Poetry - Year III - Number 12 - April 2018

THE CLOSED DOORby Mukund Gnanadesikan  THE CLOSED DOOR The closed door never opens Unless a hand so brave Can brave the darkness Find the knob And twist against The forces of inertia Fearful though they be And thus the dark room Stays inhabited For days Or...

JOSIEby Sahina Jerome JosieThe days, months leading up to her death anniversaryis like being punchedin the lungs.You're gasping for breath.You're grasping for something that will ever beunreachable.The day of her death anniversary, you hear the...

BLUES BUSKERby John Sweeder  Blues Busker The young mancradles his harmonicawith cupped handscaressing it with his soul,coaxing emotionfrom its compact formas poets do with pens. Tunes jazz fromhis mouth harpthrough long fingerswith knobby knuckles,wafting tabasco tunesas spicy...

SUMMERby Sarah Snyder Summer Surrounded by low bushesand small thorny plants, I sit, still and small beside the sharp branchesunder a porch, listen for footsteps. This is a game. It could be sardines,hide & seek, capture the flag,...

POST WAR BABYby Timothy Dyson  POST WAR BABYI never knew my birth motheryet, she gave me more than lifeOn a small velvet turntablesix babies put out for choosingThe young post-war couplescame at appointed times From Captain...

SURFERSBy Byron Beynon BOB DYLAN: BLOOD ON THE TRACKS The strong cardboard sleeve camewith Till's photographas the back cover turnedto an illustration by Oppenheim;I'd heard Dylan sing liveonly once in an English field,occupying the stage like...

EXPLORERby Fabrice Poussin Explorer A soul floats gently below the thin surfaceof pearly satin to find its way through a networkof highways to life animated with soft starsrings and strings a giant canvas her image. Her senses...

FOR EMILYby Joe Murphy For Emily In Remembrance It seems your years were set too closely together:When one toppled, all the others fell. Shut the power off, you said. Enough. Your bodyQuickly shut down. Your smile is now as...

FREEDOM by Razmik Grigoryan, translated by  Maro Ghukasyan  When I understood                                                                   that the start of triumph                                                             is made on defeat,I let you goon the last day ofmy lost days.The morning hadn't woken up yet,and the Sun was...

    SOMETHING BLUEby Heather Lee Rogers    Nuclear Fission You see our lovewas just good chemistrythose first date cocktails ofraw pheromonesand evolutionary drive,despite your egowe are not divinejust well-dressed test tubesmixing atomsand hot moleculesso when our unit splitthat...