but stone, frozen; I think of cotton candy clouds above this roof of no escape.The front door looks worse where grubby hands opened it up wide like blooming spring flowers...
SHADOWS AT NOON by Terry Brinkman
SHADOWS AT NOONby Terry Brinkman
Shadows at Noon
Swift wings no longer serveShadows at noonLike sailboats along the horizonClouds shadows quakingA flock of birds crashes pastNow calm returnsAn arrow quivers the airLike sailboats along the horizonWith...